Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem
Mark 11:1–16:20
Teaching (11:1–13:37)
King (11:1-11)
Sunday: Triumphal Entry (11:1-11).
Lawgiver (11:12–12:44)
Monday (11:12-19).
Tuesday (11:20–14:11).
Lesson from Fig Tree (11:20-26).
Jesus’ Authority Questioned (11:27-33).
Parable of Wicked Vinedressers (12:1-12).
On Taxes (12:13-17).
On Resurrection (12:18-27).
The Greatest Commandment (12:28-34).The questioner.
Mark’s account here tells us that the one asking the question is a scribe.
Matthew’s account, however, informs us that the Pharisees had gotten together to think of another question to ask Jesus, and they put forth a lawyer (Matt. 22:34-35).
Of course, when they say lawyer, they don’t mean a counselor or an advocate in the court of law, but someone well-versed in the Law of Moses.
Scribes would qualify as people such as this because they are tasked with meticulously copying the Law so as to preserve it.
They didn’t have photocopy machines back then, and copying was a laborious task—especially to do so accurately.
This naturally developed into a position such as a teacher or expert in the Law—a lawyer.
There are several things going on here.
Likely these Pharisees were happy to hear Jesus’ response shutting down the Sadducees. “He had answered them well.”
Interestingly enough, it didn’t stop them from trying one last time to trap Him.
Make no mistake, they still wanted Him dead.
But they find this scribe whohad this apparently sincere question of Jesus.
At least, the context later suggests he was being sincere.
Jesus even says to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God,” knowing his heart.
The question.
When the scribe asks about the first commandment, he is not asking about the first chronologically, but in importance, the one in which to give the highest priority.
There are 613 laws that the Jews were able to decipher from the Law of Moses, 248 positive and 365 negative.
It was natural that they had to prioritize among them.
According to some commentators this was a hotly debated issue, not quite the softball it appears to be.
If you recall the two major schools of thought at this time, the school of Shammai and that of Hillel, Hillel had once said, “What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary thereof; go and learn it” (Black 216).
Of course, Hillel is the more liberal of the two, so you might wonder just how far he would go with that idea as many liberals do today.
Jesus’ answer.
Jesus, perhaps recognizing the sincerity of this scribe’s question, answers Him directly.
He quotes from Deut. 6:4-5, called the Shema (Hebrew for “hear”).
It was recited twice daily by every devout Jew at this time, and even now.
Just that very fact informs us that they knew such an understanding of God was very important.
Later the scribe even interprets it, and does so properly, as we’ll see.
Jesus goes on, saying how much we are to love the Lord our God: all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Those first three things are often used interchangeably in Scripture.
Moses didn’t mention “mind” in Deuteronomy 6:5, but Jesus adds it here, not to quote the letter of the law, but the spirit.
As stated, heart, soul, and mind are often used interchangeably.
This emphasizes just how much we are to put into our love for God. It can’t be just a passive thing, but an active love.
This is a love that is so complete that it makes idolatry impossible. This is a love is so complete that it makes obedience to His Law natural. This is a love that supersedes all others.
Added to it is our strength. So not only are we to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, but with every ability that we have.
If we have the strength to do His will, we wouldn’t hesitate.
This isn’t just a feeling, but a promise and the carrying out of that promise, so even when you don’t feel like it, you do it.
We are to love God with our whole being, all that we are!
Jesus felt the question this scribe asked was so important that the second most important command needed to be mentioned, too (Lev. 19:18).
When you read through the OT Law, one of the things you might notice is that everything can be categorized as being an elaboration on one of the Ten Commandments.
But even each of the Ten can be categorized yet again into these two commands that Jesus states: love God, love one another.
This was understood by many at this time as Philo, a Jewish writer at this time from Alexandria, believed this. He said that five of the ten dealt with responsibilities toward God (piety) and give toward other people (justice) (Black 216).
We can actually see part of that in Paul’s listing in Romans 13:8-10. Those of the Ten Commandments mentioned there fit under the law: “love your neighbor as yourself.”
These priorities help us especially to understand how we should interpret the Scriptures: love is paramount.
If our interpretation of a command does not serve the interest of love for God or love for others, perhaps we need to rethink our interpretation.
The scribe’s response.
He was legitimately impressed with Jesus’ answer and wasn’t afraid to show it.
As I said earlier, he even interpreted Jesus’ answer, that there is no other God besides Him. He did this by tying in verses like Deut. 4:39 as well.
If the Lord our God is one, then He is the only one!
This scribe then repeats what Jesus said and even applies it, but before we get to the application, there’s one key difference in the repetition that I want to point out.
Instead of “mind,” he says “understanding.” Of course, one of the definitions of the Greek word translated as “mind” in 12:30 is “understanding.” These are synonyms.
Recall that the word “mind” is not in the original verse from Deut. 6:5, but the idea of understanding is key.
In our love for God, worship is a major part of that—and we are to worship (sing and pray) with understanding! (1 Cor. 14:15).
We need to know what’s going on around us in our worship, and the best way to do that is to make sure it is done “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).
This scribe also noted that these two commands to love are even greater than offering up sacrifices!
Not everyone was able to make sacrifices at all times.
Such can only be done in the temple by the Levitical priests, and when the temple was destroyed, they could not properly offer sacrifices any longer.
Daniel, for instance, was a righteous man, but since he was carted off to Babylon, he was unable to offer sacrifices.
Yet he clearly loved God, which is clearly shown throughout his book.
As a prophet, he was considered to be righteous, which was confirmed by Ezekiel (Eze. 14:14).
Jesus also quotes from Hosea 6:6 a couple times in Matthew’s account (Matt. 9:13; 12:7), that God desires mercy—a manifestation of love—and not sacrifice.
Recall, that in Matt. 12 is the context we also covered in Mark 2:23-28 when Jesus and His disciples were plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath.
It’s not that God does not desire sacrifice or obedience, but it shows that loving God and loving one’s neighbor takes priority.
Love is the spirit of the Law, and if obeying the letter violates the spirit, defer to the spirit of the law.
We must be careful about how to apply that, especially since the many have a definition of love that is different than what the Bible provides.
Not far from the kingdom.
Jesus’ response to the scribe was extraordinary.
What do you think Jesus meant here concerning the scribe’s response?
First, it shows the scribe had a correct understanding of what were the most important things.
It also implies that the scribe was sincere in his questioning, unlike the Pharisees around him.
There’s also a sense that he’s not quite there yet, however.
The essence of the kingdom of God—the church—is love, but we cannot forget the application of that command.
One must be able to properly employ the principles of love found in Scripture before one can be in the kingdom of God.
Unlike what Hillel said, the Bible is not just a commentary on love, but an exposition on love, an inspired explanation on what true love is and how to apply it.
Without this, we cannot truly know what love is, can we?
Regardless, after Jesus’ awesome answers to these most difficult questions, no one else wanted to look foolish before the people, so Jesus questions his interrogators.
