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Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandment is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one dared question Him.
- Mark 12:28-34
We are in Mark's Gospel during the Passover Week, commemorated by us as Holy Week, when Jesus and the disciples are in Jerusalem. He has made His Triumphal Entry, welcomed as Messiah into the city, and He has cleansed the temple. Jesus has also been questioned by the religious leadership as to His authority to do so. After this, they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?" But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it." So they brought it. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they marveled at Him. Then some Sadduccees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and leave his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring. And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise. So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be For all seven had her as wife." Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken."
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandment is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. Jesus quotes the great commandment (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) which is the Jewish confession of faith, known as the Shema' (meaning "hear" which is the first word of the commandment). He calls it the first commandment. But there is also another.
"And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." Jesus also gives the commandment from Leviticus 19:18, combining, as my study bible puts it, "what is already present in the Old Testament to create a new understanding: love of neighbor is an expression of love of God."
So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." But after that no one dared question Him. This scribe has come to join in the "testing" of Christ, but answers honestly and with admiration for Jesus' wisdom. My study bible says it's a sign of his conversion. As always, all of Jesus' answers contain truths on many levels, regardless of its surface meaning. The scribe is not far from the kingdom of God in his understanding, but he is also "not far from the kingdom of God" which is present in the person of Jesus who stands before him.
The notions of the presence of the kingdom of God are important to our understanding of our faith. The kingdom is present in the person of Jesus, the Son. But this kingdom is shared among us and within us. When Jesus sent out the disciples on their first mission, He taught them to say to the people they went to, "The kingdom of God has come near you" (Matthew 10:7). When He sent out the Seventy, He taught them to say the same (see Luke 10:9-11). John the Baptist proclaims, "The kingdom of God has come hear" when he preaches of repentance in preparation for the Messiah (Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:2). Jesus' teaching to the scribe in today's reading seems to indicate that appropriate faith and work bring us near to the Kingdom: love of God and love of neighbor. Jesus'
teaching sums up all the Law and the Prophets. Most tellingly, the words of the scribe indicate that to love God with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love neighbor is "more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Included here is what it means to have "a broken and contrite spirit," one that puts love of God first before all things, and thus necessarily God's command to love one's neighbor as oneself. It indicates a kind of love of God that knows us all as equals before God, and that to please God is better than selfish desires. This is where we are when we are close to the kingdom of God, in this place where we begin to understand. But the fullness of God's love for us is also something standing right in front of this scribe and right before us, the Son who came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. This is the recognition of the Son who has been given to us out of the tremendous love of God for us. When we can enter into fullness and depth of that relationship in the heart, and that understanding of Christ, then the kingdom of God dwells in us and among us.
