[CatherineTorpey]

Hello all! These are notes from Marty about Sunday’s scripture:

This week’s scripture is Mark 12:28-34 New International Version

The Greatest Commandment
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Other versions of this encounter take place in Matthew
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A34-40&version=NRSV

and Luke https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=+Luke+10%3A25-37&version=NRSV

In Luke, the encounter continues with the story of the Good Samaritan

Here are links to a couple of commentaries:
https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary-old/mark-1228-34 and
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-31-2/comm entary-on-mark-1228-34-4

Some excerpts for consideration:

“The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one’” (v. 29). Matthew 22:37 and Luke 10:27 do not include this portion of this verse, but it is important. The fact that the Lord is one adds weight to the obligation to love the Lord.

The Jews refer to these words as the “Shema” (pronounced shi-MAH), which means, “to hear” and comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5. The Shema is regularly recited in synagogue worship and daily prayers and is one of the scriptures kept in phylacteries (a small container worn on one’s person containing scriptures) and mezuzahs (a similar container for the doorpost of one’s house) as a constant reminder.

The commandment to love one’s neighbor is from Leviticus 19:18 and would come less readily to mind than the commandment to love God. Still, it is in keeping with law and prophets, both of which emphasize right relationships with people as well as with God. Jewish law goes into great detail regarding our behavior in relationship to other people. The prophets go a step further, calling us to compassion and justice even in situations not covered by the law.

Christ calls us to balance these two great commandments. The person who loves God but does not love neighbor is gravely deficient. “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21). That is tough language, given the difficulty that most of us experience with loving certain co-workers, neighbors, family members, or church members.

As envisioned in Leviticus, the neighbor is a fellow Jew. However, in Luke’s Gospel, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) follows immediately after and expands upon Luke’s account of the greatest commandment (Luke 10:25-28). That parable broadens our understanding of neighbor to include those who are far outside our usual circle of friends and associates. Elsewhere, Jesus calls us to love even our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27-35).

But love for neighbor quickly degenerates into humanism or sentimentalism unless grounded in love for God. Love of God is the first commandment, not the second. Love of God is the foundation upon which all the other commandments depend. “Get the center right and the circumference will come right. Love of God will result in love of neighbor” (Luccock, 846).

“You are not far from the kingdom of God” (v. 34a). Is Jesus commending the scribe for his good answer or warning that he still lacks something? Perhaps both! However, this is one of Jesus’ few positive encounters with a member of the religious elite and one of his most positive comments to a member of that group. Jesus tends to reserve positive comments for people outsiders or people in great need (Matthew 8:10; 15:28; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52).

How far is the scribe from the kingdom? The story ends without telling us whether the scribe becomes Jesus’ disciple. We know only that, unlike the rich man who found it too difficult to do what was required to possess eternal life (10:23-25), this man is not far from the kingdom.

So, what then?

Love God; love neighbor. Jesus’ greatest words have influenced Christian tradition accordingly. But the context of this story has often been forgotten.

This was a story about an agreement — between Jesus, Mark’s lead protagonist, and a scribe, a group member of Jesus’ leading archenemies. And, this moment of harmony should make any contemporary reader pause. Matthew’s ancient parallel refused to portray Mark’s story without adding in that this scribe arrived to “test” Jesus. Many interpreters read Mark’s account in the same manner. The scribe simply wasn’t really interested in arriving at common ground. But Mark’s account depicted this Jerusalemite as a sincere scribe. Jesus and this scribe agreed!

Stories like this one, rare as they are within the Christian canon, must drive us to become more willing to open up to the other, including the faithful people within our own religious tradition and those without. With Jesus, at the least, may we be able to admit that these people of faith are also “not far from the kingdom.” Can we go beyond Jesus and discover in our fellow companions of faith people who are “in” the “kingdom,” that is, they, too, have religious commitments that allow them to share in God’s love for the world. For many of us in the contemporary world, love for our neighbor coincides with respect for our neighbor’s belief system or lack thereof. By this respect for our neighbor, we carry out the mission of human dignity, which, in turn, represents a love for the God of Jesus.

For me, this song by Bii and Gloria Gaither pretty much sums it up:

Loving God, loving each other
Making music with my friends
Loving God, loving each other
And the story never ends

They pushed back from the table
To listen to His words
His secret plan before He had to go
It’s not complicated
Don’t need a lot of rules
This is all you’ll need to know

Loving God, loving each other
Making music with my friends
Loving God, loving each other
And the story never ends

We tend to make it harder
Build steeples out of stone
Fill books with explanations of The Way
But if we’d stop and listen
And break a little bread
We would hear the Master say

Loving God, loving each other
Making music with my friends
Loving God, loving each other
And the story never ends

You can listen to it here: https://youtu.be/8UWU0C09ILY Looking forward to another great conversation on Sunday

[LawrenceSwan]

I agree with everything you say here, Marty. Lately, though, I’ve been reading the “Hear O, Israel” as covering the second commandment as well as the first. “Israel” is defined as that nation that obeys these commandments and the neighbors they need to love include those outsiders you refer to, people on the other side of the borders, neighboring nations. This idea informs my thinking about Palestine. Thanks.

[Marty Miller]

In The Message” translation verses 29-30 reads” Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.”

For me this is reminiscent of Exodus 20 which begins, “I am God, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a life of slavery.” And then continues with God giving the 10 Commandments. In a blog post Rob Bell suggested
that this was a reminder of why God should be listened to. Inserting “therefore” helps us understand who is giving the command
and why we should obey. “I am God, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery,” therefore,
“You shall have no other gods before me.” I kind of read the Shema in the same way. ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one,”
therefore, you should “love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.”

For me this has been helpful understanding several scriptural concepts.

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