ACC ~ Matthew 22 v34 - 40

OVERVIEW:

Not all who call Jesus Teacher do so appropriately, but only those who have a desire to learn from him. No one is able to say “teacher” properly except a disciple (ORIGEN). The Pharisees joined together as one, seeking to overcome him by force of numbers, since they could not overcome him by rational argument. Yet in the face of the truth, they show themselves to be impotent (INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW). If Christ had not responded to their asking, “What is the greatest commandment of the law?” then we might have concluded that one command was no greater than another. Not only is the greatest commandment to love the Lord, but it is also the first commandment. Worthy is a person, confirmed in all his or her gifts, who exults in the wisdom of God, having a heart full of the love of God, a soul completely enlightened by the lamp of knowledge and a mind filled with the Word of God. Whatever was written in Exodus or Leviticus or Numbers or Deuteronomy depends upon these two commands: to love God and neighbor (ORIGEN). To love God with the whole heart is the cause of every other good (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA).

22:34 | The Sadducees Silenced, the Pharisees Gather

THE MOTIVE IS ENVY, NOT UNDERSTANDING THE LAW

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: After the humiliation of the Sadducees Jesus was highly regarded by the crowds. The Pharisees, filled with envy out of an immeasurable shamelessness, again were testing him, hypocritically asking if he might deliver a ruling concerning the first commandment. By doing so, perhaps Jesus would amend the commandment in a manner that might lead to an accusation against him. Now, Matthew and Luke call the person who asked the question a lawyer, while Mark calls him a teacher of the law. This does not indicate a disagreement. [1] For they both represent the questioner as one learned in the law and as a teacher of the law who is an interpreter of the law to the people. But the Lord publicly reveals their evil. They were not coming to have him interpret the law so that they might benefit but because they were seized by envy. So Jesus teaches that one should not measure out one’s devotion, loving God in part but also clinging in part to the concerns of this world. Through his teaching Jesus said that his commandment was the summary of all the commandments. The lawyer thought he could cast Jesus into danger as one who makes himself out to be God. Jesus failed to respond in the manner he expected, but he ends up praising Jesus, as Mark says. [2] FRAGMENT 251. [3]

[1] Diaphōnia is the technical term for an apparent contradiction between one Gospel and another. See the discussion of Augustine’s Harmony of the Gospels in Matthew 1-13 (ACCS), p. l.

[2] Mk 12:32-33.

[3] MKGK 238.

THE PHARISEES CAME TOGETHER

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: They came at him as one, that is, they overcame him as a crowd, since they could not overcome him by argument. In the face of the truth, they show themselves to be naked. Now they arm themselves with a crowd. For they said to him, One speaks for all and all speak for one, as if when one conquers, all seem to be victors. However, just as one may be a victor, one alone may also be confused. O Pharisees, you know and do everything on account of such men! Indeed, because at first you come as one, so must you be conquered by one alone. With one many were conquered. Yet all do not understand that they have all been conquered by one. Do not your own consciences acknowledge that they are confused? For it is a very superficial consolation for the man confused in his own conscience that he is ignored by others. HOMILY 42. [1]

[1] PG 56:872.

22:35 | A Lawyer Asks a Question

WHO CAN RIGHTLY CALL HIM TEACHER?

ORIGEN: Now let us consider one argument of entrapment: “Teacher,” he says, “what is the greater commandment in the law?” He says “teacher” trying to entrap him, since he offers his thoughts not as a disciple of Christ. This however, will be clearer from an example we now offer. Consider: The father of a son is indeed the father, and no one else is able to call him father except the son; and the mother of a daughter is indeed her mother, and no one else can call her mother except her own daughter. And so the teacher of a disciple is indeed his teacher, and the disciple of a teacher is truly his disciple. As a result, no one is able to say “teacher” properly except a disciple. And see how, on account of this, that not all who call him teacher do so appropriately but only those who have a desire to learn from him. He said to his disciples, “You call me teacher and lord, and rightly so, for so I am.” [1] Therefore disciples of Christ properly indeed address him as teacher, and by this word from the Lord himself his servants rightly call him Lord. Thus the apostle spoke well when he said, “Yet for us there is one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and for whom we exist.” [2] And consider what he says, “It is enough for the disciple to be” not simply like a teacher but “like his teacher.” [3] Therefore if anyone does not learn something from this word or surrender himself with his whole heart, in order to become his delightful dwelling place but still calls him “teacher,” he is brother to the Pharisees attempting to entrap Christ while calling him “teacher.” And so all who say “Our Father who art in heaven” ought not to have “the spirit of slavery in fear but a spirit of the adoption of sons.” [4] However, whoever does not have “the spirit of adoption of sons” and yet says “Our Father who art in heaven” [5] is lying, since he is not a son of God, while calling God his father. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2. [6]

[1] Jn 13:13.

[2] 1 Cor 8:6.

[3] Mt 10:25.

[4] Rom 8:15.

[5] Mt 6:9.

[6] GCS 38.2.11:3.

22:36 | Which Is the Great Commandment?

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT?

ORIGEN: The question itself, however, was this: “What is the greatest command of the law?”—a question of great worth which will allow us to explain something of the differences between these commands. For certain commands are very great, but certain others are secondary. Hence we must look at each right down to the least important of these commands. For if in the baiting of the Pharisees and their asking, “What is the greater commandment of the law?” Christ had not responded, then we would conclude that one command was no greater than another. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2. [1]

[1] GCS 38.2.11:3-4.

22:37 | Loving the Lord Your God

LOVE GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART

ORIGEN: However, now as he responds, he says, “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind.” This is the greatest and the first commandment. His statement contains something necessary for us to know, since it is the greatest. The others—even to the least of them—are inferior to it. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2. [1]

[1] GCS 38.2:4.

HEART, MIND AND SOUL

ORIGEN: Worthy is he, confirmed in all his gifts, who exults in the wisdom of God, having a heart full of the love of God, and a soul completely enlightened by the lamp of knowledge and a mind filled with the word of God. It follows then that all such gifts truly come from God. He would understand that all the law and the prophets are in some way a part of the wisdom and knowledge of God. He would understand that all the law and the prophets depend upon and adhere to the principle of the love of the Lord God and of neighbor and that the perfection of piety consists in love. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4. [1]

[1] GCS 38.2:8.

WITH ALL YOUR HEART

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Therefore the first commandment teaches every kind of godliness. For to love God with the whole heart is the cause of every good. The second commandment includes the righteous acts we do toward other people. The first commandment prepares the way for the second and in turn is established by the second. For the person who is grounded in the love of God clearly also loves his neighbor in all things himself. The kind of person who fulfills these two commandments experiences all the commandments. FRAGMENT 251. [1]

[1] MKGK 238.

22:38-39 | Loving One’s Neighbor

THE SECOND IS LIKE IT

ORIGEN: This he adds since the Pharisees have asked truly “What is the greatest commandment in the law?” The Lord himself responds to them and teaches us. Not only is the greatest commandment to love the Lord, but as well it is the first commandment. It is first, however, not in the order of the Scriptures but in the order of virtue. And as this comes from such a source, it must be adhered to, since as with many established commands, Christ says that it is the first and greatest command that “you love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole mind and your whole soul,” and the second, however, “is like unto” the first; and accordingly, this similitude is also great, “that you love your neighbor as you love yourself.” This is how we understand the second one, while another may be third in magnitude and order, or a fourth, and so in order we number the commands of the law, accepting this as wisdom from God, who orders them even to the least. Such is the task of no one else but Christ alone, since he is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 1:24.

[2] GCS 38.2:4.

22:40 | These Two Commandments

LAW AND PROPHETS IN SUMMARY

ORIGEN: After this you ask how it is that “all the law and the prophets depend upon these two commands.” For it seems that the texts show us that whatever was written in Exodus or Leviticus or Numbers or Deuteronomy depend “upon these two commands.” But how is the law which regards lepers or the continual flow of blood or the menstruation of women dependent “upon these two commands”? And still further, how does the prophecy about captured Jerusalem, [1] or the vision of Egypt in Isaiah [2] and the other prophets, or the vision of Tyre [3] or whatever may be prophesied about Tyre or the king of Tyre, [4] or Isaiah’s vision of the four-footed beasts in the wasteland [5] “depend upon these two commands”?

It seems to me that the answer is something like this. He who fulfills all that is written concerning the love of God and neighbor is worthy to receive the greatest thanks from God.

Concerning this it has been argued that “the utterance of wisdom [comes] through the Holy Spirit,” after which follows “the utterance of knowledge” which is “according to the Spirit.” [6] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4. [7]

[1] Cf. Is 5:1-30.

[2] Cf. Is 19:1-25.

[3] Is 23:1-18.

[4] Ezek 28:12-19.

[5] Is 30:6-7.

[6] 1 Cor 12:8.

[7] GCS 38.2:7-8.