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.” (Matthew 22:35-40)
Jesus had a great way of distilling down incredibly deep truths. He did this with His parables – deep eternal meaning explained as a simple story of a farmer; or of a wedding; or of a landowner. In these verses found in the book of Matthew, Jesus doesn’t use a parable, but simply answers a question. In doing so, He takes everything Moses and the Old Testament prophets told us and brings it all home in two simple statements.
In fact, if you take the Ten Commandments, as spoken by God and delivered by Moses, it becomes clear just how beautiful and concise Jesus’ statement really is.
First – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” The first five of the Ten Commandments are all about our relationship with God: Have no God but Him; no images or using the Lord’s name in vain; remember the Sabbath.
Second – “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The second five of the Ten Commandments all have to do with our relationships with others: Honor your parents; don’t murder, steal, commit adultery, or covet.
In two commandments (taken from Deuteronomy and Leviticus), Jesus simply covers all the bases. What more is there to living this life than to love God and love others? If we do these things, there is no law that can touch us!
I have a feeling the legal expert was expecting one of the Ten Commandments, but Jesus gave him ALL TEN in two statements. Good stuff!
So, if you have trouble trying to remember the Ten Commandments, just remember the Two Commandments and you’ll be good to go!
#LoveMatters