“Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.””” (Mark 12:29-30).
Oliver Wendell Holmes spoke of “the simplicity on the other side of complexity” — understanding all the complications and details so well that you can explain them in a way anyone can grasp. Jesus summarized the 613 commands of the Old Testament into one on which all the others hang. He boiled down 419,687 words into a couple of sentences, answering our most essential questions, like “Why am I here?” “What’s the Bible all about?” And, “What does God want?” The Greatest Commandment (and “the second” — Mark 12:31) is a Christian’s compass, pointing always to true north. But when people talk about Jesus’ answer to the scribe’s question about the greatest commandment, they often skip the first part of the answer. This commandment comes from one of the most treasured Scripture passages in Jewish culture, both in Jesus’ time and today. Placing the commandment in its original context helps us understand all that Jesus’ hearers would have had in mind when he cited it.
The Commandment Before the Greatest Commandment
This passage takes its common name from the first word — “Hear” — or in Hebrew, Shema. Many Jews recited the Shema daily as a sacred morning and evening prayer. It begins with a call to pay attention, listen, and understand, calling you by your new people’s covenantal name (Gal. 3:29, 6:16). “Hear, O Israel.” But after it calls you by name, it calls God by his name, “The LORD” (YHWH). At the burning bush, God told Moses, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exod. 3:14). But when he told Moses his name, he repeatedly promised his presence with his people, not only saying, “I AM,” but “I am with you” (3:11-12, 13-15, 4:12, 4:13-15). The “I AM” is a God who comes near (Deut. 4:7). Yet, he isn’t just “The LORD,” he’s also “your God.” This word (Elohim) describes all that is divine, transcendent, and heavenly. The Bible starts with the words, “In the beginning, God [Elohim] created” (Gen. 1:1). As both Yahweh and Elohim, Jesus said “I AM from above” (John 8:23). But He also said “Lo, I am with you” (Matt. 28:20). The Lord Our God, Yahweh Elohim, so far beyond us, yet so close to us.
There seem to be two ideas in the phrase “the LORD is One.” First, the Lord is THE one. He is the Only One, the Unique True God. So in the Greatest Commandment, we love ONLY HIM as God; no other comes before him. Second, the Lord IS ONE. His character is one. He has integrity and consistency. He is one whether He deals with you or me, whether I meet Him today or tomorrow. He is always the same God, never divided within His mind or heart. So, we, too, are directed to wholeness in our love for Him. We are consistent, inwardly and outwardly, undivided in heart, mind, and strength (Deut. 6:5).
The Greatest Commandment
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). Love requires keeping God’s commandments (Deut. 11:1, John 14:15), and keeping the commandments means loving God (Deut. 11:13). So love is more than just the feeling of love: our affection, admiration, and desire for God. But don’t think Biblical love doesn’t include an emotional bond with God. Otherwise, the Bible wouldn’t use this Hebrew word. This “love” captures our “heart” and “soul” — the whole inner person. But it also requires the “might*” of our outer person, as we give all our physical strength and ability in obedience. This love excludes nothing.
The Commandment After the Greatest Commandment
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6-9). We put “these words” within and around us. Think of “these words” as a series of concentric circles. In the center is the Greatest Commandment (6:5 — “love the Lord” and 6:4 — “Hear, O Israel“). But around that circle, “these words” may expand to include the Ten Commandments (“Ten Words,” cf. Deut. 5:22) because Moses just spent the previous chapter repeating what God wrote on stone tablets (Deut. 5:1-22). More broadly, “these words” could refer to all of Deuteronomy with all its covenant instructions. The Ten Commandments summarize the covenant, and the Greatest Commandment (6:4-5) summarizes the Ten Commandments. No wonder Jesus called it the “most important” — it was the center of the Old Covenant and remained the center of the New (Mark 12:28-30)!
At a basic level, putting these words “on your heart” could mean memorizing them. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Christ responded, “It is written,” and quoted Deuteronomy each time (Matt. 4:1-11). Where did he find these words? On his heart. Because he had memorized these words (maybe the whole book of Deuteronomy), they were ready in his moment of trial. But when words are “on our heart,” they aren’t just memorized facts but guiding truths we live by (cf. Prov. 7:2-3). After you take these words in, you must repeat them “to your children” (Deut. 6:7). Where should you repeat them? At home and outside it. When? First thing in the morning and last thing at night, and (we can infer) all the time between. Each generation has a responsibility to the next to tell of God’s gracious deeds and commandments (Ps. 78:4-6).
Finally, we must integrate these words into our lives. To “bind them” on “your hand” is to let the words direct what we do. Anything “between your eyes” would affect everything you see, shaping your perception of the world. Words written “on the doorposts of your house” would guide life within the home. And words “on the gates” would weave God’s will into God’s entire community.