The Greatest Commandment

The Greatest Commandment

Mark 12:28-44

Main Idea: We can only love God wholly and others rightly by beholding the loving Lordship of Christ.

I. The Greatest Commandment(s) (12:28-34)

1 John 4:11, 19-20: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

“One draws near to the kingdom of God not by proper theology but by drawing near to Jesus. Jesus exhibits his messianic authority in declaring who is on the threshold of the kingdom of God, which is present not in the Torah but in himself.”

~James Edwards

II. The Greater Lord (12:35-37)

Jesus quotes Psalm 110, a “coronation hymn,” which is the most frequently cited OT passage in the NT related to Jesus’ exaltation, ascension, and enthronement. Jesus cites this in order to assert:

  1. The divine authorship of the Psalm (“in the Holy Spirit”)

  2. The earthly monarchy was meant to prefigure the coming Messiah-King

  3. He is not only David’s son, but also something more.

III. The Genuine Offering

Jesus contrasts the pretentious, public religious practice of the scribes with the humble, sincere faith of the widow as a conclusion to his public ministry that began in 1:17.

Matthew 6:1–2: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

“In purely financial terms, the value of her offering is negligible—and unworthy of compare to the sums of the wealthy donors. But in the divine exchange rate things look differently. That which made no difference in the books of the temple is immortalized in the Book of Life… How powerfully ironic is the word “more” in Mark’s description. Everything about this woman has been described in terms of less, particularly in comparison to the scribes and wealthy crowd. And yet, the contrast between her genuine piety and faith and the pretense of the wealthy is beyond compare. For Jesus, the value of a gift is not the amount given, but the cost to the giver.” 

~ James Edwards