PROCLAMATION
“And Jesus answered
him, ‘The first of all the commandments is … thou shalt love The Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength … And the second is … Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.’ ” Mark 12:29-31 (KJV)
EXPLANATION
These
words are from the gospel, the good news regarding Jesus, The Christ, which
were spoken by Christ according to Mark, a companion Simon Peter. While
in Jerusalem, Jesus again began to teach the crowd. He told them The
Parable of the Tenants. (Mark 12:1-11) Then,
in response to a question from the Pharisees and the Herodians, He told them
about paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar. (Mark 12:13-17) He answered the
question from the Sadducees about marriage at The Resurrection. (Mark
12:18-27) He also answered one of the scribes, the teachers of the law,
regarding which of the commandments was the most important one. (Mark 12:28-31)
The scribe told Jesus that He was right, and His answer was “well said” and he
went on to elaborate. After noting how discreetly he had responded, Jesus
told him that he was “not far from the kingdom of God” and no one else dared to
ask Him a question. Then Jesus asked them a question, “How say the
scribes that Christ is the Son of David?” If David himself calls Christ
‘Lord,’ How then can He be his son? That question quieted the crowd.
(Mark 12:35-37) Then Jesus warned them about the religious leaders who
did thing just for show. (Mark 12:38-40)
He then sat by the treasury and beheld how the people cast their money
into the treasury. Jesus was impressed
by the poor widow woman who cast in all that she had whereas other had given
out of their abundance. (Mark 12:41-44)
APPLICATION
As believers we are to
love The Lord God with all of our capacity and ability, with all of our heart,
soul, mind, and strength. That is to say, we are to love Him with every
ounce of our being. We should love nothing on earth more than we love
God. The Lord God should be first, foremost, and paramount in our
lives. Additionally, we should love our
neighbors, our brothers and sisters in Christ, as much as we love
ourselves. These two commandments sum up all of the commandments and all
of the teachings of the prophets. (Matthew 22:40)
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