Many people have heard of the ‘Golden Rule’. The idea that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Ideas like this are found in a number of different religious traditions expressed in slightly different ways.
In Mark’s account, Jesus prefaces his version of the Golden Rule with the greatest of all commandments - to love God with everything you’ve got!
It is no mistake that these two ideas are conjoined in this way by Jesus. Neither is it an accident that love for God precedes love for one’s neighbours. In Luke’s account, this interaction is followed by Jesus telling the story of the Good Samaritan... which tells us something of how challenging this business of love really is.