Mark 12:28-37 - Significant Questions - March 3, 2021

Questions. They’re a big part of our everyday lives. Many of them aren’t all that important: “What’s for dinner?” “Did you check the laundry?” “Did you see the game last night?” And yet, there are those times in life when the questions we ask – and their answers – can be life-changing: “Did you get the job?” “Is the cancer in remission?” “Will you marry me?” Tonight, however, we aren’t focused on either of those categories of questions – either the unimportant or the life-changing. No, tonight we’re focused on two questions of eternal significance, one asked to Jesus and one asked by Jesus.

Just before our text, Jesus had been involved in a discussion with the Sadducees, the elites of the Jewish clergy, whose most notable belief was that they rejected the resurrection of the dead (which, if you ask me, makes religion kind of pointless) (Mark 12:18-27). As Mark tells us, one of the experts in the law approached after he heard their discussion. Apparently, he was impressed by Jesus’ answers and decided to pose a question of his own. Before we get to his question, however, we should come to a better understanding of what an expert in the law was. Experts in the law were responsible for two things: 1) making copies of the original manuscripts of the OT Scriptures – as well as other writings of the rabbis; and 2) interpreting these words for the people, who were, by and large, illiterate. Sounds like a pretty straight-forward job, right? Study the Word of God and teach and preach it. However, the experts in the law had made their job far more difficult than it needed to be by dividing God’s Law into 613 commandments, known as the mitzvoth. Instead of simply repeating God’s Word, the experts in the law endlessly debated which of these 613 commandments was most important. And, unfortunately, like today’s Supreme Court justices, these experts often referred to the precedent, the opinions, of other rabbis rather than the written Word of God. Therefore, this expert in the law was most likely just searching for another opinion, another precedent, another interpretation to refer to in his own work.

But, in spite of that baggage, he asks a good question: which commandment is the greatest of all? Jesus gives a two-part answer: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ Jesus answers him with a verse this expert undoubtedly knew very well, it was the most basic Jewish confession of faith, from Deuteronomy 6. Do you know what’s most interesting about Jesus’ answer? He doesn’t begin by directly addressing the expert’s question, that is, what we should or should not do. No, he begins with the identity of the one, true God: The Lord, our God, the Lord is one. Why start here? Because if, as Paul says in Romans 13, love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10), then your love had better be directed to and directed by the one, true God! He’s making the point that if your love is not directed at and by the one, true God, then whatever love or worship you are showing is utterly worthless. (This is extremely relevant to our world today, where many wicked behaviors and beliefs are defended and justified under the blanket of “love.”) The one, true God is the only God we should love with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength – anything else is idolatry.

Then Jesus expands, going beyond the teacher in the law’s question: the second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. Here again, Jesus is quoting directly from the Old Testament, specifically, Leviticus 19:18. Why include the second table of the Law – that is, commandments 4-10? Because love for God and love for neighbor can never be separated. The Apostle John writes: if anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar (1 John 4:20).

As the expert recognized, Jesus is right. These are the greatest commandments because if you do them, you will live (Leviticus 18:5; Luke 10:28)! If you fear, love, and trust in God above all things; if you never use God’s name to curse or swear and instead use it to regularly pray, praise and give thanks; if you always – daily and weekly – gladly hear and study God’s Word. If you always honor your mother and father – not to mention your pastor, governor and president; if you not only never commit murder but you never lose your temper; if you keep both your body and your thoughts free from lust; if you never steal – not by “massaging” your taxes or by skimming time from your employer; if you never gossip on social media to do anything to hurt anyone’s reputation; if you never have a sinful desire for something God has given to someone else – then you can punch your own ticket to heaven. So there you have it; there is Jesus’ perfect answer to the question of the expert in the law: which commandment is the greatest of all?: love the Lord your God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself.

The expert in the law commended Jesus on his answer: well said, teacher. But Jesus’ closing words are curious, aren’t they? The lawyer agreed with him, then why does he tell him you are not far from the kingdom of God? What’s getting in the way? Two things. First, instead of simply patronizing Jesus by complimenting his wise answer – he should have fallen down on his knees and confessed: I haven’t and I can’t do these things and asked – “how then can I be saved?” Secondly, he didn’t yet recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, the only one who could save him from his sins against God’s Law. In other words, the expert in the law had a totally backwards understanding of how a person gains access to God’s kingdom. This man, and, sadly, most people believe that a relationship with God is based on our doing something for him – when the reality is that the only way we can have a relationship with God is by him doing everything for us! This is called divine Monergism – that God alone must do everything for our salvation.

In other words, while these two commandments are great, they’re not good; that is, they’re not good news. It’s one thing to know God’s will. It’s a completely different thing to do it. And I can state with absolute certainty that none of us here – myself included – have kept either of the two tables of God’s law perfectly. That’s why even having a clear understanding of what the greatest commandment of all is, is not gospel – because it will never help you get to heaven (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16).

So where’s the good news to be found in this text if it’s not found in Jesus’ answer? In the one giving the answer…in Jesus. The good news is that the one who gave this answer to the expert in the law is the one, true God. He is the one who came to do what we could never do. He came to keep God’s law – both the first and second tables of the Law – perfectly. He alone loved God with all his heart and soul and mind and strength. He alone loved his neighbor as himself. In fact, in regard to both, he most fully loved God and his neighbors (including us) by giving up his life on the cross. In that one act Jesus showed perfect love to God by submitting his will fully to his Father’s will and he loved us even more than he loved himself, by laying down his life for our sins (John 15:13)! And because of that one act, you and I now possess perfect righteousness before God in regard to both tables of God’s law. Jesus’ righteousness has become ours (2 Corinthians 5:21). And believing this good news – and not obeying or doing anything – is the only thing that can bring sinners like us into the kingdom of God.

But now Jesus has a significant question of his own; a question that gets to the heart of the issue that enraged Jesus’ opponents and led directly to his crucifixion: How is it that the experts in the law say that the Christ is the Son of David? David himself said by the Holy Spirit: the Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool under your feet.’ Like many lawyers today, the experts in the law were expert at quoting Scripture – but because of their unbelief, they were blind to the fact that the Christ had to be both true God and true man. They would agree that the Messiah was the Son of David – that is, true man – but they believed that he would come to set up an earthly, not a spiritual kingdom. However, rather than giving them the answer, Jesus asks leaves them hanging with a question, David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his Son?

There is only one answer to this question, and the answer was standing right in front of the crowd in the temple on Tuesday of Holy Week. The only logical answer is that the Christ had to be both true God and true man. The only logical answer is that Jesus is the Christ. His humanity was obvious to the so-called experts – but so was his divinity. He proved all throughout his ministry that he was divine. He is the one who was there at the creation of the world and with God and was with God in every way (John 1:1-4). He is the one who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He is the one who commanded the wind and the waves to be quiet, and they listened (Mark 4:35-41). He is the one who healed all types of physical diseases and problems, removing them instantly – as if they never existed (Mark 3:1-11). He is the one who demonstrated his power over life and death by raising three people from death to life (that we know of!) (Luke 7:11-17; Luke 8:49-56; John 11:1-44). And, as we will celebrate in a few weeks, he is the one whom death and the grave could not hold. He was and is David’s Son and David’s Lord. He is the one, true God come to earth to singlehandedly save his people from their sins. It’s no wonder the crowd was delighted, is it?

Tuesday of Holy Week presents us with two eternally significant questions: which commandment is the greatest of all? And David calls [the Christ his] Lord, so how can he be his son? In reality, the greatest commandment of all isn’t any of the ten commandments, the greatest commandment of all is that we believe in the name of [God’s] Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23). Only through faith in Jesus, who is true God and true man, David’s Son and David’s Lord can anyone enter the kingdom of God. Which just goes to show us once again that Jesus is the answer to all of our most significant questions. Amen.