Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to Hope for Today, a weekly Bible teaching program that will bring you
[00:00:09] Speaker B: hope for every day.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: It is a pleasure to spend time with you studying the word of God. When we open this book and put our hearts into it, good things will happen.
In today's lesson, we have another scribe asking Jesus a question. It seems we are in this section of Mark where the religious leaders keep trying to trap Jesus by what he says. It doesn't work and he always has the best answers to their questions. Today's lesson is no exception. We must think deeply about Jesus answer. It will have a big impact on everyone who does.
Please turn to mark 12 and enter into the lesson as we see how Jesus answered the question of which is the greatest commandment.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: The teaching ministry the Lord has given me requires me to put my thoughts on paper or at least on a computer screen.
However, even if you don't write your thoughts down, you express them in words.
And that's why we sometimes speak about a person's walk, matching their talk.
As we continue our study in Mark's Gospel, the narrative includes Jesus interaction with one of the scribes.
The scribes were men who drew up legal documents. They copied the Scriptures, they devoted themselves to the study of the law and how it applied to daily life.
Many of them were members of the Jewish Council, it was called the Sanhedrin. They were influential in the moral and religious life of the Jewish people.
The scribe that we read about in our text was quite discerning.
So let's read Mark chapter 12, beginning with verse 28 and through verse 34.
Then one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all?
Jesus answered him. The first of all commandments 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. This is the first commandment.
And the second, like it is, you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
So the scribes said to him, well said, teacher, you have spoken the truth. For there is one God, and there is no other but He.
And to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength. And to love one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole. Burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Now when Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God.
But after that, no one dared to question him.
Jesus interactions with the scribe show us the greatest commandment and how it impacts our lives today.
The first part of this interaction is the question.
Just before this, uh, Jesus had silenced the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Jesus gave clear teaching on our, uh, responsibility to civil government and the undeniable reality of the resurrection.
Those who were antagonizing Jesus meant it for evil, but he used their questions for our good.
When this scribe saw how Jesus had silenced both of these groups, he was impressed. He knew that Jesus had answered them well.
However, Luke records that this scribe was actually testing Jesus.
So I conclude he admired Jesus, and yet he still remained critical.
His question is, which is the first or foremost of all the commandments? By foremost he means the first in rank and the first in importance.
The scribes declared that there were 248 affirmative precepts, as many as the human body's members, and there were 365 negative precepts and as many as there are days in the year.
And the total is 613, which is the number of letters in the decalogue.
Here again, the basis of the question is about works. The rich young ruler had asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
This scribe asked, which of the commands is most important for me to keep?
How can I make myself acceptable to God?
And you know, many people are still asking this question today.
They try to reduce a relationship with Jesus to a list of actions either approved or prohibited.
Now, while we cannot be sure about this man's motives, we can commend him for wanting to know the truth.
Thoughtful questions are often the first step in our spiritual growth, and we should learn how to ask them too.
So we have the question.
The next part of the interaction then is the response.
And I don't think this scribe got the answer he was expecting.
Jesus said, uh, the first of all the commandments is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Interestingly, the Hebrew word echad, uh, means which is our English word. One implies a unity in plurality. In other words, it leaves room for the trinity, God in three persons.
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4, the supreme testimony of Jewish faith. Now, each word is worthy of careful study, but the verb shema deserves special attention.
There was a profound difference between the two ancient civilizations, Jewish and Greek.
The Greeks were supreme masters of the visual arts. Jews were not primarily visual as a matter of profound religious principle. The second commandment expressly forbade them from making any physical representation of God.
Because God is invisible. He created the universe and is beyond it. He reveals himself only in speech.
Jesus is the Logos.
Therefore, the supreme religious act in Judaism is to listen.
The Greeks worshiped what they saw.
Israel worshiped what they heard.
And that is why the key word of Judaism is Shema.
Hear.
God is not something we see. He is a voice we hear.
Moses described the supreme revelation at Mount Sinai.
Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form. There was only a voice.
In my study, I learned that the biblical Hebrew has no word for obey.
But one rabbi said, hear. O Israel means listen. Concentrate. Give the word of God your most focused attention.
Engage all your faculties, intellectual and emotional.
Make his will your own.
That sounds like obedience to me.
He goes on, for what he commands you to do is not irrational or arbitrary, but for your welfare, the welfare of your people, and ultimately for the benefit of all humanity.
So if this scribe thinks about a box, he can check in order to get God's approval. Jesus dismisses that idea. Jesus highlights the need for relationships and love.
God wanted to live among his people. He wanted them to know him intimately, to have fellowship with him. And m, you know, that's still his desire today.
Then Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6. Five, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Jesus quote differs from the original because Jesus added mind to heart, soul and strength.
I'm glad he did that because some intellectuals today loudly proclaim that faith in an invisible God is irrational.
You know, that's amusing to me, since they believe in many other things they can't see things like wind, oxygen, the force of gravity, and so much more.
Jesus said, you shall love God with all your being. This is the key. Because when you and I love God wholly, his words are not seen as burdensome rules to be followed. Rather, we see them as wise guidelines for our protection.
And if we follow them, we will become the whole person who that God intends for us to be.
This leads us naturally to the second part of Jesus response. He said, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Now, I confess that's easy to read, but hard to do.
We care for ourselves. Nobody has to tell us to do that. We are born that way.
However, we don't need commands when we love someone wholeheartedly. I don't need a command to come to the office every day to earn a living, to support my wife. And she doesn't need a command to do laundry or Cook meals. We do these things because we love each other. We're committed to each other.
These two commandments Jesus gave are firmly linked together in 1 John 4, 20, 21.
If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
And this commandment we have from him. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. And we will love our brother if we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. And in doing so, we will obey the greatest commandment.
The final part of this interaction, then, is the reaction. The scribe was impressed with what Jesus said.
He said, you have spoken the truth, for there is one God and no other but He. And to love him with all the heart and all the understanding, all the soul and all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole. Burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Where did the scribe get that comparison?
Well, in 1 Samuel 15, he remembered how God told the people of Israel to eradicate the Amalekites. But King Saul spared the king and the best of the livestock. When he was confronted by Samuel, he made excuses and he tried to blame the people. And then Samuel said to him, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Incidentally, the words hear and hearken come from similar hearings, Hebrew words.
So Jesus commends this man for using his mind to good effect. We know that because of his wise answer. And Jesus said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. He didn't say, you're in the kingdom. He said, you're close. You're starting to understand what it means when the Lord God is regarded as the sovereign king and we are willing to love him for who he is.
Our text concludes with a double negative.
No man after that dared ask him anything.
The debate was closed, and Jesus was the winner on every side.
So, do I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength?
Do you?
If I'm honest, the answer is no. I turn my mind to a thousand other things. And, um, how well do I love my neighbor? Loving my neighbor is an outflow of loving God.
If I asked you, what's the greatest sin, what would you say? Murder? Adultery? Idolatry?
If this is the great commandment, then the greatest sin would be the failure to keep it.
My only hope is to rest in the one who kept the Great Commandment perfectly every second of his life. He loved the Father with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. He fulfilled the law of God and He alone can save me.
I trust alone in his righteousness and I hope you do too.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: Thanks J. Mark, for guiding our thoughts through this lesson. Jesus really is incredible.
Once again, I was amazed at how easily he handled this question. It is like he knows all about how we think and operate, and we know he does. He knew the Old Testament and all the commandments they had added and he took all of that and summarized it into two memorable profound Love God and Love others.
Simple to remember and much harder to do. I don't think there is anyone who would say they have this figured out and are exactly where they should be.
And these two things really need to be the foundation of all we do. Jesus answered this question perfectly.
We need his help to love him most.
Thanks so much for listening and if you have any questions or comments from this teaching, please share them with us. Our, uh, Email address is hope heraldsofhope.org Our uh, website is heraldsofhope.org May your love for God grow to the next level. I am thankful he is so kind and patient. He meets us right where we are, no matter where we are, and he guides us in our love for Him. What an incredible journey.
