4th Sunday before Advent 4.11.12 Mark 12.28-34

A Wise Scribe

Today’s gospel describes brief encounter which goes very well for the scribe who initiates it. He asks a good question, ‘which commandment is the number 1 priority?’ and then engages well with the answer he gets. He does not simply say, ‘yes rabbi, thank you very much’. Rather he reflects the answer back, explaining how he sees it.  Jesus warms to this approach of intelligent dialogue and yet the result is that no one else asks questions. I wonder whether we need to ask why.

Mark 12.28-34

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?’ ²⁹Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰you 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.” ³¹The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ ³²Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; ³³and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ ³⁴When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Reflection

To help give shape to the reflection I am going to suggest three types of question: head questions, heart questions and hand questions. They are about our intellectual response, our emotional response and our practical or behavioural response.  I hope that you will want to work at all three levels. You might prefer to stay in one area. But beware of staying in your comfort zone. That’s rarely where profound preaching comes from.

‘Head Questions’

1. What would your question be if you were a scribe who was impressed with Jesus?
2. If you had chance for a 5-minute one-to-one with Jesus, what would you ask him?
3. Suppose the scribe had asked you the question, what would your answer have been?
4. What, in your view, is the third most important commandment?

 

‘Heart Questions’

1. How have you felt when you have approached people who are arguing?
2. How do you feel about the repetition of ‘all’ in the great commandments?
3. How would it impact on you if the word ‘all’ was replaced with ‘some of’?
4. What does the word ‘dared’ signify in the final sentence?

 

‘Hand Questions’

1. For the scribe this was a very successful episode. How can you follow his example of asking a good question?
2. What evidence can you give that you have lived a life consistent with the two great commandments over the last week?
3. What can you do differently next week to align more closely to them?

 

Finally

These questions are intended to challenge you to engage more closely with the passage and to hear and feel what it has to say to you.  That’s more than a five-minute task. And so is the follow-up – working out what you might want to say to others as a result of engaging with the passage with head, heart and hands.  Take your time.