The Greatest Commandment - Mark 12:28-34

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, the day Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey, with the crowds hailing him as the Son of David and shouting, “Hosanna!” Because it’s Palm Sunday today, that means Easter (or Resurrection Sunday) is next Sunday. I’m sure most of us after church next Sunday morning, will be going to a family lunch. It’s often at these events, especially on a day like Easter, where you may have an opportunity to talk about God. If your family is like mine, then you will know that there are usually two kinds of people. The first are openly hostile to the gospel, say they don’t believe in God, think the Bible is a load of rubbish, Christianity is just mythology.

The second are not openly hostile. May have grown up in a Christian home, but now don’t go to church. Yet they have an admiration for Jesus and appreciate his teachings, have some basic Bible knowledge. While that’s great, the problem with these guys, is that they think they are okay – they’ve “done” enough to be right with God. They usually see themselves as good and moral people who believe in God, but just don’t see the need to be a part of the church.

In our passage this evening, Jesus has a conversation with a scribe, who we could say was in a similar position to the people I’ve just described. He admired Jesus, liked his teaching, knew his Bible. He would have probably considered himself someone who was obedient to law, who loved God and loved his neighbour. Yet Jesus says to him at the end of this passage, that he is “not far from the kingdom of God.” Not far? Near, but not in.

What we’re going to see from this text this evening is that because only Jesus has perfectly kept all God’s commandments, it’s by trusting in his obedience that we can enter the kingdom of God.

Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.