186. Discourse in the Temple: “What Is the Greatest Commandment?” Mt. 22:34–40; Mk. 12:28–34; Lk. 20:40

Now when the Pharisees heard that the Lord Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together; and one of them, a lawyer (a scribe and expert in the law), who had heard their disputation and saw that he had answered them well, came up and, to test him, asked: “Teacher! Which commandment in the law is the greatest and first of all the commandments?”

The Lord Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the Lord alone; 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. This is the first and greatest commandment (Deut. 6:4–5). The second, which is like it, is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Lev. 19:18). No commandment is greater than these. On these two commandments the whole Law and the Prophets depend.’

The scribe said to the Lord, ‘Well said, Teacher! You have truly said that He is one and there is no other beside Him; and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.’

And the Lord Jesus, seeing that he had answered with understanding, said to him, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’

And after this no one dared to ask Him any more questions.