This morning I am skipping ahead in Mark's Gospel to a set of verses I quoted yesterday which are always good to reflect upon, as JEsus is speaking about the most important things. Here are the verses - Mark 12:28-34 NIV:
[28] "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
[29] “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [30] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' [31] The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.”
[32] “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. [33] To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
[34] "When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions."
According to Mark this conversation happened in Jerusalem shortly before Jesus passion and death and thus we can ascribe a certain significance to them, for Jesus was well aware of what His future held, and as such was likely focused on those things of most importance. The teachers of the Law were growing in their disfavor of Jesus and had been trying to trap Him into saying something they could use to try Him for blasphemy, but had been unable to do so. This particular teacher was apparently not one of that crowd, but had been impressed with Jesus skilful responses. It seems that this question is actually a heart-felt question, and Jesus responds accordingly.
Jesus' answer is somewhat surprising as He doesn't pick two commandments from the list of the 10 Commandments, but rather picks the first of the 10, and then adds a second commandment that is found in the Book of Leviticus, which is a list of 25+ various Laws, and probably not considered one of the great commands. Most of us would not be familiar with this list of laws, but the Jews in Jesus' time would have known the list, at least. Regardless, it is interesting that Jesus specifically calls our attention to that 'command' to "love your neighbor as yourself". This is clearly a precursor to His issuing His new command at the Last Supper in John 13:34-35 NIV: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We would do well to meditate on both of these commands and compare how we are living our life in light of them. Jesus, in His response ties these two commands to experiencing the Kingdom of God, and that is where we want to be found.
Our primary motivation for our life should be our love of God, first and foremost, and that should lead us to love for our fellow man, our brothers and sisters that we encounter in our daily lives, for that is clearly the context of the second 'command'. Jesus invites us into the lifestyle that He lived! He loved the Father first and foremost, being careful to only do and say what the Father directed Him to do (John 5:19 & John 12:49). Secondly He laid His life down for all of us, loving us with the greatest love possible, and invites us to do the same.
There is no room for selfishness in this invitation, for our primary focus becomes loving God and then each other, as we love ourselves (equally). For many of us, our love of God and each other takes a distant second and third place in our lives, at best. We fill our lives with so many things that we don't have time for God or our neighbors. We run through life with best intentions but end up spending most of our time and energy on self-focused activities. Our love of God is supposed to consume us, and out of that flows a love for our fellow man, each of whom God loves as much as He loves us.
I guess when you think about it, our lives are supposed to overflow with Love, not activities! We are supposed to make love our primary motivation and action. We are supposed to walk in Love, reflect His Love, love one another, love ourselves, love, love, love! That is certainly not a bad pursuit in life.
This morning I am encouraged to purge things in my life that don't fit into these two most critical pursuits. I am encouraged to be more intentional in my daily life, making sure that my activities fall in-line with my pursuit of loving God and loving my neighbors! I am encouraged to be a distributor of love to those around me! I am encouraged to increase my pursuit of God, who desires to be the love of our lives.
Amen!
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