The Greatest Command and the Great Commander

Introduction

I remember one sunny spring afternoon when me and my roommate Rory went downtown right before exams at Bible school. We decided it would be nice to study in the sunshine, so we were quizzing each other on the classes we had together. At one point we began to talk about something from one of our classes, I don’t remember which one, but I do remember Rory pausing for a moment as we walked down front street towards the harbour front and say, “Well Jimmy, the Bible really is all about love, isn’t it?”

That may sound corny or cliche but it wasn’t just a trite thing he was saying to sound godly, it was a real observation. The more I’ve studied the Bible the more true I’ve realized this to be. In fact, many of our misunderstandings about what the Bible teaches are misunderstandings about the nature of love. To learn about the Bible, the cross, the resurrection, and the Christian life is also to learn about love itself. If the Scriptures do not speak love to you, you are reading them wrong. The sum of all Scripture can be encapsulated in simply this: God, the creator of all things, has loved you. Believe that, and if you believe it, love the Lord you God and love you neighbour as yourself.

The Greatest Commandment

Last week we saw two challenges brought to Jesus, each made by false men seeking to expose Jesus before the crowds so that they might arrest him.

The challenge of the Pharisees, made with flattering words, was wisely answered and we saw the reason why God’s people must submit, first to God, and second to the authorities whom God has providentially put in place. Next, Jesus silenced those who denied the existence of life beyond death, the Sadducees, in a way in which the Pharisees would agree with. God is the God of the Living, who keeps his promises beyond the grave, and so even in the first books of the OT we see the proof of a future resurrection life.

While the Pharisees do not cease to trip Jesus up with their words, they continue questioning him from a position of flattery. This time, a lawyer from among them asks the question.

Lawyers were both legal and religious experts, since in Jewish society the two were not divided. There was no division of state and religion in 1st century Judea, so this man was an expert on the Law which God gave to Israel through Moses in Exodus 19-34, especially the Ten Commandments, along with the rest of the commandments found in the Pentateuch. Not only this, they were well trained in the traditions of interpretation when it came to the Scriptures and knew of all the different academic theories, teachings, and traditions. This would be the equivalent of someone with both a law degree and a PhD in OT studies asking Jesus a question.

Unlike the first question, which was meant to be a catch 22 with no good answer, this question is somewhat genuine. It was hotly debated by various branches of scholarship and tradition. Some teachers held that the entire law could be summed up in not doing to others what you would not want them to do to you (a negative golden rule) and that the rest was simply explaining that basic point. Others taught that each commandment was equally important and that to try and sum up the law under one commandments would be to raise up one part of Scripture as more important than others. So here, a scholar brings a difficult and hotly debated issue among Rabbis in that time to see if this will trip Jesus up. Will he be able to give a definitive answer, or will he embarrass himself and show his lack of formal training which this lawyer certainly underwent himself. Any coherent answer in this context would have meant that Jesus would have to be thoroughly taught in the Law and also aware of the different teachings and debates that existed among theologians. It would be like a seminary professor trying to embarrass an un-schooled country pastor by asking him: “what is your homiletical approach in balancing historiographic hermeneutics and (he-aal-ste-jikt) Heilsgeschichte when expositing the Tanach.” Now, although the question being asked here sounds much simpler than the one I just asked, answering it is arguably more difficult and controversial. It is a question from a scholar meant to embarrass Jesus by showing him to be stupid compared with the experts.

The question, “which commandment is the greatest” is a bit of a loaded question because it implies that there is a greatest commandment. This is something that lawyer clearly already believed but not all Jews held to. In this case, Jesus agrees with his assumption because Jesus answers the question directly without any attempt to correct him.

In answer, Jesus quotes two passages from the Law of Moses. First is Deut 6:5

Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV 2011

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

next is Lev 19:18

Leviticus 19:18 NIV 2011

‘ “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.

Jesus says that the first commandment is the most important, to Love the LORD God with all that we are, and the second is like it: to love our neighbour as yourself. In Mark he adds that there is no other commandment greater than these.

To say that there is no greater commandment is not to suggest that some commandments are inconsistent with one another, as if sometimes you will have to sin in a lesser commandment in order to obey a greater one. The fact that Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15) proves that a sinless life is technically possible so that it is only our sinful nature, not physical impossibility, that causes us all to fall into sin. So importance refers not to choosing one commandment over another, but rather that these two commandments are foundational to all other commandments. What Jesus is claiming is that in all the commandments of God, you will not find one that does not have its root in these two. Or to put it another way, it is impossible to truly obey the Scriptures without first obeying the laws of love for God and for neighbour.

Now, there are two ways to understand Jesus answer. Either Jesus is saying there are two equally great commandments with the second being like the first in importance, or that there is one most important commandment and then a second-most important commandment which is similar to the first. This second way is how this should be understood. The second is like the first because both commandments have to do with love, but the first is still more important than the second. Love for our creator is surely more important than love for other creatures, since God is infinitely more worthy than all of creation, and also because love for our fellow human being springs naturally from a love for our Maker, not the other way around. In other words, the reason I should love my fellow human being is because they are image-bearers of God, and if I love God I will love them too. Just like you cannot claim to love me and at the same time hate my children, you cannot claim to love God while showing hatred to your fellow human, especially among God’s people. This is what Jesus means in verse 40 by saying that on these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. So Jesus extends these two not only over the Law of Moses, but over the entirety of Scripture.

The other synoptic gospels each have a variety of this story, and Luke’s version is probably a different exchange about the same issue. Mark, on the other hand, gives us a little information about this lawyer that makes this question a bit different from the previous ones Jesus answered. While before, Jesus got around the trap, here Jesus answers plainly. This is probably because, even though the Pharisees were still trying to trap Jesus, this lawyer actually does care about the answer. In Mark 12:32-34 we read:

Mark 12:32–34 ESV

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

This response is ironic, because rather than proving how wrong the Lawyer is like he did with the Sadducees, Jesus shows this man that his own beliefs should point him towards the teachings of Jesus. He doesn’t shoot this man down, but rather shows him that he’s starting to get it. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I know you asked this question in order to embarrass and trap me, but I can also see that you have thought about this carefully. You are beginning to understand what I’ve been teaching this whole time. You’ve almost got it, you’re just missing one piece.”

And what piece is he missing? What does Jesus mean in saying “not far” instead of “you are in” the Kingdom of God? Well, in order to understand the gospel, you must understand both the purpose and the fulfillment of the law. This lawyer understands its purpose, which is to teach God’s people the love of God. It is no good to legalistically keep the law if you do not understand its point, and that point is love. If the Law of God makes you think of a grumpy god, you don’t see it right. The Law is not the ramblings of a perfectionistic control freak, but rather the instruction of a loving Father. All this man is missing now is the fulfillment of the law, how does this law come to be fulfilled? In other Words, how does the love that this law commands become reality among God’s people so that they may inherit God’s promises? This is part of what we discover in this second portion of our text.

David’s Lord and Son

Now this next part takes place while the Pharisees are gathered together, rather than coming out one by one or simply sending their disciples in, and Mark tells us this is while Jesus is teaching the people in the temple in a public setting. Jesus now takes the opportunity to ask a question of his own, like he did back in the beginning of this discourse when he questioned them about John the Baptist.

At the same time, Jesus’ main point here isn’t to shut down the Pharisees, but rather to reveal himself to those who are ready to accept who he is. Jesus already hinted to the Priests that Psalm 8’s praise of God applies to himself, now he will take one of the most famous passages in the entire OT about the Messiah and see if the Pharisees and crowds are ready to hear what it says. That passage is Psalm 110, which is the OT passage the NT quotes more than any other. The first two verses read:

Psalm 110 ESV

A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!

This Psalm written by King David emphasizes the victory God would give to the future, promised king who would come through David’s dynasty. It was recognized as being about the Christ, as it spoke of the Lord giving power to a great king to defeat his enemies, establish an eternal priesthood for God’s people, and bring them the promises of God in peace.

When Jesus asks whose son the Christ is, the obvious answer is that he is David’s son: that is, he comes from David’s dynasty and ancestry. Matthew has already established that Jesus is descended from David in chapter 1, and it is a well-established fact as this is where the OT theology about the Christ becomes very pronounced. The Messiah being David’s son comes from a promise God made to David in covenant with him, which we find in 1 Chron 17:11-14 (also in 2 Samuel 7)

1 Chronicles 17:11–14 NET

When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build me a house, and I will make his dynasty permanent.I will become his father and he will become my son. I will never withhold my loyal love from him, as I withheld it from the one who ruled before you.I will put him in permanent charge of my house and my kingdom; his dynasty will be permanent.” ’ ”

This promise has three layers to it. First, it referred to Solomon, who would build the Temple (a house for God). Second, it referred to the ongoing dynasty of David and the the people of God they would lead. These would sin, and their sins would be punished (2 Sam 7:14) but not forsaken. Finally, it referred to the Messiah, or Christ: God’s anointed King. This is the one who would fulfill the prophecy in its entirety. Solomon’s reign would not last forever. The house of David would not always sit on the throne of Jerusalem. Another figure must come from David’s dynasty who would finally establish an eternal Kingdom.

The prophets drew on this, and in Psalm 110 David himself prophecies about this King. What Jesus calls attention too is the way that David speaks of this coming anointed one. While t is true that the Messiah is David’s son, Jesus means to show them how the Scriptures saw him as much more than simply another human king. In fact, Jesus is challenging them with this Psalm so that they would see that being the Son of David is not the most important part of the Christ’s identity.

Now we may note here that while both English and Greek have the same word Lord to refer to God and to David’s Lord, in Hebrew it is literally “YHWH said to my Lord.” This is David listening in, as it were, on an exchange between YHWH, the Great I AM, the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, and David’s Lord. But wait, who is David’s Lord?

In a Dynasty, it is not the children of the founding king that are seen as great, but the founding king himself. A king or queen normally receive their authority through inheritance from their ancestors, so it always stands to reason that the parent is the greater figure than their children. After all, his majesty King Charles did not become King until after his mother, our late Queen Elizabeth, died. This implies that her authority is greater than his, for in her lifetime she was always his queen and he was never her king. So how is it that David, the anointed king of God’s people Israel, appointed by God himself, could have a lord other than YHWH himself? And yet here there are two figures, and both are David’s Lords. How is it possible that the Messiah is both David’s Lord and David’s son? How could David swear allegiance to a king not yet born, who would inherit the kingdom from himself? There is no scenario where a prince becomes king over his father except through a coup, which is definitely not an option here. This is quite a troubling question because if it means that the Christ is not the Son of David, than the entire OT theology which builds up the coming of the Christ would be dismantled. This question has the potential to completely ruin the Jewish religion if an answer to this riddle is not found.

The Pharisees are unable to answer, which now turns the tables around. The lawyers and experts in the law who were satisfied with Jesus’ answer to their question about the greatest commandment are now unable to answer the predicament he has laid out before them. This certainly is humiliating for them and, for a while, it drives the Pharisees away from Jesus publicly while they continue their schemes.

But the question was more than a witty riddle to humble Jesus’ opponents. It can be answered, not by denying that the Christ is the Son of David but rather by looking at how the prophets pictured the Messiah as more than simply a man. Daniel 7 pictures him as a heavenly being with a heavenly kingdom, and Isaiah speaks of YHWH himself coming down to shepherd his people through his servant David. Before David was, and even before Abraham, this king already existed. He spoke to Abraham in the form of a traveler sitting under a tree hundreds of years before David and Abraham knew him. David’s kingship was merely a type and shadow of a much richer reality. The Son of David was much more than that, he was the Son of God; God in human flesh who would die to save his people from their sins and establish the Kingdom of God through those who believe.

Conclusion: Who is the Christ?

In the first part of this text, we saw Jesus as one who knew the substance and purpose of the law. He was able to identify the two qualities which made obedience to all other commandments possible. Salvation would come to Israel, not through legalistic performance of rules, but through obedience in faith founded on Love. As Paul, the Pharisee-turned-Apostle to the nations would say in Romans 13:9-10

Romans 13:9–10 NIV 2011

The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

But love, real love, is a strange language to fallen human beings. We do not have the moral or spiritual power or wisdom to have such love that could play out in full obedience in ourselves. God is love, and so the law of love must be fulfilled by God himself.

And it was. As Jesus said back in Matt 5:17

Matthew 5:17 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

David’s Son, who was much more than David’s Son and was more truly David’s Lord, had come to dominate this world and conquer its cruelty and demonic savagery through love, even the love of a cross; a death died in our place for our sins.

Because this is so, not only are we saved from condemnation, but we are saved to fulfill the law in His love through the Holy Spirit. By our union to the Father in the Son through the Spirit, we can finally obey with true obedience. The fruit of the Spirit is first love, and from love spring all other commandments. First a love for God, who loved us and gave himself for us; who even died to redeem us, and as sure as summer follows spring so love for our neighbour follow love for God.

Do you see the love of God for you in the God-man Jesus Christ? If you see it, do you love him? Have you come to know and experience that love in your own life? Does it affect you? Or has your love grown stale behind a cold and predictable kind of religion? My word of application for you this morning is simply this: fan the love of God into flame, display that love to your fellow church member, Christian, and human being. Love is not just being nice, it is not merely a friendly handshake, it is to sacrificially care for one another because in them you see the image of the God you loved and who loved you. I’ll close with the words of Christ himself in John 15:9-12

John 15:9–12 NIV 2011

‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.