But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34–40
You can tell a lot about people by listening to the questions they ask. I once read about a university professor who graded his students 50% based on the answers that they gave and 50% based on the questions they asked. The questions of the self-appointed Jewish authorities revealed at the same time their hypocrisy and their ignorance of God’s word. When a certain scribe asked Jesus which commandment was the greatest, Jesus said that it is to love the Lord with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength. In so doing, one might say that Jesus had a unique lesson for all His critics.
To the Pharisees Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” The problem with the Pharisees was that they had no heart in their religion. Jesus rightly accused this sect of putting their own oral traditions ahead of the commandments of God (Matthew 15:3–6). He called them blind guides who strained gnats but swallowed camels (Matthew 23:24) and compared them to whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but are full of corruption within (vv 27–28). To these hypocritical leaders, Jesus says, “You must learn how to love the Lord with all your heart!”
To the Herodians Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your soul.” This political group was chiefly interested in getting the Jews to support the family of Herod. We might say that the soul is the collection of all that makes you who you are; therefore to love God with all the soul is the love him with all that is “you.” The Herodians needed to know that there was room for no one else on the throne besides the Lord––even to the exclusion of the household of Herod! It will not suffice for the Lord to occupy a compartment of our lives alongside other things of importance to us; He must be the grand vault in which all of the compartments in our life are securely stored.
To the scribes Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your mind.” The scribes were the teachers of the law, the repository of learning concerning the Hebrew Scriptures. Their minds were dedicated to the study of the law and its application. Of all the things to which we can dedicate our minds, the greatest by far is the Lord’s love for us and our love for the Lord. We love the Lord with our minds not only when we think about Him, but also when we come to think like Him (Philippians 2:5–7). There are a great many wonderful works that God has wrought that we may study with interest (chemistry, mathematics, etc.), but as we lend our minds to these pursuits, may we always remember to love Him with all our minds.
To the Sadducees Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your strength.” In Jewish society, the Sadducees occupied a position of power. They were the party of the high priest (Acts 5:17), and they were typically very wealthy. Instead of using their position and possessions for their own political ends, the Sadducees needed to devote their strength to loving God. Paul wrote, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19, ESV). The Sadducees were indeed a pitiful people, void of any sort of hope.
Jesus descends from His interrogation by these hypocritical leaders to observe a widow who, in her poverty, devoted her all to the Lord (Mark 12:41–44). What a contrast to the scribes and Pharisees who had seemingly given so much, and what a great demonstration of what Jesus was teaching! You may not think you have much to offer, but if you will love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, God will be pleased, and you will find yourself blessed beyond measure.