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 22:37-39

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 9, 2017): Matthew 22

Out of all that you believe, what is most important? When you vote in the next election, what will be the most important reason that you cast your ballot for one person and not another? Will you vote along party lines, or will it be economic factors that will compel you to lend your vote to a particular person? Or maybe it will be historical factors (my family has always voted for this party) or religious considerations that will be present as you cast that ballot. But of all of the complicated reasons for why we vote, which is the most important?

As the expert in the law comes and asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment, or which is the most important law, Jesus answers with love God and love your neighbor. But this isn’t the first time that Jesus has been involved in this conversation. Luke tells the story of an expert in the law who comes to Jesus wondering what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus returns the question asking the expert in the law what it was that the law said, and how the expert interpreted the law. In this story, the expert in the law returns the answer to Jesus; this is how I understand the law; it says that we should love God and love our neighbor. Jesus responds positively, and the conversation between Jesus and the expert in the law provides the basis for Jesus telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan, answering the question of who it is that is our neighbor.

I don’t know, but sometimes I wonder if maybe this was the same expert in the law about which Luke spoke, the one who had asked Jesus “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” because that conversation had hovered around what was important. I wonder if the expert in the had been listening as the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the legality of paying taxes to a foreign government, and had heard the Sadducees ask about marriage at the resurrection, and then interjected his own voice into the conversation, asking a question that seemed to be more important than any of the other ones that Jesus had been asked on this day. Jesus, what is the greatest commandment.

In my imagination, Jesus looks at the expert in the law and remembers the earlier conversation. Earlier, the two teachers had gone back and forth asking each other questions. Earlier it was the expert in the law who had answered “love God and love your neighbor” and Jesus who had defined neighbor. But on this day there is no give and take. The expert asks the question, and Jesus immediately responds – the most important commandment that you can follow is this. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I wonder if maybe there was a little extra communication going on as Jesus looked at the expert and said with his response “I remember our conversation. You were on the right path, don’t let others distract you into arguing over lesser things.”

But whether or not my story is true, this is. Of all of the choices that you can make today, the most important ones are when you choose to love God and love your neighbor – and by your neighbor, I mean everyone with whom you happen to cross paths because all of you are important to God.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew 23