One event, four witnesses
The Greatest Commandment
Asked which is the greatest commandment, Jesus joins love for God and love for neighbor as the sum of the Law. Matthew and Mark record the question in Jerusalem; Luke records a similar exchange that leads into the parable of the Good Samaritan.
“But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.”Matthew 22:34
“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?”Mark 12:28
“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”Luke 10:25
The event
The event. In Matthew and Mark, during the last week in Jerusalem, a scribe or a lawyer among the Pharisees asks Jesus which is the great, or the first, commandment of all. Jesus answers by joining two texts from the Law: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, from Deuteronomy, and to love your neighbor as yourself, from Leviticus. On these two commandments, He says, hang all the Law and the prophets. In Mark the scribe warmly agrees that these are greater than all burnt offerings and sacrifices, and Jesus tells him he is not far from the kingdom of God. In Luke's account a lawyer stands up to test Jesus, asking what he must do to inherit eternal life; Jesus turns the question back, the lawyer himself recites the two love commandments, and Jesus commends the answer. But wanting to justify himself, the lawyer asks, "Who is my neighbour?" and Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan, ending with the charge to go and do likewise. The double command of love stands in every version as the heart of God's will.
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs. All three record the same twofold command, love of God and love of neighbor, as the summary of the Law, and all draw on Deuteronomy and Leviticus. In Matthew and Mark the setting is Jerusalem in the final week, amid a series of testing questions, and Jesus Himself pronounces the two commandments in answer to the scribe. Mark uniquely records the scribe's approving response and Jesus' word that he is near the kingdom, a warmer note than Matthew, who casts the questioner as testing Him. Luke's account is genuinely different in setting and tone. It occurs earlier, the questioner is a lawyer who rises to tempt Him, the exchange concerns inheriting eternal life, and it is the lawyer, not Jesus, who first states the two commandments, with Jesus affirming them. Then Luke alone carries the exchange forward into the parable of the Good Samaritan, prompted by the lawyer's self-justifying question about who counts as a neighbor. Some readers ask whether Luke describes the same occasion; it is most naturally understood as a distinct incident, since Jesus surely taught the summary of the Law more than once, and the settings and questioners differ. The differences are of occasion and emphasis, not of doctrine; in every case the two loves are one indivisible command.
What it shows of Christ
What it shows of Christ. Jesus reveals Himself as the true interpreter of the Law, cutting through endless debate to its living center: love for God and love for neighbor, inseparably joined. He shows that the whole of Scripture's commands hang on love, not as sentiment but as the wholehearted devotion of the whole person to God and the active seeking of the neighbor's good. Mark's Gospel of the servant records His generous word to a sincere scribe, near the kingdom, showing that Christ welcomes honest seekers. Luke, the Gospel of compassion and the outsider, extends the teaching into the Good Samaritan, where the despised foreigner, not the priest or Levite, embodies neighbor-love, so that Christ redefines who our neighbor is and shatters the boundaries we draw. Matthew shows the King silencing His testers with the Law's true weight. In every version Jesus does not merely teach this love; He is on His way to embody it fully at the cross, loving God with all His being and His neighbors to the end.
Questions people ask
Is Luke describing the same conversation as Matthew and Mark?
Most naturally it is a distinct occasion. In Matthew and Mark the setting is Jerusalem in the final week and Jesus states the two commandments; in Luke the setting is earlier, the questioner asks about inheriting eternal life, the lawyer himself recites the commandments, and the exchange leads into the Good Samaritan. Jesus surely taught the summary of the Law more than once, and the differing settings and questioners point to different incidents.
Why does Luke connect the greatest commandment to the Good Samaritan?
In Luke the lawyer, seeking to justify himself, asks, "Who is my neighbour?" Jesus answers with the parable, in which a despised Samaritan, not the priest or Levite, proves neighbor to the wounded man. Luke, whose Gospel dwells on compassion and the outsider, uses the parable to explode narrow definitions of neighbor and to press the command to go and do likewise.