“One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’” Mark 12:28
When Jesus taught at the temple, it often led to contentious interactions with the religious leaders. On His previous trip to the temple, Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and chased off those who were buying and selling.
Understandably, the priests were not happy when Jesus returned to the temple. This trip began with the priests challenging Jesus’ authority. Jesus then told a parable in which the Jewish leadership was clearly represented by the story’s antagonists. At that point, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with politicized questions about taxes, and the Sadducees sought to trap him with convoluted questions about the resurrection, a belief they rejected.
Then there came a scribe, who, after seeing how well Jesus answered the questions, decided to ask his own question. It is worth considering that while most English translations say that Jesus answered the questions well, the Greek says that Jesus answered the questions beautifully. The answers were correct, but they were more than cold factuality.
This scribe wasn’t another leader seeking to trap Jesus because he was undermining them. This was someone who studied scripture and saw the beauty with which Jesus answered and sought Jesus’ wisdom on this most foundational aspect of theology.
Most of us know that Jesus answered, in short, that the greatest commandment is to love God, who is one, with all that we are, and followed up with the second greatest, which is similar, essentially that we should love all humanity as we love ourselves.
To this the scribe answered, “Beautifully said, Teacher; you have spoken truthfully.”
Jesus then commends the scribe for being near the Kingdom of God.
Love of God and love of others are the beauty that God wants from us.
A Quote to Consider:
“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
-Nelson Mandela
Often, when I hear people speaking about freedom these days, I feel like they are still in shackles.
The freedom I often hear being extolled seems like slavery. Slavery to sin, slavery to selfishness. It is what Francis Schaeffer called “autonomous freedom.” It is a freedom from rather than a freedom to. It is a freedom from constraints. A freedom that thinks of ourselves and only ourselves. A freedom that profits at the expense of others, that pursues gain despite the price others pay.
Christians who are conflating American ideals of freedom with scripture will often point to the passage in John 8 where we are told that Truth will set us free. But this biblical idea of freedom is not a freedom from constraints. It is a freedom to choose what we serve.
As Paul explains in Galatians 5, Christ sets us free to choose whether we serve ourselves or others.
If we choose to serve ourselves, we have not really cast off our chains. True freedom is not so much about the constraints from which we are free as it is the freedom we promote for others.
Prayer:
Lord,
Teach us to love You with all that we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Set us free from the bondage of selfishness and help us choose the true freedom of serving others over the false freedom of serving ourselves.
Amen.
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