Mark 12:28-31 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ And 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.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Most the time we all fall into one of 2 categories:

1. Rule bound
2. Rule adverse

For those of us that are rule bound. We like clean lines. We like boundaries that let us know we are on the right track. We like lists and the ability to check them off.

For those of us that are rule adverse. We don’t like being boxed in. We don’t like to be hindered as we move and we often feel that rules are stifling.

One of the scribes had overhead the Sadducee’s disputing with Jesus and he noticed that Jesus answered well to their questions. So, he thought he would ask a question of his own. These two both agreed on the answer. But if you keep reading in the section it says this:

Mark 12: ³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

They agreed! This was new for the crowd! Imagine what the Sadducee’s and scribes standing around listening to this much have thought when Jesus said, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.” It must have spooked them. Who says that? Well only God could and they didn’t dared ask anymore questions after that.

Sometimes we get all wrapped up on what’s the best way to live for God that we forget the simplicity of it all. It’s not about the rules or not being hindered by rules. It actually all about love.

When we love God and love others, the rules simply become support for love to be lived out loud, even Jesus showed us over and over how living according to the rules isn’t the point but living in the spirit of love is!

Starla