You’re Getting Warmer - Mark 12:32-34 Series

Mark 12:32 “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.

Surprising Favor

If Jesus tells you you’re not far from the kingdom of God, is that good news or bad news? Every time Jesus has a confrontation with the Jewish authorities in Mark, the way Mark tells the story, immediately after Jesus says or does some marvelous thing, they respond by doing something horrible.

Mark 3:5 … He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

It’s such a jolt. You expect them to fall down and worship him but instead, it’s, “You’re going to show kindness to a man on the Sabbath? We’re going to kill you.” The demons respond with fear, the crowds respond with amazement, but whenever it’s the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, or Chief Priests, they respond like this. When Jesus drives out demons with a word, the scribes conclude he must be satanic (Mark 3:22).

Mark 12:10 … 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes' 12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him.

That’s the kind of response we’ve seen over and over all through the book. So this scribe’s response couldn’t be more shocking. Jesus gives his answer and they guys says, “Well said, teacher.” (v.32) If he was a Brit he would have said, “Hear hear!” He loved Jesus’ answer—again. Remember, this whole thing started when he liked Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees. Now he’s all excited about this answer, in fact, he doubles down on it.

Mark 12:32 “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.”

More Important than Sacrifices

That’s quite the statement given where they are. They are standing right in the middle of the Temple, where there were thousands of sacrifices being made. And this is Passover week, where the normal activity is cranked up to 11. Right in the middle of all that, this scribe admits, “Yeah, all this sacrificial stuff isn’t really the main thing. Loving God and neighbor is more important than all this.”

He was right, and it really didn’t take a Bible scholar to figure that out from the Old Testament. God had made it very clear that there is a difference between symbolic laws, like the sacrificial system, and laws that spoke to things that were inherently moral like love or humility or contrition over sin.

1 Samuel 15:22 … "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice.

Psalm 51:16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart….

Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.

Isaiah 1:11 "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the Lord. … "I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 … who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? … 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Hosea 6:6 I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:6 … Shall I come before him with burnt offerings … 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams … 8 what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

God made it clear, but so many of the Jewish teachers of Jesus’ day missed it. Even today there are Bible teachers who object to the idea that there are different elements of the OT law: civil, ceremonial, and moral. They say, “The Bible never makes those distinctions. You can’t divide up the law like that.” But the Old Testament is as clear as it can be—there is a distinction between the moral laws and the sacrificial laws. And the New Testament also makes the distinction. Jesus’ called the moral laws “the weightier matters of the law” (Mt.23:23). And in passages like Galatians 5, Paul says things like, “If you get circumcised, Christ is of no value to you at all!” Then he turns right around and tells them to fulfill the law of love (Galatians 5:2,14). The Bible draws a very clear line between sacrificial and ceremonial laws and the law of love. And this scribe sees it.