Matthew 22:34-40
Chapter 22
34
When the Pharisees heard how Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
On the Most Important Precept
35
One of them, a lawyer, questioned him to test him:
36
“Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?”
37
Jesus answered:
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38
This is the first and most important commandment.
39
The second is similar:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40
The entire law and the prophets are built upon these two commandments.”
Commentaries
On the Most Important Precept.
The question is clarified because the Pharisees counted 613 precepts in the Law. It was necessary to know and follow them all. Jesus responds by combining Deuteronomy 6:5 with Leviticus 19:18. For him, the foundation of the relationship with God and with one’s neighbor is loving solidarity. The integration of the two loves, of God and of one’s neighbor, is his core teaching. From a Christian point of view, without love of neighbor, there is no love of God, no true fulfillment of God’s will, nor is that higher justice achieved which the Sermon on the Mount advocates (5:20). Love of neighbor does not replace love of God nor is it the same as it. Still, it is as important as loving God (cf. 1 Jn 4:20).