We are continuing the temple testing. We have heard from the Chief priests and elders, the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians, we skipped the question on resurrection by the Sadducees, and now we have the Pharisees, with a lawyer asking another question, “What is the greatest commandment?” First, this question is not a bad one. This was a typical rabbinical question. With 613 commands in the Torah, what should take priority? It’s a fair conversation and a fair debate. R. Alan Culpepper recounts two good stories of this. There is the famous story of Hillel. “When a gentile challenged Hillel, saying that he would become a proselyte if Hillel could teach him the whole law while he stood on one foot, Hillel replied, ‘What you yourself hate, do not do to your neighbor: this is the whole Torah, while the rest is the commentary thereof; go and learn it’ (b. Šabb. 31a; cf. Matt 7:12).” And another, “Similarly, the oral tradition of the Pharisees records that Simeon the Just used to say, ‘By three things is the world sustained: by the Law, by the [Temple-]service [or worship], and by deeds of lovingkindness” (m. Abot 1.2).”[1] These are cherished stories, and the Hillel story in particular is supposed show wisdom and make you chuckle, right? The absurdity of the challenge is met with almost flippant simplicity. This is clearly the trajectory that Mark takes. The scribe is sincere in this question, wanting to know Jesus’ take in this matter and it follows closely in this tradition that we hear in the two accounts above. But Matthew is taking a different trajectory. The lawyer is not sincere. This is a questioning competence, and it is a question of heresy. Is Jesus attempting to destroy the Law?