So Close and Yet So Far (Mark 12:28-34)

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?" Jesus answered, "The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these." And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 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, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions (Mark 12:28-34).

In this text from Mark, we observe that Jesus had a conversation with a scribe who asked him what was the most important commandment (singular) of all. Jesus answered him and said the two most important commandments (plural) are to "love the Lord your God" and to "love your neighbor as yourself." In his answer, Jesus covered the entire Ten Commandments — the first four deal with how we should love God (Exod. 20:2-17: Deut. 5:6-21) and the last six how we should love our neighbor. (See also Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18.)

Upon hearing Jesus’ reply, the scribe said Jesus was correct and then commented further: "You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 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, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:33). Hearing this response that we should love the Lord our God and our neighbor with every part of our being — our personality, strength, thought, and everything which influences our beliefs, desires, feelings, and intentions — Jesus said to the scribe, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." (Mark 12:34). There was apparently no followup, no indication he ever asked how this was even possible since he would also know that man naturally hates God (cf. Rom. 8:7-8). Nor does Scripture tell us if this man ever became a Christian.

Why did Jesus say to a lost man that he was close to the kingdom of God? One reason is that the scribe did properly interpret the Old Testament texts regarding the most important commandments in the law. He'd answered Jesus "wisely" from his head knowledge of the law (Mark 12:34) and he had even said Jesus was correct in his answer (Mark 12:32). He understood the law from a knowledge perspective, however, he was still far from the kingdom of God because he didn’t understand the law and the person who gave it from a personal heart perspective. He wasn’t born again!

A second reason why Jesus said what he said was that the scribe understood loving his neighbor was "much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mark 12:33). He understood that loving the Lord God and his neighbor as himself was more important than the obeying the ritual requirements of the law (cf. Luke 14:1-6). But, once again, we can see that the scribe was still far from the kingdom of God because this was still merely head knowledge and not a heartfelt belief in God himself. The text tells us that no one present, even this scribe, asked him any further questions (Mark 12:34). The scribe never asked to follow Jesus!

Even today there are Christians, church leaders, and theologians who have abundant scriptural knowledge. They may have the Bible memorized in many different languages. They know what the Scripture teaches. They may have authored books and articles and even been praised highly by their peers. And yet, while they may be close to the kingdom of God, they are still very far from it if they don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They have yet to meet Jesus personally or to intimately know the one who performed the greatest act of love of all (John 15:13). They have yet to fully comprehend that our love for others is grounded in our personal relationship with him. They are so close and yet so far.