Question: “Which commandment is the first of all?”
The Rabbis enumerated 613 precepts of the Law, 248 commands, and 365 prohibitions that were further considered as “light” or “grave.” The question of the relative importance of these precepts, which included religious laws and ritual ordinances as well as expressions of the natural law, was a subject of discussion among themselves. It is in this environment that Jesus is asked about the most important of them all.
Jesus answered: “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
This precept was quite familiar to the Jews (Deut 6:4) as part of the monotheistic profession of faith that every faithful Israelite recited twice daily. This profession of faith was known as the Shema from the first word of the passage (i.e., Hear!).
Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus, show us a model of the true love of God. Like Martha, we ought to do our best to fulfill the duties of our state of life but we should not, on this account, neglect to hear and meditate on the divine word, as Mary did. “These things you ought to have done, and not leave those undone” (Mat 23:23). Pray and work!
The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The command to love the neighbour, quoted from Lev 19:18 is introduced here because, in the teaching of Christ, it is inseparable from the command to love God. Not only compatriot Jews but all people without exception as explained in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This love ought to be real, practical, and universal.
We cannot, as Martha did, minister to the wants of our Lord himself, but we can and ought to minister to Him in the person of our brothers and sisters, especially those closest to us, as well as the poor and the sick; for whatever we do for these we do for Him (Mat 25:31-46). God bless!