The First Commandment (Mark 12)

    In Nomine etc..

    Most of chapter 12 of Mark’s Gospel summarizes a long discussion among Jesus, some Sadducees, scribes and probably others, about taxes to the emperor, about marriage in the afterlife, what the first (or greatest) commandment is, and about who the Messiah is. Today’s reading, from verses 28 to 34, presents just the section about the first commandment. It is best to hear it in the context of the rest of the discussion, before and after the reading.  

    “One of the scribes came near....and seeing that he answered him well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’” The answer we all know. And Jesus adds a commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no more discussion of this, not one that is recorded anyway, between Jesus and the scribe. It is as if the scribe is just examining Jesus on his catechism, making sure he produces the correct answer from memory, with no more depth to it than that. The scribe apparently approves; he says, somewhat patronizingly it seems to me, “You are right, Teacher!” I’m glad he thinks so! The scribe goes on to provide an elaboration of the answer, which perhaps he thinks Jesus should have added, “you have truly said that he is one,” and so on. Like an eager pupil now, and not the inquisitorial scribe he was a moment ago, he is seeking Jesus’s approval, and is answering an unspoken question, “What is the meaning and importance of the commandment?” The scribe evidently knows his catechism, and is eager to recite what he knows, whether he’s asked or not. There is a certain naive pride in this, which Jesus indulges. “When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely [to an unasked question, remember], he said to him ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’”

    Not far from the kingdom of God. Not far. Not far, but not there yet either. I don’t know whether the scribe actually hears this, or whether we do. The response is positive, in that Jesus is supporting the scribe in his understanding, and is also telling him that there is more ground to cover, more to understand than rote learning of answers to standard questions. The scribe is close to his spiritual destination, but only close.

    It is perhaps regrettable that today’s Gospel reading ends here, with the line, “After that no one dared to ask him any question.” Why “no one dared”? Because the Sadducees and scribes and others recognized that they were in the presence of true authority, of someone directly aware of the Kingdom, of divine reality, which is beyond question and answer, beyond canonical definitions and orthodox, official answers to permitted questions. The whole conversation between the scribe and Jesus is within these limits, orthodox, expected, permitted, acceptable, canonical. But Jesus ends by saying that the scribe is “not far” from the Kingdom. Orthodoxy, in other words, gets the scribe close to the Kingdom, but not in it. What are the scribe, and we, to make of this?

    If we continue reading chapter 12, beyond today’s selection, we learn more about access to the Kingdom, to divine reality. Jesus said “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? David....by the Holy Spirit, declared, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand...David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son? And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.”

    The clue here is the Holy Spirit. Or maybe we should say just “holy Spirit” and leave off the definite article, so we can feel the living, divine breath that David experiences, that is his experience of the Kingdom. That enables David to get beyond the formal limitations of commandments and superficial meanings and to encounter the reality that unifies David and the Lord, Jesus and God, the scribes and the crowd to the Kingdom.

    The delight of the crowd is another clue. A natural meaning is that they are enjoying the spectacle of the scribes being put in their place. But another meaning is that they perceive the presence of Holy Spirit in Jesus, and in themselves, and experience the reality of the Kingdom, which they see in Jesus. And so do we, when we let Holy Spirit lead us to an experience of the unity of David and Lord, Jesus and God, scribes, and ourselves, and the Kingdom. Amen. (3-4.XI.18. Adv)