Loving God
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English Standard Version Chapter 8
3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
I want to know God, and be known by Him. How do I do that?
In order to learn how to love God I’m going to go back to Jesus. We are going to pick up the story in
Jesus has been taking challenges and questions from the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes for a while now. Each time they ask a question He responds with a story (parable), or He answers with another question. Jesus loves to frustrate the people that think they know God. Before we dive into the want to lay some ground work.
This section of Mark has 3 groups of people identified: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. There is mention of a group called the Herodians, but they are less important. It is likely that they just political spies that are watching Jesus.
The Pharisees: Religious to the extreme. They went above and beyond the prescription of the Law, the believe in the supernatural, very concerned about outward appearances, and usually had strong political influence.
The Sadducees: Another popular sect of Judaism. They don’t believe in the resurrection from the dead. They deny fate or destiny and fully adhere to “free will” They claimed to have full belief in the Law of Moses, this is what sets them apart from Pharisees.
The Scribes: Experts at interpreting the Law. These would be best understood not a lawyers but as scholars.
Now we pick up the story:
Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement.
They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?
“Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.”
They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.
Mk 12:13-17
Mk 12:13-17
The Pharisees are with the Herodians, the hyper-religious have aligned themselves with political insiders to try and trap Jesus.
The Pharisees are with the Herodians, the hyper-religious have aligned themselves with political insiders to try and trap Jesus.
They attempt to flatter Him with a compliment, they’re trying to butter Him up and get Him to slip
Jesus sees through their “hypocrisy”
This Greek word here can be understood as: acting in a play, playing a role, or pretending
Jesus operates in a supernatural wisdom and answers their question in a way that “they were amazed at Him.”
Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother.
“There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children.
“The second one married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise;
and so all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also.
“In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her.”
Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?
“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
“But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”
Mk 12:18-27
Mk 12:18-27
The Sadducees step forward thinking to themselves “we have one that will stump Jesus for sure!”
They ask Jesus about the Law of levirate marriage in
Jesus responds with a claim that they do not understand the Scriptures, and that they have overlooked key details in the very place that they claim to value.
Then a scribe steps up and asks Jesus a legitimate question
One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”
Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;
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.”
The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him;
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 himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.
Mk 12:28-
This scribe gets excited! He has listened to Jesus respond to both the Pharisees and the Sadducees in a way that amazed everyone. Its safe to assume, given his profession, that this guy has spent the bulk of his time pouring over the Scriptures to understand them fully. I believe that he is genuinely asking this question, he’s not trying to trap Jesus.
Jesus’s response is the Shema, which declares that the Lord is One, and that we should “Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.” The Lord is One, He is in perfect unity, and our love for Him should be undivided and fully focused.
The audience would have known that Jesus made an addition to the original scripture, states the heart, soul, and strength. Why did Jesus add the mind?
Who is Jesus talking to right now? The Scribe.
What does the Scribe do for a living? Read and interpret the Scriptures and rewrite them for others. This is the modern equivalent of a scholar working on a translation.
This guy has been thinking deeply about the scriptures, he’s been investing time in the history, the authorship, the audience, its meaning for his day, he’s been doing all that for a long time! So Jesus adds in “with all your mind” to the list of how to love God because He wants people to actually think about the Lord.
Jesus then moves on to quote and calls them to love their neighbor. In Luke’s account of this story he includes the parable of the Good Samaritan. He expands the idea of loving your neighbor to loving everyone.
When the Scribe responds to Jesus, look at what he says:
The scribes switches out “soul and mind” for “understanding,” the scribe gets it! The scribe knows that loving God requires all of him. His emotions, his physical strength, his desire, and his ability to think. The scribe understands that The Lord is One, and that loving Him rightly means having undivided devotion.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The full focus on the Lord is more important than all other forms of religious service, more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Then look at what Jesus says:
When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.
Mk 12:
Jesus saw that he answered intelligently! Jesus finally had someone who was thinking deeply about the Scriptures and was therefore “not far from the Kingdom!”
How much more will we, who have been adopted and grafted into the Kingdom by faith, be known by God when we love Him this way. I love emotion, I love worship and prayer, and I will continue in them, but we need to refocus on the Lord mentally. We need to consider Him constantly. If I want the Word to produce life in me then I need to meditate on it day and night! Choose loving the Lord and you will realize how known and loved you really are!