Jesus & Love

And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife." Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong." 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 12:18‭-‬34 ESV 

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The book of Mark is difficult for a preacher because the passages are broken up into snapshots. It is hard to link them together and provide coherence. The teachers were trying to trap Jesus but he answered them without being entrapped. Another teacher of the law hears this discussion and asks Jesus for the most important commandment. The scribes recognized over 600 separate commands from God.

The Supremacy of Love

All that we have and all that we are comes from God, so we owe everything to God. He is to have supremacy in every way. He should be our greatest joy. We should love him not because of what he gives, but for who he is. God is worthy of our devotion. 

The Sadducees were seeking to discredit Jesus. They did not believe in any sort of resurrection. They quote the Levirite law of marrying the widow of a brother who died without children. Jesus quotes scripture to refute them. He points out that God speaks of Isaac, Abraham, and Jacob in the present tense. They were not dead and gone, but they were with God. Jesus also points out that marriage does not exist in heaven. There will be fellowship and friendship and love to a far greater extent. We should keep our marriage to Jesus to a higher priority than our spouse.

The Unity of Love

Jesus answers the scribe's question with not one but two commands. Jesus says we should love God supremely, but it doesn't stay there. Anyone who loves God's supremely will love their neighbor. The first command, obeyed properly, will result in obeying the second. If we want to see how our heart is doing, then we need to look at how we are treating others. A strong sense of duty, willingness to sacrifice, consistency in serving/ministry ... these are all good things, but they are not the metric we should measure ourselves by. If we want to know how we are doing in loving God, we should examine how we are loving those close to us, those who work with us, even those who make is uncomfortable, those who are our enemies.

The Possibility of Love

The scribe responded that Jesus was right. Love was more important than burnt offerings. We need more than conformity to religious rules and practices. The kind of righteousness that God desired was so much more than this. The scribe understood that the religious leaders and their practice was corrupted. Jesus commends the scribe. The scribe was close to the kingdom. But close isn't good enough... He was not in the kingdom. So what was missing? The scribe was missing the one who was in front of his face. He needed the son of God standing before him to provide the righteousness that we cannot do. We all fail to love God supremely and as He rightly deserves. So we need a Savior to save us. We need Jesus.