Speaking of Jesus, Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:7-8, “To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’ And, ‘he is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they do no obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.” This passage reminds us how easy it is to forget that not everyone welcomed Jesus’ message. Jesus preached with a new and different authority than the religious leaders of His day and often turned the accepted traditions and understandings of the day upside down. As a result, He was a stumbling block for many.
We see several examples of this in Mark Chapter 12. Jesus is in the temple teaching, and we’re told that He’s challenged by the chief priests and elders about His authority to preach and work miracles. After successfully meeting their challenge, a group of Pharisees and some followers of Herod try to trap Him by asking Him whether or not they should pay taxes to the emperor. Again, Jesus evades their trap and stuns the crowd with His response. Next, some Sadducees try to trick Jesus by asking Him a question about the resurrection. And again, Jesus silences them with His response.
And then, Mark tells us that a Scribe who was watching all this take place, asked Jesus yet another question, “Which commandment is the greatest?” This question isn’t as straight forward as you’d think because, at the time of Jesus, there were over 647 written and oral laws that the religious leaders expected the people to keep if they wanted to be right with God. Whether his intentions were malicious like the Pharisees and Sadducees or not, by asking this question, the Scribe put Jesus in the position of having to choose 1 out of 647 laws! However, Jesus wouldn’t be trapped and was quick to respond, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall 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, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Directly quoting Deuteronomy 6:4, Jesus took all of the laws–everything that the religion of the day required–and summarized them into two: Love God and love your neighbour. Notice Jesus uses the word “all” here. He doesn’t tell us to love God with some of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. He doesn’t say, “Love God on Sundays with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.” He says, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
Often, I think, as Christians living in the world–a world that’s very different than God’s Kingdom, and in many cases, opposed to it–we can compartmentalize our lives: “This is my work life, my family life, my time with my besties, my TV time, and this bit over here is God’s.” And there’s no connection or cross over. That’s not how Jesus calls us to live in this passage. Jesus calls us to love God with all that we are–heart, soul, mind, and strength. These 4 words encompass our entire being. Sometimes referred to as the “4-fold all,” there’s no room here for divided affection or allegiance when it comes to God. He wants all that we are. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the others. You cannot serve both God and money.” The God of the universe, the One who created all that there is, alone stands supremely powerful, supremely holy, supremely valuable. He alone demands supreme and total loyalty–a loyalty that starts with the heart.
The great thing is, when we truly love God with all that we are, and when we seek to love our neighbour as ourselves, we fulfill all the commandments–everything that God calls us to do. The opposite, however, is also true. In responding to Jesus, the Scribe says, “…this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” In other words, if we don’t love God with all that we are–heart, soul, mind, and strength, if we don’t seek to love our neighbour as ourselves, everything we do–our worship and praise, our Bible study, our good works–is empty–it’s nothing but dirty rags, as we read in Isaiah 64:6! Jesus puts it this way in Mark 7:6, “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In vain do they worship me.”
“There is no commandment greater than these.” According to Jesus, loving God and neighbour is the greatest priority in life. Nothing is more important! This five-week series will be looking at the key principles that can help us to live out the “4-fold all’s” more fully in our everyday lives.
SERMONS
Title: “With All Our Heart”
Preacher: The Rev. Canon Christopher Doering
Date: Sunday, August 3, 2025 ~ The 8th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture: Mark 12:28-34
Handout: Part 1. HO
Title: “With All Our Soul”
Preacher: The Rev. Canon Christopher Doering
Date: Sunday, August 10, 2025 ~ The 9th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture: Galatians 5:16-26
Handout: Part 2.HO