Simplicity September 24
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments 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, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The answer to the scribe’s question is and has been in plain sight. The words are hidden in the Scriptures that he probably has copied many times.
Jesus’ answer is from Deut. 6:4-5. The first commandment identifies the one God of Israel, and all are to love Him “with all your heart…soul…mind, and…strength.”
Jesus goes further to offer a second commandment. This is below the first commandment, but is also above all others.
Jesus quotes part of Lev. 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He goes on to say that “There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Even the Ten Commandments can be reduced to these two. Commandments one through four constitute the first or greatest commandment that Jesus mentions, and Commandments five trough ten constitute the second.
The answer to the scribe’s question is this simple. Complexity is banished. Uncertainty can be replaced by a simple standard when we have a question relating to God or to our fellow human beings.
And if our question regards something other than our fellow human beings, whatever it may be it is part of God’s Creation. And this refers us back to the first (or greatest) commandment.
Love Is the Greatest September 25
Mark 12:32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
The scribe has heard Jesus’ words, and he understands.
He repeats the two greatest commandments back to Jesus using his own words. Indeed, the scribe now owns these words, this summary of all the Law and the Prophets. They are his to hold and to cherish.
Repeating Jesus’ summary in the words that are now his own, the scribe restates their importance in a way that is most meaningful to him. He says that loving God and one’s neighbor is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
As a scribe, he has been involved in “doing.” His work is the reproduction of the sacred writings, and he has been faithful in repeating the words.
With Jesus’ revelation to him, the scribe has let the words move from his hand to his heart. The words are no longer about doing – making offerings and sacrifices – as their primary goal, but about love.
The scribe has moved from writing to understanding, from doing to being. He has moved into the law of love.
Near The Kingdom September 26
Mark 12:34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
But after that no one dared question Him.
Jesus’ response to the scribe’s question concerning which is the greatest commandment required no study or deliberation on Jesus’ part. Jesus already has come to His own conclusion on this question.
Jesus is our model. When we keep this concept first in our heart, mind, soul, and strength - in our loving, thinking, believing, and doing – we will be like Him.
The scribe has spoken Jesus’ words back to Him and signified that he understands them. The words of the scribe’s mouth have spoken truth. Now the scribe must bring them inside of himself, incorporate these concepts into his heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Jesus stands before a crowd of friends and foes and the undecided. He desires that all find the kingdom of God, that they find it here and now.
He says the scribe is not far from the kingdom of God. The distance of the scribe from the kingdom of God is the distance from his tongue to his heart.
The distance from the head to the heart is variable, at times only inches and at times a distance of light years. Light travels exceedingly fast, but sometimes the light must travel what seems an infinite distance through frozen darkness.
No one else questions Jesus after this exchange. Is it because they understand, or because they do not want to understand, to have to change?
The Conundrum September 27
Mark 12:35 Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
A conundrum is a difficult question or problem, perhaps not having a definitive or objective answer.
Because no one is brave enough to question Jesus further, He poses His own question, an extremely difficult one. Matthew says Jesus asks the Pharisees. Mark and Luke say he poses the question before the people in the Temple courtyard.
Perhaps He starts by asking,” Whose son will the Messiah be?”
The common belief, as taught by the scribes, is that the Messiah will be a descendant of David, a son born an unknown number of generations after David. Many of His audience, Pharisees and common people alike, would offer this answer.
God says in 2 Sam. 7:12-17, 16 “’”And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”’” (See also Psalm 132:11.)
But God makes this conditional when Solomon goes astray. He says in 1 Kings 6:12, “… if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David.” And Solomon disobeyed.
Isaiah 9:6-7 speaks of the Prince of Peace who will sit on David’s throne. Isaiah 11 speaks of the Messiah as being from the root of Jesse, David’s father. Other such passages might be interpreted as these were.
Matt. 1:1-17 gives the kingly genealogy of Jesus from David through Solomon to Joseph. Luke 3:23-38 gives the priestly genealogy of Jesus from David through Nathan to Mary.
The concept of the Messiah as a man in the line of David is cherished in Israel. To question this belief, this hope, is to court danger.
The Solution September 28
Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’
37 Therefore David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”
And the common people heard Him gladly.
Jesus challenges this belief that the Messiah is a descendant of David with a quote from Psalm 110:1. How can the long dead King David, who calls himself Lord, submit to a son and call Him Lord? If the son is only to be a man, king of a secular kingdom, David would be of the same rank and have no reason to call his son, “Lord.”
The question to be asked is whether the Scriptures available at that time tell of the Messiah as the Son begotten by God.
Several passages can be interpreted this way, as in Psalm 2:7.
Isaiah 9:6-7 speaks most closely and convincingly of the nature of the Messiah:
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
His attributes are greater than those of mortal man. Yes, He sits upon the throne promised to the line of David. The Prince of Peace is greater than David and his son. The everlasting Father is the Father of David and also the Father of His Son.
Glad Tidings September 29
Mark 12:37 Therefore David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”
And the common people heard Him gladly.
What better news might we be given that the Son of the Creator God is to become our King?
This event will signal the return of the kingdom of God to earth, the kingdom of heaven here and now.
And this is what Jesus offers the people, both then and today: the kingdom of heaven here and now.
Note that “the common people” hear Him gladly, not the elites of the government, economy, or religion. These people have little to lose in earthly terms as they change allegiance to a new Lord.
Many throughout history have grasped this truth. When Jesus is king, the kingdom is here. When we seek the kingdom first, by giving our allegiance to the King and following Him, we experience His kingdom now. We become citizens of the kingdom of God by simple declaration, here and now.
Jesus is continually altering the paradigm of a man-centered world. He is offering a new lens through which to see an old world. He is not just offering a new perspective, but a new way of experiencing an old reality.
We can be glad in this only when we release the secular model, the man made theory of how the world works. The new vision of reality is much greater!
The new glasses are not rose-colored, but are unmistakably clear.
But Beware September 30
Mark 12:38 Then He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, 39 the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
Mark gives only a brief summary of Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees compared with the list of woes in Matthew 23.
Implied but missing in these verses of Mark is that those who heed the scribes’ teachings will miss the kingdom of God, that heaven on earth will elude them.
Indeed, as in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, the religious leaders are seeking something other than God’s kingdom.
These men seek the honor due the righteous by the pretense of righteousness. They seek the praise of men and women by their show of religiosity, the substitution of the doctrine of men for the relationship with God. As with Satan, they exist only in contrast with true oneness with God, and they measure the size of their following as proof of their correctness.
Matthew pronounces woes on the false teachers. Mark speaks only of a greater condemnation.
Their condemnation is their fall from the grace of mankind, for mankind can offer no permanent grace apart from God. These teachers are “on top” only as long as they are held in esteem by their followers. But their followers lack the firm foundation for unerring and permanent belief, and those on top will eventually find themselves on “the bottom.”
As noted in Matthew 23 above, those on top in the world find themselves on the bottom in the kingdom of God.
Next day
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments 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, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The answer to the scribe’s question is and has been in plain sight. The words are hidden in the Scriptures that he probably has copied many times.
Jesus’ answer is from Deut. 6:4-5. The first commandment identifies the one God of Israel, and all are to love Him “with all your heart…soul…mind, and…strength.”
Jesus goes further to offer a second commandment. This is below the first commandment, but is also above all others.
Jesus quotes part of Lev. 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He goes on to say that “There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Even the Ten Commandments can be reduced to these two. Commandments one through four constitute the first or greatest commandment that Jesus mentions, and Commandments five trough ten constitute the second.
The answer to the scribe’s question is this simple. Complexity is banished. Uncertainty can be replaced by a simple standard when we have a question relating to God or to our fellow human beings.
And if our question regards something other than our fellow human beings, whatever it may be it is part of God’s Creation. And this refers us back to the first (or greatest) commandment.
Love Is the Greatest September 25
Mark 12:32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
The scribe has heard Jesus’ words, and he understands.
He repeats the two greatest commandments back to Jesus using his own words. Indeed, the scribe now owns these words, this summary of all the Law and the Prophets. They are his to hold and to cherish.
Repeating Jesus’ summary in the words that are now his own, the scribe restates their importance in a way that is most meaningful to him. He says that loving God and one’s neighbor is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
As a scribe, he has been involved in “doing.” His work is the reproduction of the sacred writings, and he has been faithful in repeating the words.
With Jesus’ revelation to him, the scribe has let the words move from his hand to his heart. The words are no longer about doing – making offerings and sacrifices – as their primary goal, but about love.
The scribe has moved from writing to understanding, from doing to being. He has moved into the law of love.
Near The Kingdom September 26
Mark 12:34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
But after that no one dared question Him.
Jesus’ response to the scribe’s question concerning which is the greatest commandment required no study or deliberation on Jesus’ part. Jesus already has come to His own conclusion on this question.
Jesus is our model. When we keep this concept first in our heart, mind, soul, and strength - in our loving, thinking, believing, and doing – we will be like Him.
The scribe has spoken Jesus’ words back to Him and signified that he understands them. The words of the scribe’s mouth have spoken truth. Now the scribe must bring them inside of himself, incorporate these concepts into his heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Jesus stands before a crowd of friends and foes and the undecided. He desires that all find the kingdom of God, that they find it here and now.
He says the scribe is not far from the kingdom of God. The distance of the scribe from the kingdom of God is the distance from his tongue to his heart.
The distance from the head to the heart is variable, at times only inches and at times a distance of light years. Light travels exceedingly fast, but sometimes the light must travel what seems an infinite distance through frozen darkness.
No one else questions Jesus after this exchange. Is it because they understand, or because they do not want to understand, to have to change?
The Conundrum September 27
Mark 12:35 Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
A conundrum is a difficult question or problem, perhaps not having a definitive or objective answer.
Because no one is brave enough to question Jesus further, He poses His own question, an extremely difficult one. Matthew says Jesus asks the Pharisees. Mark and Luke say he poses the question before the people in the Temple courtyard.
Perhaps He starts by asking,” Whose son will the Messiah be?”
The common belief, as taught by the scribes, is that the Messiah will be a descendant of David, a son born an unknown number of generations after David. Many of His audience, Pharisees and common people alike, would offer this answer.
God says in 2 Sam. 7:12-17, 16 “’”And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”’” (See also Psalm 132:11.)
But God makes this conditional when Solomon goes astray. He says in 1 Kings 6:12, “… if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David.” And Solomon disobeyed.
Isaiah 9:6-7 speaks of the Prince of Peace who will sit on David’s throne. Isaiah 11 speaks of the Messiah as being from the root of Jesse, David’s father. Other such passages might be interpreted as these were.
Matt. 1:1-17 gives the kingly genealogy of Jesus from David through Solomon to Joseph. Luke 3:23-38 gives the priestly genealogy of Jesus from David through Nathan to Mary.
The concept of the Messiah as a man in the line of David is cherished in Israel. To question this belief, this hope, is to court danger.
The Solution September 28
Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’
37 Therefore David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”
And the common people heard Him gladly.
Jesus challenges this belief that the Messiah is a descendant of David with a quote from Psalm 110:1. How can the long dead King David, who calls himself Lord, submit to a son and call Him Lord? If the son is only to be a man, king of a secular kingdom, David would be of the same rank and have no reason to call his son, “Lord.”
The question to be asked is whether the Scriptures available at that time tell of the Messiah as the Son begotten by God.
Several passages can be interpreted this way, as in Psalm 2:7.
Isaiah 9:6-7 speaks most closely and convincingly of the nature of the Messiah:
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
His attributes are greater than those of mortal man. Yes, He sits upon the throne promised to the line of David. The Prince of Peace is greater than David and his son. The everlasting Father is the Father of David and also the Father of His Son.
Glad Tidings September 29
Mark 12:37 Therefore David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”
And the common people heard Him gladly.
What better news might we be given that the Son of the Creator God is to become our King?
This event will signal the return of the kingdom of God to earth, the kingdom of heaven here and now.
And this is what Jesus offers the people, both then and today: the kingdom of heaven here and now.
Note that “the common people” hear Him gladly, not the elites of the government, economy, or religion. These people have little to lose in earthly terms as they change allegiance to a new Lord.
Many throughout history have grasped this truth. When Jesus is king, the kingdom is here. When we seek the kingdom first, by giving our allegiance to the King and following Him, we experience His kingdom now. We become citizens of the kingdom of God by simple declaration, here and now.
Jesus is continually altering the paradigm of a man-centered world. He is offering a new lens through which to see an old world. He is not just offering a new perspective, but a new way of experiencing an old reality.
We can be glad in this only when we release the secular model, the man made theory of how the world works. The new vision of reality is much greater!
The new glasses are not rose-colored, but are unmistakably clear.
But Beware September 30
Mark 12:38 Then He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, 39 the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
Mark gives only a brief summary of Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees compared with the list of woes in Matthew 23.
Implied but missing in these verses of Mark is that those who heed the scribes’ teachings will miss the kingdom of God, that heaven on earth will elude them.
Indeed, as in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, the religious leaders are seeking something other than God’s kingdom.
These men seek the honor due the righteous by the pretense of righteousness. They seek the praise of men and women by their show of religiosity, the substitution of the doctrine of men for the relationship with God. As with Satan, they exist only in contrast with true oneness with God, and they measure the size of their following as proof of their correctness.
Matthew pronounces woes on the false teachers. Mark speaks only of a greater condemnation.
Their condemnation is their fall from the grace of mankind, for mankind can offer no permanent grace apart from God. These teachers are “on top” only as long as they are held in esteem by their followers. But their followers lack the firm foundation for unerring and permanent belief, and those on top will eventually find themselves on “the bottom.”
As noted in Matthew 23 above, those on top in the world find themselves on the bottom in the kingdom of God.
Next day