Mk 12:28-34
28One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well [Jesus] had answered [the Sadducees], asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” 29Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
HEAR, O ISRAEL!: The Shema (Hebrew for “hear”) is the central expression of Israelite faith, a declaration of faith in Yahweh and of love for the one true God. It is originally Dt 6:4. From the second century AD, it came to include also vv 5-9, 11:13-21, and Nm 15:37-41. This confession of faith is recited morning and evening by Jews to the present. In the pogrom of the Jews by Adolf Hitler, many went to their death reciting the Shema. Dt 6:6-9 orders that it be branded in every Israelite’s heart and soul: drilled into children, spoken of everywhere and always, bound to the wrist, worn on the forehead, and written on doorposts.
Jesus quotes the Shema in responding to the scribe who, like many Jews, is anxious to know which of the 613 prescriptions in the Torah is the most important. The command to love God with one’s whole person and everything in one’s power, Jesus says, is first because the love of God sums up the whole Mosaic Law and gives meaning to their observance. Then Jesus adds a second (taken from Lv 19:18): love of neighbor. He says that these are the two greatest commandments of the Law. Jesus here points out that righteousness does not consist in observing a complex code of laws and customs but in loving God and neighbor.
The scribe agrees with Jesus’ answer, saying that the twofold love matters more than all temple sacrifices. The only thing that now remains is for the scribe to bridge the gap between what he knows and how he lives.