The Most Important Commandment - Mark 12:28-34
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Copyright September 17, 2023 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche
Sadly, we live in a world that is rife with stereotypes. Women are bad drivers, poor people don’t want to work hard, people who live in rural America cannot think for themselves but need to be educated in what they should believe; the younger generation is lazy; rich people have all gotten rich at the expense of others, Christians are empty-headed nitwits, and all the religious and political leaders of Jesus day opposed Him. These are all distortions of what is true.
In our study of Mark, we have talked a great deal about the Pharisees, and Sadducees. They seem always to be the villains in the story. Yet, even they had their good moments (Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are two examples).
Who Were the Scribes?
Last week Rick told us about the attempts of the leaders trying to trip Jesus up or incriminate himself. The only ones looking stupid were the leaders. While all this dialogue was going on, there was this lone scribe (New Living translation calls him a “teacher of the law”) is standing by himself, taking it all in.
The scribes are associated with the more wealthy members of society and with the Jewish leadership. Scribes are portrayed as teachers of the people, although the teaching of Jesus is more astonishing to the crowds as it has greater authority than the teaching of the scribes (Mark 1:22). Probably, the best equivalent in our day would be to think of them like lawyers.
Like lawyers today, they worked in a variety of realms, including religious, political, judicial, economic, and social. Jewish scribes:
• Copied manuscripts;
• Taught and interpreted the Torah (the Law) and other Jewish literature;
• Served as a political advisor or diplomat;
• Functioned as wise sages, elders, judges, or as members of the Sanhedrin;
• And were called upon to write letters and documents for the kingdom, businesses, and private households.
Some scribes were part of the sect of the Pharisees or Sadducees, and some were also priests and Levites.
Scribes mentioned in the gospels questioned Jesus as to His interpretation of the Law or His authority. Jesus is now questioned by a Scribe in the passages to come. They could be considered “lawyers”. Jesus generally speaks of them negatively . . . but not this Scribe. He senses this Scribe seems to be open and sincere. (Other gospels say the Scribe was also trying to test Jesus). I think it is fair to say the scribes were the authorities on the law and considered among the most educated people. Often, highly educated people act like they have nothing to learn from the “uneducated.” This scribe however, seems open to instruction from Jesus. We read,
28 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?”
The Greatest Commandment
The fact that Jesus answers the scribe directly may indicate that the Scribe was asking a sincere question. He was an educated man who was willing to listen to what Jesus ha to say.
Jesus answered the scribe’s first question using the Shema which was a passage Jews confessed twice daily in Hebrew. It is considered the primary statement of faith for a Jewish person.
‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
In the Ten Commandments we see this reflected in commandments 1 &2 in Exodus 20
“I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
3 “You must not have any other god but me.
4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lordyour God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
Violating these commands was what got Israel in trouble through their history. God was to be first and foremost in their lives because there is no higher authority. But, idolatry was the downfall of almost every Jewish King. The book of Judges is a litany of Israel’s failure to observe these commands. They would drift from the Lord, fall into bondage to another nation, cry out to God for help, and then God would rescue them, only to start over again.
Even the wisest man who lived, Solomon, was foolish when it came to idols. He married lots of foreign women and then built altars to their gods and sometimes worshipped at these altars himself. Idolatry is a huge stumbling block to anyone who falls into this trap. We will talk a little more about idolatry in a bit. There are two things in this passage in the Ten Commandments that concern many people. First, they are troubled by the fact that God is jealous and second the words about children being punished to the third and fourth generations. Let’s take these one at a time.
Let me ask you a question: if someone tried to hurt your spouse or steal your spouse from you, would you be furious? If someone did something to offend or hurt your children, would you step in and put a stop to it with anger and fury? I think most of us would do so. This is the kind of jealousy God has toward us. He values the relationship He has with us so much that He will rise to defend this relationship any time it is threatened. This is how God feels about idolatry. He is jealous to maintain the relationship He has with us. He will not take the idea of an intruder lightly.
Second, the idea of punishing the children to the third and fourth generation I believe is a matter of the Lord letting us live with the consequences of our choices. Our children (and sometimes grandchildren) are watching us (and their kids will be watching them). Our idolatry is not an isolated event . . . it has repercussions in the lives of our children! This is not God targeting our children because we sinned, it is a matter of the consequences of our actions not being restrained.
Think with me about the Exodus. God brought the Hebrews out of Egypt and the slavery they endured there. As they reached the area of Kadesh Barnea . . . an advanced team representing each tribe were sent to check out the Promised Land. They returned some time later and 10 of the spies said the land could not be conquered and it would be a suicide mission to enter this land. Two men, Joshua and Caleb said the people simply needed to trust the Lord. The majority opinion carried the day, and the people did not want to enter. For the next 40 years those people wandered in circles until every one of the adults alive in that group had died (except for Joshua and Caleb).
During those 40 years there were children, some who started out on the journey and others who were born during the journey. They all suffered because of what their parents decided. I believe this is what is meant by the statement in the Ten Commandments about children being punished. Our kids and our grandkids are watching us.
If we really love our children and grandchildren, we will listen and obey this command to have no other gods before the Lord God Almighty. Or to put is more plainly, there should be nothing that has more authority in our lives or is more important in our lives than Him. This is what idolatry really is. We too often think of idolatry in terms of statues and altars, but it is much more subtle.
Let me list some of the idols with which we struggle:
· Material Things (objects of worship, cars, homes)
· Recreational activities (Hobbies)
· Our appearance and the praise of others
· Our Children (or their activities)
· Financial Profit
· It can even be our church, our version of the Bible, our order of worship
· The Media (music, movies, social media)
· Societal trends
· Education (degrees)
· Feelings and anxieties
I hope you get the idea . . . anything that has more control of our lives than He does, is an idol.
The Second Greatest Commandment
Whereas the first great commandment is about our vertical relationship with God, the second greatest commandment, “love you neighbor as yourself” is about our horizontal relationship we with each other. In essence this is what the last six of the Ten Commandments refer to.
The word neighbor is much broader than merely the person who lives next door to you. It applies to anyone. Just as God loves His creatures by giving them life and revealing himself to them, so he directs us to love others in return. It is, if you will, a consequence of loving God and being loved by Him.
But what does it mean to love our neighbor? Maybe it would help us clarify this if we ask what does it NOT mean.
· It does not mean being a doormat. Sometimes loving someone means erecting reasonable boundaries. You would do this sometimes for your own health or for the health of your relationship with your spouse or family. Someone could keep coming to you for money because they know you love them. Somewhere you need to draw a line and say, “No More! Be responsible and find a way to make your own money.” They may intrude on your personal time and become a wedge between you and your spouse. Boundaries need to be set.
· It does not mean shrugging at bad behavior. It is true the Bible tells us that love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) This text does not say “love covers over ALL things.” It does not mean that love dismisses sin. Ignoring sin in the life of another is not a loving act. We should care about the growth of another. If we see someone driving down a road where the bridge is out we should try to warn them, not stand by and do nothing so we don’t offend them! What loves does is make allowances for the fact that we all have bad days, we all say stupid things, we all sometimes act in ignorance. The idea that if we really loved other people we would stop saying certain behaviors are wrong is not a Biblical notion of love.
· It is not merely a feeling. In the movie FIREPROOF they make the statement that “following your heart is foolish . . . we need to lead our hearts!” Real love is active. Sometimes we need to act loving before we ever feel it. When we love others we seek to help them. It may be financial help, you may help with repairs or odd jobs, you may run errands with/for them, you make take time and just sit and listen to someone and really hear their story.
A couple of weeks ago, Debbie and I went to a birthday party for a very successful man. He was turning 90 years old. It was quite the party! Several speeches were made. There was a common theme in all the speeches, this man was respected by others not because of His wealth or achievement but largely because he first respected others. He sees people as colleagues and friends rather than ranking them by income, education, or anything else.
Truly loving others means seeing another person as someone like you, who was created in the image of God; someone God loves as much as He loves you.
The Scribe’s Response
The scribe heard Jesus’ answer and says,
“Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 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.”
It is possible that the scribe was taking a swipe at Jesus with His elaboration that “there is no other besides Him.” Was he responding to the statements of Jesus that implied that He was God? I don’t know. We do read,
34 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.
Jesus did say this man was not far from the Kingdom of God. The man did understand that what is going on inside of us is much more important than our outward religious acts. He understood that someone can be a great churchgoer and have all the outward religious experiences and look good to those around them, yet still be far away from God in their hearts and lives.
However, in the very next section, Jesus asked a question of His own that addresses the fact that He could be God and not violate the idea of there being only One God. (But we will address that next week). I prefer to give the man the benefit of the doubt and assume he was really asking an honest question . . . which Jesus answered with the simple but profound answer that He gave.
That still raises a question: If this man was so wise . . . why wasn’t he IN the kingdom? It is because there comes a point where having the right answer must result in a response of commitment. Lots of people know a lot about the Bible. Some know very accurate things about the Bible . . .but that does not, however, mean they are saved.
We have all met people who do not follow Christ who will tell you they have read the Bible and know what it says. Usually, those people are just trying to get you to go away. We know we have read the Bible many times and we are still learning. I think some good questions to that person would be: “Why did you decide to read the Bible?” or “I’m interested, what do you think the message of the Bible is?”
Applications
We have learned a great deal about Scribes and have pondered the words of Jesus. Hopefully you have come away with some new knowledge, but what are we supposed to do with this knowledge?
First, I would suggest that we should pay more careful attention to first four of the Ten Commandments. We all know we shouldn’t steal, lie, commit adultery, covet, kill or dishonor our parents. These are the horizontal commands; they deal with how we are to relate to each other. We know we are supposed to love each other.
Even non-believers know we are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves. In fact, they often pull out this trump card to say we should tolerate and even celebrate whatever behaviors they are involved in. The last six commandments without the first four leave us confused by these statements from others. You can only fully understand the last six commands if you “get” the first four.
How much time do you give to wholly seeking the Lord above everything else in your lives? How fervently are you guarding your heart from idolatry? How often is your heart tuned to worship?
We should also ask how reverently do we speak of Him? Do we honor Him in our conversations? How often do you use the name of God or our Lord in ways that are demeaning or even crude or profane?
And we need to ask the question: Do I honor the Lord with a Sabbath? Do I take a day to rest and reconnect with Him? Do I seek the fellowship of other believers to honor and praise Him?
These things are part of the MOST IMPORTANT commandment. If these things are not important to us, then we do not understand the nature of the gospel at all.
Second, we see that merely learning Biblical truth does not make one a Christian. Knowing about the Bible does not mean you know the God of the Scriptures. Our faith is not like an academic degree that you can earn. It is a relationship of trust between God and His creation.
Before we can be a true believer, we must understand that Jesus died in our place, for our sin, as our Savior. And understanding this, we run to Him with the desire to serve and honor Him in everything we say and do. This relationship with God will carry over into our relationships with each other.
The question that remains is this: Would Jesus say you are not far from the Kingdom of God or would He say, “Now that one . . . that is one of my children who have been saved by my mercy and grace?” This is not an academic issue! It is deeply personal. And the result of this personal decision will determine where you will spend eternity. Don’t shrug it off . . . your future, and maybe even the future of your children and grandchildren depends on it.