Greatest Commandment | Matthew 22:34-40

The Greatest Commandment

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 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.”

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How many times have you heard the phrase, “actions speak louder than words,” or the quote from Maya Angelou, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

In this passage Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is, but he responds with two. The first is to love God and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. But are those really two separate commands or are they just one? I think it is one.

Every day, we can open social media, watch the news, or open our front doors and see Christian Nationalism right in our face. People proclaim that they are Christian and love God, but their actions are not Christ-like. They harass people in the streets, deny food and water to those illegally detained, pass laws that threaten the personhood of our trans siblings, and so much more. I’m sure there are people in your life that boast about what a great Christian they are, but their actions do not reflect it. These are the people that give Christianity a bad rap because their actions do not match their words and they make people feel less than.

For me, my faith is something that I am proud of and will talk about, but it is never something that I force upon people. Instead, I live by the song “They Will Know We are Christians by Our Love.” I hope that my actions emulate Christ in a way that lets others know that they are beloved children of God. Faith isn’t just a noun; it is also a verb. Loving God is not enough. You must also show the love that God gives us to your neighbors.

For the rest of Lent, I challenge you to intentionally find a way to extend Christ’s love to a random person each day. Let your actions speak louder than your words and let the person you interacted with feel the love of God without you saying that you are a Christian. 

Allison Vanisko

2nd year camper

Linden Heights UMC & The Table Towson, Baltimore MD