24.178 | THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT | Mark

God’s Word for Today
25 Jul 2024
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.’ 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.” 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.
- Mark 12:28-34 ESV
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT
The scribes was a Judaism sect that is knowledgeable of the law. And this time, they have a conversation with Jesus about the law. One of them asked what is the the most important of the law. There are 613 laws of Moses. That term is taken from the root word ‘prōtos’ which means "foundational or principal." This implies the law from which all others come.
Jesus responds him by describing this as the "greatest" law. The root word is ‘megas’. It refers, therefore, to a law that is greater in scope and degree than any other. But it's interesting to note that the "greatest commandment" doesn't start with loving God and others, but with "hear." The first principle we need to obey is to hear and understand and accept that the Lord is our God and the Lord is one. The rest of the Mosaic law-in fact, all of Scripture-means nothing without the understanding of who God is.
Thus, these laws are the basis for all the Mosaic law as well as all the prophets (Mat 22:40). Jesus' three-part law-know God, love God, love others-isn't just the first law we need to consider, it encompasses everything God wants us to do.
Amazingly, the scribe affirms it even saying it is “much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” For whatever reason, the scribe has succinctly stated what Jesus has been trying to tell the Pharisees for three years. That is, their futility to do rituals without obedience of the heart. The scribes have spent centuries adding to the Mosaic law, trying to create a hedge so that the people will obey God and God won't punish the nation. Here, like Jesus, this scribe ignores those extra laws. And not only that, he dismisses the ceremonial law as irrelevant compared to the ethical law of know God, loving Him, and loving others.
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