Matthew 22:34-37 "When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered..."

"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 commandment in the law is the greatest?' 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’” (Matthew 22:34-37 NRSV).

Comment:

The Pharisees were constantly testing Jesus, hoping to back him into a corner or trick him into saying something controversial. And Jesus was always, lovingly but impatiently, turning each of their tests into an expression of spiritual Truth. That is never truer than in the passage you ask about.   What does it mean to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind?" We understand the Lord to be the Lord of our own individual being—the Christ Presence of God expressing as each of us. So to love the Lord our God is to love the Presence of God in us. We surrender our heart, soul and mind to the Christ—the Presence of God within. And thus all of our thoughts, feelings and choices become expressions of that God Power. That's why it's a logical step to the second commandment Jesus gives in response to the lawyer: Love your neighbor as yourself. When we surrender to the love of God, we become the love of God in expression. And we then extend that love to all those around us. And in that process of infinite love, we create the kingdom of heaven.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed