The Second Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:35-40

35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus seemed to invoke trouble no matter where he went during his ministry. Every time Jesus opened his mouth to speak, the "religious leaders" of the times, the pharisees, were trying to find something they could use against him.

The previous passage is no exception, as the pharisees were attempting to corner Jesus and make him say something incriminating. As it turns out, this is remarkably difficult to do when the questioned is omniscient. Jesus lays out two Old Testament passages that beautifully highlight the purpose of the Christian in as few words as possible.

1. Love God wholeheartedly
2. Love others as yourself

Who could possibly argue with that? Even today, those who would find fault with those two teachings are few and far between. With all this talk of love the pharisees must have been feeling pretty good right? You might even think Jesus went over and gave them a big hug and invited them all over for an evening of pleasant, loving conversation with the disciples that night. However, you would be wrong. Jesus goes on to tear them a new one in (Matthew 23). Seriously, I think this is the worst tongue lashing in New Testament.

I say all this to bring about a twofold point in why this Blog exists. First and foremost if we love God then we are going to do what he says.

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

We cannot say we truly love God unless we obey His Word. Accountability starts at the great commandment to love God with every fiber in your being, every step, every breath, every thought should be to glorify Him. If we do this, then the second greatest commandment just falls into place naturally.

So how does love for fellow man, love for God, and the severe tongue lashing all go together? Christian accountability is about love, and love is messy, not warm and fuzzy. Don't get me wrong love is awesome, and can be warm and fuzzy at times, but for the most part it is down right messy. Christians ought to love each other enough to be willing to get their hands dirty. We need to be willing to help our brothers when they are down yes, but we also need to have the courage to correct, and be corrected in love when necessary. Jesus may look like he is just attacking the pharisees, but he is really giving them a chance to repent. Had they done so, he would have embraced them with compassion.

This kind of accountability makes us uncomfortable, and that is why it is the second greatest commandment. It takes a divine kind of love to pull this off without becoming like one of the pharisees. Jesus' love was never pretentious because he understood the nature of what was at stake (Matthew 16:24-28). We cannot afford to be pretentious or superficial in our relationships toward each other because eternity hangs in the balance. If we do not commit ourselves first to the Lord Jesus Christ wholeheartedly, we can never have the kind of honest fellowship with each other we were meant to have.