Matthew 22:34-40–Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation

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Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Matthew 22:34-40 wherein Jesus brings all of the direction of Scripture into two concise and convicting statements.

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “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 first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

When challengers get knocked out in the ring by the champion, they can either accept defeat or give it another go.  Now, the different contenders might watch the fights of the others, studying the films, and try to learn something about their common adversary.  This happened sometimes with the Pharisees and Sadducees, which actually led them to work together at times against Jesus.  Well, the former experienced a serious K.O. by Jesus over the day’s hot topic of Jewish responsibilities in paying taxes to the Romans.  The second group experienced a similar defeat over a discussion about the resurrection, something that put them at odds with both the Pharisees and Jesus.  But now the Pharisees, who perhaps thought they had learned a bit through hearing about Jesus’ time with the Sadducees, decided to give it another go.

Jesus gave them a concise answer to their question about the great commandment that not only showed that He remained the Champion, but also gave to us something of such great value toward knowing what our lives need to be all about.  Quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19, He delivered to us a teaching that informs all of our orthodoxy and orthopraxy (right doctrine and the practice of it).  First, all that we say, think, and do is to reflect our love for God.  We can always ask the question then as we go about life, “Is what I’m about to do something that will speak to my complete, loving devotion to the Lord?”  And then the second one serves as a further clarification or specification of the first.  Loving God with our all will mean showing great love and care for those that He puts before us.  This command is the one that we probably struggle with the most on a daily basis because it’s a great deal messier than the first.  I was reminded of this just yesterday after getting repeatedly verbally slammed by a random person on the Facebook page of a mutual friend who was looking for feedback on something.  Part of it may have been due to some misunderstanding between us (I hope), but regardless, it was clearly related to a disagreement about a hot-button issue in society and (unfortunately) in the church as well.  That’s life…dealing with all different sorts of people we’re called by Jesus to love.

Imagine the Pharisees at that point who might have looked at one another with the realization of how poorly they had done in obeying the Word of God in this area and then also knowing that to say anything harsh to Jesus at that point would reveal to everyone just how hypocritical they were.  Sadly, they would soon forget this interaction and seek the crucifixion of Jesus.  Let us be sure that our memories are longer and hearts more tender than theirs.  Love God with everything and love others like we all love ourselves–tremendously to-the-point commands to ponder and practice as we face the many, often confusing, facets of life today.

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