The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time
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Question of the Day: How far are you from the kingdom of God?
Deuteronomy 6:2-6
The chapter just prior to this reading contained the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. Christians generally look to these Ten Commandments as a basic norm governing behavior, but today’s passage has far more importance to the Jewish identity.
V1 sets the stage and tells us that the whole book of Deuteronomy is a preparation for entering the Promised Land. V2 mentions the “fear of the Lord,” a common phrase in the Old Testament. In this context, to fear the Lord means to do what God says.
V4 is a pivotal verse in Jewish life, the central Jewish prayer. It’s called the shemah, for the first word, which is Hebrew for hear. Listening is the fundamental posture for encountering God. Every observant Jew says the shemah multiple times each day. Just as Christians hand on the Creed to our catechumens and that creed encapsulates what we believe, so the Jews hand on the shemah as the essence of their faith, the principle confession of faith. It’s also regarded as a legally binding oath to carry out the requirements of the Torah. They always say this prayer with their hands covering their eyes to increase the amount of attention on this very important prayer.
The NAB renders v4 as “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!” You might be more familiar with this rendering of the verse: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” Shemah Yisrael Adonai Elohainu Adonai Echad. The Hebrew word echad is ambiguous; you can translate it as either the LORD alone or God is one GOD. For the Jews, this is an affirmation of devotion to God alone over any other god. “The LORD alone.” The Christians were (and are) often accused of being polytheistic – worshipping multiple Gods. So Christian translation tends to put the emphasis on monotheism: One LORD. The NAB translation follows the Jewish understanding and emphasis: this is a statement of exclusive devotion to God.
That emphasis on exclusive devotion to God over a statement of monotheism is bolstered by v5. God is the sole source of our devotion, therefore we love God with every part of our being. Love here is not an emotion: God is not commanding us to feel something. Love, especially in the Old Testament, is understood in its covenant setting as an action. We are to love in our actions with our whole being; in everything we do.
We could pick apart the pieces mentioned:
- Heart, kardia, the inner depths
- Being, soul, the whole self as a living being
- Strength, in cultural context, was understood as wealth or property, material goods
But this is not so much references to different parts of us put together. Rather, it’s saying the full commitment of everything you’ve got: your whole self. Moses is inviting the Israelites to enter into the relationship that God is offering – to throw themselves wholeheartedly, completely, and totally into falling in love with God.
V6 refers back to the Ten Commandments; take them to heart and do something with them. Vv7-9 are an expansion on the question, “What does it mean to take this to heart?” Moses said, recite them or speak about them everywhere you go. When you lie down and when you get up: the idea is that you are always either up or down, so reflect on them all the time. Rabbinic teaching also sees this as two distinct time periods; thus, the shemah is recited in the morning and in the evening.
They are also to bind them several places. From this comes the practice of using phylacteries or tefillin. These are leather boxes held in place by strips of leather that a Jewish man wraps around his forearm. Tefillin today always contain the 4 biblical passages that refer to this practice (Exodus 13:3-10, 11-16, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21). There have been debates throughout Jewish history about how literal this was to be taken. Ancient cultures often wore amulets on the body containing substances or texts. So Ancient Judaism likely took a custom already in place and gave it new meaning.
They were also to write them on the doorposts. In ancient times, doors were regarded more literally as important transitional places. This is another custom already in place that is given new meaning here. Devout Jews today have mezuzot on every door in their home and they will often touch them as they walk through, especially to go in or out of the home.
The entire Old Testament is a picture of God courting a people. Over and over again, God extends his offer of love. He is rejected time and again. But he never gives up. Hear! Listen! God loves you! In return, God wants all of you.
One thing that always strikes me in reading the Torah is how often we encounter the phrase God, your God. I suspect familiarity has bred, at best, blindness for these words. It doesn’t help that translators want to introduce variety and often render it The LORD, your God. The Hebrew is Elohim YHWH. Elohim means God and YHWH is the unpronounceable name of God. What always strikes me is the introduction of your. This is God we’re talking about. Whether that being goes by Elohim or YHWH, it is God. And not just any God. This is your God. My God. These words are addressed to a community but they are intensely personal in nature. Just as God calls us into community through an intense personal relationship with God. God, your God. God, my God.
You might enjoy this short reflection on the shema by a Jewish rabbi.
There is a great series on Netflix called Shtisel that traces the lives of a modern-day Orthodox Jewish family. You can see first-hand many of the traditions which stem from the Torah, including recitation of the shema and prayer with tefillin.
How do you love God with your whole being?
You might like to try reciting the shema in the morning and evening. Choose the translation that emphasizes what you feel is more important.
Hebrews 7:23-28
Last week’s reading gave two reasons why Jesus is the perfect high priest and the only one we will ever need: he can identify with our human state, and he was explicitly appointed by God. Today’s reading continues with more reasons.
Vv23-24 tell us that Jesus remains a high priest forever. He is not limited by death. Unlike the Jewish priests, death does not put an end to his work. Why is that important? Because, v25 tells us, Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity. Nothing ever interrupts that work. So the first characteristic is the permanence of Jesus’ work.
The second characteristic is Jesus’ holiness. Last week’s reading emphasized the fact that Jesus shared in our humanity and experienced first-hand the effects of sin. Vv26-28 emphasize that Jesus did not participate in sin. He was sinless.
Have you ever asked Jesus to pray for you, to intercede for you? This passage tells us that Jesus intercedes for us before the Father. What can you ask him to pray for you today?
Mark 12:28-34
Last week completed the section in chps 8-10 about seeing clearly who Jesus is and what he demands of us. In a way, today’s reading is a summary or reiteration of that. Quite simply: Jesus demands everything. And, like the disciples, we are continually misunderstanding that, or not wanting to fully understand and embrace that. Because that road leads to Jerusalem – to suffering and death. So, like the good teacher he is, Jesus is repeating his lessons over and over again, patiently waiting for some to understand and accept it.
Chps 11-13 could be subtitled: Jesus comes to his temple. In Luke’s gospel, the temple has central significance. Jesus is there right from the start. But in Mark’s gospel, the temple is just now going to take on meaning, and chp 11 is the first time Jesus goes there. The lectionary skips quite a bit here because we read it at other times of the liturgical year.
A summary of these chapters can help us more fully appreciate today’s passage:
- 11:1-11 triumphal entry. Jesus has been openly proclaimed as the Messiah by Bartimeus, and then he comes into Jerusalem like a conquering king.
- 11:15-19 Jesus cleansing the temple
- Almost from the start of his ministry in this gospel, Jesus has tangled with the religious authorities. But this…. This! This is a Challenge to the very heart of the Jewish religion, a direct provocation involving its most central symbol.
- Markan irony: for most Jews of the time, going to the Temple meant going to meet God since the temple was the locus of God’s presence. For Israel, the temple represents God’s presence. But for Jesus, the temple is a place of corruption, rejection, and death.
- In Mark’s gospel, the temple represents Israel itself.
- Mark’s point is that Jesus’ way of discipleship will replace the way of the temple. This becomes even more important if we read it in light of the destruction of the temple in 70AD; this gospel then becomes a way of making sense of that cataclysmic event.
- This is expanded on in 11:22ff which talks about prayer (and contains Mark’s “residue” of the Lord’s prayer): prayer now occurs not in the temple but anywhere.
- In Mark’s gospel, the temple represents Israel itself.
- 11:18 it’s clear that the religious leaders have already decided Jesus’ fate
- 11:12 and 11:20 bracket the cleansing of the temple and present this curious episode of Jesus cursing a fig tree even though it would not have been the season for it to bloom.
- It says “His disciples heard it.”
- This is another lesson about keeping faith in Jesus.
- The fig tree represents Israel, a metaphor commonly used by the Old Testament prophets.
- Israel is barren and is not producing fruit, so Jesus judges it and finds it lacking. A new order is established.
- 11:27-end of chp 12 controversies with the religious leaders that establish the basis of Jesus’ authority
- “Trap episodes” where the authorities try to make him incriminate himself but they end up allowing Jesus to show his superior wisdom
- 13 end times discourse which we’ll read in coming Sundays
Today’s passage comes from the “trap episodes” or controversies, except that we’ll see it doesn’t quite come off as a trap. The passage just before this one is a dispute over the Torah with the Sadducees, a very conservative group within Judaism; they accepted only the Torah as scripture. They also very much did not believe in the resurrection. Nor were they looking for a Messiah. They pose a hypothetical situation to Jesus to prove the absurdity of a belief in resurrection. He calls into question both their knowledge of the Torah and of God himself. The whole episode was highly offensive to them.
That brings us to the start of today’s passage with a scribe approaching Jesus. A scribe would have been politically opposed to the Sadducees, so this scribe was delighted to see Jesus trounce his opponents. He decides to ask Jesus a question that was a common Rabbinic dispute at the time: What’s the greatest commandment? The rabbis had spelled out 613 laws from the Torah. What’s the most important one? The majority of answers at the time were either honor for parents or love of neighbor.
Jesus’ reply is to first quote the shema, the prayer at the heart of Judaism, and also one of those 613 laws. It’s important to remember the context we talked about: Jesus has cleansed the temple and cursed the fig tree. He’s made a judgment on Judaism and found it lacking. But here he shows that he is not throwing out the baby with the bath water. He is not overthrowing Judaism, but rather getting to the heart of it.
Like the Old Testament reading, we could pick apart the pieces of what Jesus says in v30, but the thrust of it is to love God with everything, all of you.
The scribe asked Jesus for his take on the greatest commandment and Jesus gave that. But then he gives the guy a bonus. The first commandment Jesus cites comes from our Deuteronomy reading. V31 comes from Leviticus 19:18. We might could say that the Deuteronomy quote sums up the first three commandments on our relationship with God, while the Leviticus quote sums up the other seven around our relationship with others. We could go further and say that the whole of those 613 laws simply spell out how to do this.
I think it’s significant that Jesus names two commandments as though both are equally important. He seems to be saying that you can’t really love God without loving your neighbor. You can’t really love without action. In Matthew’s version of this encounter Jesus, in fact, says that these two commands are the same.
This is a “trap” episode, so we might expect the scribe to be silenced or come up with some twist to try and trap Jesus. But he doesn’t. In v33, not only does he not try and trap Jesus, but he compliments him, and then builds on what Jesus has said: that getting those two things right is worth more in God’s eyes than the whole system of sacrifices. Which, by the way, is symbolized by the temple. Which Jesus just cleansed.
Last week I mentioned a commentary that calls Bartimaeus a minor character who is intended to balance the disciples and show us how to really follow Jesus. Today’s scribe is another such minor character. This guy got it! God didn’t want sacrifices and offerings. He wants the heart. The scribe’s quote alludes to Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” This is echoed in Micah 6:6-8. The scribe was basically agreeing that loving God and neighbor is more important than what happens in the temple.
Back in Mark 10:17 there was the story about the rich man who asked Jesus what he had to do to gain the kingdom, to gain eternal life. Mark said Jesus “looking at the man loved him” (10:21). I imagine Jesus looking the same way at this scribe. This man is so close to understanding Jesus. Mark doesn’t tell us how the man responds. I think Mark leaves that up to us to decide – we have the kingdom in our grasp – what will we do with it? How far or how close are you from the kingdom of God?
V34 ends by saying that no one dared try to trap him further. Jesus is shaming people right and left with his wisdom. The religious authorities are done with open confrontation. They’re done trying to trap Jesus. No more questions.
Love for God is concretized or made real in love for neighbor. We are called to be God’s, totally and wholeheartedly. Remember the baptismal rite question: Do you understand what you are about to undertake? No, we really don’t. We think we understand. And it’s out of those assumptions that comes all these inappropriate responses: jockeying for position, fearful silence, denial of Jesus’ way of suffering.
For weeks now we’ve been instructed by Jesus on what it means for him to be the Messiah, and what it means for us to walk the way of discipleship. Today’s passage reminds us of that all again, but this time puts it in a very succinct form: love God with single-minded devotion and live out that love with your neighbor.
How far or how close are you from the kingdom of God?
Imagine that you are the scribe. Jesus has touched you to the depths with his teaching – you know the truth of it. Jesus tells you that you are very close to the kingdom. How do you respond?
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© 2024 Kelly Sollinger