When we hear the question ‘which is the greatest commandment?’ our first thought might be to attempt to rank the Ten Commandments. But that is not what Jesus does (vs 29–31). In fact, you won’t find Jesus’ response in the Ten Commandments at all. He first quotes Deuteronomy 6:4,5, while ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ is taken from Leviticus 19:18.

In some ways it would be easier if the Christian faith were a list of clearly defined commands. If we could just go through the checklist each week and mark off the things we’d done, we’d know for sure how we’re measuring up. Keeping all the Jewish feasts and sacrifices was challenging and costly, but you could walk away knowing you had fulfilled your religious obligations.

Jesus’ emphasis on the two commandments he quotes is another way of saying that what God actually wants is relationship. In Matthew’s version of this event, Jesus adds that ‘All the Law and the Prophets’ are summed up in these two commandments (Matthew 22:40). Yes, there were a lot of rules and regulations in the Old Testament, but fundamentally they were all about having only one Lord and loving him with all your being, then loving others too.

‘Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus, / vast, unmeasured, boundless, free, / rolling as a mighty ocean / in its fullness over me.’¹

What a marvellous question it was that the teacher of the Law asked Jesus, all those years ago (v 28). Jesus’ answer to that question gives us cause today to meditate on the love of God. His answer causes us to step back from all the detail and remember again that the theme of our faith is love. God is love. His whole basis for creating us, saving us, relating to us, is love – perfect love, at that.² Moreover, God’s greatest desire for us, the thing that he wills above all, is that we love him in return.  

Like the teacher of the Law, we will undoubtedly agree that Jesus’ answer to his question was very good. The challenge lies, perhaps, in the recognition that the love God desires from us is total: he longs for us to love him with our all (v 30). ‘God’s wholehearted love must not be answered in a halfhearted manner.’³ How have you responded to the perfect love of God? Are you able to say that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (v 30)? It is likely that we all fall short of that glorious aim. We need not despair, but rather meditate again on God’s great love; and pray that we may know the heights and depths of that love⁴ and that God might far increase our love for him.

For when filled with a wonder at God’s love and committed to love him first and fully, out of that will flow an ability and desire to love our neighbours as best we may (v 31).

Use the verses referenced, or others, to reflect on and bask in God’s love. Turn them into prayers. Seek ways to demonstrate your love to God and others through action. 

¹ Samuel Trevor Francis, 1834–1925  ² 1 John 4:7–12,18  ³ Hendriksen, 1975, p493  ⁴ Eph 3:14–19