The Greatest Commandment

Mark 12:28-34New International Version (NIV)

The Greatest Commandment

28 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?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.33 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.”

34 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.

I recently shared with you that Jesus was asked 183 questions and only directly answered 4 of them.  Our scripture this morning contains one of those four directly answered questions with the heading of The Greatest Commandment.  The fact that this is one of the few selected directly answered questions only adds to the importance of Christ’s words.  Our scripture picks up with Jesus in heated discussion with the Sadducees.  Jesus had just indirectly answered one of their questions about marriage and the resurrection before another teacher of religious law and scholarship asked Jesus which commandment is the most important.  It almost seems like the individual who asked the question knew how Jesus was going to respond but I imagine there was a good portion of the group thinking this was going to be the ultimate “gotcha” question.  We have to remember that the Sadducees and other religious groups were trying to get Jesus to slip up so they could arrest him.  It is reasonable to assume that some who heard this question awaited Jesus’ response to be something completely different than it was.  The focus of our message this morning will be on how Jesus responded and it is important to note that Jesus answered this question in such a way that the scripture goes out of its way to say “And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.”

We undoubtedly give groups like the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes a bad rap because of their interaction with Jesus but if place ourselves in their shoes, we most likely wouldn’t be much different.  These groups ask Jesus questions they legitimately were concerned about.  We would do the same.  We would ask him what he thinks of gay marriage, political candidates, social unrest, gun control and when the Cubs may win the World Series.  If we had the opportunity to spend an afternoon talking with Jesus face to face, we would most likely find ourselves in the same situations we find the Sadducees.  While the topic of the questions may be different, it is difficult for me to think that Jesus’ responses would be any different.  We have a tendency to think that the issues facing us today are different and more difficult than the issues that faced society 20 years ago, 200 years ago or even 2000 years ago.  Jesus drew on the Old Testament, the heart of the Sadducee belief system, to make his point.  Deuteronomy 6:4,5 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  And Leviticus 19:18 says, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord.”  Word for word, those Old Testament scriptures were exactly how Jesus answered the question about the greatest commandment.      

If we move onto how this particular religious leader responded to Jesus’ answer we will find something pretty telling.  This religious scholar gives Jesus an A+ for his response, “Well said Teacher.... you are right....”  After he repeats what Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, the scribe concluded by saying, “This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrificed required by law.”  It is important to note that Jesus didn’t advocate for stopping the physical and religious sacrifices; rather, Jesus believed that love for neighbor and God took priority over those sacrifices.  The telling part of this answer was that this love for God and for neighbor was not something new.  This religious leader knew the scriptures and understood the importance of loving God and one another.  What Jesus does is change our understanding of what that means.  It transforms our understanding because we get to see just how much God loves us through the actions of Christ.  We get to see first hand, exactly how that deep and unconditional love should look through the words and actions of Christ.  It is human nature to find it difficult to understand the importance of certain things until they somehow impact us.  As I learned to drive, I grossly underestimated the power of brakes until the one time I didn’t have any coming down my parents driveway.  I am sure we have all underestimated something until it impacted us.  Faith and interaction with God is similar.  We often underestimate the power of God, the sacrifice of Christ and the compassion and grace found in loving our neighbor as ourself.  I hope that you hear when I say that this underestimation is a mistake on our part.  No matter the societal issue that divides us, there is no gap too large for God.  I don’t just say that paint rainbows and flower laden meadows over a pile of cow feces.  I mean it.  We do ourselves, our youth and our society a gross injustice by underestimating the power of the cross and the resurrection.    

When we look at this story in the gospel of Matthew, it says that this scribe showed up to test Jesus but Mark paints him as sincere.  Matthew’s parallel is much shorter and calls the scribe an expert in the law from the Pharisaic tradition.  Matthew doesn’t add what Jesus said to the scribe about being close to the kingdom of God either.  I don’t know why there is such a difference.  I don’t know why one painted him as sincere and seeking knowledge while the other painted him as a smug lawyer coming to test Jesus.  Jesus’ answer doesn’t change, most likely the more important aspect of the parallel but how Mark tells the story is rare.  Mark wanted us to see the connection between the scribe and Jesus.  Mark wanted us to see that they agreed.  It was important to Mark that we too make this connection.  It begs the question, or at least the thought, is it possible for people who believe differently than we do to also be “close” to the kingdom of God?  Is that possible?  Is it possible that people of similar faith are just as close to God as we are?  Or is it even possible that people of a much different faith, even no faith at all, are just as close to the kingdom of Heaven?  I think we have to be open to the possibility that it is possible.  We have to be able to acknowledge that God’s grace and love is close to each of us.  We have to open our hearts and minds to the possibility that God’s kingdom was intended for everyone.  Not everyone accepts that open invitation but we must live like that invitation is there for all.  When everyone from every walk of life has the opportunity to see God’s love and grace, to know they too are “not far from the Kingdom of God”, then we have accomplished what God and Christ commissioned us to do.  When all God’s children know they were intended to be loved by God, died for by Christ, and respected by the rest of God’s children, then and only then, have we followed the Greatest Commandment.  Amen.