Mark 12:28–34
I’d like to encourage all who dare read these weekly Gospel Reflections, to focus on what immediately comes to mind as we first read the passage. Therefore if you have not done so, I encourage you to use the link above to start the process of allowing God’s Word to rattle around inside you as well, before being influenced by someone else’s musings. I believe it is what God says to us as individuals through a first-hand interface with His Word that is critical. Just maybe, what results from that could well be God speaking to us on a particular issue.
In no particular order of priority, a few of my observations:
– Most of us probably know this great commandment well, but most of us probably also know that we don’t do too well in carrying that out in practice. (The same can be said for both of the commandments that Jesus identifies)
– The teacher of the law (initially at least) assumes the role of expert. He seems to verbally report back at how well Jesus is doing at answering his questions.
– No one from then on dared to ask him questions.
– Jesus has the last word by coming up with an interesting conclusion … that he is “not far from the kingdom of God”.
It is this comment, “not far from”, that really grabs my attention. Do we interpret this as not part of the kingdom? What was the missing link that would get him over the line to be IN the kingdom? What did Jesus mean by this?
What does this mean for us as leaders in Lutheran Schools?
It seems that the questions only get tougher! Perhaps this is just another reminder to us to make sure that we don’t get too carried away with things of the world. How far are we, our staff, our students and our families from the kingdom? What is the kingdom anyway and how do we gain entry? Are we providing an environment that helps us confidently answer these questions with absolute certainty?
It is interesting to note that this same exchange is also recorded in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 10), but is followed by the question “Who is my neighbour?” and provides the catalyst for Jesus to tell one of the best known of all parables … The Parable of the Good Samaritan. I think if we reflect a bit further on the great commandment passage by taking into account the message of that famous parable, what Jesus means in saying "not far from" may become a little clearer.
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ReplyDeletePhil and Gavan are 'not far from' learning how to Blog!!
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ReplyDeleteOn a completely different topic - Do we in Lutheran Schools for staff and Kids make God too complex. The God I know is a god of Love and Compassion and is a listener who answers all when he is dialled up. He is a person that we all can go to freely - even it seems via our mobiles, internet, as well as in Church.
Andrew Dewhirst
Yet I worry that we get stuck - we focus with our schools where staff and kids are increasingly not Christian, let alone Lutheran, on lots of the complexities of faith. I had a mate who works in a Lutheran School say to me that since he came into a school he was confused by the faith stuff.
He was not against it or avoiding it - he wanted to support the school ethos and learn. Yet he was confused by big terms like Law and Gospel, Kingdoms, etc. These were put to him as starting points for understanding the faith.
Now yes these are key elements of the Church and ones that we should refer to, talk about, etc. But I need to learn to watch a golf ball before I can intentionally curve one around the trees!
God is love - a fairly handy starting point. A school that focuses staff to 1 Corinthians, John 3:16. That to me would give a great start to staff and kids wanting to know about this great God we have. Then we can draw the drive and chip over the trees.