Gospel of Mark, chapter 12:8

The problem with multiplying laws is that people get confused about what is truly important and what is only incidental. The Jews had too many laws in the Old Testament. Since the demands of one law often conflicted with another, the legalists tried to work out a synthesis of the essentials of the law. This helped them know which laws should enjoy priority over others. The prophet Micah, for example, summarized the law in these words: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).

When the scribe in today’s scripture verse, asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?” (Mark 12:28), he was not referring to the most important of the Ten commandments. Rather he was asking Jesus to single out the most important law in all of the Old Testament. The scribe does not appear to be testing Jesus. He seems to be willing to learn. Perhaps, he was overwhelmed with the conflict he had in his own life when he tried to meet the various demands of all the laws. His final answer to Jesus: “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that He is one, and besides Him there is no other; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength , ‘and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’ is much more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33). Jesus resolved the scribe’s problem by assuring him that practical love for God and neighbor comes before the need for ritual observances, burnt offerings, and abloutions before meals.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, reversed the order and made their own laws more important than the Ten Commandments. They selfishly absolved people from taking care of their old parents so long as they willed all their wealth to the Temple (Mark 7:11-12). In this way they became strict in observing trifling religiosites which benefited them but lax in what Jesus calls “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Matthew 23:23).

There are still many Christians today who see worship of God in terms of observing mere rules and customs. They go to church on Sunday to fulfill their “Sunday obligation.” They make their “Easter duty” every year. But, Jesus reminds us that whatever we do in church or out of church, we must do not out of a sense of compulsion but out of love for God and neighbor. The scribe acknowledged the wisdom of Jesus’ answer, and Jesus said to Him: “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 2:34).

Fr. Hugh Duffy