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Do you recall that Quiz programme on the BBC ? Years ago ... only, if you are over three score and ten, you might recall it. The Pharisees would have performed brilliantly if that programme had been aired in the days of Jesus. But they never learned, together with the Saducees, that they could never match the answers given Jesus Christ.

In Matthew it looks like a return to the attacks, on the part of the Pharisees, but looking up Mark, and keeping in mind his style, the Scribe did not ask the question to trip Jesus. He asked it in gratitude that Jesus had confuted the Saducees and to give a chance to Jesus to show how well He could answer such tricky, and malicious, questions. And the passage ends with the Scribe and Jesus on very friendly terms.

We could say that Jesus laid down the definition of Religion. On fact Religion consists ‘in loving God’. HE quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, which is part of the ‘Shema’, the basic and essential ‘creed’ of Judaism. This is the sentence which every Jewish Service starts with; it is also the text which every Jewish child learns by memory.

It is a sentence which tells us that the love we give to God must be ‘total love’; a love which dominates our emotions; a love which directs our thoughts; and a love which is the dynamic of our actions.

The second sentence comes from Leviticus,19:18 our love for God must be shown, transmitted, issue in love for men. But we have to note the order of priority, firstly comes the love for God, and love for men comes secondly. It is only because God loves us that we become lovable, in return we love God and men. Remember that man is not made up of a cocktail of elements, but man is created in the image of God. That is why man is lovable.