What is the greatest commandment? Jesus said it is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and that the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. These two commands sum up everything God asked of his people in the Old Testament, and they show that a right relationship with God leads to right relationships with others.
A Week of Hard Questions
Matthew 22 takes place during the last week before Jesus’ crucifixion. The religious leaders had already rejected him, and Jesus told a parable about a king whose invited guests refused to come to his son’s wedding banquet. So the king sent his servants into the streets to invite everyone they could find. God’s kingdom would be opened wide, far beyond the religious elite.
The leaders responded by trying to trap Jesus with tricky questions. One group asked whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, hoping he would offend either the crowds or the Romans.
Matthew 22:21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
The coin bore Caesar’s image, but people bear God’s image. Jesus was saying that while we owe certain things to earthly authorities, we owe our whole selves to God.
The Two Greatest Commandments
Then an expert in the law asked which commandment in the law was the greatest. With hundreds of commands in the Old Testament, it was a question rabbis loved to debate. Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. His answer was simple enough for a child to remember, yet deep enough to fill a lifetime.
Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied: “‘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.”
In other words, if you miss these basics, you’ll miss everything else about God and the Christian life. Every other command is a specific way of loving God or loving people. Loving God with “all” of yourself means he isn’t one priority among many. He’s the center that every other part of life revolves around.
Loving God Shows Up in How You Treat People
Jesus said the second commandment is “like” the first. The two belong together. You can’t truly love God while ignoring or mistreating the people he made in his image.
1 John 4:20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
That’s a strong statement, and it’s meant to be. Loving your neighbor looks like patience with your family, honesty at work, generosity toward someone in need and forgiveness toward someone who hurt you. A growing love for God naturally spills over into love for others. It also means caring about people’s eternal needs, not just their physical ones, because the most loving thing you can offer a neighbor is the good news about Jesus.
The Greatest Question
After answering their questions, Jesus asked the religious leaders one of his own. It’s the most important question anyone can answer.
Matthew 22:42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied.
Jesus went on to show that the Messiah is more than David’s descendant; he is David’s Lord. Who Jesus is changes everything. He didn’t just teach the greatest commandment; he perfectly kept it, and he died and rose again for people who haven’t. If you have questions about who Jesus is, it’s worth taking time to explore them.
The Takeaway
The greatest commandment is to love God with everything you are, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. These two commands sum up God’s law, and Jesus makes it possible to live them out as we trust him and follow his lead.
