Lesson 5, October 23-29
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Mark 12:29-31, Deuteronomy 10:1-19, Psalms 146:5-10, Matthew 7:12, Deuteronomy 27:19, James 1:27-2:11.
Memory Text: “Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:19
As we read last week, when asked by a scribe about “the first commandment of all” (Mark 12:28), Jesus answered by giving the affirmation of God as one, and then He said: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:30).
However, Jesus continued, talking then about the “second is like” (Mark 12:31), something that the scribe hadn’t asked about. Nevertheless, Jesus, knowing how important it was, said: “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31).
No commandment greater than these? Jesus linked love for God and love for one’s neighbor to each other as the two greatest commandments, and those commandments were the greatest of all.
Again, Jesus wasn’t coming up with something new, something that the Jews hadn’t heard before. Instead, the call to love Him supremely — the idea of loving one’s neighbor and of loving other people as a way to express our love for God was, yes, taken from the book of Deuteronomy.
