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I like to play a game with my baby called “Near, Far.” I bring her close to my face while saying “Near,” then move her away while saying “Far”. And I repeat this many times. I love to hear her giggle whenever I bring her near, so close that her nose is almost touching my nose.
In the same way, I think God our heavenly Father loves for us to be near. And we, too, experience joy when we feel near to him.
In today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus encounters a scribe who asks him a question. At the end, he says to the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” I believe it is Jesus’ heart for us to draw near to God’s kingdom through him.
Through these passages, I would like to highlight what it means to be near God’s kingdom or in God’s kingdom. Let’s pray.
[Read Mark 12:28-44]
“What is the greatest commandment?”
The religious leaders of the Jews have been asking Jesus many hard questions, trying to trap him. In today’s question, we hear one last question, “Which is the most important commandment of all?” This time, the questioner seems to have an honest desire to know Jesus’ thoughts. The man was a scribe—someone who taught and interpreted the Scriptures and other Jewish laws.
Jesus answers by quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’”
Interestingly, Jesus didn’t stop at providing one commandment. He went on to quote a second commandment, this time from Leviticus 19:18, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Why? Because it is necessary to define what loving God looks like. Jesus says, loving God must necessarily mean loving other humans as well. You cannot say you love God but act like a jerk to other people.
In response, the scribe who questioned Jesus agreed. He agreed that loving God and loving man is “more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” In turn, Jesus praises him for understanding that the right attitude towards God and man is important than an outward show of religious worship. Jesus gives him this compliment: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
“You are not far from the kingdom of God”
Throughout the whole story in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has been proclaiming the coming of the kingdom of God.
We can only enter this kingdom if we recognize the authority of the king. And this king is none other than Jesus. Although the scribe may understand the heart of God’s laws, perhaps he has yet to recognize Jesus as king. Perhaps that is why Jesus says that the scribe is close to the kingdom but not actually in the kingdom.
Shortly after, Jesus talks about the Messiah—a person whom the Jews were expecting to bring the kingdom of God.
Many believed the Messiah would be a descendant of King David. But Jesus raises a question. Quoting from the prophetic Psalm 110, he asked: How can the scribes merely call the Messiah a son of David—that is, a descendant of David—when David calls the Messiah “my Lord”? In ancient culture, it would be unthinkable for a father to address his son or descendant as “lord.” Jesus isn’t denying that the Messiah is a descendant of David; rather, he is hinting that the Messiah is more than an earthly descendant. The Son of David is also the Lord of David. And as we saw earlier in Mark chapter 10, when Jesus was called “Son of David” by blind Bartimaeus, he accepted the title.
Anyway, the crowd listening to Jesus was delighted by his talk about the Son of David. I think they were entertained to hear Jesus implying that the scribes didn’t understand everything about Scripture.
The scribes and the widow
Indeed, after this, Jesus warns them about the scribes, who thought they were close to God but actually were not. They acted religiously only to look good and be respected, while in truth they took advantage of the weak—such as widows.
In contrast, God is pleased with those with the right heart, such as the widow who offered her two coins at the temple. The widow is a person who might be considered weak in this society: a woman with no husband to support her financially. And yet she was worthy of more praise than the learned scribes.
By giving sacrificially, she showed that God was worth giving everything to. She also showed a faith that God would provide for her needs.
God cares about the attitude of our heart, not just how we behave outwardly. God is pleased when we try to please Him rather than to earn the praise of mere humans. And to please Him, we must love our fellow man. This is the gist of Jesus’ teaching in today’s passages.
Who is near the kingdom of God?
Now that we have examined the passages, let’s think about our own hearts. Are we near to God and his kingdom? Or are we far?
This year, an English student asked me, “As a Christian, what do you think of Donald Trump? Do you think he is a Christian?” Instead of giving my opinion right away, I wanted to ask my students for their opinion. Three out of four students in that class were not Christians. I wanted to know more about their perception of Christianity, so I asked, “What is a Christian?”
One student answered, “A Christian is someone who was baptized.” Another replied, “Donald Trump says he is a Christian, so maybe he is?”
My own response was to point them to the Bible. Who does Jesus consider to be one of his disciples? I gave two examples from the Gospel of Matthew. Both are stories where Jesus talks about the day of judgment.
In Matthew 7:21, he says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father.”
In Matthew 25, Jesus describes those who were rejected from the kingdom. Verses 42-43: “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.”
In other words, if we claim to be a Christian or a follower of Jesus, we would desire to obey God’s will. And God’s will is to love others. I want to be clear here that we are saved by faith in Christ alone, through grace alone. Salvation is not by our good works. However, evidence of true saving faith comes in the form of good works—fruitfulness that develops over time as we follow Jesus day by day (Ephesians 2:10; James 2:22-26). If someone claims he is a Christian or has been baptized but clearly walks contrary to the teaching of Jesus, there is more than enough reason to doubt if that person really has true, saving faith.
So, I asked my students, “In your opinion, how does Donald Trump measure against Jesus’ teachings? Does he seem to have love for the orphans, the widows, and the foreigners?”
To sum up what we have heard today: to enter into the kingdom, we have to recognize Jesus as the one God sent to show us the way into the kingdom. And that Jesus is not just a messenger or a herald at the gate of the kingdom; he is the King himself. If we are truly citizens of Jesus’ kingdom, we have to desire to do what God calls us to do and be, not only merely say that we believe Jesus as Lord and Savior. We have to take seriously the command to love God with all our hearts and to love our fellow man.
Spiritual health check-up
Let’s be honest: it is not easy to love our neighbors, much less love God with all our hearts and all our strength. Who can ever do that? But just because we keep failing, it doesn’t mean we should give up or that God’s commandment is unreasonable.
The Bible often talks about self-examination, confession of sins, and repentance (Lamentations 3:40; 2 Corinthians 13:5). These practices are part of a healthy Christian life. When done in a healthy way, these practices do not destroy our self-esteem. Rather, they help us remember how loved we are, by reminding us of the extravagant love of God.
Think of confession and repentance as a health check-up. In Japan, it’s common for adults to go for an annual health check, right? It’s even required by many companies, isn’t it? Likewise, we need a spiritual check-up. Now and then, we should check ourselves:
- Are we praying and reading Scriptures regularly?
- In recent years, have we grown to be more like Jesus? For example, are we more forgiving? Less anxious and more trusting in God?
- Do we care about the people that Jesus cares about—the fatherless, widows, and the foreigners?
- Are we sharing about the good news of Jesus’ kingdom with others?
Have we failed in these things but want to do better? The Lord will help us if we ask him and we commit ourselves to changing.
Incidentally, the season of Lent just started. This 40-day-period until Easter is the time Christians from across the world reflect on the death of Christ on the cross. It is a time for self-examination, repentance, and self-restraint. Many Christians use this time to practice fasting by giving up eating certain food or drink, or activities such as social media or watching TV. By giving up of something, we make space and time for God. For me, I decided to give up social media this year’s Lent.
One of my bad habits happens to be my smartphone habit. Recently, I read a book on parenting that said, “Our habits form our us, and we form our children.” I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I do is check my phone.
If my habit is to constantly look at my social media on my smartphone, then inadvertently I am forming my children to be like me—a person who can’t live without checking my phone every few minutes. A person who is physically there with his family members but mentally absent.
To replace my addiction to social media, I decided to make more time to pray or read my Bible. So far it has made me feel healthier, less distracted. I even feel more cheerful since I’m not reading the world news, which is usually depressing.
I pray that in this season of Lent, we all may experience God’s kingdom a little closer as we practice self-examination and self-denial.
Let us pray. O God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you: Help us so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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