One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these." "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:28-34)

Jesus answers by quoting from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. He may have also been quoting Hillel, a great teacher of the generation before Jesus.

The question was not entirely authentic. This teacher of the law was not trying to trap Jesus, but he was testing him. The questioner was certain of the answer he was seeking.

Crucially, the questioner was authentically listening to the answer of Jesus and ready to apply its full implications. The commandment to love God and neighbor has priority over religious practice.

The two men encountered each other, each certain of their own truth. But they also listened to each other and recognized a shared truth.

In this listening and insight Jesus acknowledged another who experienced the kingdom of heaven to be close at hand.

Above is a Coptic Christian icon from the sixth century remarkable for showing Christ and Saint Menas as having near visual equivalence.