My Dear People, 

Today we have an interesting situation. The Pharisees on seeing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, asked one of their learned members, a doctor of the law, to ask Jesus what the greatest commandment was. This passage parallels Mark (12:32-33)where the one who did the questioning calls Jesus Master. 

He acknowledges that what Jesus said was indeed the greatest commandment--"there is no other, than to love God with your whole heart, with your whole understanding, with your whole soul, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, --is  greater  than all holocausts and sacrifices.” To which Jesus answered “you are not far from the reign of God.”

The Laws of that time were many, and there were at least 365 prohibitions. The precepts and prohibitions were consistent in grave and light matters, without making distinction.   However, not all were in agreement which was and was not a serious precept of the law. They were not in accord regarding which precepts ranked above another. 

What Jesus answered was: there were no other precepts similar to the first one, which was, to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”  If one honors and loves God, one must honor one’s neighbor. This, the greatest commandant, is the foundation of all Law. The prophets were selected to recall the souls on the observance of these fundamental precepts. 

Jesus' response must have caused confusion among the Pharisees. The discussion of this must have guided them to change mind and heart. They must have been aware of the Redeemer and soon recognized the way Jesus expressed Himself, and that He loved God. Thinking of the future Messiah, they could have thought that Jesus might be the one. In order to orient their souls toward the truth, Jesus wanted to instruct them to acknowledge that the Messiah would be the Son of God, 

If the Messiah is the son of David, then why did these people call Him Lord? There was only one answer: They called Him Lord because He is truly God. He is the king that rules every kingdom. Evidently the Pharisees were so confused, they did not know what to ask. They did not further interrogate Him. 

[Passages taken from commentary on the Gospel of Matthew by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri.]

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente