Matthew 22:34-40.
Jesus takes on Jewish tradition
In their first meeting with Jesus, the Pharisees wanted to get him to say something illegal, something against Jewish law. It would be the perfect excuse to discredit him. The lawyer they sent knew that there were 613 commands in the Jewish law and generations of Jews had debated fruitlessly about which was the most important. He was just toying with Jesus when he asked his opinion.
Jesus silenced them all by saying everything starts and ends with love --- love of God and love of each other. Even the Pharisees couldn't argue with that.
To love God is to love one another. They are as inseparable as the beams of the cross. While it is easy to love God, loving others is more difficult.
But true love of neighbor is measured by how we treat those who are neither family nor friends. It means including people when the natural inclination is to exclude or avoid them. Jesus loved prostitutes, thieves, lepers, even his political enemies. This is how God loves and he calls us to do no less.
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