From the Daily lectionary for Friday in the third week of Lent
Mark 12:28–34
One of the scribes came near and heard Jesus and the Sadducees disputing with one another, and seeing that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 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.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 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 oneself,’ —this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When 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.
Mark is my favorite Gospel. His narrative is spare, terse; his style, I think, resonates with the contemporary ear…. He doesn’t beat around the bush. He reminds me of Sgt. Joe Friday from the beloved T.V. series Dragnet… “just the facts, ma’am.” So here Mark has Jesus cutting to the chase, summarizing the entire venerable tradition of interpreting Torah into one succinct proposition: Love God with all of your being, and Love your neighbor as yourself. The implication, of course, is that to Love your neighbor is in fact loving God. In other words. loving God is not an abstract philosophical premise… it is a way of life, a practice among the human community. Martin Luther got it right: Faith without works is no faith at all.
So here is what I want to say today: Don’t be daunted by the high call of the Gospel. We, brothers and sisters, were made for times like these. In our prayers and praise; in the fellowship of the faith, in our learning, and in the breaking of bread, we have been formed, being formed still, to stand amid the world’s suffering. By now we know that Love is more powerful than fear; that Love is stronger than death. The world needs a non-anxious presence, a presence that proclaims and models the healing and redemptive power of Love. We are those people. And being those people puts us very near, as Jesus puts it, ” very near the kingdom of God.”
A Prayer on Good Friday (BCP p. 278)
Gracious God, the comfort of all who sorrow, the strength of all who suffer: Let the cry of those in misery and need come to you, that they may find your mercy present with them in all their afflictions; and give us, we pray, the strength to serve them for the sake of him who suffered for us, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
