Listen and Forgive: SALT's Commentary for Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost (Year A): Matthew 22:34-46

Big Picture:

1) This is the fifth week focusing on the back-and-forth in the Jerusalem Temple between Jesus and various religious and civic authorities, all of which takes place over a two-day sit-in or “teach-in” in the Temple by Jesus, his entourage, and the accompanying Palm Sunday crowds. This week, the final round: a last question from a group of religious leaders, and a last question from Jesus.

2) The duels so far have consisted largely of the authorities trying to discredit Jesus by testing his knowledge and trying to entrap him — and so it’s a fitting reversal that he finishes out the struggle by stumping them with a scriptural riddle.

3) It was a common exercise among religious scholars of the day to debate which of the 613 commandments in the law is “the greatest,” meaning the one that sums up the essence of the whole, or serves as the hub at the center of them all. The so-called “Shema” (or “Listen”) figured largely in Israelite liturgy and life: “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 your neighbor as yourself” is from Leviticus 19:18, a relatively minor commandment among the 613, but at the same time one sometimes exalted as quintessential (for example, Rabbi Akiva is on record doing just that in the first century (b. Nedarim 9.4), and Luke reports that “a lawyer,” not Jesus, exalts the same commandment, as if doing so was a widespread piece of Jewish wisdom (Luke 10:27)).

4) The context of Leviticus 19 is worth bearing in mind, since it indicates what sort of “love” Jesus is referencing. The verses just prior to 19:18 command Israel to leave gleanings in the fields both for the impoverished and for immigrants, and to refrain from dishonesty, stealing, mistreating the disabled, corruption, slander, hatred — and finally, in verse 18 itself, vengeance: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Lev 19:18).

5) Likewise, the context of Deuteronomy 6:5 is worth remembering: here the “love” God commands is to be manifest in “keeping all God’s decrees and commandments, so that your days may be long” (Deut 6:2). That is, the law is given not as an arbitrary list of “thou shalts and shalt nots,” but rather as a listener’s guide to vibrant, healthy communal life.

Scripture:

1) What turns out to be the last question for Jesus from his opponents is, appropriately enough, an ultimate question: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Matt 22:36). The query is explicitly “to test” Jesus, to see if his knowledge and judgment are up to snuff — and Jesus responds by citing Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, a wise, insightful, and learned response, though not a particularly provocative one. Matthew is consistently concerned with presenting Jesus as a consummate Jew, and accordingly, Jesus’ answer here demonstrates his standing as a brilliant rabbi with deep knowledge of the tradition. Indeed, the fact that his opponents don’t respond indicates that they find his answer both conventional and satisfactory. In short, he passes the test.

2) That said, there’s an undercurrent of irony here: for throughout this day of public debate in the Temple, Jesus’ opponents have been doing anything but modeling obedience to the commandment in Leviticus 19:18, or indeed to the spirit of Leviticus 19 as a whole. What happens next (in next week’s passage; stay tuned!) is that Jesus excoriates them in no uncertain terms — and the evocation of Leviticus 19 here lays groundwork for that critique.

3) It’s also interesting that Jesus changes “all your might” to “all your mind” — perhaps a subtle dig at the way his opponents are using their intellectual gifts for treacherous purposes, and a warning for us to take care not to do the same (compare Deut 6:5 and Matt 22:37)!

4) Jesus’ key figure of speech is telling: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt 22:40). The Mishnah, a collection of Jewish legal and exegetical teaching, includes the idea that the world “hangs” on the Torah — and here Jesus is saying, in effect, that the Torah itself “hangs” on extravagantly loving God and neighbor.

5) Finally, Jesus asks a closing question of his own, stumping his opponents with a biblical conundrum: if the Messiah is “the Son of David,” then why does David in Psalm 110:1 (David was presumed to be the author of the Psalms) call him “Lord”? In those days, sons called fathers “Lord,” but not the other way around. Remember, the authorities have been trying to trip Jesus up all day in one theological trap or another; here Jesus gives them a taste of their own medicine — and “from that day,” they don’t “dare ask him any more questions” (Matt 22:46).

Takeaways:

1) Many Christians have heard Jesus sum up the law with this twofold command to love God and neighbor; it’s one of the most familiar of his teachings. Less familiar, though, is just what sort of “love” Jesus has in mind.

2) First, it’s a love that looks like listening, keeping God’s commandments for the sake of personal and communal wellbeing. And second, its a love that looks like kindness, generosity, and respect for our neighbors — and in particular, it looks like eschewing all claims to “vengeance” and “bearing grudges.” As a bloody, heartbreaking war breaks out in Israel and Gaza, and (as we saw last week) as a divisive election season in the United States heats up, this kind of love is worth underscoring.

3) How might we sum up the first of these two forms of love? With the word Shema or “Listen,” remembering that Jesus is evoking the idea of keeping the law not as a catalogue of duties, but as a gift God gives us for the sake of healthy communal life. And how might we sum up the second? With the word “forgive,” remembering that Jesus is evoking the merciful spirit of Leviticus 19 in general, and the call to eschew all forms of “vengeance” and “grudge bearing” in particular. Listen and forgive.

4) Finally, for Jesus, the whole law, and indeed the whole world, “hang” on these two kinds of love. For us, this means that manifesting such love isn’t just another task on our to-do list — it should be the underlying, organizing mission of the entire list, and the twin lenses, the eyeglasses through which we see the whole Bible and the whole world. The good news of the Gospel this week is that God has made us to love in these ways. And the challenge of the Gospel this week is to do so with clarity and commitment, day in and day out, so that our lives embody and proclaim the twofold love of God and neighbor. Listen and forgive!