And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ – Matthew 22:39 (NIV)
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. – Matthew 22:39 (KJV)
Theme: Priorities
Recall from last week that Jesus himself referred to Deuteronomy 6:5 as the “first and greatest commandment”. This week we see what Jesus said about the second greatest…
During an exchange captured in Matthew 22:34-40, the Pharisees challenged Jesus to tell them which of God’s commandments was the greatest. The Pharisees, who were trying to trick Jesus, pursued a very legalistic interpretation of God’s laws and preached strict adherence to man-made religious rules and traditions that were based on their interpretations. You might say that they were so focused on the letter of the law that they missed God’s intent. Jesus’s answer pointed them back to God’s priorities: love God with everything you have and love one another. Here’s the whole exchange in context…
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
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 22:34-40 (NIV)
In the final sentence of this passage Jesus made it pretty simple to understand. Love God and love each other…everything else flows down from those two priorities.
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