Mark 12:28 - Meaning and Application

The scribes and Pharisees, though otherwise hostile, were enemies of the Sadducees. So one might have expected them to support Jesus after they heard him answer the Sadducees so well, just as they later supported Paul when he stood against the Sadducees (Acts 23:9). But that did not happen. Because Jesus did not join them in the outward ceremonies of religion, even though he agreed with them on the main truths, they showed him no respect.

Still, one of them, a scribe, was courteous enough to notice Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees and to say that he had answered well and to the point (Mark 12:28). We may hope that this man did not join the others in persecuting Christ. Here he comes to Jesus for instruction, and he does so in a worthy way. He is not trying to trap Jesus, but to learn from him.

He asks, “Which commandment is first of all?” (Mark 12:28). He does not mean first in time or place, but first in importance and honor. In other words, which command should we especially pay attention to, because obedience to it gives a foundation for all the rest? This does not mean any of God’s commands are small, for they all come from a great God. Yet some are greater than others, moral duties more than ritual ones, and some may rightly be called the greatest.

Jesus gives him a clear answer (Mark 12:29-31). Those who truly want to learn their duty will be guided by Christ in what is right and taught his way. He says that the great command, which really includes all the rest, is to love God with all our heart. Where there is a ruling principle in the soul, there is a readiness for every other duty. Love is the leading affection of the soul, and love for God is the leading grace in a renewed soul.

Without this love, nothing else that is good will be done rightly, accepted by God, or kept up for long. Loving God with all our heart draws us away from every rival that tries to take his place in our souls. It also makes us ready to do everything by which he is honored and pleased. Then no command feels burdensome, because love is ruling.

Mark records the great truth on which this command rests: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29). If we truly believe this, then it follows that we must love him with all our heart. He is the Lord, the one who has every beautiful perfection in himself. He is our God, so we belong to him and are under obligation to him. Therefore we ought to love him, set our affection on him, desire him, and delight in him.

And because he is one Lord, he must be loved with our whole heart. He has the only rightful claim on us, so he should have our full devotion. If he is one, then our hearts must be one with him. Since there is no God besides him, no rival should be allowed to sit on the throne of the heart.

The second great command is to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31). We are to love our neighbor as truly and sincerely as we love ourselves, in the same way and in the same kinds of actions. We should prove that love by doing to others what we would want done to us. As we must love God more than ourselves because he is the Lord, infinitely greater than we are, and love him with all our heart because he is the only Lord and there is none like him, so we must love our neighbor as ourselves because he shares our nature.

Our hearts are made alike, and my neighbor and I belong to the same human family, the one society of mankind. If the other person is a fellow Christian, and part of the same holy society, the obligation is even stronger. “Have we not all one God? Has not one Christ redeemed us?” (Malachi 2:10). Christ is right to say that no commandment is greater than these, because these two sum up the whole law. If we truly take these to heart, obedience to the rest will follow naturally.

The scribe agrees with Christ and comments on his answer (Mark 12:32-33). First, he praises Jesus’ decision. “Well, Teacher, you have spoken the truth.” Christ did not need the scribe’s approval, but this man was in authority, and his praise gave added weight to what Jesus said. It would also stand as evidence against those who later accused Christ of misleading people, because one of their own scribes admitted that Jesus had spoken truthfully and well.

We too must agree with Christ’s words and confess that they are true. The scribe also explains the point further. Jesus had said that the Lord our God is one Lord, and the scribe fully agrees, adding that there is no other besides him. So no rival can share his place, and the throne of the heart must remain wholly his.

Jesus had said that the great law is to love God with all our heart, and the scribe adds that this means loving him with understanding too. We should love God with intelligence, because we know how much reason we have to love him. Our love for God must be complete, and it must also be thoughtful. We are to love him with all the understanding, from the whole understanding. Our minds and reason should all be used to stir up and guide the love of our souls toward God.

Jesus had said that loving God and our neighbor is the greatest commandment of all. The scribe answers, “Yes, and it is better than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” It is more pleasing to God and more useful to us. Some held that the law of sacrifices was the greatest command, but the scribe gladly agrees with Jesus that the law of love is greater than sacrifice, even greater than whole burnt offerings, which were meant especially for God’s honor.

Christ then approves what the scribe has said and encourages him to keep asking (Mark 12:34). Jesus sees that he has answered wisely, and that pleases him, especially after meeting so many scribes who spoke foolishly, as if they had no understanding and did not want any. He answered with judgment, as a thoughtful, rational man, one whose mind was not blinded, whose judgment was not controlled by prejudice, and whose thinking was not trapped by the bias that ruled so many other scribes.

He acknowledged that this scribe was in a good place to go further. Jesus said, in effect, “You are not far from the kingdom of God,” meaning the kingdom of grace and glory. He was in a likely place to become a Christian, a disciple of Christ. Christ’s teaching presses these very things, and it is meant to lead people toward them.

This gives hope for those who use the light they already have well and go as far as it can take them. If they do that, God’s grace may lead them farther, with clearer truth still to come. We are not told what became of this scribe, but we can gladly hope he took Jesus’ hint. After hearing from Christ, to his own satisfaction, what the great commandment of the law was, perhaps he went on to ask Jesus, or his apostles, what the great commandment of the gospel was too.

Still, if he did not go further and stopped there, that should not surprise us. Many people are not far from the kingdom of God and yet never enter it. You might think this answer would have led many others to come and ask Jesus questions. But the opposite happened. After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. Everything he said was spoken with such authority and greatness that everyone was in awe of him. Those who truly wanted to learn felt too ashamed to ask, and those who wanted to trap him were afraid to ask.