And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” (Mk. 12:28 ESV) A scribe approaches Jesus in the temple. This scribe joins a long list of people at the temple who have been verbally sparing Jesus. The chief priests, scribes and elders have interrogated Jesus about his authority. The Pharisees and Herodians have double-teamed Jesus regarding taxes. The Sadducees have grilled Jesus about resurrection. And now this scribe takes up the fight. Matthew specifically tells us that this scribe has come to “test” Jesus. Mark notes that the scribe has seen how Jesus handled the Sadducees. Perhaps the scribe believes he can do a much better job than the Sadducees.[i]
This scribe is identified by Matthew as a Pharisee (most scribes were Pharisees). As we’ve heard earlier in this series, the Pharisees determined that the Torah contained 613 commandments (248 positive and 365 negative).[ii] 613 commandments. That’s a lot of commandments. Not surprisingly there was debate as to which of those commandments was the most important. There was conflict over which of the 613 had priority. Thus the question which the scribe uses to test Jesus is this: “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
I sympathize with this question especially when I think about one of our Highland traditions. Last Wednesday night Karli Williamson was baptized. And as we do with each baptism, an elder (Karli’s grandfather), presented a Bible. Sometimes, as with Karli, the individual being baptized already knows much about the Bible. But sometimes the individual doesn’t. And as he/she begins his/her new life in Christ, we hand that individual this “life-manual,” this “Christianity 101” book, this autobiography of God. It consists of 66 books divided into 1,189 chapters. And it can be overwhelming. I remember the first Bible I received. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home and knew very little Bible when I was baptized at age 16. When Marie Cope gave me my first Bible a few weeks after my baptism, I wasn’t sure what to do with it. How do you make sense out of those hundreds of pages? How do you know what’s most important out of 66 books and 1,189 chapters? “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
That question and Jesus’ willingness to answer it reveal something important about what the scribe calls “commandments” or what we would call the Bible. They reveal this: The Bible is not flat. A flat Bible means every one of the 613 commandments have equal value. None are higher in priority or lower in priority than others. They all have equal value.
I printed a list of the 613 commandments identified by the Pharisees. I’ve cut those up and they’ve been distributed to you. Just so we can get a sense of the diversity of these 613 commandments, I’d like to ask for four volunteers to stand and read the commandment on the slip of paper in your hand….
There is a great deal of diversity in these 613 commandments. In a flat Bible, every one of those commandments carries the same value. All of them are of life-and-death or heaven-and-hell significance.
There are a lot of churches with flat Bibles. When I was in graduate school I had friends who would go off on Sunday mornings to preach in small and rural congregations in the Mid-South. They would return on Sunday nights with shocking accounts. A church which refused to fellowship anyone who used church funds to support children’s homes. A church which taught that any Bible translation besides the KJV was sinful. A church which believed that calling the preacher a pastor was as sinful as murder. In a flat Bible, every command, example, and necessary inference has the same heaven-and-hell significance.
And in flat-Bible-churches spirituality becomes very difficult. It’s hard to know what is most important when everything is equally important. You’re filled with fear and dread because failing to keep even the most minor commandment could send you to hell. You become known as a people who major in the minors. And new Christians don’t stand a chance because every word in every 1,189 chapters is on the test to get into heaven.
But the question—“Which commandment is the most important of all?”—and Jesus’ response to that question assume the Bible is not flat. The Bible has height and depth to it. Some things are more important than others. Some things give meaning to everything else. When we forget that we get religion. Religion offers a flat Bible impossible to live out. Jesus offers something else. Jesus identifies what is most important of all.
29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mk. 12:29-33 ESV)
Jesus scans this list of 613 commandments and lands on commandment #4. It’s a quote from Deut. 6:4-5. These words were called the “Shema” after the first Hebrew word in the text, “Hear.” This text was recited morning and evening by pious Jews. [iii]
Let’s explore the first part of this quote. The Hebrew of Deut. 6:4 can be translated in several ways:[iv]
- The Lord our God is one Lord.
- The Lord our God—The Lord is one.
- The Lord is our God; The Lord is one.
- The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
I like the last one: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” It emphasizes the exclusivity of God. There may be other gods. But only one is our God. He’s the only true God. This is what the scribe emphasizes when he summarizes Jesus’ response: You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.
This line was significant and controversial in the ancient culture of Deuteronomy. It was a culture which believed in the existence and importance of many gods. But against the grain of that culture, twice a day the Jews would recite these words affirming that there was only one true God and they followed that God.
This line was still significant and controversial in Jesus’ day. The Greco-Roman culture believed in the existence and importance of many gods. Even the Roman Caesar whose image was stamped on the denarius coin was believed to be divine. But against the grain of that culture, Jesus argues for the preeminence of God—there is no other besides him.[v]
Jesus seems to be saying this: the gods are not flat. There may be many so-called gods. But they are not of equal value. There is one who rises above all others: The Lord God.
What a significant and controversial line that is today. Jesus is saying that one of the defining elements of biblical faith is the belief that The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Jesus points to the exclusivity of the biblical God as a defining characteristic of biblical faith.
Today there are many religions. Michael Green provides this list:[vi]
- Occult religions such as animism, witchcraft, magic, some New Age.
- Imperial religions. These are concerned with the deity of the highest political authority. Examples include the divine kings in Egypt and the Caesars of the Roman Empire.
- Ascetic religions such as Janism, Buddhism, and some strands of Hinduism.
- Bourgeois religions which feed the leisured classes. Examples include Christian Science, Spiritualism, and Scientology.
- Prophetic religions, those that arise from the dynamic challenge of a great leader. Examples include Islam and Marxism.
- Finally, Revelatory religions like Judaism and Christianity.
There many religions today and many gods today. In addition, there is a strong cultural belief that all these religions and all these gods are the same. But Jesus says that one of the defining traits of biblical faith is the belief that the gods are not flat. There is one true God. There is one God above all gods. Of the 1,189 chapters in this book, that is one of the most important truths.
Having established this truth, Jesus then describes how we respond to that one God: 29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Notice how Jesus starts: “you shall love.” Not “you shall obey.” Not “you shall fear.” Fear and obedience might be the dominant responses taught in religion. But in biblical faith our primary response to God is love. “You shall love.”
My children play a game on their mobile devices called “Pocket God.” In the game, there is an island occupied by a jungle-tribe of human-like creatures. You are their god in the sense that you determine when and how many of these tribesmen appear on the island and you are in control of everything that happens to them. You can enlarge the sun, and they burn to death. You can fling them into a volcano. You can feed them to the shark. The relationship between the tribe and god is one of fear or obedience. All they know is fear of the all powerful god and their inability to do anything but obey whatever the all powerful god bids.
What a contrast between that and the relationship Jesus describes. If you want religion, you will probably wind up with something in which your dominant response to God is fear or obedience. But if you follow Jesus, you are invited into a relationship with God in which the dominant response is love.
And this is an all consuming love. Jesus mentions four things: heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Hebrew thought, these are the ingredients of a human being: heart, soul, mind and strength. And humans can love with each ingredient.[vii] We humans can love with our heart. “Heart” has to do with feelings. Teenage girls swooning over Zach Efron or Taylor Lautner might be loving with their heart. But we can also love with our soul. “Soul” refers to the very energy that keeps us alive. A man who completely changes his life for a woman—quits overworking, stops smoking, dresses nicely, stops cursing—might be loving with his soul. We can also love with our mind. “Mind” refers to intellectual activity. A wife who remembers every birthday and wedding anniversary of each of her 8 siblings and 16 grandchildren is loving with her mind. And we can love with our strength. “Strength” stands for our physical and material capabilities, including property and wealthy. A father purchasing his daughter a new car might be loving with his strength.
And in the very best of relationships we love with each ingredient: heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus says that’s what biblical faith is about. Jesus has come primarily to show us how to love God in an ideal way. He’s come to show us what it looks like when you engage heart, soul, mind, and strength in a love relationship with God. There may be many religions and many gods. But there’s only one God who’s invited us into a relationship primarily characterized by an all consuming love. That’s the most important element of our faith.
But Jesus doesn’t stop with #4 on the list of 613 commandments. There is one other commandment Jesus points to. Jesus goes for #13 on our list. It comes from Lev. 19:18 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mk. 12:31 ESV). This all-consuming love relationship with God changes us. It enlarges our heart. The closer we get to God the more we develop his style of love. And that manifests itself outward toward others, toward our neighbors.
You can tell whether someone is religious or a follower of Jesus by how they love people. Religion often produces people who are judgmental, vindictive, and just plain mean toward others. But followers of Jesus, because they understand that biblical faith is primarily about entering into an all-consuming love relationship with God, become people who are caring, compassionate, and generous.
Jesus says that a love relationship with God is going to manifest in you loving your neighbor as yourself. Who is our neighbor? Elsewhere, Jesus was asked that question. His response was basically this: anyone near you, especially anyone near you who is in need. Our love relationship with God results in us loving anyone near us, especially those in need. And what does it mean to love “as yourself”? The phrase “as yourself” means “in the same way that you care for your own needs.”[viii] Take care of that person’s needs in the same way you take care of your own needs. It’s a practical, down to earth, active kind of love. Jesus is saying that biblical faith comes down to this one simple thing—love the one true God and love people.
During Vacation Bible School earlier this summer a young man on a bicycle rode up to our building and said, “I’m looking for a Bible study.” A group of men got him something to eat and sat and talked with him. They learned of his need for a car and starting working on getting him a car. One of them gave him a new bike to replace his old bike. Several of them started spending regular time with him. That’s the essence of biblical faith. We come to believe in the one true God. We start loving that God with all we have. And that, in turn, leads us to love others.
A couple recently moved to Memphis in an emergency situation. Few of us knew them directly. But several of you immediately helped them find a house and helped them acquire furniture for that house. That’s what biblical faith is all about. We come to believe in the one true God. We start loving that God with all we have. And that, in turn, leads us to love others.
In late July some of our teens, all on their own, met at our building, made sack lunches, and traveled downtown to hand out those lunches. They gave away 40-50 lunches to homeless people. That’s what biblical faith is all about. We come to believe in the one true God. We start loving that God with all we have. And that, in turn, leads us to love others.
Kate Garner, daughter of Highland members Ken and Brenda, was recently in a serious car accident in a small town in Oklahoma. Her leg injury was severe and the local hospital did not appear to have the necessary resources to treat it. When two friends of the Garners learned what was happening, entirely on their own they chartered a private flight to get Kate to Memphis where she could receive the best medical care. The trip cost thousands of dollars. That’s what biblical faith is all about. We come to believe in the one true God. We start loving that God with all we have. And that, in turn, leads us to love others.
Jesus ends this encounter with these words: 34And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:34 ESV). “The kingdom of God.” That’s an important phrase. It stands for something like this: what would this world be like if God could have everything he wanted? What would this world be like if God got his way, every day? Jesus says the answer is this: people would believe in the one true God and be in love with him in a way that couldn’t be matched and they would join God in showing love in concrete ways to every person near them. That’s what this book is all about. I invite you to let that be what your life is about.
[i] Robert H. Gundry, Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross (Eerdmans, 1993), 710.
[ii] “Pharisees,” New Bible Dictionary,924-925.
[iii] Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Victor Books, 1997), 133.
[iv] Gundry, 715.
[v] Gundry, 714.
[vi] Michael Green But Don’t All Religions Lead to God? (Baker Books, 2002).
[vii] Gundry, 715.
[viii] Gundry, 715.
