There are many great characters from English literature who were changed by love, but there is probably none greater than Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. Scrooge was a stingy, bitter man who’s only concern was for money. As Dickens writes, “The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait… No wind that blew was bitterer than he.” And yet, as the story progresses, he comes to terms with the misdirected values he has maintained in his life, choosing money over his first love and his business partner. Through his encounters with the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, he saw how bankrupt those priorities were. He also saw in the Cratchit family, the exact opposite of his bankrupt life. Though they were poor and infirmed, they had an abundance of love. Compassion for Tiny Tim and sympathy for the Cratchits is the fire of love that thaws Scrooge’s heart, so that he becomes a different man.
This morning, we come to the third trap set for Jesus at the end of his earthly ministry, and in it we find a similar story of love. This trap is different from the other two, in that the scribe who comes to ask the question is not really trying to trap Jesus. Instead, he sees the debates that the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees have raised with Jesus. He sees Jesus’s wisdom, and so he comes with a sincere question – a question that matters more than any other that has been asked. The Pharisees and Herodians asked a controversial question to catch Jesus in treason. The Sadducees asked a silly question to catch Jesus in a heresy. But, this scribe asks a serious question with eternal consequences. To see this, let’s read Mark 12:28-34 together. From this text, see two points: The Greatness of Love and the Gap of Faith.
First, from verses 28-31, see the Greatness of Love. The scribe comes with an important and sincere question: Which of the commandments is the most important of all? This question matters to this scribe for a number of reasons. For one, there are around 613 laws in the OT, dealing with everything from murder to the management of livestock. With this many laws, running the full range of morality, it is reasonable to ask which are the most important to follow. The scribes of Jesus’ day had devised various orders of importance. They broke laws down into “heavy” (those that must be obeyed in every circumstance) and “light” (those that only applied situationally). But, there was no authoritative list. This question is also important because getting the priority wrong was a matter of heaven and hell. The Jews believed that perfect obedience to the law was required for righteousness, and only the righteous would inherit the kingdom of God.
To this question, Jesus answers, in verse 29, “The most important commandment is ... ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength’… and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The first command, “love the Lord with all your heart”, comes from Deut. 6:4 (the Shema), which we read at the beginning of the service. Deut. 5-6 serve as the preamble to a set of sermons that Moses preached to the people of Israel before they entered the promised land. He begins, in Chapter 5, by restating the Ten Commandments, and then, in chapter 6, he calls the people to a heart-felt obedience to the law. They aren’t just to obey the law out of duty or obligation, but they are to “love the Lord.” They are to desire, with everything they are, to be obedient to him. Moses says to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. There is no magic in this division of a person between heart and soul and so on, but rather, it is meant to build up with importance. It would be like saying, "Love the Lord with every fiber of your being.”
The second commandment comes from Lev. 19:18. At the beginning of chapter 19, there are all of these specific cases dealing with how you should treat your neighbor. You shouldn’t leave a block in the way so that a blind person will stumble. You shouldn’t steal from or oppress your neighbor. You shouldn’t slander other people. And, just in case you think you’ve found a loophole in the law, the commandments end with this: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In other words, as the first century Rabbi, Hillel, put it, “If you would hate to have it done to you, you should not do it to someone else.” Put positively, as Jesus put it, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
So, why does Jesus say that these are the greatest of the commandments? Matthew’s account of this same interaction gives us a better picture of why. In Matt. 22:40, he says, “On these two commandments depend all of the Law and Prophets.” In other words, all of the law is a question of your love for God and your neighbor. If you love God, you will not worship other gods, make idols, take his name in vain, or dishonor the Sabbath. If you love people, you won’t kill, steal, lie, cheat, or covet. As Romans 13:8-10 says, “The one who loves another has fulfilled the law… love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Breaking the commandments of God is not a question of technicality. It is not, as many often say, that we do bad things, but we really have a good heart. No, our outward actions are revealing of our heart.
This leads me to my second point: the Gap of Faith. When Jesus answers, the scribe immediately agrees. He recognizes that love for God and neighbor is more important than even sacrifices. To this, Jesus says, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Notice that Jesus does not totally affirm the scribe and welcome him into the kingdom. Rather, he says that he is “not far” from it. So, there is something that is right about what he says, and something that is not enough. There is a gap that remains between the scribe and the kingdom. It may be a small gap, and yet it is enough to leave him outside. There are two things to see about this gap.
First, if you think, as no doubt this scribe did, that all you have to do to earn the kingdom of God is to love God and neighbor more, then you will never make it into the kingdom. In saying that these two commands are the greatest, Jesus is not simplifying the law so that it will be easier for us to obey and thereby earn his favor. No. In fact, what Jesus says actually makes the law harder to obey. If the law is only a check list of 613 rules that I have to follow perfectly, that might be something I can do. But, if it is a question of my heart, even as I do those 613 rules, then I am done for! It is not enough to honor the Sabbath by avoiding work, but now I must be joyful every time I walk through these doors. There’s no way! It is not enough to avoid adultery, but now I must not even lust after a woman in my mind. It is not enough to avoid murder, but now I must not hate my brother in my heart. How can anyone do this? Well, no one can. No one, except for Jesus. This is why the scribe is “not far” from the kingdom. He understood that obedience was an issue of the heart. He understood that God preferred a heart that was set on him over sacrifices. But he could not understand that his heart was a problem. If you would be accepted in the kingdom of God, it will not be because you have a good heart, but because you have trusted in Jesus Christ, and through him you have been given a new heart.
Second, while the scribe was far away in terms of faith, he was not far away in his understanding of the greatness of love. Understand that only a Christian can obey these greatest of commandments because only a Christian has been changed by the love of God. As 1 John 4:10-11 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son… beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” The only way to obey these great commandments is through the grace of God. God loved us and gave his son for us, and because of that, we are motivated to love him and each other. The love of God leads to the love for God and his people. And, our love for God and his people is evidence that God has changed us. As Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” He doesn’t say that we love him by keeping his commandments, but rather, our love for him leads to our keeping his commands.
Friend, your good heart will not be enough to save you, because, in reality, you don’t have a good heart. You cannot love God perfectly, and you certainly cannot love your neighbor perfectly. It is only through the grace of God that you have hope of entering the kingdom of God. Won’t you take the leap of faith today and follow Jesus?
Brothers and sisters, we love God because he first loved us. May we love God and neighbor out of a heart of gratitude.
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