Today in the Spirit: Proper 26B
In our walking with Jesus through Mark in Year B, we now come to the activity and teachings of our Lord during the early part of his last week in Jerusalem. The assigned Gospel reading from Mark 12:28-34 narrates the dialogue Jesus has on the third day with a sympathetic teacher of the law who asks him a hot-button theological question of the day, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” (28). Jesus replies, “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 second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (29-31). This is one of the few instances in which a story in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is assigned every year in the ordinary part of the church year (Matthew in Proper 25A, Luke in Proper Proper 10C).
The assigned OT reading from Deuteronomy 6:1-9 provides us with the original reference in the Hebrew scriptures to the first of the two commandments, plus Moses’ prophecy of YHWH’s work to bring his people to obey: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart” (5-6).
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Out of the appointed selection from the psalter this week, Psalm 119:1-16, we recite, first, verses that may have been instrumental in Jesus’ formulation of the beatitudes: “Blessed are those who keep [the LORD’s] testimonies, and seek him with all their heart;” and then, the confessions which take up the whole remainder of the psalm of a “young man” who is filled with the Holy Spirit to obey God: “I will meditate on your commandments and have respect for all your ways. My delight will be in your statutes, and I will not forget your word” (15-16, BCP, New Coverdale).
Our NT reading in the Hebrew series takes us to Hebrews 7:23-28, where the emphasis of the author’s teaching is now on the permanent priesthood of Christ:
[Jesus] has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:27-28
The appointed Collect is a prayer that the people of God might respond appropriately to just that idea in Hebrews, that Christ’s work is “perfect forever,” by not being anxious about “earthly things” and to ‘love things heavenly.” Implied in the prayer is the exhortation not simply to let go of the old but purposefully to take on the new.
The Collect
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, as we live among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Shall Be on Your Heart (Deuteronomy 6:1-9)
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
The text says, ” You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart…” and then: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” That second part is a continuation of the command, including everything that follows to bring about assurance of heart devotion, including instruction to children, the phylacteries on the forearms, and the mezuzah on the doorposts. So, “you shall love” by taking steps that command “shall be on your heart.”
In practice, we know things like putting plaques with Bible verses on our walls and carrying pocket Bibles wherever we go, but it only takes us so far in assuring heartfelt devotion and obedience in our lives. We need the life of God in us through the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts to love God. So the seminal verse of Paul in Romans, “the love of God has been poured within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (5:5, NASB), can be taken two ways: God’s love for us is revealed to us, and our love for God is added to us. So the great Shema becomes both command and prophecy for us—we are commanded to love and promised the ability to love simultaneously (see Jer. 31:33 as a reiteration of the prophecy).
Today, in the Spirit, who is given to make up for what I lack in loving God with my own tools, I rejoice in the promise of help given so early in God’s sojourning with his people.
With My Whole Heart (Psalm 119:1-16)
9 How shall a young man cleanse his way? *
9-16, BCP, New Coverdale
By ruling himself according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought you; *
O let me not go astray from your commandments.
11 Your words have I hidden within my heart, *
that I may not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O Lord; *
teach me your statutes.
13 With my lips have I been telling *
of all the judgments of your mouth.
14 I have had greater delight in the way of your testimonies *
than in all manner of riches.
15 I will meditate on your commandments *
and have respect for all your ways.
16 My delight will be in your statutes, *
and I will not forget your word.
With its careful structure and unrelenting sentiment, Psalm 119 is a monument in the OT to the passionate devotion a person in a covenant relationship with God can have for the revealed “word.” The variety of terms used to describe that “word” (“judgments,” “decrees,” etc.) are all terms rendering, like a diamond with many sides, the fullest possible picture of God’s disclosure of himself to his people. There are certainly in the OT various exhortations from God for obedience and many examples of people who obey God. Still, I do not find any place in all the Bible where the desire to obey God’s word is so passionately expressed.
Having said that, devotionally, I will admit to my own disconnect with this psalm. With the coming of Jesus and the realization of his presence with me through the Holy Spirit, I do not primarily mark my relationship with God in terms of obedience to commands but rather in staying close to the person of God. Even when I read Jesus’ words, “‘If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love’” (Jn. 15:9), all my concentration is on abiding in his presence. His “commandments” I reduce either to the broad commands Jesus identifies in this week’s Gospel reading (love God, love neighbor) or the great one Jesus issues in this same section of John (“love one another as I have loved you,” 15:12).
What to do? Perhaps nothing, but walk even closer to Jesus and hear him speaking of obedience to commands in the language I connect with. The Collect (Proper 14) is a good place for us to start on this journey:
Almighty God, give us the increase of faith, hope, and love; and, that we may obtain what you have promised, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Today, Holy Spirit, put the love of obedience to your word as articulated by the speaker in the psalm in my heart as I walk with you.
To the Uttermost (Hebrews 7:23-28)
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:23-28
Or, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God…” (25, NIV). Modern translators are divided about how to translate the Greek εἰς τὸ παντελὲς (perfectly, completely, eternally). Part of the issue may be trying to discern just what pastoral concern the author of Hebrew is trying to address here. Is the mediation of Christ’s priestly ministry permanent (so, no need to continue searching for a new priest to be topped off)? Or, is he saying that, for the individual believer, Christ mediates complete forgiveness (there is no need to keep searching for a new priest as new sin is uncovered)? Surely, he is saying that, on both counts, his readers should be at peace. Christ’s ministry on the cross to mediate our sin is both permanent and complete.
Devotionally, so much of our absorbing truth here depends on our certainty of the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus. The preacher says so himself. About Christ he writes of both: pertaining to his resurrection, “he continues forever” (or, “since he lives forever,” NIV); and pertaining to his ascension, he is, “exalted above the heavens.” Jesus is alive, and he is seated unmoved in the place of full authority. Believing in our hearts those two key doctrines of our faith to be true, we go to Christ confidently, knowing he is there to hear our prayers and positioned to act on our behalf.
Today, in the Spirit, we hear the persuasion directed to Jewish Christians in the first century as food for our souls twenty centuries later. Our “high priest” is alive and in charge and loves us above all else in the world. What more could we ask for?
You Are Not Far from the Kingdom (Mark 12:28-34)
28 And 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?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 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.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 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.” 34 And 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.
Mark 12:28-34
There is greater sense of approbation toward the scribe in Mark than in Matthew and Luke. Jesus’ reply to the man here, “You are not far from the kingdom of God,” may have been in response to the careful repetition of Jesus’ words (only found in Mark) or to the observation that the two great commandments taken together “is [notice the singular] more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (33, NIV). It is also certainly true that Jesus’ own supernatural knowledge of the man’s heart caused him to discern traces of true love for God and his ways behind the words.
Let’s go with that and make a devotional application. What we find Jesus looking for in so many people in the Gospel narratives is that “faith” that goes beyond knowledge of the word to a devotion to God that puts God himself and compassion toward people in front of any list of requirements. Jesus never condemns this man’s or anyone’s observance of sacrifices, but there is a punctiliousness with religion in some that is used as a shield against devotion rather than an avenue leading toward it.
What is the discernment of our Lord in your heart? For most of us in the church it is something probably like punctiliousness on the way to full devotion. But for us it is different than for the scribe in the story. He is “not far” but still not in the kingdom of God. We who know Jesus are, by the merits of his grace, in the kingdom and growing in our love for being there.
In God in the Dock, C. S. Lewis includes these compelling lines on the subject with a specific reference to the “first and greatest commandment:”
When any man comes into the presence of God he will find, whether he wishes it or not, that all those things which seemed to make him so different from all the men of other times, or even from his earlier self, have fallen off him. He is back where he always was, where every man always is… In the twinkling of an eye, in a time too small to be measured, and in any place, all that seems to divide us from God can flee away, vanish, leaving us naked before him, like the first man, like the only man, as if nothing but he and I existed. And since the contact cannot be avoided for long and since it means either bliss or horror, the business of life is to learn to like it. That is the first and greatest commandment.
Perhaps this was the experience of the scribe when he approached Jesus that day. Even as he talked with Jesus, he was learning to like him. Today, in the Spirit who is in us building attraction to Jesus, we pray for the power and grace to take away all that diverts us from loving the Father and the people around us.
Today in the Spirit
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