The Heart Of The Matter Series

I got a telephone call recently from a friendly telemarketing sales representative. They were offering a revolutionary new product. They asked me if it was a good time to talk, or should the call be at another time. The presentation would take twenty minutes.

Now is a good time I said, but I don’t know if I want to spend twenty minutes, please just give me a one- or two-minute overview and then I can know the point and if I want to spend twenty minutes hearing about this. You must hear all or nothing was the reply. Well, ok, I guess I won’t be hearing anything about this revolutionary new product.

Some of us like to get right to the heart of the matter. We want to know the central point from the very beginning. If I have an illness, I don’t want my doctor giving me a three-hundred-page report about the problem. No, I want him to get right to the heart of the matter.

If that is you and you also like to get right to the heart of the matter then you will like Jesus statement here in this passage. In the ESV version the statement is just 63 words and in 3 sentences. This is all that Jesus needed to sum up the law and the prophets.

When people want to know God just handing them a Bible may not be enough. They start reading Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and they may get bogged down. They need to know the central idea of the Bible. They need to know the heart of the matter before they begin reading.

This passage is known as the Great Commandment, and it gives us the heart of the matter.

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?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 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.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 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. 33 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.” 34 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)

This interaction between Jesus and the teachers of the law takes place on Tuesday, just before his crucifixion on the cross that will come on Friday in 3 days. Two days earlier was the triumphant entry to Jerusalem and the previous day, Monday, Jesus turned over the tables of the moneychangers in the outer court of the temple.

On this day Jesus was confronted by every group; Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees. This is the last question before Jesus shuts them up for good. We get more background behind the scenes about the question from Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew 22:34 the Pharisees “got together” and one of them an expert in the law tested him with this question, “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

This is meant to be a difficult question considering that in the in Jewish system there are 613 commandments and they divided them into two sections the weighty and the light. Which one is most important?

They would watch and listen closely to the response to the question asked to test Jesus. They would watch, listen, test and evaluate him. Jesus gives them a clear, direct and to the point answer.

There are two Old Testament passages that would relate to Jesus’ answer. The first is the Shema repeated every day.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

The other is from Leviticus.

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18)

The central thing in Jesus’ reply is love. This sums up the law and the prophets, love God and love your neighbor. Jesus brings a profoundly simple answer to what constitutes true religion.