Matthew 22:34-40
The Two Greatest Commandments
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Jesus teaches us all about the eternities...When He walked the earth He taught us about Love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, faith, and His Father...These are the things that last forever...When an expert in the law tested Him about the greatest commandment in the Law of Moses, He tells us there are two...He answered them this way: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'...This is the first and greatest commandment...And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'...All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."...These commandments are both about Love...And Love is about a relationship with another...So the Greatest Commandment is about relationships...
He basically says the Old Testament is summed up in loving God and loving our neighbors...And these are the two Great Commandments...When we think about these two commandments, I think we can break down what He taught, and maybe see two major themes in His teachings...He teaches us first -about the Spiritual part of life...That we have a a soul and the soul is guided by our faith...This Spiritual part is the first and greatest teaching...This part is about our faith in Him and His Father..He wants us each and every day to have a Spiritual Connection with Him and His Father...Jesus wants us to be spiritually aware of what is going on in our lives...And these spiritual things are sacred and holy...And this faith and Spiritual part (He says clearly) is the first and greatest and is the major priority in our lives...Or Spiritual life connects us to His Father...And this connection to His Father is the relationship we have with Him through the love we show, feel, and have for Him and His Father...Our Spiritual part of our life is guided by the Holy Spirit that He sends us, and that is in us...Our Holy Spirit gives us this need and desire for seeking Him, this part helps give life meaning, and it makes us feel the sacred and holy things and their importance to us and in needing them in our lives...
The second part, I see, is the relationships we have on earth with others...The love we show, feel, and have for all of our neighbors...And everyone is our neighbor...Jesus did not think neighbors were just family and friends...He considered everyone in the world a neighbor of yours...
Life on earth is about these one on one relationships with each of our neighbors and the people we meet...And often the small talk with a partner, or friend, or acquaintance are some of the most memorable experiences we ever have...Or it maybe the time we set down and just listened in a one on one relationship to someone, or maybe what we did at work with someone we liked, or did on a project with a friend...Sharing a gift you have with others is another part of having a relationship...These times may have been fleeting or short lived...But when we reflect on those times and relationships, we realize that we will never forget what we did, but more importantly we realize the importance of that relationship (and how we felt about it) and the nice and the important impact it had in our lives...
Had Jesus came today to earth, it is possible that He would be so involved in the Spiritual Relationship with His Father and so involved with His other relationships -that the news of the day would not be as important to Him, or the score of His favorite team, or what is on the internet, or what is the size of His house, or number of cars He had -all these things would be less or unimportant to Him (as they are to me)...
These two Great Commandments are about our relationships and they both hinge and depend on Love...Love is the eternity, He wants us never to forget...Love God, and Love our neighbors expands our lives...It is the path in life He wants us to take...