Reflection for Gospel reading -- 26 Oct 2014

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus is put to the test -- again.
The pharisee asks:

“Teacher,^* which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

Jesus' answer is taken from the Torah.

He said to him,^* “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

 

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

This is a citation from Deuteronomy, and is a well known Jewish prayer.

 Jesus continues:

The second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

This is a citation from Leviticus.

Leviticus is the first book of the laws of God, (not the first book of the Torah) while Deuteronomy is second law.  In this we can see the saying fulfilled, the last shall be first, and the first last.