It is a pleasure to spend time with you studying the Word of God. When we open this book and put our hearts into it, good things will happen. Not because of who we are, but because this is no ordinary book. I praise God for the people in my life who have studied and explained passages; I am not the same person I was.

In today’s lesson, another scribe asks Jesus a question. It seems we are in the section of Mark where the religious leaders keep trying to trap Jesus by what he says. It doesn’t work, and He always has the best answers. Today’s lesson is no exception; we must think deeply about Jesus’ answer. It will have a big impact on everyone who does. 

Please turn to Mark 12 and enter into the lesson as we see how Jesus answered the question of which is the greatest commandment.

The teaching ministry the Lord has given me requires me to put my thoughts on paper. However, even if you don’t write down your thoughts, you express them in words. That’s why we say a person’s walk should match their talk.

As we continue to study Mark’s Gospel, the narrative includes Jesus’ interaction with one of the scribes. Scribes were men who drew up legal documents, copied Scripture, and devoted themselves to studying the law and its applications in daily life. Many of them were members of the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin. They were influential in the moral and religious life of the Jewish people. The scribe in our text was quite discerning.

So, let’s read the text, Mark 12:28-34.

 ²⁸ 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?”

²⁹ Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments 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, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 

³¹ And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

³² 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. 

³³ 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.”

³⁴ Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one dared to question Him.

Jesus’ INTERACTIONS with the scribe reveal the greatest commandment and how it impacts us today.

The First Part of this Interaction is,

The Question

Just before this, Jesus had silenced the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Jesus gave clear teachings on our responsibility to civil government and the undeniable reality of the resurrection. Jesus’ antagonists meant it for evil, but He used their questions for our good.

When this scribe saw how Jesus had silenced these two groups, he was impressed. He knew that Jesus had answered them well. However, Luke records this scribe as “testing” Jesus. We conclude that he admired Jesus yet remained critical.

His question is, “Which is the first or foremost of all the commandments?” By foremost, he means first in rank and importance. The scribes declared there were 248 affirmative precepts, as many as the human body’s members, and 365 negative precepts, as many as the days in the year; the total is 613, the number of letters in the Decalogue.

Here, again, the question is about works. The rich young ruler asked, “What must I DO to inherit eternal life?” This man asked, “Which of the commands is most important for me to keep? How can I make myself acceptable to Him?” Many people are still asking this question, trying to reduce a relationship with Jesus to a list of approved or disapproved actions.

While we cannot be sure of this man’s motives, we can commend him for wanting to know the truth. Thoughtful questions are often the first step in spiritual growth. We should learn how to ask them, too.

The Next Part of this Interaction is,

The Response

I don’t think this scribe got the answer he was expecting! “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Interestingly, the Hebrew word echad, our English word “one”, implies a unity in plurality – the Trinity. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4, the supreme testimony of the Jewish faith. Each word is worthy of careful study, but the verb “Shema” deserves special attention.

A profound difference separated the two ancient civilizations: Jewish and Greek. The Greeks were the supreme masters of the visual arts. Jews were not primarily visual, as a matter of profound religious principle. The second commandment expressly forbade them from making any physical representation of God!

God is invisible. He created the universe and is beyond it. He reveals Himself only in speech (Jesus—He is the Logos). Therefore, the supreme religious act in Judaism is to listen. The Greeks worshipped what they saw; Israel worshipped what they heard.

That is why the keyword of Judaism is Shema – hear. God is not someone we see; He is a voice we hear. Moses described the supreme revelation at Mount Sinai: “Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.” Deuteronomy 4:12. In my study, I learned that biblical Hebrew has no word for obey!

One Rabbi said, “Hear, O Israel” means “Listen. Concentrate. Give the word of God your most focused attention. Engage all your faculties, intellectual and emotional. Make His will your own. For what He commands you to do is not irrational or arbitrary but for your welfare, the welfare of your people, and ultimately for the benefit of all humanity.” 

So, if this scribe thinks about a box he can check for God’s approval, Jesus dismisses that idea. Jesus highlights the need for relationships and love. God wanted to live among His people. He wanted them to know Him intimately, to fellowship with Him. That is still His desire.

Then, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Jesus’ quote differs from the original because He adds mind to heart, soul, and strength.

I’m glad He did that because some intellectuals loudly proclaim that faith in an invisible God is irrational, which is amusing since they believe in many other things they can’t see, like wind, oxygen, the force of gravity, and much more.

Jesus said, “You shall love God with all your being!” This is the key. When you and I love God wholly, His words are not seen as burdensome rules to follow but as wise guidelines for our protection (1 John 5:2-3). If we follow them, we will become the whole person He intended us to be.

This leads us naturally to the second part of Jesus’ response. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s easy to read, and hard to do. We care for ourselves; we are born that way.

However, we don’t need commands when we love someone wholeheartedly. I don’t need a command to go to the office daily to earn a living to support my wife. She doesn’t need a command to do laundry or cook meals. We do these things because we love each other.

These two commandments Jesus gave are firmly linked together in 1 John 4:20-21. “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. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

We WILL love our brother if we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and in doing so, we will obey the greatest commandment.

The Final Part of this Interaction is,

The Reaction

The scribe was impressed with what Jesus said. “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.”

Where did the scribe get that comparison? In 1 Samuel 15, he remembered how God told the people of Israel to eradicate the Amalekites. However, King Saul spared the king and the best of the livestock. When Samuel confronted him, he made excuses and tried to blame the people.

Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to [hearken] than the fat of rams.” Incidentally, the words hear and hearken come from similar Hebrew words.

Jesus commends this man for using his mind to good effect, as evidenced by his wise answer. “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” He doesn’t say, “You’re in the kingdom of God.” He says: “You’re close. You’re starting to understand what it means when the Lord God is regarded as the sovereign King, and we are willing to love Him for who He is.”

Our text concludes with a double negative. “No man after that dared ask Him anything.” The debate was closed, and Jesus was the victor on every side.

“Do I love God with all MY heart, soul, mind, and strength?” Do you? If I’m honest, the answer is “No.” I turn my mind to a thousand other things. And how well do I love my neighbor? Loving my neighbor flows from loving God.

If I asked you, “What’s the greatest sin of all,” what would you say? Murder? Adultery? Idolatry? If this is the Great Commandment, the greatest sin would be the failure to keep it.

My only hope is to rest in the One who kept the Great Commandment perfectly. Every second of His life, He loved the Father with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength. He fulfilled the law of God, and He alone can save me. I trust alone in His righteousness! I hope you do, too.

Thanks, J Mark, for guiding our thoughts through this lesson. Jesus really is incredible! Once again, I was amazed at how easily he handled this question. It is like he knows all about how we think and operate, and we know He does. He knew the Old Testament and all the commandments they had added. And he took all of that and summarized it into two memorable, profound steps. Love God and love others. WOW!

Simple to remember and much harder to do. I don’t think anyone would say they have this figured out and are exactly where they should be. And these two things really need to be the foundation of all we do. Jesus answered this question perfectly. We need His help to love Him most.

Thanks so much for listening, and if you have any questions or comments from this teaching. We’d love to hear from you. Our email address is [email protected], and our website is heraldsofhope.org. There you will find “contact us,” under the partner tab on the top right. Click on that to message us directly. Either way is fine; we look forward to hearing from you soon.  

This brings us to the end of our lesson. May your love for God grow to the next level. I am thankful He is so kind and patient. He meets us right where we are, no matter where we are, and He guides us in our love for Him. What an incredible journey.