The greatest commandment
A teaching for children · Mark 12:28–31
28Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Context
In Jerusalem, in the last days before the cross, many people asked Jesus hard questions to test him. A scribe, a scholar of the Law of Moses, liked his answers and asked a sincere question: which commandment is the most important? Jewish teachers counted more than six hundred commandments in the Law. Jesus answered by quoting a prayer Jewish families said morning and evening.
What the Bible teaches
Jesus’ answer begins with “Hear O Israel”: before giving a command, God asks for attention. Then comes the greatest commandment: love God with everything. Heart, soul, mind and strength. It’s like saying: with what you feel, with who you are, with what you think and with what you do. No piece is left out.
But Jesus didn’t stop at the first one. He added a second: love your neighbor as yourself. It’s like the two hands of the same person. One reaches up to God, the other reaches out to a brother, a classmate, a neighbor. Whoever says they love God and treats their sister badly is using only one hand.
Loving God isn’t a cold rule. We love because he loved us first, and Jesus showed that love by going all the way to the cross. Loving God with your strength can be putting your toys away cheerfully; with your mind, asking questions about the Bible; with your heart, telling him thank you before bed.
In practice
Make a poster with four boxes (heart, soul, mind and strength). Each day of the week, every person writes down one way to love God and one way to love someone that day.
To talk about
How can we love God with our hands, and not just with our mouths?
Prayer
Lord, I want to love you with everything I am: with what I feel, think and do. Thank you for loving me first. Help me show that love to the people in my home too, even when it’s hard. Amen.
See also: Love.