What is the single, most important message to preach? Jesus already answered that – to love God with all your heart, mind and soul.

Is seen in contrast to what others thought was important. When a church receives a new pastor, there are many different agendas that can be proposed to him and all out of a good sense of concern and duty. In the Scriptures of Matthew 22, the two questions posed to Jesus about paying taxes and the resurrection were both very important, but not as important as Jesus’ command.

Pharisees wanted to get rid of the Romans, so they asked about if they should pay taxes to Caesar. If Jesus had said that it was unlawful to pay the tax, they would promptly report him to the Roman government officials, as a rebel and his arrest would certainly follow. If he said that it was lawful to pay the tax, he would stand discredited in the eyes of many of his own people, the Jews. The Jews not only resented the tax because of simply human nature to hate taxation, but they resented because Jews viewed God as their king and the only one who they should pay taxes to. To pay taxes to an earthly king was to admit the validity of his kingship and thereby insult God.

Notice the Pharisees and the Herodians combined to make this request. Normally these two parties were in bitter opposition. The Pharisees were the supremely orthodox, who resented the payment of the tax to a foreign king. The Herodians were the party of Herod, king of Galilee, who owed his power to the Romans who put him in power. The Pharisees and the Herodians were strange bed-fellows, but for the moment their differences were put aside for the common hatred of Jesus.

Jesus’ answer was to ask for a coin – a denarius, which was stamped with the Emperor’s head. When new kings came to the throne, he struck his own coinage to authentic his power. Jesus asked whose image is this and they said, "Caesar." He said, "Well then give it back to Caesar, it is his. Give to Caesar what belongs to him and give to God what belongs to God."

His point is that man has dual citizenship. He is a citizen of the country in which he lives and owes allegiances there but he is also a citizen of heaven.

I Peter 2:17 "Fear God. Honor the emperor"

The command of Jesus to love God and others is seen to be more important that any program or push of the church or anyone else in the church.

Sadducees then come up with their attack. They were the wealthy, aristocratic and governing class. In politics, they were quite ready to cooperate with the Romans but with the Jews they accepted only the first five books of the Bible rejecting the prophets and the Psalms. They were the liberals of the day and they did not believe in the resurrection but asked a question of after-life. Since they could not prove an after life from the Pentateuch, they rejected it.

Here they ask a question of absurdity mocking the Pharisees in their beliefs but also seeking to confound Jesus. A woman marries seven brothers and has no children and "In Heaven, whose wife will this much-married woman be?"

Jesus answers by refuting one basic error about Heaven and that is to think of Heaven in terms of earth and in thinking of eternity in terms of time. Heaven is not going to be a continuation or an extension of this world. There will be new and greater relationships, which will far transcend the physical relationships of time.

Jesus uses the Scriptures to let them know that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. The Sadducees, verse 34, were muzzled, silenced. Then the Pharisees could not restrain their glee in the Sadducees being quietened that they mustered their forces for a word against Jesus too. Oh the rivalry here between two opposing theologically camps.

The point here is that what Jesus is about to say about the greatest commandment. People are using theology to confront and embarrass Jesus.

The scribes declared that there were 248 affirmative precepts and 365 negative precepts, (as many days in the year) - the total being 613.

Jesus cut through all the hair-splitting to the heart of the problem.

This is first in rank and importance. Verse 36 – the great commandment. This positive adjective is sometimes as high in rank as the superlative.

To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to embrace the priority of loving God.

This is a quote from Deut. 6:5 which is a part of the Shema, the basic and essential creed of Judaism.

It means to God we must give a total love, a love that dominates our emotions, and a love that directs our thoughts, and a love which is the dynamic of our actions.

And the second is a quote from Leviticus 19:18. Our love for God will issue a love for man. The love of man flows out of and is rooted in the love of God.

In Mark’s account of this story (which gives us the impression that the man asking the question was not trying to trap Jesus as much as he was agreeing with Jesus), but – the scribe replies to Jesus’ answer. Mark 12: 32-33. Then Jesus made interesting comment in Mark 12: 34 "So when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." You are far from understanding what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

Do you understand what the kingdom is all about? There is a King and His subjects are under two rules: Love Him with oneness of heart, soul and mind and love everyone else as yourself.

One God demands oneness of purpose.

One God demands oneness. He is one Lord and your love must not be divided.