Relevant Verses: atthew 7, 22, 23; 1 John 4; Micah 6; Psalm 82; Luke 10

Theme: “Love and Justice: The Two Greatest Commandments”

Leading Question: Is it possible to identify the two greatest sins as well as the two greatest commandments?

If we make the two greatest sins parallel with the two greatest commandments, then we can say that the greatest sins would be not loving God and not loving human beings. And Jesus seems to be suggesting a way of bringing the two together: the best way to love God is to love human beings. Two of his statements in the Gospel of Matthew can be helpful in this respect. Matthew 22:34-40 identifies the two great commands, Matthew 7:12 boils the two down into one. Let’s quote these passages one after the other:

Matthew 22:34-40: When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered togaether, 35 and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 7:12: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Many passages in Scripture identify loving God with loving your fellow humans. The memory text for this week, 1 John 4:20, is one of those passages:

1 John 4:20: Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Another passage comes from the prophet Micah:

Micah 6:8: He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?

The only passage that comes close to linking the religious and the social is Matthew 23:23. But even there Jesus calls the social the “weightier” matters of the law:

Matthew 23:23: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.

Question: By saying that the best way of loving God is to love human beings, are we going too far in minimizing the religious and the ritual, that is dumping the tithing completely?

The truth of Psalm 82. The official study guide, immediately after its discussion of Jesus two great commands, reinforces the conclusion we just arrived at, namely, the best way to love God is to love human beings. Psalm 82 points directly to social sins. Indeed, it brings the judgment of the heavenly court down to earth!

Psalm 82: God has taken his place in the divine council;
     in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
     and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
     maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
     deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding;
     they walk around in darkness;
     all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I say, “You are gods,
     children of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
     and fall like any prince.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
     for all the nations belong to you!

Perhaps without realizing it the author of the official study guide has made an iron-clad argument for molding the two parts of the lesson study guide, love and justice into one. Indeed one could say that justice is love and that love is justice.

Who Is My Neighbor. The official study guide adds one more of Jesus parables at the end of this week’s study, namely, the parable of the Good Samaritan. Indeed, as familiar as the story is, it might be good to read the story, Luke10:25-37, out loud together. It is another way of cementing love and justice together.

Question: Perhaps without realizing it, the author of the study guide has brought love and justice together in a way that seemed unlikely when the quarter began. Are you convinced? Where is his argument most likely to be vulnerable?