“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”-Matthew 22:36
Recently I chanced upon a trending video on social media that is rapidly spreading falsehood in the most disarming manner among a wide audience. The speaker is Sadhguru, a self-styled New Age social influencer, whose followers span several religions and cultures, and his topic was about loving one’s neighbour. The appeal was instantaneous as it touched high moral ground, and, since the notion is biblical, he decided to use the example of Jesus and the Bible to prove his point.
His first statement was that it was very easy to love the “man” Jesus who lived 2000 years ago but extremely difficult to love one’s neighbour, especially when one has differences of opinion with them. The next statement, equally misleading, was that Jesus never told anyone to love Him. He only spoke about loving one’s neighbour.
Hidden Agendas
I believe that Sadhguru had a much greater agenda here than simply exhorting his audience to live in peace and harmony with the people next door. Under a very subtle camouflage he was establishing the identity of Jesus as a man who lived and died 2000 years ago, and is remembered by His followers for the good things He advocated. In order to trivialize this remembrance still further, he shreds apart the greatest commandments that Jesus proclaimed in the Bible, completely erasing the first and most important tenet that underlines love of God; and bringing the second commandment –love of neighbour— to the forefront. Like many of the artfully persuasive speakers of his genre, he uses one morally acceptable truth to softly kill another greater and more fundamental biblical truth.
What did Jesus actually say?
It is important to understand how damaging these misquotes and misrepresentations can be to a gullible audience whose biblical understanding is questionable. In order to get the full import of this proclamation by Jesus, we can go right into the context in Mark’s Gospel, where Jesus is answering a question from a Jewish teacher of the Law who wanted to know which among the commandments of God was the greatest. The answer from Jesus is in the form of a declaration to the whole of Israel, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31. All the four gospels carry this message. In John 13, however, the implications and tenor are deeper and we will come to that later.
The first and most important commandment
What Jesus set down as the first and most important commandment was a positive and intense version of the first of the ten commandments that Moses received directly from Yahweh- our Father in Heaven— I am the Lord your God and you shall not have other gods before me. Exodus 20 gives us an elaborate explanation of what God meant by “other gods,” mainly idol worship. Yahweh describes himself as a punishing God to those who disobey this first commandment, but to those who are faithful, He promises that His love will remain with His people beyond a thousand generations.
As we progress through the Old Testament, we understand the full import of this first commandment and its prime position among all the others. Beginning with the Book of Genesis, we see how Abraham’s unflinching faith in God was rewarded and he was chosen to be the Father of a nation that would always be held in special favour by God. Later in the Book of Samuel we encounter the great King David. Though there were many instances where he stepped out of line, breaking the laws against adultery and murder, his saving grace was his lifelong devotion to God, which helped him to come back to his God in penitence. For this he remained in God’s grace and was chosen to be the ancestor of the One to come, Jesus Christ the Redeemer. However, barring a few exceptions, the line of kings that followed David were unfaithful to God and were punished mercilessly time and again for their iniquities and idol worship. And yet, Yahweh has not forgotten His promise to Abraham even to this very day. Today, the Israelites are a strong nation, after having faced multiple attacks from enemy nations, including the holocaust. Yet even now, their faithfulness to their God and his commandments is questionable, considering the atrocities and genocide they have unleashed on innocent victims in the ongoing Gaza war.
The implications of the first commandment
In today’s context, we need to understand what Jesus meant by asking us to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” It means that we have to prioritise our worship and allegiance to God above everything else. Our world today is a mixed pot of ideas, cultures, lifestyles, aspirations, quick fixes, and what have you. Every day beckons us to new destinations, personally and collectively. If we are not firmly anchored with God the Father, and His Son, the Word Incarnate, it is easy to go astray, lost in a labyrinth of worldly ways that lead us away from our eternal home with God.
The second commandment
Having said that, we must also understand that the first commandment is not a standalone instruction. It leads us directly into the execution of the second one that Jesus laid down- ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ John 14:15 gives us the true test of our love for God-“If you love me you will keep my commandments” Most of the commandments deal with our relations with others. If we claim that we love God intensely, it means we are committed to being concerned with those around us. Our love has to speak many languages- those of forgiveness, charity, patience, humility, and kindness. And these flow freely from our love for our Creator. It is enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit that fills us when we commit our whole being to God.
The importance of the second commandment cannot be denied. What we need to understand is that it can only be set in motion by our deepest adherence to the first. John’s gospel speaks of this on another occasion- during the Last Supper-“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34. The Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus was the ransom paid for our redemption from eternal damnation. It is the measure of the love He has for us. This is the love that He expects us to have for each other. Is this humanly possible? Herein lies the connection between the first and second commandment. If we love God with all that we have, and constantly seek Him in our lives, His limitless love will flow to us, and through us to our neighbours and those around us.
Warning against false teachers
There is great depth of meaning in the teachings of Christ. Social media often serves as a platform to influence people in wrong directions. Jesus forewarns us about this species of false prophets-Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.-Matthew 7:15. May we always be on guard against those who can destroy our souls with the guile of the ancient serpent in Paradise.
