When Jesus is asked by a scribe to name the single most important Commandment, he answers by citing not one, but two Commandments: to love God and to love neighbor. The scribe agrees with the answer. All this might seem a bit odd to us—wasn’t Jesus supposed to pick just one Commandment? Perhaps the message here is that we can’t really separate these two Commandments from one another—they come as a unit. It is impossible to “love God with all your heart” if you do not “love your neighbor as yourself,” and vice versa. God is in our neighbor—yes, even in the noisy one who plays loud music late at night. Do your best to live up to the greatest Commandment. Love God with all your heart—it’s the neighborly thing to do.
Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34 (241).
“There is no other commandment greater than these."