The Most Important Commandment
A scribe asks Jesus, “Which is the most important commandment of all?”
Let’s take a moment to remember the tug of war that’s been going on since Jesus arrived at Jerusalem. Jesus enters the temple and takes charge, enforcing the rules that were not being enforced by the chief priests and declaring the rulers of the temple to be in contempt of the temple.
At the same time he curses the fig tree symbolically illustrating the end of both the Jerusalem temple and the sacrificial, priestly system forever. It’s time is over. It’s fulfillment has come. He then encourages the disciples that they can still pray in faith through the new temple which is replacing the old—Jesus and his body the church.
At the end of chapter 11 Jesus is challenged on his authority to do what he’s been doing. His response is to ask the scribes to tell him whether or not John the Baptist was from God. They decline to do so for political reasons, showing that their motive is power and staying in it. Since they are not interested in truth neither will Jesus tell them by what authority he does these things.
The challenge had been public and now Jesus responds by giving a public parable to the crowds right in front of those scribes, a parable which exposes their wickedness and pronounces impending judgment on them. They perceive the intent and message of the parable and, ironically, plot to kill him in response to it, but can’t because of the people.
What happens next is that they shift gears and begin to try to entrap him. The Pharisees and Herodians go first. Is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? This attempt fails. The Sadducees are next. They challenge him on the resurrection. His answer is so stunning it silences them completely. And now comes a scribe who witnesses these discussions and apparently is impressed with Jesus’s answers. Let’s read about him in verse 28.
Mark 12:28 ESV - And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Mark does not tell us if this scribe was a Pharisee or a Sadducee. And unlike the other scribes, this scribe appears to be less antagonistic toward Jesus, even sincere. His question is not asked to entrap. He sincerely wants to know what Jesus thinks.
Rabbis of the day had studied the law of Moses meticulously, finding within it 613 individual commandments. Dividing them into categories of ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ commands, or ranking them in order from most important to least important was a popular discussion of the time among rabbis. And there was a natural desire for a convenient summary or overriding principle, a way to summarize it all succinctly.
That’s what his question is. It is not so much ‘which is the most important commandment’ as it is ‘which commandment supersedes everything and summarizes it all?’ He is asking for an overriding principle.
Keep in mind the first-century Jewish apostasy. They had made law and human effort the object of devotion instead of God himself. It was a piety of human achievement based on outward conformity to the letter of the law as interpreted by scribal tradition. Jesus’s answer will expose that empty piety for what it is. His answer is two-fold, but with one overriding principle.
Mark 12:29 ESV - Jesus answered, “The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
This is the shemá. The shemá was so named because it is the Hebrew word for “Hear” and the word shemá is the first word in the saying. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” It is a quotation of Deuteronomy 6:4 and pious Jews prayed it by rote every morning and evening. It was as important, if not more so, to religious Jews as the Lord’s Prayer is to Christians. It is also the very foundation of our Christian thinking about God. He is one. It is the heart of monotheism.
But Jesus doesn’t end with Deuteronomy 6:4. After all, Deuteronomy 6:4 is a statement, not a command. The command comes afterward and is based upon it. I will give you the command and then tomorrow we will talk about it.
Mark 12:30 ESV - 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.’
What Jesus is doing is more than stacking commandments in order from most important to least. He is summarizing the law by showing its purpose. The Law is about love. If we loved God the way we should there would be no need for any other law.