Opening Prayer and Scripture Reading

With your copy of the scriptures still in hand, we’re gonna read from chapter 12 of the gospel of Mark. We continue in our series through Mark’s gospel. Before we hear the word read, let’s ask once more for the Lord to bless our time together and we do so, let’s pray.

A great Heavenly Father, we confess again that you are the one who has spoken, as you say in various times and in various ways to your people in the past, but in these last days, you have spoken in your Son, the incarnate word. We pray, Heavenly Father, that you will open the mouth of your servant to proclaim that word in the power of the Spirit. And Grant, Lord, we pray that we may hear, read, learn, and digest inwardly this word, that through the comfort Your holy word may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray, and all God’s people said, amen. Amen.

Mark chapter 12, starting at verse 28. Please give your attention once more. This is the word of God.

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him, you were right, teacher, you have truly said that he is one and there was no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but this word of the Lord indeed endures forever.

Introduction to the Text

We come to this text this morning that is at least in part known by nearly everyone, Christian or not, it’s one of those verses that has entered the collective vernacular of our culture: love your neighbor as yourself. But like many verses that have entered our common vernacular, this verse is not properly understood. Very often it is truncated and therefore it is cut off from its context. And although people know it and repeat it, failure to know the God who gives it, as well as the context, has consequences, and it can lead one to believe that that’s really all that is needed to be right with God, that it’s sufficient for all the religion that you need, as some have said. However, what you find is that they neither know God or the God who gave the commandment. And they don’t know the actual significance of the commandment itself. And so this morning, as we turn once again to Mark’s gospel, I want us to look at this text, this fairly well-known text to most of us, to see what it shows us about both God’s commands and also the God who gave them.

Context of the Encounter

This text comes to us, as you’ll remember if you’ve been reading along and following along with us, in the midst of these controversies that have come to Christ, starting at the end of chapter 11. Christ has been approached by all the religious leaders, the ruling group in Israel. It began with the chief priests and the elders coming to him, asking him questions, testing him. And then the Herodians and the Pharisees coming to him, trying also to trap him so that they could find a way to accuse him and to bring charges against him. And then finally, we saw the Sadducees with their questions concerning the resurrection intended to humiliate Jesus and undermine his ministry, taking away his following, and ultimately, if possible, getting him to say something that was so offensive to Rome that they might put him to death. And at the end of all that, we have this encounter here this morning with this singular scribe coming from the crowd to ask Jesus one question that’s on his mind.

The Scribe’s Sincere Question

And so we begin with that question this morning. And as we open our text, we see that this encounter is quite different than all the others that have come before him, the challenges and the controversy. There’s nothing in Mark’s gospel that will lead us to believe that this man is coming in an insincere manner or that he’s just coming with another question to trap Jesus or to try to test him. And the reason it doesn’t seem that way is that we are told in this text that this man had heard the answers that Christ had given to the Sadducees regarding the resurrection, and it says, and seeing that he answered them well. Right, and so this acknowledgement of the state of his thinking, he says, and he thought after this, well, I have a question. This man has shown wisdom in his answers. Maybe he’ll be able to answer my question that I have for him.

Jesus’ Unique Response

So there’s the manner in which he comes, but there’s also, we see that Christ handles this encounter far differently than the others that have come to him. Every time that Christ has been questioned so far, he answers first, he begins with this question that ultimately puts the questioner to the test. And then second, he gives answers in order to call them out, even embarrass them, even to rebuke them. That doesn’t happen in this text. The manner that the scribe comes, nor the response, the way that Christ handles this is different. And that is in this, Christ gives a very sincere answer in hopes that this man will hear the answer and will join in his mission and follow him.

The Scribe’s Role and Question

Notice we’re told right away that he’s one of the scribes, a scribe. And we’ll be hearing more about this group of scribes in the next several weeks or the next several passages in Mark. But basically, a scribe, as most of us know, is one who is a copyist of some sort. He copies texts. There are different kinds of scribes, but in our text this morning, this is a scribe that deals with sacred texts. He’s a religious scribe. We know this mainly from the question that he’s asked and the things that are on his mind. He wants to know about the law of God and what is the most important, what is the most important commandment within it. And these scribes weren’t just those who merely copied pages, although that was a great part of their work, they in turn became what? They were highly respected because they became experts in the law and indeed teachers of that law because they were the ones that were intimately involved with it and copying it and handling it. And so quite often they were very revered for their answers and their wisdom. They were honored in the Jewish community. And we saw this even in the next text that we come to where Christ says that, The scribes sit in the seat of Moses, right? It’s a very honorific title that they’re given. And so people look to them, the scribes, as those who have answers from the law of God for the people of God. They are those that were looked up to, right? And so they used that sort of authority, unfortunately, in Israel for their own gain and not for the benefit of the people. The scribes were members of the Sanhedrin that we met formerly, a ruling body in Israel. They were people of standing. And this is the man who comes before Christ in our text this morning.

The Common Question of Prioritizing the Law

And he asks this question, this question that is not really that uncommon of a question for a rabbi to receive. This man isn’t just thinking out of the blue, right? This is a common question that we find in this time in history. And the reason is that if you look at the law and all of its varied commandments in the Old Testament, you begin to realize there’s so many commandments. And you realize that there are some that are weightier and some that are lighter. There are ones that are more prominent and some that are lesser. But as soon as you realize that there are commandments, some are varied, important weightier ones, you have to ask, well, which ones are they? Which ones are the most weighty? And there was a significant controversy about which ones were most important and which ones were least important and so forth. And so even Christ here, he seems to agree with this manner of reasoning. Remember when he rebukes the religious leaders in Israel, he tells them, you tithe from your spices, but you starve your mother, you steal from her. I suggest that you keep on tithing that way, but also obey the weightier matters of the law, remember is what he says. So he was willing to say that there’s a gradation, there are more important laws than other sorts of laws, and he’s going to affirm that also this morning with his answer.

The Challenge of the Law’s Scope

And when we consider the law of God, right, the Old Testament, when we look at it, it’s not a brief, it’s not a short section in the Old Testament. If you’ve done your Bible reading, as many of you have, and you’ve had enough stamina and read through Exodus and actually maybe finished Leviticus, you realize there’s all kinds of laws, one after another after another, right? Beginning of Exodus and all the way through Leviticus and Deuteronomy, dealing with many, many topics: how the people are to live their lives, right? From how to love God and how to worship God to how to give a sacrifice and what you’re not to do to give a sacrifice. We’re given commandments about the material to be used in clothing, whether it can be mixed or unmixed. There are civil laws there in those sections of the Old Testament. There are a whole host of regulations that God gives to his people. And it’s no wonder that people would then have the question, how do we prioritize all of these? How do we prioritize this exhaustive amount of data? How do we remember them? What do we know? How do we know what we will do? And so there were always attempts to summarize the laws. And I’ll spare you the historical references where we read some of these attempts to do so. But it was common practice to look at the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, as that summary. But as you look at the Old Testament, and as the Decalogue is expounded after the giving of the 10, you see almost 400 negative commandments. There are about 250 positive commandments. And to try to keep all that in your head is no easy task. And there were different weights in addition to that given to them. What should we keep first? What’s the greatest commandment? Which one trumps the other? And so the scribe comes to Christ with this question of light and heavy.

Jesus’ Answer: The Greatest Commandment

The Shema: Love God Fully

He says, which is the most important commandment of all the ones that God has given? What is the greatest? And Christ responds, this is the greatest commandment. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And most of us know this passage, particularly from Deuteronomy 6. It’s referred to as the Shema, just means to hear or means hear, command. And a faithful Jew about the Shema, a pious Jew at the time, would have quoted this twice daily, at least, as part of the rhythm of his life. This was, in one sense, their creed. It was their profession of faith. It’s not so much a prayer as it is kind of like we would use the Apostles’ Creed. It’s what we confess to be true about God. This is what they believed about their God and about their life. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And notice what they’re confessing there when they do this. The context that this is given, remember, is in Deuteronomy, right? It means second law, that’s what Deuteronomy means. And that’s when the second generation of the people of Israel have been given the law. And again, Moses has re-spoken God’s law to them. He was reminding them of how God has delivered them from Egypt. And he’s also just told them once again that he’s re-established the promise, right? I will deliver you into the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. And then he speaks these words to them. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

The Covenant Context of the Command

And so when they confess that, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, they’re confessing several things. Yes, the unity of God, the monotheistic religion of the Old Testament. There’s one God, the Lord is one. There’s only one God that they confess, but he’s also their God, the Lord, our God. He’s the God of the covenant. He’s the God who delivered them and rescued them from Egypt. He’s the God that kept them on their way as they wandered. He’s the God that promises that he will give them the land of Canaan. He’s made commitments to them through the Abrahamic covenants by oath and by covenant. He’s committed himself to Israel. He is their God. He is our God, they confess. They have no other God but him. It is all that background of who God is and who God has been for them that gives way then to this commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Because of God’s promise to you, it’s saying. Because of the fact that he has kept you in covenants, the fact that he has redeemed you and rescued you from Egypt, your duty, therefore, is what? To love God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind, or all of your strength. And you notice that Christ expands this a little bit. He adds a fourth category, and that is your mind.

Total Devotion to God

But notice how it’s repeated by Christ when he gives it there in the Gospel of Mark. You’re to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, all of your strength, every possible facet of human life, the emotional, the spiritual, the physical, the mental. Everything it means to be made in the image of God, everything it means to be a man or a woman is that with which he’s saying with all of those things, love God. Apply all of that to your love for God from those who give all of your love to this God who saved you. And so for those aspects of him, all of your commitments are to be given to him. Everything you have is to be aimed in love towards God. Jesus says, this sums up all the rest. This is the heaviest, the weightiest, the highest, and the greatest. There is none other, no more important commandment than this. Love God, the God of the covenants, the God who has redeemed and rescued you, the God who has promised himself to you. Love him with everything that is in you and that you are.

The Second Commandment: Love Your Neighbor

An Unprompted Addition

But you’ll notice Christ also answers the question that he wasn’t asked, right? He goes on and he says in verse 32, and the second is this, right? He doesn’t just leave it with the question that was answered. He moves on to this other category that for Christ is an inseparable category. That’s why he gives it. Notice what he says. Therefore, all the other commandments are summed up in this commandment, the singular commandment, love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. That’s what it goes on to. And so he goes, as you probably well know, to Leviticus chapter 19, and he quotes this, love your neighbor as yourself.

Redefining “Neighbor”

Now, in the Old Testament, it seemed in the context that this was received that he’s speaking to his own people. That’s kind of the structure of what’s going on. He’s saying, love your Jewish neighbor, love your fellow Israelite as you love yourself. But when Christ comes, he changes this definition. He expands the definition of neighbor for them. And you see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan that we’re all so familiar with. He says, everyone who you come in contact with is your neighbor. No longer is it just your fellow Jew, your fellow believer in the covenant of God, but everyone is your neighbor.

The Inseparable Nature of the Commands

But notice this is not the greatest commandment. Christ makes clear that this is the second commandment, right? There’s an order there. But it’s clear from the giving of this law by Christ that the greatest commandment can never be obeyed if the one that is second is not also being obeyed. They’re so connected. That is, you can’t love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength if you are not at the same time loving your neighbor as yourself. You can’t have love for God, the apostle John tells us, and James as well, and yet despise the ones that you see among you. One must be obeying both of them to be obeying either of them. One of the chief ways that we know or show that we love God is by loving those whom he puts in our way, loving those whom he surrounds us with and brings into our lives.

Practical Love in Action

And according to God, the way that we know that we’re loving those who are around us is how? Right? John tells us this in his epistles. It’s by keeping his commandments towards them. And it’s interesting that, especially in our time, we hear these things, love for God, love for neighbor, and we think of, like, instinctively, reflexively, we think of feelings or emotions, right? How do I feel about those whom God has put in my life? And surely there’s an aspect to that there because it will dictate or it will flow into how we treat them. But God’s love or the way that he requires us to show love is not first and foremost just an emotional feeling or reaction to people I feel happy about feeling happy about. But rather we display the love of God by keeping the commandments of God towards them. In fact, this is the commandment from Leviticus 19, the source of what Jesus is quoting and expanding as neighbor. It comes in the context of what? Of Moses giving all sorts of commandments that have to do with those who live around you. It makes sense that it would fit that way.

And so notice what he says in Leviticus 19. There’s this whole list of instructions there. He tells them how they must care for the poor, right? So, to love your neighbor as yourself, according to Christ, is to care for the poor that are around you. To love your neighbor as yourself is not to steal from them. In verse 11, he says, it’s not to lie to them. That’s how we love our neighbors, to be fair in our business dealings, to care for the deaf and the blind, to deal justly with everyone, not to slander them, not to jeopardize the life of your neighbor, not to hate your brother in your heart. And we see in verse 17 of Leviticus 19, that love includes, interestingly enough, rebuking your neighbor when necessary for his good and for your good, and not to take revenge or to bear grudge against others. That the love that the Bible commands for us towards everyone who is now our neighbor includes us doing these actively in obedience to what God has commanded to us. He does not leave it to our imagination what it means just nebulously to love your neighbor, right? And he calls us to keep his commandments towards them that he puts in contact with.

Summarizing the Law

And so Christ comes and he says, I can summarize the whole of what Moses was pointing towards in those laws. In this way, love God with everything that you are and love every man that he puts around you in full accordance with what he has commanded by keeping his word. A weighty thing, to be sure. A thing that none of us can do perfectly, and all of us fail, and all of us suffer the pain and the desperation and the weight of failing to do so. And we’ll get to the solution of that in a moment.

The Scribe’s Response

But notice what the response of this man here, right? And Christ gives this. This man knows this context. He knows the Word. He knows the Old Testament. He knows Leviticus. The scribe. He says to him in verse 32, he says, you were right, teacher. You have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Love Surpasses Rituals

You see, he agrees with Christ. He gets it in some sense. He says, that’s a good answer. And then notice he interprets it, he expands. He says, you’re right to love your God and your neighbor as the greatest commandments. And he says, it’s so great, it’s actually more important than Holborn offerings and sacrifices, right? And this is very significant from this individual who’s saying this, right? These commandments are so important, he’s saying, that they’re more important than the temple rituals in which I am one of the people that are engaged in in religious life. He’s ultimately saying that we as Jews cannot simply hide behind the temple ritual. We can’t simply say we have the temple, we have the sacrifices, we have the priesthood, therefore it doesn’t matter what we do, right? That’s where this hits home and he gets it. It doesn’t matter all of that stuff if you’re ignoring what God has commanded you to do. And the scribe’s saying, you’re right, love for God and love for neighbor exceeds and is more important and ultimately overshadows all these things that the Jews often put their confidence in in Christ’s day.

Jesus’ Affirmation and Challenge

And he acknowledges that Christ is right. And Jesus tells him his response, well, you’re not far from the kingdom of heaven. You’re not far from the kingdom of heaven. And it’s interesting when we think about this response. Clearly, if you’re not far, that means you’re not there. He’s saying he’s not there yet. And you know, a lot of people take this phrase and they think that all Jesus is saying is, you keep going, you keep going and obeying and loving God, loving your neighbor, and you’ll get there. You’re almost there, just not quite. But there’s definitely space between him and the kingdom. He is not there yet.

The question is, why is Christ saying that? Why is he, what is he saying in this phrase? Is it praise? Is he praising the man, as some say? If he is, it’s fairly a backhanded praise, right? But it is praise. It’s honoring the fact that this man has stated these things. There’s been a breakthrough, and yet he’s telling them, you still aren’t there. You still aren’t there. You should not be confident yet in your standing, which is an amazing thing to say to a rabbi, to decide who’s in and who’s out of the kingdom. It was an amazing thing. It was so amazing that everyone is what, silenced after that and they don’t wanna talk to him anymore.

The Need to Follow Christ

Why is he saying that? Good answer, but you’re not in yet. You’re not far. Notice what he’s done. Notice what the scribe has done. He’s accepted that Jesus’ teachings are wise and right, right? He says, your interpretation is right on the money. I agree with you. And he’s also accepting the fact that Israel’s temple worship, the ritual worship, those structures are insufficient, that it’s not the greatest thing, that obedience to God and love for God and love for others is more important and overshadows those rituals of the temple, which have been part of the controversy that we’ve seen for Jesus come again and again and again to him since chapter 11, and will be to the end of the book, frankly. He’s acknowledging Christ, you are right and wise. And he’s also acknowledging that what I and many have been standing on is insufficient. And Christ says, that’s good, but it’s not good enough. It’s not good enough. There’s more than is needed.

There’s more than is needed than just knowing what the best laws are and what is improper, what are right and what are improper to get in the kingdom. And when we look at the Old Testament, the Torah, right, the books of the law, and how it was taught, and then how Jesus taught it. We see Jesus doesn’t subtract from that Torah. He doesn’t subtract from the law at all. He adds to it. And what he adds to the law is himself. Instead of following the law, Jesus has people to follow him, to follow him. And that’s what Christ is saying to the scribe. He says, you’re almost there. You’re not far from the kingdom. You know what the greatest laws are. You know you’re right to think that my wisdom is shining forth as I explain the law, as the law is delivered through me to you. You’re right in realizing that the temple and its rituals are insufficient, but you will not enter until you see me as the center of it all and come my way with me. It’s not enough to follow the law. You must follow me. And until you do that, you cannot and you will not enter my kingdom. In fact, until he follows Christ, he will never have any hope of obeying the law at all, and neither will we.

The Weight of the Commandments

The Law’s Demand and Human Failure

These commandments are real, right? These commandments are binding even now. This is the heart of God for his creation, for his people. They demonstrate, they describe the law, the life that the Lord loves and requires of his people. This is what God, more than anything, wants you, as one who has been redeemed, is to follow him with heart, soul, mind, and strength, with everything you are, with everything you possess, with all your gifts, with all your money, with all your talents, with everything. He wants all of those things to be directed toward him and his service, and he still does want you, as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, to love your neighbor as yourself and consider others better than yourselves. But you think there is a higher priority than your own needs.

The Law’s Inability to Save

The greatest commandment you see, it’s a mystery in this, right? That it cannot be obeyed by simply commanding it. That’s why the law, glorious and praiseworthy, right? Think of the law that David expounds and he unfolds and he rhapsodizes upon in the Psalms, Psalm 119 particularly, the longest chapter in our Bible is about the law of God. Oh, how I love your law. And then we read Paul talking about it is to death, right? It is a word of death. It’s not that the law is bad, but the law cannot give you anything. It shows you who you are and it shows you your failings before God’s command and his desire for you. And the commandment to love can’t be obeyed by simply commanding it, right? The greatest commandment is love God with everything, right? Have you ever tried to command somebody to love, right? Brute force? There’s something that is prerequired, something that is necessary before that, something that must be prior.

The Necessity of God’s Prior Love

If that commandment is going to be obeyed, the person must have a desire and an actual love for the one that is commanding it. You see, you can’t just get people to love. Notice God was basing that commandment in the Old Testament on the fact that he had redeemed these people and rescued them and he promised them a land. He was their God and they were his people. And yet so much greater in the New Testament do we see this text coming to us, in all of its profundity, in all of its glory and weightiness, that God commands these things for us. And he really does desire us to live in that way. And then how does he expect us to perform these things? How does he command from us love? It must come from someone who’s persuaded, the one who’s commanding it is worthy of that love.

Notice love for God comes first through the fact that he loved us and he acted first, right? Read 1 John, perhaps later in your devotion on this Lord’s day to meditate upon. If you’ve not tasted the love of God, you truly do not know what love is and you cannot love others, truly in that way. You may think you can, but until you’ve tasted that love, experience it for yourself, you cannot. We don’t know how to love or how to love rightly. Also, if God is not the one that is aiming that love.

Christ’s Fulfillment of the Law

Jesus’ Perfect Obedience

So how do we do these things? It’s very clear as the book unfolds what it’s going to cost Jesus for this, right? For answering this question. It’s the only way that we will ever be able to live in a manner that is in any way close in living in accordance with what Christ has just said. And that God has showed what it looks like to love God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He showed us what it looks like to love our neighbor as ourselves. He says, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. But not my will, but yours be done. He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? As the cup of God’s wrath is pressed into his hand. He says, drink it, drink it to the dregs, drink all of it. And the answer, of course, we know from the Father is, because, my son, because by doing so, all those that find themselves in you, all of them that place their faith in you will become my very righteousness, all the while obeying and loving and praising God as he does this.

Christ’s Love for God and Neighbor

As the source, God himself showed us, he lived for us, what it means to love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. And God himself, in those same actions, showed us distinctly what it means to love your neighbor, who is everyone like you and like me. Love yourself even more, how to consider others better than yourselves. And as Christ, God incarnate, came and gave himself freely to us as his church, as the one who is the maker of heaven and earth, he humbled himself, born in infancy, in poverty, living under the law, subjecting himself to the sufferings and the humility that come with human life, not to mention subjecting himself to the ridicule and pain that he would suffer from those whom he had created, only to finally offer himself up in self-sacrifice on the cross, and to say from that cross, forgive them. Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. Father, let me love them more than I love myself, in order that they might have good done unto them, in order that I might obey every commandment towards them and for them.

The Motivation for Our Love

You see, the only thing that can move you to have any desire at all to love God in this way, with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is to see that God has already come and obeyed those very commandments fully and wholly and perfectly. And he did so for people who were his enemies, and who, even after being made friends, continually fail to give themselves fully to him, as you and I do. And yet not once has he cut us off from his love. Even when you are faithless, he remains faithful. He will not deny himself. And in himself is an eternal love for those whom he has chosen. He can never stop loving you because there was never a time when he started loving you. Scripture says from all eternity, he has set his love upon you. And he has given all in order to secure that relationship will endure forever. And in that love relationship, he says to you, now, don’t you see who I am? Love me. Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And as you do so, love your neighbor as yourselves.

Conclusion and Application

So brothers and sisters, as we leave this worship, as we go, as we descend back down from the mountain of meeting with our God, and hearing his word proclaimed to us, go with that, go remembering this glorious truth of all that God has done, of all that Christ has done, despite your failings, despite your inadequacies and the pain and suffering that you have for them, God has done this for you. And we can rejoice in him and not in ourselves and not crushed under the weight of our failings, but the weight of the law that we can never measure up to. We are His. If you belong to Him, it’s only you who will begin to follow that law. And He will indeed change you and sanctify you and give you hope and assurance, not just for this life, but for the next.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, we praise You. We praise You for this, Your Word. Lord, we thank You. We thank You for the love that You have set upon us. We thank You that it was merely Your good pleasure Lord, we have nothing to offer but our sin. Lord, we praise you that you have dealt with that sin in full in our Savior Jesus. We pray that as we live our lives from this Lord’s day to the next, that we will remember often and remember always the glorious gospel. As we move in a direction to follow our Savior, that he indeed loved you fully, and that he loves us, Lord, and that he is not only our model, but he is the power provider for us to even begin to do so. We pray, Lord, use us in this world. Give us faith and give us strength. Protect us until we can meet again. We ask this in Christ’s name, amen.