Which Commandment is Greater?

One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked Him, "Which command is most important of all?
"This is the most important," Jesus answered:
Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is One. Love the Lord your a God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
The second is: love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other command greater than these."
Then the scribe said to Him, "You are right, Teacher! You have correctly said that He is One, and there is no one else except Him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices."
When Jesus saw that he answered intelligently, He said to Him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Mark 12:28-34

At last, an intelligent man. This man was a thinker, a searcher of truth. He apparently loved scripture. Many would have learned scripture by rote but this man learned it by heart. It think today when we use the phrase: 'learned it by heart,' does not necessarily mean there was any heart in it. On the contrary, it usually means parrot fashion.

In other gospels Jesus had been asked which were the most important commands and Jesus has said these two sum up all the others. If we love  God, genuinely love Him, then we will not abuse Him, His creation or our neighbours.

Loving others like we love ourselves would mean, generally, we give them more grace when they fail us, we allow others to be selfish, just as we allow ourselves and we give understanding.

I wonder what this man's name was.

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