It was spring. Trees were in bloom and birds were singing. Jesus tirelessly explained his teaching to the people in Jerusalem. Many organized attempts had been made to discredit him and present his teaching in an unfavorable light to the people. Time and again, in the run-up to the last Passover, Pharisees, Sadducees, or supporters of other religious parties posed crafty questions to him and tried to dispute his words. Another attempt in the Temple courtyard was made by one of the Pharisees, who asked Jesus which commandment of the Law of Moses was the greatest.
Jesus answered with a quotation: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There are no commandments greater than these two.
The teacher of the law seemed to be a reasonably sensible man, and seeing that Jesus had answered essentially faultlessly and deeply, he decided not to object but, on the contrary, to express his agreement in front of the witnesses. The Pharisee said, “Well said, Teacher. You are right in saying that God is one, and there is no other God but Him. To love Him with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself — this is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Jesus, in turn, seeing how wisely the teacher of the law had answered, told him that he was “not far from the kingdom of God.”
Perhaps here we might ask Jesus: “What does it mean to love God?” Can a sacrifice not be an expression of love for God? Jesus did not put love for God and love for people on the same level by accident. These two commandments are united by the idea of love for the person. If we “love” God merely as a judge or an official figure, or as an impersonal force or an abstract metaphysical spirit, that is not what is needed. Love for God is tested by love for other people: we must understand a person as an individual, accept them, and try not to reject or turn away.
Love for God always transforms a person from within: it makes one gentler, more open, freer from selfishness. Ritual may be correct and beautiful, but it does not change a person if it remains an external action. Love, however, always changes inner motivation: a person begins to see in another not an object but the same precious soul that God loves. Therefore the chief sign of love for God is not the number of prayers or the exactness of ritual, but the heart’s ability to reflect the character of the One we serve.
Love for God is love for His person. And His person was most fully revealed in the person of Jesus. There is no need to worry about various religious rites and ancient traditions. The main question is: do we know God as a person? Love for another human being is the contemplation of a unique personality, and it is the dress rehearsal before the beginning of contemplating the unique personality of God.
After the Pharisee’s question that day, no one attempted to put tricky questions to Jesus anymore. Jesus was unbeatable in public debates of that kind — and it is not surprising: before truths of universal significance all reasonable people fall silent.
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