19 

Loving God
(Mark 12:28–34) 

One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 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.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is one, and there is no one else besides Him; 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 himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions. (12:28–34)

Love for God is the foundation of the Christian life, it is the defining characteristic identifying a true believer. Christians are those who love the one true and living God; the God of the patriarchs; “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3). True spiritual and eternal life begins with loving Him imperfectly in this life, and culminates in loving Him perfectly in heaven. Love for God is is also a universal command, disobedience to which brings divine judgment and everlasting punishment. Hell will be forever populated by those who refused to love God.

The confrontation in these verses, like the two that preceded it (see chapters 17 and 18), took place on Wednesday of Passion Week. All that day the Lord’s presence and teaching had dominated the temple courts, where on Tuesday He had chased out the corrupt merchants who had turned it into a den of thieves.

The religious leaders of Israel, particularly the Sadducees, were outraged by the Lord’s assault on their temple. The Sanhedrin was also infuriated with His assaults on their aberrant theology and corrupt religious system, and jealous of His popularity with the people. That adulation had reached its zenith two days earlier on Monday when He entered Jerusalem, hailed as the Messiah by thousands of people.

Desperate to kill Jesus and end the threat He posed to their influence and power, the Sanhedrin kept up the effort to discredit Him publicly in the eyes of the people. But “when they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet” (Matt. 21:46; cf. Luke 22:2, 6). Therefore they needed to find a way to reverse the people’s approval. In addition, since they did not have the authority under Roman occupation to execute anyone (John 18:31), they needed to persuade the Romans that Jesus was a threat to Caesar so they would have reason to execute Him.

To accomplish those twin goals, the Sanhedrin attempted to entrap Jesus with a series of three questions. The first two attempts, by the Pharisees and Herodians (Mark 12:13–17), and by the Sadducees (vv. 18–27), had ignominiously failed. This passage describes the third and final attempt. It may be examined under four headings: the approach, the question, the response, and the reaction.

THE APPROACH

One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, (12:28a)

The appearance of one of the scribes initiated the third wave of the Sanhedrin’s foray on Jesus. They had evidently paused to regroup after the failure of their first two attempts (cf. Matt. 22:34) but were now ready to take the offensive again. That the members of the Sanhedrin, as Matthew noted, “gathered themselves together” against Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 2:2: “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed,” as Acts 4:25–28 reveals:

This particular scribe, like most of his fellow scribes, was a Pharisee (Matt. 22:35; “lawyer” is an alternate title for “scribe,” and Luke referred to scribes as “teachers of the law” in Luke 5:17). Scribes were professional scholars specializing in the interpretation and application of the law of Moses, the Old Testament, and rabbinic regulations. They were given the respectful title of Rabbi (“great one”), which they eagerly prized (Matt. 23:6–7), though others who taught the Word of God might also receive that title (cf. John 1:38, 49; 3:2; 6:25, where it is given to Jesus). It was the lawyers who were the theologians of the religious system the Pharisees practiced.

Though sent by the Sanhedrin in an attempt to discredit Jesus, this man seems to have been more honest in his inquiry than those in the two first two delegations. He evidently overheard at least part of Jesus’ devastating refutation of the Sadducees’ argument concerning the resurrection, since Mark notes that after he heard them arguing, he recognized that Jesus had answered them well. Mark also records that after their discussion, Jesus said that this scribe was “not far from the kingdom of God” (v. 34).

THE QUESTION

“What commandment is the foremost of all?” (12:28b)

At first glance, the question crafted by the Sanhedrin seems innocuous; unlike their first two attempts to ensnare the Lord, the potential trap is not readily apparent. Their intention, however, was simple. The Pharisees believed that the message that Jesus preached was contrary to the teaching of the law of Moses. While the Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed over whether the rest of the Old Testament was inspired Scripture, both groups agreed that the five books of Moses were. The question decided upon was one they could all agree on.

The Sanhedrin hoped that Jesus would answer by giving a commandment not found in the law of Moses, thereby elevating Himself above it. The people revered Moses as the greatest figure in the Old Testament. He led Israel out of captivity in Egypt and through the forty years of wandering in the wilderness to the border of the Promised Land. It was Moses who received the law and brought it to the people. He experienced God’s visible and glorious presence (Ex. 24:1–2) and “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11; cf. Num. 12:6–8; Deut. 34:10).

In the eyes of both the people and the leaders, Moses was the supreme figure in their history. No one, they believed, could be closer to God than he was, and therefore no reflection of the Word of God could be purer and truer than that which came through Moses. If Jesus answered the scribe’s question by elevating Himself and His teaching above Moses and the law given by God to him, the Sanhedrin could denounce Him as a heretic and discredit Him. If they had heard the Sermon on the Mount, they would have known that He explicitly denied any intent to alter or to do away with any of the Old Testament Scripture:

The scribe’s question, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” is one that had been much discussed and debated among the rabbis, as chronicled in the rabbinical writings. They eventually decided that there were 613 laws in the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). They arrived at that total because there were 613 letters in the Hebrew text of the Ten Commandments (in Numbers). The rabbis divided those laws into 248 positive affirmations and 365 negative prohibitions. They further divided them into heavy laws, which were absolutely binding, and light laws, which were less binding. There was nothing wrong per se with such a distinction; even Jesus made a similar division in His rebuke of the Pharisees recorded in Matthew 23:23: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” The rabbis, however, were never able to arrive at a consensus as to which laws were heavy and which were light.

Here is the dilemma that all legalists face. Knowing that they could not possibly keep all 613 laws, the rabbis focused on keeping the heavy or more important ones (as they saw them). They hoped vainly that doing so would satisfy God. But even that was a crushing, unbearable burden (Acts 15:5, 10), so they constantly sought to reduce their list of heavy laws to a few key ones. Unable to keep even those few laws, they focused instead on keeping their man-made traditions (cf. Mark 7:5–13), which were less difficult to observe. In their effort to trap Jesus, the Sanhedrin carried that reductionism still further. The scribe therefore asked Jesus what single commandment was the most important to God. Perhaps, like another frustrated legalist whom Jesus had encountered (Mark 10:17–22), he was seeking that elusive one good deed he could do to obtain eternal life (Matt. 19:16).

THE RESPONSE

Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 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.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (12:29–31)

The Lord’s response, as always, was perfect and absolutely accurate. When He quoted passages from Deuteronomy and Leviticus that were familiar to all Jews, He affirmed His complete solidarity with Moses and with the truth of the Word of God as recorded by him.

The command Jesus named as the foremost, Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 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, is the most basic, foundational Old Testament truth. Known as the Shema (from the Hebrew verb translated “hear” that begins Deut. 6:4), it is still recited daily by religious Jews and as part of the Sabbath synagogue worship.

When the Shema was revealed, Moses was about 120 years old. He was nearing the end of his life and was again delivering God’s law to the Jewish people. For the previous forty years the people of Israel, because of God’s judgment on their disobedience and unbelief, had wandered in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. During that time the entire generation of disobedient, unbelieving, idolatrous people that came out of Egypt in the exodus had died. A new generation had arisen that would enter and possess the Promised Land. Deuteronomy records a series of messages that Moses gave to the people, reminding them of what God required of them. He later wrote those revelations down (Deut. 31:9) so that succeeding generations would have them.

The theme of Deuteronomy is expressed in chapter 5, verses 32 and 33:

Building on that theme, Moses began chapter 6 by reiterating that his purpose was to teach the people obedience to God as they entered the Promised Land:

He then gave the motive for that obedience in verses 4 and 5, which Jesus quoted in His reply to the scribe. Obedience cannot be merely external; it must be internal, from the heart, motivated by faithful love for the one true God. The word love translates a form of the verb agapaō, which is the love of intelligence, of the will, of purpose, choice, sacrifice, and obedience, not phileō, which is the love of attraction. Love is connected to fearing God (Deut. 6:2), who is worthy of all devotion and affection. But that love is based on who He is; it is a response to genuine knowledge of the one true God (cf. Phil. 1:9), who alone is to be worshiped (Ex. 20:3).

The Shema requires that God be loved first with all our faculties; that is what is intended generally by these separate elements of human nature. It is more about the totality than the individual features. Still, each can be given a shade of definition. The heart in the Hebrew understanding is the core of a person’s identity; it is the source of all thoughts, words, and actions. For that reason Proverbs 4:23 commands, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Love for God must flow from the deepest part of a person’s being. Soul adds the emotions. In Matthew 26:38 Jesus said, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death,” speaking of His soul as the seat of emotion. Mind embraces the will, the intentions, and purposes. Strength refers to physical energy and function. The intellectual, emotional, volitional, and physical elements of personhood are all involved in loving God. Genuine love for God is an intelligent love, an emotional love, a willing love, and an active love. In short, it is a comprehensive, all-consuming love and singular adoration. God’s wholehearted love for believers must not be reciprocated with halfhearted devotion.

There are repeated calls throughout Deuteronomy for such genuine love for God (cf. 11:13, 22; 13:1–4; 19:9; 30:6, 16, 20; cf. Josh. 22:5). But the leaders and people of Israel in Jesus’ day, as had been the case throughout their history, were far from truly loving God. Well aware of the Shema and the numerous other Old Testament commands to love Him, they were incapable of doing so. Disobedient inwardly, their religion was reduced to ritualistic and legalistic externals. Later that same Wednesday, Jesus would denounce the scribes and Pharisees for that in strong, shocking, even terrifying language:

No one can perfectly love God or keep His law as He requires, since “there is no man who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46); “there is no one who does good” (Ps. 14:1); in God’s “sight no man living is righteous” (Ps. 143:2); no one can say, “I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin” (Prov. 20:9); and “there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Eccl. 7:20). Nor was the law given as a means of salvation; it is “our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24). The Shema and the rest of Moses’s discourses in Deuteronomy should have convinced the people that they could never keep that command on their own. The entire nation should have, like the tax collector did in Luke 18:13, cried out, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!”

The issue of loving God, as noted above, divides all people into two categories. In Exodus 20:4–6 God declared to Israel,

In Deuteronomy 7:9–10, Moses echoed God’s pronouncement:

Believers, forgiven for not giving God the devotion He deserves, do desire to love God (Neh. 1:5; Ps. 97:10; 1 Cor. 2:9; 8:3) and the Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:42) more; unbelievers do not love Him at all (John 15:23–25; 1 Cor. 16:22).

The second foundational commandment, inseparable from the first because it is a command of God requiring the obedience of love to Him, is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (cf. Lev. 19:18). The two are linked, since “if someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). The command also includes loving one’s enemies, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:43–47). The arrogant, prideful scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees did neither; they failed to love either God or their neighbor (as illustrated by Jesus in the Good Samaritan parable). This command must not be twisted into a call for self-love, which is natural; such is not its intent. The Lord’s point is that we are to have the same love and care for neighbors, strangers, and enemies that we possess for ourselves.

Jesus chose these two commands because there is no other commandment greater than them. In Matthew 22:40 He added, “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Together, they sum up the entire Ten Commandments, the first four of which demand features related to love for God; the last six describe features of love for man.

THE REACTION

The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; 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 himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions. (12:32–34)

The scribe’s affirmation that Jesus’ answer was correct signaled the failure of the Sanhedrin’s final attempt to trap Him. There, in the temple courtyard, this man knew the Lord’s answer was correct and acknowledged Jesus as a teacher of truth. Far from being the apostate enemy of Moses, as the Sanhedrin falsely charged, Jesus was in perfect agreement with him. Because he had answered intelligently, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” One can only hope that, unlike the rich young ruler (Mark 10:22), this scribe did not turn his back on the truth and walk away.

The Sanhedrin’s attempt to discredit and destroy the Son of God ended in complete failure, and after this incident, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions. But more confrontation was yet to come. In the next section of Mark’s gospel, Jesus would take the offensive and ask the religious leaders a question they could not answer.