The Love of God - Mark 12:28-34

 

THE LOVE OF GOD

(or, “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. 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. He had heard Jesus disputing with the other leaders. He comes forward, 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 said  “…the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith…” (Gal 3:24, ESV).

Context: Jesus has confronted the leaders in Jerusalem since the triumphal entry a few days earlier. Another man comes with more openness, and with a question…

The BIG Idea: Sincere love for God and love for our neighbor can only come through being rightly related to the King.

I. Love God: 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, an 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 so 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 pious 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. It seems likely 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 (yet!) recognize Him.  To know Him is to love Him. The command comes in v.5: love God, 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? 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. Love People: 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 commandment…

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 of salvation. 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 the windows doesn’t help, who always mows his lawn exactly when you want to take a nap, that is not always so easy! I’ve shared before this little poem, I don’t know the author…

To live above with saints I love will certainly be glory!

To live below with folks I know, well 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. 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." (Mere Christianity)

One counsellor told the story of tells 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 lotto jackpot.

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 can show love to those around us. Of course 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 to God. If we do that out of love, because we care, because we want them to experience the abundant life, eternal life, that God promises to those who trust Him.  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 being rightly related to the King. That brings us to…

III. Know the King! We can’t keep either commandment without a new life in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One who 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 nighttime 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 can only 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. 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, love with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and genuine 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? Do you know God? 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,

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.

Do you know King Jesus? Oh, that we should so love Him …and love our neighbors as ourselves!  As we share in the Table, let’s reflect on the love He has shown us…  AMEN.