So this is interesting. The summary of the whole law of Moses, when summarized; “loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength; and loving neighbor as myself” occurs in the first three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But there is a difference. Matthew and Mark are parallel to one another. Luke is not.
In the first two gospels, Jesus summarizes the Law.
In Matthew, it is by challenge; "Which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus replies. Then He remarks that all the rest of the law and the prophets, (understand that to mean
the bible of Jesus, Old Testament) hang on these verses.
In Mark, it is a consideration of primacy; "Which commandment is first?" In Mark, Jesus remarks that there is no other
commandment greater than these. There
are slight variations in the text, but the point is very clear. Two commandments, with the greater weight
laid to the first, to Love God.
But it is easy to miss the gospel parallel in Luke. First of all, the summary of the law is
buried in the introduction of what is arguably Jesus’ most famous parable. Secondly, in this version, Jesus is not the
one who lays out the summary of the law.
This time, a lawyer challenges Jesus on how to inherit eternal
life. Jesus, being Jesus, flips the question. What does the law say…lawyer? This time, it is the lawyer who provides the
summary of the law. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and
your neighbor as yourself.”
In Matthew and Mark, Jesus ends the debate with these words. This time, we go a step further. “So who’s my neighbor?” Seems like a very ‘lawyerly’ interpretive
question to ask to clarify (or confuse) the issue. This, in turn, led to the story of the Good
Samaritan. Notice, the lawyer did NOT
touch the question of loving God with a ten-cubit pole. The only apparent legal weakness in the
debate was over the term ‘neighbor’.
What do we do with parallel stories that don’t match up
cheek to jowl? I think there are a few
ways to look at them. The first is ‘in
context’. How does each story fit into the
context of its own gospel? These are all
rather short portions inset into longer pieces.
What is the flow? What is writer inspired
to share with us? Where does it take
place in the gospel? Pre or Post Palm
Sunday? Yes, that’s a thing. Taken together, there are 68 chapters in the first three gospels (of 1189 in the WHOLE bible). And in John, the writer supposes there is not enough paper in the world to write down everything Jesus did. So, every word counts.
Or we can look at them side by side. The thing that connects these three is the
summary of the law. What do we learn
about that summary? What is the bigger
picture of this key connection between the bible of Jesus and the bible of the
Church? What is the nuance of the
difference? What is the connection of
the similarity? How is this reflected in
the life and personhood of Jesus? How
should it be reflected in our own lives and personhoods?
Or we can dig back into the ‘law’ in the bible of
Jesus. There is a LOT of law there. How do these two statements draw together the
meaning and intent of what came before?
How the meaning and intent of the law drawn together into Jesus with
these 2 that summarize the whole law and the prophets?
Finally, or maybe as the place to start, be reminded that the
call to love God comes because God first loved us.
pastor pete
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