But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. - Matthew 22:34-40

Jesus has been asked for the one greatest commandment, but when He answers He gives two. The first being Love the Lord, and the second being Love thy Neighbor. Why does the Christ answer two when He has only been asked for one? How can there be two greatest commandments?

Because I believe that the two are actually one. The greatest way we love the Lord is through loving our Neighbor; and when we love our Neighbor, we are also loving the Lord. My heart tells me that it is impossible to love one, and not the other. For who can truly love God and hate his Neighbor? And who can truly love his Neighbor and not be with God?

What man can say, I love God only and not my Neighbor? Such a man is only halfway to heaven, for he has forsaken his brethren on earth. And what man can say, I love my Neighbor only but not God? Such a man is still of the earth and knows not of heaven. Men like these are only half full; half full of love and half full of non-love. They live half filled with light, and half filled with darkness. Because they know one and not the other, and love one and not the other. But true love is not selective, and does not say, I love only this far, and no further, or I love this one, but not that one.

A rich father and his child are walking along a road, when the child falls into a ditch. The rich father calls for help to any who can hear, Save my child, and I shall hold a banquet for you at my mansion. One man walks by and says, I will not save your child, but I wish to go to your mansion. Another man walks by and says, I will save your child, but I will not go to your mansion. The last man walks by and says, I will save your child, and if it be your will, I will go to your mansion. And so the last man saved the child and lived forever after in the mansion of the rich father and His child.

And so it is that I believe Loving the Lord and Loving thy Neighbor are one, for the Father and His children are of one family. This is why it is said that what we do to the Father, we do also to the Son and His children. And what we do to His children, we do also to the Son and His Father. And so to love the first and the greatest, we must also love the last and the least, because the last and the least come from the first and the greatest. And as we love the last and the least, we also love the first and the greatest. For true love knows no rank, and does not withhold itself because one is first or last, great or least.

If the Christ had answered Love the Lord only, or Love thy Neighbor only, He would have said so if that were true. But He said neither alone, because neither stands alone, and neither can be alone. Just as the Christ was the Love of God manifested in man, so is Love of the Lord manifested through Love of thy Neighbor. And as the Christ died for His Neighbor and returned to the Father, so it is that love of thy Neighbor delivers us to the love of the Lord. Love of the Lord naturally extends to love of thy Neighbor, and love of thy Neighbor naturally expands to love of the Lord. For true love knows no limits.

And so it is that the Christ answered two, because most of us born with the eyes of men are not able to see that both are one. We believe that God and Neighbor are separate, so that when we see God we do not see our Neighbor, and when we see our Neighbor we do not see God. We do not see that every Neighbor is of the One Father, and the One Father is in every Neighbor. And so it is that for most men, the one are two, and so the Christ answered two, but in truth the two are one. But blessed are those who, when they see God, can also see their Neighbor. And blessed are those who, because they see their Neighbor, can also see God.

Evan Lyn

A part-time teacher, a part-time writer. A non-profit individual.