Scripture/Sermon of the Day.  November 3, 2024

Mark 12:28-34

God’s most important command

28 One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

29 Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, 30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”

32 The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Reflection/Sermon:

I.      Love is the most important commandment.  My Bible has 2337 pages, from Genesis to Revelation.And the whole book can be reduced to“Love God, yourself, your neighbor.” Five words.

II.     Our reading this morning is in the Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Matthew and Mark are most similar.  Matthew is: But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

A Pharisee is a member of a Jewish religious party, composed of laymen and scribes (scholars and pietists). They believed worship is not bloody sacrifices (the practice of the temple priests) but in the practice of prayer and the study of God’s law. 

In the Gospel of Mark is our reading today.  Instead of Pharisee, Mark used the word “scribe” or “legal expert.”  But, we can see that Pharisees included groups of scribes.  They were all devoted to the Torah — the Law of Moses.

Luke’s gospel is like Mark and Matthew — but when Luke was written, people debated about how to interpret the words of Jesus — especially concerning this most important of Laws.  Jesus did not make these laws — they were from the time of Moses — fourteen hundred years before Jesus!  These were OLD laws, from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Jesus took the two laws and combined them to make THE MOST IMPORTANT LAW.

III.    Deuteronomy (the fifth book of the Bible) 6:5 says:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Leviticus (the third book of the Bible) 19:18 says:  “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”

IV.     Only in Luke’s gospel does the legal expert answer his question.  In Mark and Matthew — Jesus answers.

But from the time of Moses, people debated about the meaning of “neighbor”.  Leviticus doesn’t explain it clearly. 

WE STILL DON’T KNOW!!!  WHAT DOES JESUS MEAN WHEN HE SAYS “LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF” — WHO IS A OUR NEIGHBOR???

V.      So when Luke writes his gospel, he knows he has to do something about this — because people didn’t know if  “neighbor” is the person next door — or close by, or the person who lives in your village, or who goes to church with you. 

So Luke includes Jesus telling the story we call “the Good Samaritan.”  In Luke, the legal scholar asked Jesus:  “Who is my neighbor?”  And even though we've read the Bible — or at least have heard some of these stories — it still makes us uncomfortable, it still cause us guilt feelings, to hear Jesus’ answer to this question because we treat a lot of people who are not like us terribly — we say they eat people’s pets — we say their blood is poison — we compare them to insects and rats.

VI.     Notice Jesus doesn’t answer the legal scholar’s question.  The man says, “Who’s my neighbor?” And Jesus tells a story and then asks the man a question:  “Which of these was a neighbor to the man who  was beaten by the robbers?”  For Jesus, “neighbor” doesn’t have to do with where a person comes from.  It doesn’t have to do with race or skin color or language or geographic location.  The man asks Jesus “WHO” IS MY NEIGHBOR.  JESUS SAYS, “WRONG QUESTION — BETTER TO ASK “WHAT IS A NEIGHBOR?”  And the answer — one who shows mercy.  One who shows love to others, even to a stranger, even to an enemy. And Jesus says — “Go and do likewise.”  In other words — YOU BE THE NEIGHBOR WHO LOVES HIS OR HER FELLOW HUMAN BEING.

VII.    Here’s the problem with Jesus — he wants us to love everybody.  That’s the problem.  It’s not people who are crossing our borders.  The problem, for Jesus, is when we have a heart that does not have mercy or love in it.

VIII.   We all know what God’s will is — to love everyone.  And knowing that makes us “not far from the kingdom of God.” 

But being close to heaven isn’t good enough.  Knowing what mercy is isn’t good enough — we need to BE mercy, Be compassion, Be loving.  Our goal isn’t to be close to heaven — it’s to be standing IN HEAVEN.  Jesus will take us there — listen to him — think of him — walk with him.  BECOME HIM