Posted on 01/09/2009 3:25:01 AM PST by tenger
One of them [Pharisees}, 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.'" Matthew 22:35-40
The Pharisees were at it again. They were trying to test Jesus. If they really only knew who they were talking to (the One who created them, gave them life, and knew exactly what was in their hearts)! Nothing they tried (when trying to trip him up) worked.
He answers their question by subtly pointing his finger (figuratively) back at them. They were the ones that probably lacked a love for God and others. They were the ones who were more concerned about keeping the Law rather than practicing mercy and justice. They were the ones who loved the people's praises. He was merely reminding them (and us) what we should be doing along the way in life.
If we only practiced these two commandment every day, life would go very well for us. It's good to be reminded this often because we forget.
Thank you for reminding me. This is the scripture on which I try to live my life. The words are easy, walking the walk is another story.
Blessings to you
If we only practiced these two commandment every day, life would go very well for us. It's good to be reminded this often because we forget.
Jesus wasn't saying anything new. He was quoting from the Torah.
Deuteronomy 6
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Leviticus 19
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD
If you love your neighbor, you won't steal from them, if you love your neighbor you won't murder them, if you love your neighbor you won't covet your neighbors wife or commit adultery with your neighbor.
They were the ones who were more concerned about keeping the Law rather than practicing mercy and justice.
That isn't quite accurate. They were placing ceremonial law above moral law.
Mat 23:23
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
He placed 'moral' law above 'ceremonial' law. This is why some 'thought' that he 'broke' the law. You have to remember that Jesus taught in a period of transition, during the development of different schools of interpretation in Judaism. It is inevitable that there would be variant interpretations of the Law as recorded in the Gospels. With the Pharisees, Jesus accepts the Law of the Sabbath; he differs only in the interpretations of that law as found in the Oral Law. The Oral Law detailed the many conditions that allowed for the breaking of the Sabbath.
For example, the Rabbis of the Hillel School of Pharisaism declared that is was permissible to violate the Sabbath to preserve life, that in doing so you violate a Sabbath to ensure the observance of future Sabbaths. This was accepted interpretation by the Hillel Pharisees of which Jesus belonged, but not to the Shammai Pharisees or the Sadducees who were ultra-strict, always adhering to the 'letter of the Law' over the 'spirit of the Law' (Oral Law). It has been said that in elevating the spirit of the Law over the letter of the Law one can understand the minimizing of the ceremonial laws. But it is not that simple according to Jesus. As gentiles, we are not aware that the Oral Law brought a proper understanding to the Written Law if matters were in doubt.
These (least commandments) you ought to have done, without neglecting the others (grave-weightier commandments). In drawing such a contrast, Jesus does not annul the Written Law (613 laws), nor even the ceremonial laws; he only brings priority to the obedience of all the Laws. Jesus did not stand against the Written Law or Oral Law, nor even Pharisaism, but only against the elevation of the 'letter of the Law' above the 'spirit of the Law'.
Rev 2:19
I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last [to be] more than the first.
Notice that works is mentioned twice. The 'moral laws' and 'ceremonial laws'.
...Which I think was the point of the devotional.
Actually, it suggests practicing one type of law at the expense of the other. Hence, my post, including Matthew 23:23 and the further background information.
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