God is commanding His people to love Him! When you think about it, it strikes you that He must really, really want us to love Him! I believe Jesus was thinking, “I don’t know whether my listeners realize how important this is,” so he applied the most supreme accolade or honor he ever used when he said, “On these two commandments hang the Holy Scriptures!” Imagine that. Two things. Just these two things. Loving God with all of your heart and loving other people as you love yourself. On these two commandments alone, the Holy Scriptures hang!
That statement would have astonished those Jewish listeners. It should astonish us too (Matthew 5:17).
It almost seems Jesus understood that people were going to be uneasy with that priority (I was). Again, in Mark 12: 28–31, Jesus talks about the Great Commandment. This time he makes a crystal clear statement. He says, “There is no commandment greater than these!” This is it! Nothing is greater than that in God’s communications with humans! Think about that.
And that is not all Jesus has to say about its supreme importance!
But still, we wonder—“Can these two commands really be that important?”
Consider now the account in Luke 10. Somebody asked Jesus a different question, but the answer was the same. Here is the question. “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” What is more important to us than that? And here is the answer: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” There can be no doubt about it. These two commandments are supremely important to you and me. Do you agree?
The Golden Rule Explained By Peter V. Gregerson, Sr. 