There are hundreds of laws and commandments in what we know as the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament. In the New Testament a Pharisee, tempting the Lord, asked him “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” I imagine that this Pharisee, a lawyer, was trying to make the point that out of the hundreds of laws is it even possible to pick out one that is more important than another? Shouldn’t they all be equally esteemed and followed? Jesus answers this question with not one commandment, but two, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Jesus says that these 2 commands go together and all of the other laws are based on these two. These two laws are expressly linked together. How is that? How is loving the Lord with everything we have linked to loving others? How do we do that? How do we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30)? One of the ways we do this is by loving our neighbor. When we show any kindness to our neighbor it is as if we are doing it to Christ. In Matthew 24 and 25 Jesus is addressing his disciples as He sat upon the Mount of Olives. At the end of His speech He tells them, that after He separates the sheep from the goats, He will say to the sheep, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” He then says the righteous will ask, “Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?” His answer, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Therefore, these two commandments are linked. If you are loving your neighbor, then you are also loving and honoring God. If you are loving and honoring God, then you are loving your neighbor. It is impossible to follow the first commandment without following the second one, and vice versa.

In another place in Scripture another lawyer asks, “And who is my neighbour?” after reciting these 2 commandments to the Lord. Jesus answers in the form of a parable about the Good Samaritan. A man that was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho was overtaken by thieves, beaten, robbed and left for dead. A priest and Levite happen by but do not help him. Eventually, a Samaritan finds him and had compassion on him. He proceeded to bind up the wounded man and carried him to an inn to take care of him. The next day he gave the inn keeper some money and instructed him to continue caring for the man and would recompense the inn keeper later for any other costs that were incurred in the care of this man. From this illustration, Jesus then asks, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among thieves?” The lawyer answered, “He that shewed mercy on him.” It seems that the answer to this man’s question about who his neighbor is goes right along with his words to his disciples in Matthew 25. Anyone that needs our help is our neighbor! And, in turn, when we help them and love them, we are loving our Lord! It’s all connected.

One last illustration of this is in Matthew 19:16-19. A young man comes to Jesus and says, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” This is Jesus’ answer: “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Notice how Jesus named 5 of the ten commandments that God gave Moses when the Israelites were in the desert. Of the 10 commandments 6 of them instruct us on how to treat and honor our fellow man and 4 of them tell us how to love and honor God. Have you ever wondered why Jesus mentions these 5 but leaves off the ones detailing how to honor God? If the great commandment He mentioned first is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength, it seems that one of the first 4 commandments would be mentioned. This young man obviously wanted Jesus to tell him exactly what to do in a physical sense. Because these 2 commands: to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and to love thy neighbor as thyself are undeniably linked, then if this young man is following these commands when it comes to his neighbor, he is also following the first 4. We are honoring and loving God when we love our neighbor. Just imagine how different this world would be if everyone followed these commands perfectly. It wouldn’t be the world we live in at all! The Bible tells us that we live in a fallen world. Adam and Eve made a choice and that decision, also referred to as the fall, resulted in their eviction from the garden and since then we are all born in sin. (Genesis 3:6-21) In John 16:33 Jesus says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Jesus took care of this sin problem when He went to the cross. It is because of His suffering and sacrifice that we have hope in this fallen world. We know we can’t keep all of these commands perfectly, but we know the One who can and who did. He promises that if we abide in Him, He will abide in us. (John 15:4-5) It is my prayer that you will seek Him every day and you will ask Him for His Holy Spirit to fill you so that you can experience the true joy and peace that comes with a close relationship with Jesus Christ.