In the last few days of Jesus’ life before He was crucified He gave us some powerful words. As time grew closer for Jesus to die for our sin, the opposition grew stronger. Various groups wanted to get rid of Him. They wanted to be rid of Him that they were desiring to kill Him.Right in the middle of all of this conflict and condemnation is a conversation between Jesus and a scribe (Mark 12:28-31). It seems this scribe asked a sincere question and because of this Jesus gave a straightforward answer. He asked Jesus: which command is the greatest of all. Now the scribes were trained in the Mosaic Law and were teachers, those who interpreted the Law and all the traditional regulations. So we wonder why he would need to ask this question. Wouldn’t the answer be the 10 Commandments?Jesus’ answer coming from Deut. 6:4-6 and Lev. 19:18, was an explanation that the ultimate aim of the 10 Commandment was: to practice love—to love God and to love others. He begins by quoting the “Shema,” the prayer of confession every faithful Jew prayed every morning and evening, a custom that had begun around 200 years earlier. With this statement every devout Jew would agree. With all your heart, soul, mind, and strength—every aspect of human life—is to be devoted, gladly to God!Our life is to be lived to honor and love God. Now Jesus gives a second answer—Love others. He is showing that the love for God cannot be separated from our love for others. Now with this many would not agree or they would only want to love those who love them—their friends and those who agree with them.Now Jesus’ answer places loving God and others squarely at the top of the list of how we must live. The apostle John would write later: “Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:21). Living by this principle would solve the world’s problems.In the next few verses (32-34) the scribe faced head-on the implications that the love of God is the priority for our lives. He was honest in acknowledging the truth of what Jesus had just said. Then Jesus said that the scribe was “near” the kingdom. Unfortunately we do not know what life decision he made, whether to follow Jesus or not. How tragic to think that Jesus calls to us to join him,
