The people really liked Jesus because his teaching spoke to their hearts. Jesus understood their situation and talked to them and treated them with respect. The Sadducees tried to trick Jesus with a complex question. Jesus answered the question in a way that made the Sadducees look ridiculous.
The Pharisees heard that the Sadducees attempt failed so they decided to test Jesus by asking him a question that would difficult to answer. This way they could trap him and make him look bad in the eyes of the people. If they succeeded, it would be something they could hold over the Sadducees.
But it didn’t work out for them. Jesus saw through their deceit and gave an answer they had to accept. The first commandment is to “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind.” The second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.
First, we must love God because God is love. The love that God has for everyone flows out to all people. Since we are born in God’s image, we are at our best when we love too. Jesus told us to “Love others as we love ourselves”. If we love God with all our heart, soul and mind; we will automatically love others.
Loving others is very difficult at times. There always seems to be a couple of people who get to us regardless of how hard we try to kind. A family member (and they are usually the worst), the co-worker, the neighbor and even the stranger whether they are the homeless person or the obnoxious clerk at the store.
And yet, Jesus commanded us to love that difficult person. This coming week, let us select a person that is difficult to love and pray that God will help us to understand them better, to try to see life from the situation that they are living and to help our hearts reach out to them in love.
