This passage is fascinating to me for a couple of reasons.
First, this is one of the few passages in the Gospels where a Jewish leader is commended by Jesus. The teacher of the law had heard Jesus’ previous debate with both the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The teacher was impressed with Jesus’ answer and that seem to prompt him to ask a sincere question: “What is the most important commandment?” He wasn’t trying to trap Jesus. He wanted to hear Jesus.
Jesus answers with two commandments, first to love God will all your heart. Here he quotes Deut 6:4,5. Jesus then quotes Lev 19:18, to love your neighbor as yourself. He connects the two commandments. The natural flow of loving God is loving your neighbor.
The teacher of the law replies that Jesus has answered well and then adds the interesting phrase, “is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” He understands that all commandments flow from the two commandments that Jesus quoted. Jesus then notes that the man is not far from the kingdom of God, seeming to encourage the man to reflect more on the answer.
Those who truly love God know that they are not righteous before him. Their sin constantly reminds them they are not. Those who don’t love God, especially the religious who don’t, all believe at some level they can be righteous before God through their own works. This is why the Jewish leaders created so many man made laws and interpretations of God’s law. Their human heart was desperate to be righteous before God and so it constructed a system of righteousness, which really isn’t righteous at all.
The teacher of the law understood at least that obeying these laws was nothing compared to loving God. He understood loving God was primary over everything. He was not far from the Kingdom because he was starting to see that obeying laws didn’t make him righteous before God. The next step would be to see that nothing he could do would make him righteous before God and that he would have to trust God to do that.
Second, I am struck by what prompted this teacher to ask a sincere question. It wasn’t Jesus being nice. It was Jesus speaking truth. In fact Jesus was insulting to the Sadducees. He effectively called them stupid, in public. As far as the culture around them knew the Sadducees were very smart people. Jesus called them fools.
And yet, it was this interaction that caused the teacher of the law to ask a sincere question. He wasn’t bothered by the way Jesus insulted the Sadducees. He was impressed by Jesus’ understanding of the law. He was moved by the truth.
The application here is to focus on knowing and telling the truth. Knowing and sharing the truth is more important that being nice or winsome. The goal isn’t to be rude but don’t let niceness get in the way of truth telling. People are moved by the Spirit through exposure to truth and love, not niceness.
Dear Jesus, help me and my family always see your goodness to us.
Grandpa
A Grandpa's Musings 
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