Matthew 22:34

Matthew 22:34

The Bible says in Mat. 22:34-40, "But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

During these last few days in the life of Jesus, He faced wave after wave of attack from the religious leaders. What is amazing is how Jesus was able to calmly and wisely answer them each time. The last two attempts of the Pharisees to question Jesus and trip Him up are recorded here at the end of Matthew Chapter 22. When Jesus was asked by a Pharisee, "What is the great commandment in the law?", the Pharisee did not really want to know the answer to the question. He was hoping that Jesus would say something controversial that they could use against Jesus.

Of course, it did not happen. Who could possibly outwit the mighty God or His Christ? It’s amazing how vain and how proud some humans become in regards to their intellectual accomplishments, when you think of how little they know compared to all that there is to know. Those who rely solely upon the wisdom of humans to resolve everything will one day be utterly disappointed. There is a tremendous passage in the scriptures about the vanity of the wisdom of man compared to the wisdom of God. It says in I Cor. 1: 19-25, "For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

Too bad for those who make the same mistake as the Pharisees, and do not genuinely seek to know the truth about God. This Pharisee wanted to entrap Jesus because when he asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment, it says in Mat. 22:35 that he asked Jesus, tempting Him. But it was just like Jesus to turn a negative into a positive. The answer that Jesus gave was an important answer, and is a very valuable instruction for all who want to serve and follow God.

When Jesus answered what is the greatest commandment, He quoted from the Old Testament from Deut. 6:5 which says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." There are a lot of things that people can do from a religious standpoint, and there are a lot of things that you will hear emphasized over the years about what a person should do in order to serve God, but if we do not understand and remember this teaching of Jesus, then all that we do will be in vain.

When Jesus told us what is the greatest commandment, He told us what to do, and He used an action verb, the verb "to love". He also told us who to love: God, and He told us in what manner to love Him: with all our heart, and soul, and mind. Love is one of those great words in the English language. It even sounds good to the ear: love. It’s also a great word in the Greek language. There are several words in the Greek language that are translated as "love", and the word used here is the greatest of them; the agape love. It refers to an intense and affectionate concern for someone, and a strong and enthusiastic fondness for them.

Jesus said that we are to love God like that. How can we ever learn to do so? How can we learn to love God with all of our heart, and soul, and mind? For one thing, we can learn to love Him because He first loved us. God is love. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son. The more that we truly learn about God, the more that we will realize that He loves us; and then the more that we will want to return that love.

We first enter into God’s love by coming to Him through the forgiveness of sins that is in Christ Jesus. It should be easy to love Him when we remember how great are our sins, and how greater is His love shown through forgiveness. The songwriter understood it very well when he penned,

"Out of the ivory palaces,

Into a world a woe.

Only His great, eternal love,

Made the Savior go."

Actually, everything that God allows to happen to us is because of His love; and His goal is to prove to us more and more over the years how great His love really is. When you interpret life and your circumstances and what, has happened to you, make sure that you interpret it in light of the love of God. If you do not, then you have misunderstood, because God is love and everything that He does is based upon His love for us.

Jesus said that the number one commandment and the most important commandment is to love God with all of our heart and soul and mind. If it’s the greatest commandment, then it should also be our greatest goal. The goal should always be to love God, and to discover ways and reasons to love Him more. On the other hand, the temptations that we face will always primarily be to get us to love something else in place of God. What is sin, but the expression of some kind of selfishness; and what is selfishness but the placing of self before God?

Jesus said that the way to love God is to love Him with all the heart and the soul and the mind. Our love for God will be shown by what goes on inside of us. The heart speaks of our emotions, the source of our desires and ambitions. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God sees the heart. The soul speaks of our spiritual nature. The true worship of God emphasizes spiritual things, and not the ceremonies or outward traditions of religious organizations. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, "God is a Spirit and they that worship God must do so in spirit and in truth."

To love God with all of our minds speaks about our intellect and our thought processes. God is everywhere and is involved in all things; therefore, our goal should be to interpret all things in conjunction with the existence and the presence of God. Paul said, in Second Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

An important part of keeping God in our thoughts is to stay in the scriptures. A critical ingredient of your daily life should be reading and thinking about the scriptures. That is an important part of the greatest commandment, which is to love God with all your mind. Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. It’s important to think about God because of what Jesus said, and because the wicked are described as people who do not think about God. Psalm 10:4 says, "The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts." Whenever we do not think about God, whenever we do not bring God into our thoughts as we experience some event, we are in effect (during those times) being just like those who do not love God and do not know God.

When Jesus said what is the greatest of the commandments, He did not quote one of the Ten Commandments; but what He said is actually very similar to the first of the Ten Commandments which is "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." To have another god that you placed before the one true God would be idolatry, and would break the first commandment. To love anyone or anything more than God is also idolatry.

Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, and He answered the question; but He did not stop there. Evidently, He thought that something else needed to be said. He needed to also tell us what is the second commandment, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. No one can say that they love God who they have not seen, if they do not love their neighbor who they do see.

We may listen to the teachings of Jesus and work on loving God more and make that a priority, but that is not enough. Sometimes this second commandment may be even harder than the first. We may be able to get our theology straightened out, and stay in the scriptures on a regular basis, and think about the love of God; but it’s all in vain if we do not also learn to love our neighbor. It may be easier to love God, Who is full of love for us. It takes a different kind of ability and effort to love our neighbor because they are not always so lovable. Why should we love our neighbor? Because they are created in the image of God, because God loves them as much as He does us, and because Jesus died for their sins as well as for ours.

There are two great commandments. The first is to love God, and the second is to love our neighbor. We can measure our own spiritual condition, not by how many religious ceremonies that we attend, but by how well we love God and love our neighbor. These two commandments must come first. If we learn them, all others will fall into place. If we obey all the other commandments of the Bible, but fail at these two, then we have failed utterly and completely.

In Mat. 22:41-46 is the last of the exchanges between Jesus and the Pharisees. This time He poses the question. Of course, His motivation was much more noble than theirs. Jesus was not trying to trip them up like they did Him. He was simply trying to give them one more chance to realize who He was, before it was too late for them. It says, "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, what think you of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. Jesus said unto them, how then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither dared any man from that day forth to ask him any more questions."

The Pharisees did know that the Messiah was called the Son of David. In other words, the Messiah had to be a descendent of King David. Jesus referred to another Old Testament writing about the Messiah in which David called Him Lord. If the Messiah was a descendant of King David, then how could David call Him Lord? The Pharisees were puzzled and had no answer, because they had little understanding concerning prophecies about the Messiah. If they had known, they would have believed on Jesus of Nazareth. Of course, we know that David could call the Messiah Lord, because the Messiah existed even before the time of His human life. As John said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Jesus asked the Pharisees the question, "What do you think of Christ?" The same answer is asked by God to every person on the earth. The answer that is given will determine their eternal destiny.

Even though the Pharisees stopped questioning Jesus, Jesus did not stop talking about them or to them; and Matthew Chapter 23 is entirely dedicated to the teaching that Jesus gave about the Pharisees. Perhaps Jesus was troubled by the spiritual condition of the Pharisees. Evidently, He wanted us to make sure that we understood their condition and their failures, probably so that we would not make the same mistakes. Remember that Jesus had said earlier to His disciples, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees."

Mat. 23: 1-12 says, "Then spoke Jesus to the multitude and to His disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not you after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do in order to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi. But be not you called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all you are brothers. And call no man your father upon the earth: for One is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be you called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted."

The first thing that Jesus said to the disciples about the Pharisees was in verse 3, "...whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not you after their works." In other words, in spite of the fact that these Pharisees are hypocrites, don’t make the mistake of rejecting what they say just because they are hypocrites. A hypocrite might say something that is true. Just because they are hypocrites, doesn’t mean that everything that they say is false. There were hypocrites during the time of Christ, and there are hypocrites today. Some people make the mistake of allowing the hypocrites to drive them away from truth. Jesus is saying, "Don’t make that mistake." Believe what is true no matter who says it. Just make sure that you do not copy their actions, if they have the wrong actions.

Overall, the result of the teachings of the Pharisees, and the result of the teachings of all false teachers will be what Jesus said in verse 4, "They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." When people come to an understanding of God’s message, their burdens are reduced and taken away. But false teachers do not understand the grace of God. They will be experts at delivering laws, and rules, and regulations for the purpose of controlling people. They will use every trick in the book, including your own feelings of guilt to manipulate you and to burden you down.

There is no greater burden than the burden of sin or the burden of guilt, but Jesus can take that burden away. In contrast to the false teachers and the hypocrites, He is the great Teacher. He said, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

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