Are We There Yet? – Mark 12: 28 - 34
Intro: Anyone who has traveled with children can attest to the fact that after about 15 minutes on the road you will hear the first of many questions. “Are we there yet?” On an especially long trip any parent will agree that they will hear that question repeated numerous times until you reach the final destination. As I thought about that question, I asked myself, “Are we there yet?” We are on our way to being a community of faithful people. We are becoming people of God. “Are we there yet?”
I To this point in the gospel of Mark, various religious leaders try to trick Jesus, try to get him to make a mistake. None are successful.
A VS. 28 “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them (the other religious leaders & Jesus) debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
B Jesus answered with the Shema which was repeated by every devout Jew twice a day: Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 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. (Deut 6: 4 – 5).
C BUT, Jesus added another, The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19: 18).
II VSS. 32-33 stand our as a positive depiction of the scribe and the agreeable nature of his interaction with Jesus.
A The key part is the words of the scribe at the end of VS. 33.
Not only does the scribe agree with Jesus; but, he also goes beyond the statement of Jesus to say that what Jesus has said is “more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
B This is critical b/c the function of the Temple in Jerusalem was to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God. This is basically saying that the 2 commandments Jesus has offered have a greater priority than what the religious leaders were doing in the Temple.
C Mark was written around 70 CE. It is only here in the New Testament that the scribe articulates a correct implication of the teachings of Jesus. In 70 CE, the Second Temple was destroyed during the Roman occupation. We do not know if this passage was written before or after the destruction of the Temple.
III The confession of the scribe in this passage expresses the heart, spirit, and soul of Christianity. There are 3 main elements in the Christian faith.
A Belief in one God is a key tenant of Christianity. Jesus, the Son of God, confesses the oneness of God. For us there is only one God. Can this God be known by other faiths? It is entirely possible. We know that Tyler exists. We also know there are many ways to get there from here. Perhaps the same is true of our ONE God.
B Christians express their whole-hearted devotion to our God. We love God b/c God first loved us. If we do not love God, we have no reason for following God’s law. The love of God entails a complete giving over of oneself to God.
C As Christians, we must love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. We should love our neighbor even when our neighbor refuses to reciprocate. We should be known throughout the community as the church the loves their neighbors.
Concl: It has been said that millions of Christians live in a sentimental haze of vague piety, with soft organ music trembling in the lovely light from stained-glass windows. Is our religion just a pleasant, emotional thing? Is it divorced from our intellect, our will, demanding little except lip service to God?
How far are we willing to take loving God and loving our neighbors? What might that look like? What do you see in the future of our church? Will our church exist in 10 years? Being church is all about love. That’s why God has made us: to love God and others. Are we there yet?
