On the Greatest Commandment.

(Mat. 22:34-46; Mark 12:28-37; Luke 20:40-44).

Having heard of the Sadducees’ humiliation, the Pharisees immediately assembled in the temple and decided to pose to Jesus, the most difficult (in their opinion) of all questions — which was the greatest commandment within the law. If we bear in mind that the Scribes made distinctions between the commandments in the law, as major and minor, the wiliness of the question becomes quite clear. To them, this differentiation was a constant source of argument, as some regarded the main commandment as being that of sacrifice, others — on the Sabbath, still others — on circumcision. Generally speaking, they regarded laws governing customs as being the most important ones (the Pharisees found over 600 commandments in the Scriptures). The Lord answered this question by quoting directly from Deuteronomy (6:5): “love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” and added, that “and the second is like it: ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev. 19:18). Saint Mark adds that the Lord’s answer made such a profound impression upon him that he exclaimed: “Well said teacher. You have spoken the truth.”

His sincerity touched the Lord, and seeing that this sinner can reform, He said to him: “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” After all these unsuccessful attempts to catch the Lord with His words, the Pharisees were not game enough to ask Him any further questions about anything. However, in order to show them their lack of knowledge of the Writings and how benighted they are in their false understanding of the Messiah, the Lord posed them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” Without giving it any thought, they answered: “David’s,” because naturally thinking, David was promised that the Messiah will emerge from his lineage. And in response, as though the Lord was saying — so you think that Christ was just a man, but “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’, saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand… If Messiah-Jesus was a mere descendant of David, then how could He have existed at the time David was writing about Him. Consequently, if He existed then and David called Him his Lord, He is not a mere human as the Pharisees thought, but also God i.e. God-Man. Blinded by the letter of the law and having lost the means to correctly understand their meaning, the Pharisees, could offer no reply to the Lord’s question. Thus, the Lord censured their ignorance of the law, while simultaneously providing us with a testimony of His Divine worthiness and eternal existence. Having suffered such a defeat, the Pharisees didn’t again hazard to tempt the Lord with their crafty questions, while the people listened to Him with great enjoyment.