28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard the Sadducees arguing. He noticed that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer. So he asked him, “Which is the most important of all the commandments?”
29 Jesus answered, “Here is the most important one. Moses said, ‘Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.’ — (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5) 31 And here is the second one. ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ — (Leviticus 19:18) There is no commandment more important than these.”
32 “You have spoken well, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one. There is no other God but him. 33 To love God with all your heart and mind and strength is very important. So is loving your neighbor as you love yourself. These things are more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely. He said to him, “You are not far from God’s kingdom.”
From then on, no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions.
Read Mark 12:28-34 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
If you have ever wondered what the most important thing you should do is, or if you ever wanted to ask Jesus what should be your number one focus, you are not alone. As it turns out, there were a group of Pharisees, or at least one Pharisee, who had the same question, but while the Pharisees were more interested in setting a trap for Jesus, the response that Jesus gives is very powerful.
Part of me wonders if this Pharisee was sincere with his question, since this is one of the few places Jesus seems to give a direct answer when challenged, or perhaps Jesus is using this as another opportunity to teach truth to the crowd.
Either way, Jesus’ response is very profound. The top commandment, if we were to organize them into a hierarchy, is simple: “The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Verses 29b-30)
While Jesus quickly adds the second most important commandment, too often people interpret this most important commandment in light of what the second one is. This leads to the idea that we love God by loving others.
While loving others is important, and it is one way to love God, this top commandment is cheapened and distorted by narrowing it to this one viewpoint. We miss the big truth that God revealed through Moses initially, and then through Jesus repeating Moses’ words.
This commandment begins with a declaration: “The Lord is our God.” This tells me that first we must accept God to be our God. It is only when we have intentionally chosen Him that we will then be able to obey this command.
Next is another declaration: “The Lord is one.” This tells me that God is singular, and that loving/following/serving Him does not divide our interests between multiple places, but instead it unifies our actions/direction onto one purpose: serving one God. One God also unifies diverse groups of people. While many people have differing ideas about God, one God allows people to unite together under that heading instead of being divided like the other nations/religions were at that time.
Only after having accepted God to be our God, and acknowledging that He is singular and worthy of being the top priority in our lives are we then able to truly love Him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Loving God with our heart is like loving your spouse or your children. It is an inner love that grows as a relationship develops.
Loving God with our soul is like attaching Him to our identity and/or our being. The label of “Christian” should be worn proudly as a badge of honor as we seek to be representatives and models of Christ-likeness to a world that doesn’t understand.
Loving God with our mind is like choosing to focus our intellect on learning more about Him. This is not skeptical science from a naturalistic viewpoint but a true desire to understand what nature, the world, and life tell us about our Creator.
Loving God with our strength is like stepping out towards Him in confidence, and by moving towards the path and life He created each of us to live. Someone who truly loves God will not be silent or stagnant, they will be active and helping others where they are able to.
God’s top commandment is not easy, but it is powerful. It is not painless, but it is rewarding. It is not trouble free, but it is what God has called us to do.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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