Originally written on: Fri 22Oct2010
Reading Mark 12:24-27, 28-34
The scribe, having perceived that the Lord Yeshua had answered the Sadducees well, asked the Lord which commandments given in the Torah are the greatest.
The Lord answered him:
Firstly, by affirming the Shema: "Hear O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is One", before quoting the greatest commandment from Deuteronomy 6:4, that we shall love YHWH our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
And the second, Yeshua told the scribe, is like the first, i.e. it is also a commandment to love. And he said, quoting from Leviticus 19:18, that we shall love our neighbours as ourselves.
In verses 32-33, the scribe agreed with Yeshua and paraphrased the Lord's words to express his understanding of what he had heard:
There is One God - no other but He alone.
And to love Him with all your heart, understanding, soul and strength is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Our Lord saw that the scribe answered wisely and told him "You are not far from the Kingdom of God".
What did the scribe understand? In what way was his answer wise in the sight of the Lord?
The answer is two-fold.
Firstly, the scribe understood that God is One. YHWH his God is One. His paraphrase of the words of the Torah confirmed his understanding,"There is One God, no other but He alone".
Secondly, when one understands that YHWH our God is one, only He alone, then one can love Him. Likewise the scribe. To him, it was because there is One and only One God, it is of utmost importance to love Him with all our heart, all our understanding, all our soul, and all our strength.
This is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices commanded in the Torah.
