Thursday - October 16, 2008
 
Mark 12:28-34


One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.
Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of
all the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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: 'Love your neighbor as
yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that
God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your
heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to
love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt
offerings and sacrifices."

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are
not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask
him any more questions.


(NIV)
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Shall We Meet Him Again?

by
Michael Wilcock


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"Not far from the kingdom." (v. 34)

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With more than half the people we have met in these readings I find
this phrase lurking at the back of my mind. They were "not far from
the kingdom." So many made aware of God's kingdom, in a variety of
ways -- colliding with it unexpectedly, or drawn to it from great
distances. Some belonging to it in name but not in fact, others, in
fact though not in name. Where exactly in relation to the kingdom
does this scribe stand?


He is posing a test question. It comes at the end of a series of
attempts to entrap Jesus and destroy his credibility. Yet this
questioner cannot hide his admiration for Jesus' answer, and he finds
that in the process he himself has been tested and his answer too is
approved.


But still . . . "Not far from the kingdom." Did he actually get
there? Shall we meet him when one day the kingdom comes in its
fullness? The queen of Sheba will be there, and the lady of Shunem,
and the centurion of Capernaum. The rich young ruler? I hope so. This
scribe? We just don't know, do we? Still, "the Lord knows those who
are his" (2 Timothy 2:19), and we can leave every such query in his
gracious hands.



Hear our prayers, Lord, for those we know who are not far out, yet not
quite in.