Two weeks ago, our Scripture Lesson was on the importance of giving God, God’s due. We cannot be like the evil renters who refused their landlord the proper rent. Mark 12:1-12 Last week, our Scripture Lesson taught us that there are, indeed, some things that we owe to the state. We must render to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Mark 12:13-17 But the primary question remains. What do we owe to God? What do we give to God in loving thanks for God’s gift of salvation through Jesus?
The answer comes from a surprising source. Not from one of his followers, but rather from a scribe, one who has been trained in and teaches the law, who happens to be walking by. The scribe hears Jesus’ conversation with the Sadducees Mark 12:27 and pauses to remark that Jesus’ answer is a good one. The scribe is open to Jesus and is willing to hear him out and judge the truthfulness of Jesus’ answers for himself.
The scribe, apparently without any malice or ill will, asks Jesus “Of all the commandments, which is the most important.” Jesus promptly replies not with just one commandment but with two. 1) Recognizing that God is one God, love God with everything you have. 2) Love your neighbor with as much concern as you show for your own wellbeing.
(Given the many ways that ‘love’ can be understood today, I believe that I would substitute the phrase ‘passionately devoted’. We should be passionately devoted to God and be as passionately devoted to our neighbor’s wellbeing as we are to our own.)
The point is that we are to be all-in for God and all-in for our neighbor.
What does God want from us? How do we thank God for the gift of loving salvation? The answer is simple: We go all-in for God and our neighbor. We hold nothing back. We go to the greatest extreme for God. We passionately devote everything we have to serving and to caring for our neighbor.
That’s called giving God, God’s due.
May we all follow these commandments with joy.
Pastor Ken.
