Jesus explains about God's most important commands
28 One of the teachers of God's Law came near to the group of people. He heard Jesus speaking with the leaders. The teacher knew that Jesus had answered them well. So then the teacher asked Jesus, ‘Which command is the most important among God's laws?’
29 Jesus replied, ‘This is the most important command: “Listen, Israel's people! The Lord alone is our God. There is no other Lord. 30 Love the Lord your God completely. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength. Love him in everything that you think and you do.” 31 The second most important command is this: “You should love other people as much as you love yourself.” No other commands are as important as these two.’
12:29Israel's people were the descendants of Jacob, who was also called Israel. Jacob's 12 sons became the ancestors of Israel's 12 tribes. The land that God gave to them as their home was called Israel.
32 The teacher of God's Law said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, you have answered well. You are right to say that the Lord is the only God. And there is no other God except him. 33 We must love him completely, with all our mind and with all our strength. We must also love other people as much as we love ourselves. This is more important than all the gifts or animals that we could offer to God.’
34 Jesus heard that the man had answered well. So Jesus said to him, ‘You are almost ready for God to rule in your life.’ After that, everybody was afraid to ask Jesus any more questions.
