THINK TOGETHER.
What is the most important rule in your house?
READ TOGETHER.
Mark 12:28-34. 28And 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?” 29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And 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.’ 31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33And 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.” 34And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
This story takes place during Passion Week. Do you remember what Passion Week is? It is the week of Jesus’ death. But before Jesus will die on the cross, he will spend each day at the temple teaching, arguing, and answering questions. What question did the scribe ask Jesus?
In Jesus’ day, the Jews only had the Old Testament. Part of the Old Testament is the Law. The Law was 613 commandments that were given by God for the people to obey. Everyone argued about which commandments were the most important. Maybe it was one of the Ten Commandments. Or maybe it was a commandment about not having idols. What did Jesus say was the most important commandment?
Jesus said that “love God” is the most important commandment. That’s not too surprising. And then he said that “love your neighbor” is the next most important. In other parts of the Bible, Jesus said that these two commandments are equal. This is not too surprising either. Love is very important, isn’t it?
What did the scribe think of Jesus’ answers? That’s where it gets surprising – he agreed. Usually the scribes didn’t like Jesus and they always disagreed with him. But not this scribe. He even understood that love is more important than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. He understood that what God wants from us the most is love.
But before we can love God and love our neighbor we must enter into the Kingdom of God through belief in Jesus. We must admit that we will never love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And we will never love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. That’s why we need Jesus to save us, and forgive us, and cleanse us of our selfishness and sin.
Jesus told the scribe that he was not far from the Kingdom of God, but he wasn’t quite there yet. Why not? Because he agreed with Jesus about love, but he never repented for not loving. He didn’t turn to Jesus for forgiveness and help. Have you?
Because of Jesus we can be forgiven for not loving God and our neighbor.
With Jesus we can love God and love our neighbor.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Listen to the song Love One Another by Russ Mohr.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, thank you for putting me into your kingdom. Help me love you with all I’ve got and help me to love others too. Amen.
TLICfamily 