The Essential Jesus as Revealed in the Gospel of Mark

MARK 12:28-34

The Essential Jesus as Revealed in the Gospel of Mark

MARK 12:28-34

His final eight days!

Sunday – Triumphal Entry

Monday – Cursing and Cleansing

Tuesday – Conversations, Confrontations, Predictions and Conspiracies

Confrontations

#1 – Members of Sanhedrin question Jesus authority

#2 – Pharisees and Herodians (sent by Sanhedrin) raise question of the payment of taxes to Caesar

#3 – Sadducees test him by presenting an extreme case of marriage in heaven

Jesus made brilliant

men look dull!

The Fourth and Final “Test”Matthew 22:34-35But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:28And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he (Jesus) answered them (the Sadducees) well . . .

Pharisees were a sectScribes were a profession

The Fourth and Final “Test”This Pharisee that approached

Jesus was, by profession a scribe and an expert in the law! And he was sent by his

fellow Pharisees to throw another test at Jesus.

No other group’s hatred for Jesus burned any greater

than that of the Pharisees and the scribes!

The Fourth and Final “Test”

MATTHEW 23

Seven Woes pronounced by Jesus against the Scribes and

Pharisees!

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:28And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he (Jesus) answered them (the Sadducees) well . . .

Not only was he sent by fellow Pharisees to test Jesus (Matthew), he was also seeking an honest answer

to a sincere question (Mark)!

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:28And 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?” 

The Law of Moses(The first five

books of the Old Testament)

613 commandment

s

“great” vs. “small”

“heavy” vs. “light”

The Fourth and Final “Test”Matthew 23:23-24“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:29-30Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’ The Hebrew word,

“shema”

The Fourth and Final “Test”Deuteronomy 6:6-9And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Fourth and Final “Test”

To love God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, strength.

To love God with all of one’s being and

with all of one’s energy!

What is the greatest (heaviest)

commandment?

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Leviticus 19:18You 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.

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Matthew 22:40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.

Ten Commandme

nts

- You shall have no other gods before

me.- You shall not make for yourself a carved

image.- You shall not take the

name of the Lord your God in vain.- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Tablet #1

Love

God!

Ten Commandme

nts

- Honor your father and your mother.- You shall not murder.- You shall not commit adultery.- You shall not steal.- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.- You shall not covet. 

Tablet #2

Love

others!

The Fourth and Final “Test”JESUS is making it clear that the two greatest things we can do in life is to LOVE GOD and to LOVE

OTHERS.

And just how are we to LOVE GOD? With all our being and all

our energy!

And just how are we to LOVE OTHERS? Even as we love

ourselves!

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:32-33And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 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.” 

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:34aAnd when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” 

Jesus’ words were both a praise and a

warning!

The Fourth and Final “Test”Mark 12:34And 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.

Today’s Takeaways

Takeaway #1 Where do YOU stand as far as God’s Kingdom is concerned?

Mark 12:34aAnd when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” 

Today’s Takeaways

John 6:35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me shall

not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Today’s Takeaways

Takeaway #1 Where do YOU stand as far as God’s Kingdom is concerned?

Today’s Takeaways

Takeaway #2 Is your life a success?

How does our culture define success?

Hint? $ucce$$

Today’s TakeawaysTakeaway #2 Is your life a success?

Our lives are successful as we live in obedience to these two great commandments to love God with all our being and with all our energy AND to love our neighbors even as we love ourselves! Keeping the first (loving God) is the key to the second (loving others).

“To love God we must know him. God would not be honored by

groundless love. In fact, there is no such thing. If we do not know

anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love. If love does not come from knowing God,

there is no point in calling it love for God. There may be some vague attraction in our heart or some

unfocused gratitude in our souls, but if they do not arise from knowing God, they are not love for God.”

(John Piper)

How can we deepen our

knowledge of God?

By getting into the Bible! It is indeed the revelation of

God . . .His character and

nature, His will and His ways!

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