Week 28 Matthew 23
Jesus was asked a test question: which is the greatest commandment in the Law?. His reply was that there was a hierarchy of laws:
Law #1: love God
Law #2: love your neighbour.
Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. So all of the hundreds of other laws were suspended on those two – all subordinated to the two Primary Directives.
The 10 Commandments are a pretty good example of the connection between personal actions and the Big Two:
The first few commands spelled-out what I do concretely to show that I love the Lord (for instance: I don’t manufacture an idol). That’s a visible action of love-for-the-Lord.
The second group of commandments show what it looks like to love people (I don’t kill them. Don’t have random sexual intercourse with them. Don’t steal their property).
[I wondered if all of the laws could be ranked from top to bottom – but I figured that’s likely impossible and beside-the-point.]
But what I know is the top two laws – the Greatest & the Second Greatest. All the rest are subsidiaries to the Big Two – all my specific behaviours cascade down from there. And conversely I think that all my individual actions can be broken down and examined (kind of deconstructed or back engineered) to see how – or if – what I’m doing reconnects to either loving the Lord or loving other people.
Note: quotes from Matthew 22:36 40 (NIV)