Sermon Tone Analysis
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Here’s the setting.
It’s the last week of Jesus’ life.
On Monday he cleared out the temple.
His behavior incited the religious establishment against him.
On Tuesday these enemies of Jesus began an onslaught of questions attempting to discredit the person and ministry of Jesus.
In Mark 11:27-33 the chief priests, scribes, and elders questioned Him concerning His authority.
In Mark 12:13-17 the Pharisees and Herodians questioned Him concerning taxes.
In Mark 12:18-27 the Sadducees question him concerning the afterlife.
And in today’s text a single scribe questions him concerning the greatest commandment.
He wants to know which one has the most weight.
This was an often-debated question among the religious leaders.
They liked to count and categorize the commands, arguing about which ones could be blown off and which had to be kept.
We generally think of there being 10 Commandments but the Pharisees actually added up all of them and came up with 613 – 248 were positive: “do this” or “do that” and 365 were negative: “don’t do this, don’t do that.”
For them, a “don’t a day” kept the devil away!
The answer Jesus gives summarizes the entire teaching of Scripture:
WE OBEY THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT BECAUSE GOD IS THE GREATEST AND BY DOING SO WE MEET OUR NEIGHBORS GREATEST NEED.
I want us to learn how to love God and our neighbor by examining the scribes compelling question, Jesus’ concise answer, and everyone’s close proximity.
A COMPELLING QUESTION
BECAUSE OF ITS SOURCE
A scribe was a teacher of the law.
This man spent his life debating the weightiness of the 613 commandment.
He genuinely and sincerely wanted to know which commandment must be kept above all else.
This was not the first lawyer to ask such a question.
Luke 10:25:28 records Jesus encounter without a lawyer who was not seeking an answer but to test Jesus.
He did not want to know what the greatest commandment was but what was required to have eternal life.
Jesus answered this lawyer by saying
BECAUSE OF ITS SUBSTANCE
It’s a compelling question because of its substance.
If there is an order of importance.
If something is greater than all else then knowing what that is become life’s most important pursuit.
Jesus doesn’t give them new information.
He simply reminds them of what they already know.
Jesus’ answer is found in Deuteronomy 6 and 15 and Leviticus 19.
Deuteronomy 6 and 15 speaks of loving the Lord with heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Leviticus 19 speaks of loving neighbor as yourself.
Here Jesus connects the dots and says that they are not two commandments but one and the greatest of all.
BECAUSE IT’S THE SAVIOR
It’s a compelling question because it’s the Savior.
No one better to ask which of the laws is the greatest than the law giver himself.
There is no one better to make clear what is cloudy in so many minds.
A CONCISE ANSWER
CONCISE: COVERING MUCH IN A FEW WORDS.
Jesus takes 613 commandments a says Love God and Love People and you will keep all the law.
When God gave the 10 commandments to Moses on Mt.
Sinai He gave them on two tablets expressing this teaching.
The first four on tablet one all focused on loving God.
The second tablet containing commandment 5-10 focused on loving our neighbor.
In the commandments the Lord was teaching His people if they loved Him in the way His commandments taught (1-4) they would love their neighbor (5-10).
Remember, the law was not given because he saved them from Egypt but afterwards.
This reminds us that obedience to God’s commands is not our pathway to salvation but our way of expressing our love and gratitude to the Lord for our salvation.
It is not our words that express love for God but our ways.
A CLOSE PROXIMITY
Jesus is teaching us that by
LOVING GOD SUPREMELY WE WILL BE ABLE TO LOVE OTHERS GENUINELY.
If we love God, we will experience His love within and will express that love to others.
We do not live by rules but by relationships, a loving relationship to God that enables us to have a loving relationship with others.
Earlier this sermon I mentioned the lawyer who questioned Jesus in Luke 10.
Jesus used the parable of the good Samaritan to answer his question because he asked the question; who is my neighbor?
The parable of the Good Samaritan used the teaching of Leviticus 19 to answer the question of neighbor that Leviticus 19 had already answered.
To ask “Who is my neighbor?” is to look for a loophole by focusing on what claim others have on my time and energy and resources.
The Lord is saying you should do this because I am the Lord.
We should do this because we are the Lord’s.
A neighbor is anyone in need who God brings in front of me.
The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is essentially telling us to treat other people as well as we treat ourselves.
Scripture never commands us to love ourselves; it assumes we already do.
To love my neighbor as myself means I will serve the needs of others with all the energy, passion and zeal with which I serve and attempt to meet my own needs.
Love the person outside your window like you love the person you see in the mirror.
If we love God with everything we have and love others as much as we love ourselves, we will engage in evangelism.
We won’t be able to stop.
Many, most, if not all of us who claim to be soldiers in Christ army have gone AWOL during these last two years.
Jesus is calling us back to a life of loving our neighbor as ourself.
Those who are truly in God’s kingdom will love God and thereby love those who God brings in front of them.
However, the scribe in our story according to Jesus
Notice his proximity - not far and notice His standing - not in.
Jesus said He was not far because he answered wisely.
Remember,
It’s not our words that express love for God but our ways.
Citizenship in heaven is not based on information obtained but information obeyed.
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