Rules
Rules… Do they “rule” or not? Some people exert their independence by resisting some rules. Sometimes it’s part of the teenage “coming of age” and can include pushing away from parents to a degree, sometimes to make separating feel less difficult. This can apply whether going off to college or moving to their own place. Most would agree that rules help society function in a safer and fairer manner. While young children and teenagers may push their limits and test rules, many actually are glad to know they have certain limits. Also, we see that rules are important in sports and on the road as we drive our cars.
The dictionary definitions of commandment include: an important rule given by God that tells people how to behave. It can be the act or power of commanding or something that is commanded; especially: one of the Biblical Ten Commandments. Some of the many synonyms for commandment include: behest, charge, command, decree, dictate, direction, directive, do, edict, imperative, injunction, order and, interestingly, instruction and word.
“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And 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: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31).
Let us briefly consider the meanings of a couple of the words used here, from Vines Bible Dictionary.
“Hear, O Israel”. Jesus starts his answer with this phrase. “Hear” means to both listen and understand and sometimes to both listen and obey. This can sometimes result in gaining knowledge, as when Moses listened to God.
“With all your soul” Soul means self, life, person, or heart. It can signify the essence of life… breathing, the breath of life or a moving creature that has life. It is the part of a person that perceives, reflects, feels and desires.
“Neighbor” can mean one living in the same land or dwelling around. It can also have a more comprehensive meaning including helpfulness, sincerity.
The Answer
Jesus’ answer goes back to the Old Testament: “Listen, Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You must love the LORD your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength” (Deut 6:4-5 NET). The phrase “Heart and being” used here mean, in a sense, mind times two. “Heart” in Scripture is not about emotions; it’s one’s thinking and “mind”. In the New Testament it usually means spiritual insight versus brainpower. “Strength” here implies with your whole body. In addition, to there being only one true God perhaps this verse also speaks to being one with His family in the Millennium.
Comparing this Mark passage it to the Matthew account “On these two commandments depend [or hang] all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 22:40). Note that “hang” is the same word as was used at the crucifixion in Acts 5:30: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree”.
“…Jesus said to [the man], ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God’ ” (Mark 12:34). Jesus was brilliant again in his response resulting in, as one commentator (Bro. Purkis) put it, “the law and the prophets become suddenly alive and personal to this man.” Jesus’ answer was, of course familiar to the man as it was quoted from Deuteronomy. Let’s consider some of the related sections of that book. A summary of Deut 6: 4-9 might be that we ought to pass God’s commandments on to the next generations, to read them, discuss them, and to do good to all men.
“You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other… Acknowledge and take heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other” (Deut 4:35,39).
“Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always… If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow — to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours…” (Deut 11:1, 22-24).
These are positive things to help guard against distraction and idols in all their forms. “Walking” speaks to how we live our lives. “Holding fast” is like a strong cleaving such as marriage teaches us. It’s testing our desire: is our desire more towards the world or towards God’s Kingdom?
The Good Samaritan
The other time Jesus teaches about the greatest commandments is in the account of the Good Samaritan that is recorded in Luke 10, starting at verse 25. With “What shall I do”, the man seems focused on trying to earn eternal life, or justification by works. Jesus focuses him on what the man knows and said: “What is written in the Law?” He answered correctly, v.29 “But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ ”
The answer is the story of the Good Samaritan. A brief summary: A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and he was robbed and beaten. Later a priest, and then a Levite, came along and passed him on the other side of the road. However, the Samaritan when he saw the man had compassion and looked after him with great care and kindness. The Samaritan cleansed and bandaged the wounds.
He did all he could to ease pain and provide comfort, and he went even further by paying the innkeeper for current and future expenses.
Jesus then asks the expert in the law: “Who was the neighbor?” The expert said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do [keep doing] likewise” (Luke 10:37 ESV). The neighbor to be loved is someone in front of you who needs help, and you have means to help him … and how? With all the compassion and means that you have.
Some feel that we are all like the injured man, in need of help. We can also be like the Samaritan and help to heal others using God’s word. The Samaritan represented Jesus as he was neighbor to the sinner in need. I think that we can fulfill both roles at different times in our lives. And like ourselves, the Samaritan was regarded as a Gentile by the Jews, and would certainly be not regarded as a neighbor by a devout Jew. In general, Jews would refuse to be helped by Samaritans: but this Jew was in desperate need of help, as we are by Jesus.
By saying the expert in the Law was “Not far from the kingdom”, Jesus gave a great response, likely inferring that the others were farther, though they may have thought they were guaranteed salvation by their way of life… let’s not make the same mistake of being presumptuous in this regard.
Regarding the “neighbor” part of it:“Do not seek revenge [or avenge] or bear a grudge against anyone among your [own] people, but [you shall] love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord” (Lev 19:18 NIV).
The law and the prophets
In Matt 7:12, as part of Jesus’ explanation of asking/seeking/knocking… “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Concerning “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). This is in the same paragraph as “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” And a few verses later: “love your enemies, do good to them…”
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ ’’ (Gal 5:13-14). Of course this also goes back to Moses and the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.
There are implications for us based on the Greatest Commandment(s): We are to be doers of the word which requires a whole-hearted commitment to the things of God and not being “a forgetful hearer” as per James 1:22-27… Let’s be encouraged to:
- Participate and help out with some aspect of ecclesial life.
- Pray every day. I would hope this is an easy one to accomplish.
- Try to read and/or study God’s Word every day… a little more difficult:
- Fulfill the two great commandments and other things will fall into place.
Adhering to these great commandments requires sacrifice. We learn about love from our relationships with people, and true love involves making sacrifices. Should we, or could we, be making more sacrifices for our Heavenly Father? What about for our families in Christ? In the last section of Mark 12 is the poor widow’s offering. She made a large sacrifice by giving all she had in life. Giving all she had to live on was not just generous, but involved faith that she would find food and other needs later.
What else can we do out of love for God? We can help strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters… teaching, speaking… also just being present, being available, and making time to have a short chat. We can write the commandments on the tablets of our minds and talk to our children about God and our hope. We can let our light shine, whether it through how we conduct ourselves or through direct preaching.
God sees the quiet, often behind-the-scenes works… as in another section of Mark 12, the teachers of the law liked to be noticed, be greeted, and make lengthy prayers out of self-aggrandizement. All of us can contribute. God’s ecclesia is made up of many very different members with different gifts and experiences. Our physical body wouldn’t be very productive if it was made up only of big toes!
We are to walk in His ways
This past week I drove by a rural church, which had a billboard that read “Exercise daily, walk with God”.
“You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice” (Deut 26:17).
“Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law… to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Josh 22:5).
We are not to follow idols, we are to have no idols, American or otherwise.
“…and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but … go after other gods that you have not known” (Deut 11:28)
“… they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they… served Baal” (2Kgs 17:16).
We must give our all, including all our hearts.
“…obey the voice of the Lord your God, …keep His commandments and His statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 30:10).
“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psa 119:10).
The end of the matter
In conclusion: to be a faithful person one must start with a strong love for God. Every first day of the week we remember our Lord and Savior Jesus, and his loving sacrifice for us, in accordance with his Father’s will. Let us recall that God’s commandments are in both the first and the last books of the Bible. The last book says “Here is call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in [or the faith of Jesus” (Rev 14:12 ESV). In order to please our Heavenly Father, we must try to do our very best to follow after the example and commandments of His son.
In Deut 5:1 we recall that Moses called together all of Israel and said “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.” Eccl 12:13 is a brilliant summary: “The end of the matter… Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” And finally, in Rom 13:9, the many commandments including: not committing adultery, not murdering, not stealing, not coveting, and many other commandment, are all summed up in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”.
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