Which is the greatest commandment?
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the Torah, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love YAHWEH your ELOHIYM with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[i] This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[ii] All the Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”[iii]
Why did Jesus say that “all of the Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments?” What did “hang” mean to his ancient Jewish audience? In order to understand the moral of his story we must know how the ancient scribes wrote the Hebrew letters on the scrolls. The first thing they did after the writing material had been prepared and was ready to be written on was draw lines. Take a close look at the picture of the Dead Sea Scroll below and see what the lines are used for.
See image by clicking on http://www.biblicalheritage.org/Jesus/greatest.htm
Hebrew letters are hung from line, while English letters set on the line. The purpose of the line in both cases is to support the letters. The point Jesus was making was that the two commandments – love God & love your neighbor – together are the line that supports all of the other commandments. Without the line the letters will fall. Without keeping first two, there will be no support (or foundation) for the others.
According to the Jewish Jesus, the way to love God is by loving your neighbor; and, the way to love your neighbor is to love God. “Love” in the Hebrew culture is an action - an emotion or feeling may or may not be involved.
Remember what Jesus said about the righteous ones in Matthew 25:
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
The righteous ones loved the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned ones. What they did was “love.” Simply praying for them, even feeling sorry for them, would not have been love. By loving them, they improved and enhanced their quality of life – and they also loved God by those same acts.
Do you think anyone would notice if the two billion Christians living today discovered what “love” meant to the Jewish Jesus? What would happen in your town if such a miracle occurred?
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