When confronted with a third question, this time from the third branch of the official Jewish religious power structure, Jesus had an unexpected moment of reprieve. After being accosted first by the Pharisees and Herodians, and then by the “Sadducees,” he is confronted by one of the “Scribes” — the “legal beagles” of first century Judaism.

Although this third questioner is a member of the Scribes, the established arbitrators in all matters of Torah minutia, this individual is not overtly hostile. In fact, he is open to and intrigued by Jesus. Favorably impressed by Jesus’ responses to the two previous groups, he merely asks him a question — the most fundamental mode of learning employed by Jewish scholars.

This Scribe asks Jesus for his personal judgment upon which commandment is “first…