In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus is engaged in a conversation with the religious leaders of His time, the Pharisees, who attempt to trap Him by asking, 

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  - Matthew 22:34-40

The phrase “the Law” summarizes the entirety of the Old Testament. At that time, it was common for Jewish Rabbis to debate which commandments were “weighty” and which were “light”.  Jesus responds by reciting the Shema, a foundational Jewish prayer found in Deuteronomy 6:5: 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” - Deuteronomy 6:5

The Shema was recited twice daily and was understood to express the all-encompassing duty of a faithful Jew. To love God, Jesus emphasizes, is not merely about emotion or affection; it is the total surrender of oneself. Our heart, soul, and mind are not separate compartments but interconnected expressions of who we are. 

Love for God, then, is not emotional enthusiasm as we often interpret it today, but a holistic, committed posture of our entire being.

  Jesus continues by quoting Leviticus 19:18: 

“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” - Leviticus 19:18

Like the first commandment, this is not about affection or abstract kindness. In Jesus’s teaching, love requires responsibility. To love someone is to give what is truly needed. Just as we care for ourselves and seek to align our lives with God’s will, we are called to do the same for others, to take up the care and responsibility of their flourishing in God’s design. 

The abundant life Jesus promises empowers His disciples to live according to the Creator’s design: in right relationship with both God and others. This is the linchpin of the entire Old Testament: love of God and love of our neighbor. 

One fulfills the teachings of law and the prophets by demonstrating this kind of love. But if love is the center of the Christian life, how do we become people capable of that kind of love? It seems simple in theory, yet it often feels distant in practice. Many of us don’t truly know how to love God or others because, at our core, we don’t understand what love actually is. 

Love is an unconditional commitment to a person, a self-giving posture that aims to bring the relationship into unity with God’s purposes.

If we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, we will begin to discern His will for our lives. We will obey Him, not unenthusiastically, but eagerly and with delight because in doing so, we live the life God intended us to live. 

As we walk in obedience, our heart, soul, and mind are gradually transformed by the Spirit into the image of Christ. We will walk in greater alignment with who we were created to be. Loving our neighbor as ourselves means giving ourselves for the good of others, helping them flourish according to God’s design. When we live this way, we participate in the coming of God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven”. These are still certainly the greatest commandments because they go to the very core of what it means to be human, created in the image of God to live in self-giving love toward God and others. This is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. And this Kingdom life is not just a spiritual ideal; it is meant to be a lived, concrete reality for all who follow Jesus.

That’s why Jesus says, “Come, be with Me.” He invites us into the kind of relationship in which being loved by God himself transforms us, and then He sends us out to embody that love to our neighbor. In coming to Jesus, we learn to love as He loved with undivided hearts, surrendered souls, and renewed minds. Which will fulfill the greatest command and through this love, the Kingdom of God becomes a lived reality, on earth as it is in heaven.