When Jesus told the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees what the Greatest Commandment was, He was telling them a whole lot more than to just love God. Understanding His words hinge on understanding Moses and the entire Old Testament. This message explains the two greatest commandments in a way you’ve probably never heard before.
Thanks for coming to worship with us! We’re a unique bunch so you may be seeing new things. We pattern our worship off the first century church, which was a little different than you see in modern Christianity. The first difference to touch on is that we sometimes pronounce God’s Name, Yahweh, in our assembly. We also often pronounce Jesus’ Name in Hebrew as well, which is Yeshua. This is to show respect for Yahweh and Yeshua but does not preclude us from saying God and Jesus as well. The second difference I’m going to explain is the topic of this message, a prayer called the Shema. This prayer comes directly from the book of Deuteronomy. The word Shema is Hebrew for listen or hear. Oftentimes passages or books in Hebrew are called by their first word. The first words of the Shema are “Hear oh Israel…”, hence it’s called The Shema. So why would a Christian be concerned with a prayer from the Old Testament. Funny you should ask!
Slide 2 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.” (Mat 22:36-38)
The words that are in all caps are that way because the bible I use does that when the NT quotes the OT. This is a very helpful hint to show that a whole lot of the NT is really verses from the OT. Jesus, who was Jewish, is saying a little bit more than just the words in caps comprise the greatest commandment. So let me explain.
The chapters and verses of the Bible were added over a thousand years after the close of scripture. We have always had them, so we take them for granted. When we quote something, we say “John 3:16” or “Isaiah 53”. In Jesus’ day, they had a different system for doing this. They also didn’t have Bibles everywhere like we do. Having a printed bible prior to Gutenberg’s press was out of reach for almost everyone. To learn the Bible, people went to synagogue to read the community Torah or hear it read. Starting hundreds of years before Yeshua’s earthly minister, from the return from Babylon, Jewish culture was founded each on man hearing the Torah weekly and many hearing and reading it to the point of memorizing it in synagogue school. The intent of this education was to prevent another captivity through education and a system of accountability: if everybody knows the Bible, then everybody can do the Bible and hold each other to account. They created synagogues, which are the ancestors to modern day churches, where the people would learn the scriptures by hearing them read every Shabbat and they would also send children to school there during the week. This created a culture where Jews, particularly those who were concerned with religion, would communicate to each other by citing verses almost as casually as we talk about professional football. Almost.
Without chapters and numbers, the way they cited passages was to just quote the leading verse, or part of a verse, of a passage. So when Jesus quoted these words from the Shema, He was reminding all the people present of the entire prayer. Let’s look at the verses:
Slide 3 “Hear, O Israel! YHVH is our God, YHVH is one! You shall love YVHV your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deu 6:4-9)
Yeshua, Jesus, tells us that Moses’ lead sentence here to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, is the greatest commandment. But then Moses goes on to tell us how we love God. To love God, we need to keep His commandments in the foreground of our lives. We must teach them to our children so they learn to love and fear God. We must talk of them at every step of our day, from when we rise up to when we lie down. While we drive in our cars (or walk on the road if you prefer). Binding them as a sign on our wrists is colorful language telling us to do the commandments. Binding them as frontals on our foreheads means to make God the first thing we think of. Decorating our doorposts and our gates with His words is a reminder when we leave and when we return. Brothers and sisters, this is a recipe for success. Loving God in this lifetime to the extent of the Shema is a gateway to the olam ha ba, the world to come.
Slide 4 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(Mar 12:28-31)
In this instance, Yeshua tells broadens it to the two greatest commandments. You’ll notice that the second commandment is in all caps as well, which means that one is also from the Old Testament. This time from the book of Leviticus.
Slide 5 “Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God. You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD. You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD. You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” (Lev 19:9-18)
This puts some meat on the bone for how to love our neighbor, which is a question that comes up pretty often. If you’re not aware that Jesus is saying more than just “love your neighbor” through the method that they referenced scriptures back then, then it’s kind of up for interpretation. But now that we do know this is not a new commandment and loving your neighbor is defined, we can explore that.
The first part is to leave food in your field or vineyard for the needy at harvest time. This would allow for people to go out and enjoy the harvest that God provided with dignity. A field that wasn’t completely harvested would be the sign of a faithful farm owner who loved his neighbors. The harvest belongs to God, after all.
No stealing, no dealing falsely, and no lying to each other is another way to love our neighbors. This one doesn’t really need a lot of explanation. This develops and honest and open society which is a community of love.
No swearing falsely by the Name of God. Very important. This is why our nation swears politicians in with their hands on the Bible and why we get give sworn testimony in trials. It’s incredibly important when we invoke the Name of God to be as honest and forthright as possible because He knows the whole truth! Having this level of common respect among people is another way we love each other as ourselves because it creates a society of integrity.
The wages of a hired man not remaining overnight is expanded in other verses to mean a man who needed the money to feed his family and such. One who has the means to hire others needs to be cognizant of what it is like to need money and make sure he loves his neighbor, particularly one willing to work for his wages. Oscar de la hoya kept a food stamp in his wallet.
Treating people with disabilities properly is also key to loving our neighbors. Creating a society where people who need help getting around can have it readily shows a society that loves its neighbors. It means that people who are able stopped and realized others who are not need to be able to get around. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation building houses for wounded vets is a great example of this.
Impartially making judgments without respect to wealth or need is also crucial for a society. Each person needs to be judged the same, and the guilty should have the same penalties without respect to means. This commandment is why we have the lady with the blindfold holding the scales of justice. Loving our neighbor means to have fair and impartial rules governing society that are implemented equally.
We are not to slander one another. It goes without saying that this is the opposite of loving our neighbor.
We are not to take vengeance, hate our countrymen, or bear grudges in order to love our neighbor. Seems like such a novel idea, but wouldn’t society be a much better place if we did live like this?
Slide 6 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (Joh 5:46-47)
Now you can see how rich these sentences really were. Yeshua was building on a system that was already in place, having been given by Yahweh 1500 years prior through Moses. He did not come to make something entirely new, but to clarify and expand on what they already had. In order for us to understand Jesus, we need to study Moses and all the Old Testament, understanding that we are blessed to join into the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Yeshua. And when we study the faith from Genesis to Revelation, the words of the Messiah and the Apostles take one much more meaning. Shalom.