Continuing a Bible study of the gospel accounts:
(Mark 12:28) 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?"
In the last post Jesus had been answering questions of the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees that had been designed to trick Him, but of course Jesus had answered them brilliantly. This scribe had heard Him talking with those groups of people and had been impressed with how He answered. He may have also been trying to test Jesus, or perhaps he had heard enough to know that Jesus had great wisdom and knowledge about the scriptures and actually asked his question in earnest, wanting to know the most important commandment of all.
(29) And Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.'"
Jesus answered the scribe by quoting Deuteronomy 6:4 where Moses wrote his exhortation to obey the commandments, statutes, and judgments of the Lord. He declared that the God of Israel was the one true God of the universe and there was no other.
(30) "'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment."
Jesus continued quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Jesus answered that that was the first and greatest commandment, to love God with all the affections of the heart, all the powers and faculties of the soul, and with all the strength of conviction showing forth in actions.
(31) "And the second like this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
Jesus went on to add that there was a second most important commandment, and He quoted Leviticus 19:18, to love one's neighbor as himself. Jesus added that there were no other commandments greater than those two. That is because all the commandments are based on those two principles. If one loves God with all his heart, soul, and might, then he won't worship idols, he won't take God's name in vain, and he'll want to honor God's Sabbath. If he loves his neighbor as himself, he will honor his parents, he won't kill, he won't commit adultery, he won't steal, he won't lie against his neighbor, and he won't covet what others have. All the commandments, as well as all the statutes and judgments of the Lord, are summed up in these two commandments.
(32) And the scribe said to Him, "Well, Master, You have said the truth, for there is one God, and there is none other but He. (33) And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
The scribe told Jesus He had spoken well. My first thought was, "How dare this man tell Lord Jesus whether or not He had spoken well?" But then I realized that the scribes were part of the group that also consisted of Pharisees and chief priests who were trying to destroy Jesus. However, this scribe recognized the truth. Not only did he compliment Jesus on being well-spoken, but he confirmed with his knowledge of the scriptures that what Jesus had said was indeed truth. That was unusual for a scribe to admit that. He confirmed what the scriptures had said about there being only one God, and how we were to love Him with all our hearts, souls, and mights. We were to love our neighbors as ourselves. Additionally, these things were far more important to God than sacrifice and burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).
(34) And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no man after that dared question Him.
Jesus recognized that the scribe had answered wisely and told him that he was not far from the kingdom of God. This particular scribe appeared to be a prudent, sensible, and pious man, almost a Christian. With such a heart and sensibility, he surely eventually came to believe in and confess Jesus Christ. It's not enough to just believe the scriptures. Satan believes the scriptures. But that belief in the Word of God will lead us to salvation in Jesus Christ. After His conversation with the scribe, no one else asked Jesus any questions.
(35) And Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that scribes say that Christ is the Son of David?"
Jesus further answered, turning His attention to teaching the people in the temple. He began what seemed a paradoxical question and asked how it was that the scribes said that Christ was the Son of David.
(36) "For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit on My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'"
Jesus then quoted David who said by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Psalm 110:1, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit on My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'"
(37) "David therefore himself calls Him Lord; and how is He his son?" And the common people heard Him gladly.
Jesus went on, confirming what David had said in the psalm, that Christ was his Lord, and then posed the question that how then Christ could be David's son. David, through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recognized that the Christ was His Lord, at that particular time in David's life, a thousand years before Christ came on the scene. How then could Christ be his son? The answer, of course, was that Christ could not be a mere man. He was the Son of God, God Himself, existing since the beginning of time, and coming to earth as Jesus Christ the Messiah at that particular time. The "common" people in the temple listened to Jesus with great pleasure and satisfaction, probably meaning to differentiate them from the other scribes and Pharisees and chief priests who were surely not pleased with the things Jesus taught.
(38) And He said to them in His doctrine, "Beware of the scribes who love to go in long clothing and love salutations in the marketplaces."
Jesus went on teaching the people that they should beware the scribes who went around in long flowing robes to be seen and greeted with respect in the public places.
(39) "And the chief seats in the synagogues and the uppermost rooms at feasts."
Jesus went on describing the showy scribes the people should be wary of; they also loved the best seats in the synagogues and the chief rooms at feasts where the rulers and elders of the people sat.
(40) "Who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers; these will receive greater damnation."
Jesus completed His warning about those scribes who also enriched themselves by devouring widows' houses and estates through fraud, all the while wearing a mask of piety making long prayers. These particular scribes would receive greater damnation than other sinners because they used the Lord God as a means to do their wickedness. They used the holy, merciful, loving, just, and perfect God to trick people into giving them the desires of their worldly sinful hearts, thus twisting and demeaning what it meant to follow God.
(41) And Jesus sat opposite the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many who were rich cast in much.
Jesus sat across from the treasury of the temple and watched people casting their offerings of money into it. He saw that many rich people cast in a great deal of money.
(42) And there came a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites which make a farthing.
As Jesus watched, a poor widow came through to cast in her offering of two mites. A mite was a small brass coin, the smallest in use among the Jews. Two of them made a farthing which was not the same as a British farthing. The original Greek word used for farthing was "kodrantes" which meant "quadrans" which was one fourth of an as, which was a Roman copper coin worth about one third of a cent.
(43) And He called His disciples and said to them, "Verily, I say to you that this poor widow cast more in than all those who have cast into the treasury."
Jesus called His disciples' attention to the widow and told them that with her two mites, one third of a penny, she had given more to the temple treasury than anyone else who had given that day.
(44) "For all cast in of their abundance, but she of her poverty cast in all that she had, all her living."
Jesus gave the disciples His rationale for saying that the woman had given the most. Everyone else that day had given out of their abundance, out of the money they did not need, just a portion of all the money they had. That poor widow had given all she had, the entirety of what she had to live on, which demonstrated her trust in God to supply her needs. God, Jesus, in this incident, looks upon the heart of man. He doesn't count the pennies and reward most to those who gave the most pennies. Certainly, all offerings given in sincerity to help the cause of God would be pleasing to Him. However, a person who gives all, denying self, just as the disciples had given up all to follow Jesus, those people do the most to advance the kingdom of Christ.
The widow's offering in giving all she had really sums up this post, the second part of Mark, chapter 12. She was the exact opposite of the scribes Jesus had described who went around with a great show of religion and piety. This woman with her poor pittance was much more pious than all of them. She also displayed what Jesus called the greatest commandment, she loved God with her all.
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