Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Not Far from the Kingdom of God"

Text: Mark 12:28-24

At last, here in one of the gospels,

we find an encounter between Jesus and a scribe

that isn’t hostile, or sneaky, or adversarial.

Even the way that Mark sets it up is unexpected:

one of the scribes comes near and overhears

a dispute Jesus is having with someone else,

and "see[s] that he answered them well."

How often does that happen?

Of course, we have to realize that the dispute he overheard

was the one with the Sadducees,

about the woman who marries a man but then he dies,

so she has to marry his brother but then he dies too,

and on through the rest of the seven brothers,

concluding with the question about

whose wife will she be when the resurrection comes?

Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection,

so they made up that complicated scenario

in order to try to make Jesus look stupid.

Whereas the scribes, along with the Pharisees,

did believe in the notion of resurrection,

so it’s not as surprising as it might otherwise have been

that a scribe appreciated Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees.

Jesus was indirectly agreeing with the scribe

on what was, to him, an important theological point.

So yes indeed, he did "answer them well."

This particular scribe, however, is interested enough

that he goes on to engage Jesus further, by asking him

"Which commandment is the first of all?"

Jesus’ answer is one that most of us could probably repeat,

if not word-for-word,

at least close enough to be clear.

It is interesting that Jesus begins with

probably the closest thing there is to a Jewish creed, the Shema,

"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one,"

and only then does he state the actual command itself:

"You shall love the Lord our God with all your heart,

and with all your soul, and with all your mind,

and with all your strength."

Interestingly, though, Jesus doesn’t stop with just one commandment,

even though the scribe had asked him

which was the greatest commandment.

He continues, to say that

"the second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’"

As if to offer a gentle correction to the question as it was posed …

You may ask me which is the one single greatest commandment,

but I’m here to tell you that either one of these

is meaningless without the other.

Amazingly, the scribe says, "You are right, Teacher."

"The things that you have said

are much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

How interesting that someone

whose whole work involved knowing the Law in all its tiny details

understood that the "big picture" Jesus was teaching

was far more important than the dotted i’s and crossed t’s

of all 613 commandments.

And look at this:

"Jesus saw that he [- the scribe -] answered wisely."

Two people,

who Mark’s hearers would have thought of as adversaries,

each agree that the other is wise.

And then Jesus says to the scribe,

"You are not far from the kingdom of God."

After which time,

everyone else is a little bit afraid to ask him anything more.

But what do you suppose Jesus meant by,

"You are not far from the kingdom of God"?

Surely he wasn’t predicting that the scribe was about to die,

and thus come into God’s heavenly kingdom that way!

No, for Jesus the kingdom of God was not only something in the future;

it was also something that had the potential to break into our lives

right here and right now.

God’s reign will certainly come in the end,

but it could conceivably begin in the present,

if we would stop getting in its way.

We like to be in control, don’t we?

Maybe in control of others,

but most assuredly in control of our own lives and destiny.

How many of us like being in the hospital

and depending on others for bringing our food, and our medicine,

and waking us up to take our blood pressure once again?

How many of us want to depend on someone else for transportation,

or to help us manage our finances,

or to remind us of appointments we’ve forgotten?

Even when it’s people we trust,

how hard it is for us to relinquish control of our lives and destiny.

It seems even more difficult

to let God be in charge …

God, whom we know about but can’t see …

God, whom we know has asked some pretty strange things

of people in the past …

Part of the attraction of being a scribe or a Pharisee

was that you knew the Law very well,

and there was a sense in which

keeping the commandments in all of their details

would, in a sense, give you some control over God.

That is, if you performed the sacrifices correctly,

God would have an appropriate reward for you.

If you kept the commandments as you were supposed to,

God should prevent bad things from happening to you.

Etc.

We still think that way somewhat today, don’t we?

If a house has to burn down,

why wouldn’t God make it the house of the crack dealer

instead of our neighbor who has taken in four foster children?

If I behave myself, and tithe, and give comfort to the poor,

why shouldn’t I expect God to keep a special watch over me,

and keep me safe from tornadoes, or viruses, or burglars?

Only it doesn’t work that way.

No matter how good we are –

and remember, the scribes and the Pharisees were good people –

but no matter how good we are, or how bad we are,

we don’t get to control God.

And an important piece of

being "not far from the kingdom of God"

means just this: recognizing that it is God’s kingdom, not ours,

and God gets the final word, and we do not.

We get to express an opinion … that’s part of what prayer is about.

We get to say yes or no to what God proposes … that’s what our free will is about.

But it is God’s kingdom.

We can spend our lives fighting against that,

and trying to grab and maintain control

of our own little corner of the world …

or we can spend our lives

trying to overcome our desire to be king or queen of the world,

and seek instead to align ourselves with God’s plans.

If that’s the choice we make,

then we, too, are not far from the kingdom of God.

Ultimately, I think, that’s what it means to be a "saint."

Not that we have finally "arrived" at a place of perfection,

where we have overcome all temptation,

and given everything over to God, once and for all …

But that we understand that that’s where we are headed,

and we will do whatever we can

to move ourselves along on that journey

and get out of God’s way in the process.

To be a saint is to be "not far from the kingdom of God."

Another way of saying that is to come back to the gospel reading:

to be a saint, to be "not far from the kingdom of God,"

is to realize that the most important things we do as human beings

are to love the Lord our God

and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

That is, we love God

even when God does things that make no sense to us.

We love God,

even when God could have rescued us or someone we love,

but didn’t.

We love God,

even when the world seems a pretty screwed-up place,

and we can’t understand why God doesn’t intervene.

We love our neighbors,

even when they speak a different language

and play their music too loud.

We love our neighbors,

even if they can’t wait to call code enforcement

when our weeds get one inch too high.

We love our neighbors,

even if they do not love us.

Loving them doesn’t necessarily mean

we ignore behaviors that are problems …

but it means that we confront those problems

in a spirit of love rather than a spirit of anger.

The more that we can do these things …

the more that we can love as God loves …

the closer we come also to the kingdom of God.

Look for a moment at the list of our own "saints"

whom we have lost during the last year.

Is there anyone on that list

that would have described themself as perfect?

Is there anyone we would describe as perfect?

But did they love the Lord their God?

Oh yes.

Did they love their neighbors as their own selves?

I can give you quite a long list for every one of them

of ways in which they showed love to their neighbors.

In this life, they were not far from the kingdom of God.

Now, they are there.

Where are you?

Are you worrying about keeping detailed rules and regulations,

hoping that this will cause God to look favorably on you?

Are you busy trying to do more good works than the average,

so that God will find you worthy of the kingdom?

Are you grieving over past mistakes you can’t change,

worried that God has given up on you?

Which is the greatest commandment of all?

Is it "Keep all the rules without fail"?

It is not.

Is it, "Do good works until you drop"?

It is not.

Is it, "Repent, or else"?

No, it’s not that either.

The first is,

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul, and with all your might,

and with all your strength."

And the second, inseparable from the first, is,

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Everything else falls into place

when we put those two first.

If we love God, we will obey God,

and will seek forgiveness when we have failed to do so.

If we love our neighbors,

we will do good works for them when they need our help.

When we can do these things,

we will not only have answered wisely,

we will be living wisely.

We will be the "saints,"

who are not very far at all from the kingdom of God.

Amen.