The Second Is This

Observe. The scribe asks for the single most important commandment. Jesus gives the first, love of God, and then, without being asked, adds a second: love your neighbor as yourself. He says there is no commandment greater than these, plural.

Interpret. Jesus binds the two together so that neither can be held alone. Love of God without love of neighbor becomes religion that ignores people; the prophets condemned that repeatedly. Love of neighbor without love of God becomes humanism that cannot explain why the neighbor is worth loving, and eventually runs out of fuel. The phrase 'as yourself' is not a command to love yourself first. It assumes you already look after your own interests, and asks you to extend the same care outward.

Apply. It is possible to be devout and unkind. It is possible to be kind and godless. Jesus asks his people to be neither. The test of whether we love God with all our heart is often how we treat the person nearest to us who is hardest to love.

Which of the two commandments comes more naturally to you, and which do you tend to neglect? Who is the neighbor this week whose care would show what your love for God is worth?