Of First Importance

Today's passage comes from the book of Mark. All of today's readings can be found here.

"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? Jesus answered, The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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. 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. 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. 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)

What a passage! It took thirty-something verses for Mark write about Jesus saying something nice to a Pharisee, but we got there! Savor the last verses there though, because you don't see Jesus complimenting the teachers of the law every day. That having been said, I believe there are two main points to be made concerning today's text, and will attempt for your sake to flesh them out briefly and accurately.

First things first - this passage is only one of numerous examples of Jesus quoting the Old Testament in His preaching. Why, do you ask? Didn't he come to get rid of all those rules and regulations? Didn't Jesus come so that we may be free from the Mosaic law? To a certain degree that is true, but Jesus Himself in Matthew chapter 5 warns not to " think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

In quoting the Mosaic law in Deuteronomy, Jesus accomplishes two important objectives - showing that He has not come preaching a change in the nature of God but that He has come as God to fulfill all that has been written about Him, and He gives an example of proper missional living - meeting people on their turf and preaching the gospel to them from where they are, as Philip does with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. Jesus numerous times throughout all four gospel accounts claims boldly that the whole of scripture testifies to His person and work. Here He is illustrating His message of faith in God as ultimate to the teachers of the law using the Old Testament as His basis, and in so doing is illustrating to us today that we are not to disregard any part of the scriptures but to search them and know them because they are ultimately all about Jesus. This was the bible Jesus knew - Genesis to Malachi, and Jesus shows here it was sufficient in that time to lead someone to Himself, as it still is today.

Secondly, Jesus is speaking out against the religion of the Pharisees not on the basis of what they do, but on the basis of why the do it. They, as we see the nation of Israel do in Isaiah 1, were deeply religious but not at all concerned with God's glory. They did all the right things, but for the wrong reasons, and we see here in verse 29 Jesus commanding that the works of the law are not important if cleansing faith is not present. He strips away all the external works of religion in favor of the heart of what it is to be a child of the Most High - to Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. According to the Westminster Confessions, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, and here we see Jesus confirming this statement.

So what are your works of the law? Where are you going through the motions, believing that doing so will earn you salvation? The gospel of Christ is not one of your worthiness, but of His sacrifice. You cannot earn the favor of God, as he does not put people into groups of "good" and "bad", but of "perfect" and "not perfect". The only man to ever fit in the latter catagory was Jesus Christ, who urges you that the only way to the Father is through Him, and that the most important thing in life is to believe that. So go today and mourn your imperfection before God, meditate on Jesus's perfect obedience, and joy in the fact that He died to sin once and for all that you may be free from it if you only believe.

Lord Jesus, I thank you for your sacrifice on the cross, for your humility in coming to this earth that you created, and for your grace in teaching me today through the scriptures. Teach me to search your word and send your Holy Spirit to me that I may understand. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me, and enable me to love the Father with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. Amen.

-MD Letteney