In Mark 12:28-34 Jesus lays out the Greatest Commandment, and it begs a question for modern Christians: How well do you know your Bible?
- WARNING: Lots of people know a lot about the Bible, but they’re missing the whole point!
- I’ve heard this for over two decades in ministry: people leave church because it’s not “deep” enough
- They end up hopping around
- Or they find a church that goes “deep”
- Longer sermons
- Seasoned Christians
- Fewer people
- But these “deep” Christians tend be characterized by the same things:
- Lots of head knowledge
- No connection with or influence on outsiders
- What would Jesus say about this?
Deep Debate
A scribe asked Jesus to identify the most important commandment in the Law. Scribes in ancient Israel were like lawyers today, and they were experts on scripture. Mark 12:28
Mark 12:28 (NLT) One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The approach of the scribe comes immediately on the heels of the controversy with the Sadducees, again implying that Jesus is engaged in non-stop challenge and debate in the temple.
- (GotQuestions)
- Scribes in ancient Israel were learned men whose business was to study the Law, transcribe it, and write commentaries on it. …. Ezra, “a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses,” was a scribe.
- The scribes took their job of preserving Scripture very seriously; they would copy and recopy the Bible meticulously, even counting letters and spaces to ensure each copy was correct. We can thank the Jewish scribes for preserving the Old Testament portion of our Bibles.
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Scribes concerned themselves with proper exposition of the law and earned a reputation as experts in its interpretation (see further on scribes at 1:22). The rabbinic tradition counted 613 commandments in the Torah, 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands. Among the commandments, rabbis differentiated between what they called “heavy” and “light” commandments.
- This scribe heard Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees, and he was impressed. So he had a question of his own.
- Notice it’s just one guy this time. Seems sincere, not trying to trap Jesus like the other two questions.
- Review 10 Commandments, point out that they were probably expecting one of these as the answer.
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Impressed with Jesus’ wisdom in answering the Sadducees, the scribe asks, according to the NIV, “‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?'” This is not an entirely accurate translation, however, for according to the Gk. text the word “all” (Gk., panton, either masculine or neuter, genitive plural) does not modify “commandments” (Gk., entole, feminine). The sense of the question is thus not which is the most important commandment, but rather which commandment supersedes everything and is incumbent on all humanity – including Gentiles.
Love God
Jesus answered not with one of the 10 commandments, but with the “Shema” – a summary of the first four commandments. This was essentially a prelude to the commandments, and it was well known even to Israelite children. Mark 12:29-30
Mark 12:29-30 (NLT) Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
- 2 Kings 23:25 (NLT) Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since.
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Both the Heb. and Gk. versions of Deut 6:4-5 describe a threefold response to God – heart, soul, and strength. Mark quotes Jesus adding a fourth response, the love of God with one’s whole mind or understanding.
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The LXX version of Deut 6:4-5 (according to manuscript B [Vaticanus]) renders the Heb. word for “heart” (לב; lev) by διάνοια (dianoia; “mind”) rather than by καρδΐα (kardia; heart). The presence of dianoia, “mind,” in v. 30 may derive from this variant version. If so, this indicates that Mark quotes the Shema from a textual tradition represented by the B text of the LXX. But it is also possible that Jesus added a fourth article to the Shema, as he earlier added a commandment to the Ten Commandments (10:19). If so, the change from a threefold to fourfold response to God is a further example of Jesus’ exousia, his sovereign authority, in interpreting Torah.
Love Others
Jesus added a surprise second commandment that he called equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ This was a relatively obscure verse from Leviticus, but it summarized the last five commandments.
Mark 12:31 (NLT) The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) “‘There is no commandment greater than these,'” concludes Jesus, thus bringing the commandments to love God and neighbor into a unity. The fact that Jesus adds the commandment from Lev 19:18 to the Shema indicates that it takes both commandments to realize the one will of God.
- Back to intro question:
- Q. How well do you know your Bible?
- Matthew 23:1-4 (NLT) Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law [scribes] and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.”
- 1 John 4:20-21 (NLT) If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
- What it really means to love your neighbor
- Connect to Great Commission?
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) For Jesus, love fulfills the law: love for God releases the love of God. “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. . . . We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar'” (1 John 4:11, 19-20).
Close
The scribe asked a theological question, and Jesus brought it around to eternity. Entrance into the Kingdom of God requires more than information; it requires a heart submitted to Jesus.
Mark 12:32-33 (NLT) The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”
- (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The scribe is equipped and authorized to pass judgment on the law, but Jesus possesses a higher authority. In yet another display of sovereign authority, Jesus declares “‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.'” That is a striking remark because the subject of conversation has been Torah, not the kingdom of God or eternal life.
Mark 12:34 (NLT) Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
- Remember – this question came in the context of Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees about resurrection.
Matthew 5:20 (ESV) For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven
Mark 15:1 (ESV) And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.
