B-Side - Mark 12:28-34 Part 2
v28...
The scribe asks a common rabbinic question about which of the 613 laws is the heaviest.
About 20 years earlier, the famous Rabbi Hillel summarized the Torah negatively ("what you would not want done to you, do not do to your neighbor"). Jesus answers positively with love, anchoring it first in the nature of who God is.
1. Quoting the Scriptures...
Jesus connects Deuteronomy (The Shema) and Leviticus. If Jesus needed to quote Scripture, we certainly do. We are never closer to truth than when speaking God's Word.
Satan also quotes Scripture (as in Genesis 3 and the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4), but he twists it for his own agenda. False doctrine is demonic because it perverts God's Word.
2. Jesus's answer masterfully summarizes the Ten Commandments. The first four commands are entirely about loving God, and the last six are about loving your fellow man!
3. Loving Your Neighbor Practically vs. Eternally...
Though physical help (mowing lawns, being generous with time) is good, the absolute best way to love your neighbor is to introduce them to Jesus.
The Great Commission... true love involves making disciples, leading them to baptism, and teaching them to observe God's commands.
v32...
To obey is better than sacrifice... The scribe correctly connects Jesus's words to Old Testament truths (like 1 Samuel 15:22 and Hosea 6:6), recognizing that loving God is weightier than burnt offerings. The setting matters; this realization happens at the Temple during Passover week. With potentially hundreds of thousands of lambs being sacrificed around them, the scribe declares that relationship with God is weightier than the massive religious system he specializes in. It also directly follows Jesus flipping the money changers' tables the day before.
Being near the Kingdom vs. in the Kingdom... v34
3 final thoughts...
1. The scribe approached Jesus alone, stepping out of the "echo chamber" of his peers, which allowed him a genuine path to discover the truth.
2. False Assurance: Jesus tells him he is "not far" from the Kingdom rather than immediately declaring him saved. This serves as a warning against modern altar calls that quickly give false assurance of salvation to people who only intellectually agree but have unregenerate hearts. This scribe's assent was only intellectual, and Jesus made a distinction!
3. The early Church and the didache...
- The way of life vs. the way of death: the Didache (maybe the oldest non-canonical church document) opens by echoing Jesus's teaching: the "Way of Life" is to love God and love your neighbor!
- Loving your enemies: the text commands believers to pray and fast for their persecutors. If we love even those who hate us, we will have no personal enemies. When people hate us, it should be not because of our own sin, abuses, or bad character, but for righteousness's sake. Be a person full of love!