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)
You are not far from the kingdom of God, but you are not there yet either…
So what does that mean?
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul and mind and the second is like the first, to love your neighbor as yourself. So from these 2 commandments we have to love 3 people(s): God, our neighbor and our self. We have to love ourselves, our neighbor like we love ourselves, and God. And these three loving acts are more important than burnt offerings and sacrifice. These things are more important to worshiping God than any act of worship prescribed in the law, is what the scribe is saying.
But that is not quite all of it, that doesn’t get us to the fullness of the kingdom… Jesus tells the scribe that he is not far from the kingdom, so what is he missing? What part is not there?
This is not in our text but maybe it was his understanding of what he was saying, or the position of his heart? Maybe he was playing lip service to the things coming out of his mouth. He did not feel or believe what he was saying.
You see this is all saints day and many of us believe that we can not be a saint until we have died. And my friends that is simply not the truth. We are saints now in this life, it is not something we wait for. We are connected to God here and now, and so through that connection we are saints.
Live in your sainthood, and believing that God loves you and wants to to love others. Be love to the world around you, helping all of creation to gather and give praise to God and know the love that they all have from Him.
aSacredRebel 