Our Lord's answer to the scribe's question seems very straightforward. Because we are Christians it is fairly easy for us to accept and believe that the greatest of all the commandments is to love God completely. However, reflection on our own lives often reveals that there are other gods that have become very important for us. These can take precedence as we go about our daily lives. In a modern capitalist society these 'gods' are the pursuit of money and consumer goods. The pursuit of material goods can relegate God to a secondary place in our lives.

Jesus tells us to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. This is a great challenge for us. Certainly most of us will do a good turn for our neighbour before we would do a bad turn. However, Jesus is asking us to do more than that and that is that we should go out of our way to help our neighbours. If we follow this commandment then material gain will not dominate our lives but rather we will endeavour to help other people over and above anything else. In helping our neighbour we are doing the work of God and in so doing putting God above all else.