The Love God Requires, The Love God
Gives
Mark 12:28-34
Introduction: I have not counted, but according
to rabbinic sources there are 613 commandments in the Old Testament. Of those
there are 248 positive commands telling the Israelites what to do, and 365 negative
commands, telling them what not to do. Through the centuries rabbis have
tried to divide those between less serious (light) and more serious (heavy)
commands. With all of that, there were naturally numerous attempts by the
rabbis through the ages to summarize the Law to a more succinct number, to get
at the heart of the matter. That is essentially what the scribe in this passage
is asking Jesus to do. Which is the greatest
commandment? This scribe seems to have a different attitude than some of
the previous leaders. He doesn’t seem to be tempting
Jesus, seeking to catch Him in His words. Rather he is perhaps testing Jesus, asking a sincere
question, and seeing if Jesus’ apparent wisdom could address what he viewed as
an important issue. Which of the commandments is “first,” i.e. most important,
of all? Paul, in His Spirit inspired
description of the Law said, “…the law was our guardian until Christ came,
in order that we might be justified by faith…” (Gal 3:24, ESV). The Law protected, guided, revealed truth,
showed God’s standard… and exposed our desperate need for redemption and grace.
As we’ll see, we need a new heart.
Context: We are still in the passion week,
between Palm Sunday and the Cross. Jesus has confronted the leaders in
Jerusalem since the triumphal entry a couple of days earlier. Another man comes
with more openness with a question…
The Maine* Idea: Sincere love for God and for our
neighbor can only come through being rightly related to the King.
I. You cannot obey God without
knowing Him and loving Him (28-30).
28 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?" 29 Jesus answered, "The most
important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And 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...' "
The approach of this scribe, this expert in the
Law, is different that some of the leaders that had come before. In those cases
the context and the questions they asked made it clear that they were looking
for a basis to condemn Jesus, or at least to discredit Him before the people.
We have no such indication from Mark that this leader had the same motives. To
be sure, this man is not yet a disciple. Though he calls Jesus “teacher” in his
response to Jesus’ answer, he does so more in the sense of commending a peer
than affirming Jesus as Lord. There is likewise no indication that this man
recognized his own depravity, and his desperate need for forgiveness and
reconciliation with God. Even so, there does seem to be a level of openness, of
seeking, of honest questioning, something that we have not seen in those that
had clearly made up their minds to reject Jesus. Perhaps he was “testing” Jesus, seeing if this
rabbi was as sharp as He seemed. He asks, “Which
commandment is first of all?”
Jesus answers first
by quoting from the “Shema,” a
passage of Scripture memorized and quoted daily in the prayers of Jews to this
day. Deuteronomy 6:4,5,
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is
one. 5 You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
might...”
As most Christians learn “John 3:16” and can recite it from
memory, Jews learn the Shema. It’s
been called the confession of faith of Judaism. Deuteronomy 6:4 starts with
that Hebrew word, “Shema,” which means,
“Hear! Listen!” The context of Deuteronomy 6 makes it clear
that the verse is calling Israel to recognize that there is one true God,
Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Him alone are they to worship.
I am convinced that the best translation of the Hebrew text is the one we see
only in the margin of a few English translations: “Hear O Israel, Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone!” Ironically, the
Great I AM, the God who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, now incarnate
in Christ, stood there before this ruler, and he did not recognize Him. To know Him is to love Him. The
command comes in v.5: love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength,
i.e. with all of your being. C.S. Lewis said, “On the whole, God's love for us is a much safer subject to think about
than our love for Him.” Love Him with all that we are? How can we do
that? R.C. Sproul in his commentary on Mark said he doesn’t think he’s kept
that commandment perfectly for five minutes of his life! And us? We’ll see in
this passage that sincere love for God (and for our neighbor) can only come
through being rightly related to the King.
II. You cannot truly
love God, who you can’t see, while not loving your neighbor, who you can see (31-33). Jesus doesn’t stop with the
first and greatest commandment, but He goes further…
31 …The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.32 And
the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that
he is one, and there is no other besides him.
33 And 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."
Jesus’ second
reference is to Leviticus 19:17-18 which says,
17 “You shall
not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your
neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the
sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the
LORD.”
The apostle John
wrote his first letter dealing extensively with the possibility and the basis
for assurance of salvation. In almost every chapter he touches on the subject
of “love” as a basis for our assurance. For example, we read in 1 John 4:7-9,
7 Beloved, let
us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of
God and knows God. 8 Anyone
who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made
manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might
live through him.
And then in 1 John 4:19-21 he makes it clear that…
19 We love
because he first loved us. 20
If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he
has not seen. 21 And this
commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Loving God, the One who is perfect, who is truth, who is good
and who does all things well, that is something we think we should do (even though none of us does
it perfectly!). Loving our neighbor, who is noisy (and nosey!), who borrows our
stuff and never brings it back, who plays his music so loud that even closing
my windows don’t help, who always mows his lawn exactly when I want to take a
nap, (you get the idea!) that is not always so easy! I’ve shared before this
little poem, I don’t know the author, but it expresses our struggle…
To live above with saints I love will
certainly be glory!
To live below with saints I know, that’s another story!
Indeed! But wait a minute. Love is emotional, it involves our feelings, but it begins with a
choice. And it involves action. It means not only wanting the best, but doing
what is best for our neighbor, without expecting anything in return. In his
book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote,
"Do not waste your time bothering whether you
'love' your neighbor, act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of
the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will
presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find
yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself
disliking him less."
One counselor told the story of a wife who came
into his office full of hatred toward her husband…
"I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to
get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."
The counsellor suggested an ingenious plan: "Go home and act as if you
really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for
every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous
as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you
love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot
live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you are getting a divorce.
That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and
exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she
did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed
love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn't
return, the counsellor called. "Are you ready now to go through with the
divorce?" "Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I
really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted
in emotion.
Love shows
itself in actions. Actions can change us too! Love, without expecting anything
in return. Unlike this letter from a girl seeking to reconcile with her former fiancé.’’
Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great
unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me
back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I
love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie.
P.S. And congratulations on winning the state lottery.
Expecting
nothing in return! Love your neighbor as yourself. Choose to do what is best for them. But, you
might ask, “Who is my neighbor?” Funny you should ask! There is a similar exchange between Jesus and
a scribe recorded in Luke 10:25-37 that leads to that very question being
answered through a story that Jesus told…
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying,
"Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is
written in the Law? How do you read it?"
27 And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with
all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And he said to him, "You
have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." 29 But he, desiring to justify
himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied, "A man was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped
him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was
going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he
came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his
wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought
him to an inn and took care of him. 35
And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper,
saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I
come back.' 36 Which of
these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among
the robbers?" 37 He
said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him,
"You go, and do likewise." (Luke 10:25-37, ESV).
Who is my neighbor? Anyone who’s need I see, who’s need I am
able to meet. So, if I love my neighbor, I am going to want what is best for
them, and do what I can to help them experience God’s best, without expecting
anything in return. The wounded man in the parable promised nothing to the Good
Samaritan. As far as we know he had nothing to offer. Yet the Samaritan
stopped, and helped. And he went the extra mile and not only helped the man in
crisis, but went further, even leaving some money and offering to pay any
expenses above and beyond that. He loved his neighbor, not expecting
anything in return.
Giving a cup of
water in the name of Jesus, feeding the hungry, helping those in need are all
ways that we should show love to others. But have we really loved them if we
stop there? The greatest need our neighbors have is to know and experience
the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Eternity is at stake. We are called to
bring the message of grace to the people around us, urging them on behalf of
Christ to be reconciled with God. If we do that out of love, because we care,
because we want them to experience the abundant life, the eternal life that God
promises to those who trust Him, some will hear. Loving God and loving our neighbor is greater
than all burnt offerings and sacrifices because sincere love for God and for
our neighbor can only come through having a new heart, being rightly related to
the King. That brings us to…
III. We can’t keep
either commandment without a new life in relation to Jesus Christ: Only One perfectly kept the first
commandment (34)!
34 And when
Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far
from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any
more questions.
Remember
the night time meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus recorded in John 3:3-5… when
the Lord said, “Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus seemingly was attracted
to something in the preaching of Jesus, but he didn’t understand that he needed
a transformed heart. Keeping the Law, by our own effort, can never make us
right with God. Why? As James said, “…whoever
keeps the whole law, and fails in one point, is guilty of all…” (James 2:9-11).
We need to be justified by grace, through faith. We need a new heart, we
need to be born again. The scribe in our passage acknowledged Jesus’ reply, and
had a “wise” response of his own, but even so Jesus didn’t say He was “in.” He
said, “You are not far from the
kingdom of God.” The King stood there, right in front of this religious
leader, he wasn’t far, yet all he could
see was a good, wise teacher. Remember the rich young ruler? Jesus told
him, “You lack one thing…” Remember
Agrippa in Acts 26, after hearing the testimony of Paul, “…you almost persuade me to be a Christian…” Almost
persuaded, loving material things more than the Lord, or as in this
case, still failing to recognize who Jesus is, and not (yet) trusting in Him. To
know Him is to love Him. Remember the three questions Mark has
been answering in this Gospel: Who is Jesus? Why did He come? What does it mean
to follow Him?
What is God saying to me in
this passage? Sincere
love for God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and genuine, unfeigned
love for our neighbor, love that wants and does what is best for them, without
expecting anything in return, that kind of love can only come through being
rightly related to the King.
What would God have me to do in
response to this passage? When
it comes to God, we can truly say that to know Him is to love Him. As we
grow in our knowledge of God, our love for Him deepens and grows (and so will
our love for our neighbor). Jesus said
“He who has seen me has seen the Father.” As we’ve been walking deliberately
through this gospel over the last year and a half or so, do you feel like your
getting to know Him better, do you sense that you love Him more? Francis Xavier wrote in the early 1500’s the
following (this is an old, English translation),
My God, I love Thee;
not because I hope for heaven thereby,
Nor yet because who
love Thee not Are lost eternally.
Thou, O my Jesus, Thou
didst me Upon the cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails, and spear, And manifold
disgrace,
And griefs and
torments numberless, And sweat of agony;
Yea, death itself; and
all for me Who was thine enemy.
Then why, O blessed
Jesus Christ, Should I not love Thee well?
Not for the sake of winning heaven, Nor of escaping
hell;
Not from the hope of
gaining aught, Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast
loved me, O ever-loving Lord.
So would I love Thee,
dearest Lord, And in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because Thou art my God, And my most loving
King.
Oh that we should love Him so… and
love our neighbors as ourselves! AMEN.
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