The Great Command – Part One

Matthew 22: 34 – 40

        Jesus has an opinion of you. You have an opinion of Him, everyone does.

        His opinion of you is made clear in Scripture. He loves you.

        What is your opinion of Him?  In light of His opinion of you perhaps you need to re-evaluate your opinion of Him. Though He will always have a higher opinion of us than we have of Him, perhaps we need to elevate our opinion of Him.

        He has always had His detractors. One such religious group of His day was called Pharisees. They constantly tried to trick and trap Him. He didn’t fit their mold. They wanted to dispute His teachings and refute His title.

        One day these Pharisees watched with delight as Christ engaged in a verbal battle with their counterparts, the Sadducees. They were delighted when Christ “muzzled” the Sadducees.

        Now this was their moment. If they could snare Christ in a verbal trap, not only would they be one up on Him; but this would be a big put-down to the Sadducees.

        They asked Him what was “the great commandment?” The scribes who maintained and taught the law said there were 613 moral laws; 248 were positive and 365 negative. They chose this number because there were 613 letters in the words comprising the Ten Commandments. This system was known as “rabbinical lettrism.” Almost every law had its advocates. People had selected their favorites and measured others by what they understood their pet law to mean. Therefore, no matter which one Jesus would choose there would be many who would disagree. This was a question which they thought had no right answer.

        Jesus reached back into the Old Testament records and pulled out Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19: 18 and weaving them together formed a binding cord of love.  “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’”  (Matthew 22:37-39).

        The passage from Deuteronomy is the first Scripture every Jewish child learns. It is still the text with which every Jewish worship service begins. It is known as the Shema, which means “to hear.”  Orthodox Jews have a small box known as a “mezuzah” by their front door with a portion of the Shema in it.  This was the best known of Scripture and yet the most ignored. It is a good one for us to code into our cranium.