not far...

Friday, Feb. 20, 2009

Isa. 65:17-25; 1 Tim 5:17-22(23-25); Mark 12:28-34

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:34)


Jesus came preaching, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:15) In essence, the kingdom of God is near you, the kingdom of God is not far from you. We understand that Jesus meant this spatially, not temporally. I, the king of the kingdom, am here in your midst. Dwight Pryor says that often when Jesus speaks of "the kingdom" he is speaking of his movement, his followers, as opposed to, for example, the future "new heavens and new earth" (Isaiah 65:17).

Interestingly, in this last of a series of questions challenging him, when this scribe affirms Jesus' answer that to love God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength is the first commandment and to love our neighbor is the second, Jesus says that he is "not far from the kingdom of God." I find this intriguing, and affirming.

Of course, it's far better to be in the kingdom, that is Jesus' mission. While this man has not yet humbled himself and turned from his ways to following Jesus, just affirming the principle commandments of the kingdom of God draws him near to it.

I sense a gentleness as Jesus deals with this opponent in particular. His interactions with the religious authorities in this whole section tend to be sharp, and hard, and pressing the differences almost to provoke the pending conflict. But not this one.

Is it the question itself and the man's affirmation of it that touches Jesus? That is, they've gone at it regarding Caesar and taxes, how many wives in the resurrection, about authority and faithful leadership, but this question may get to the heart of what's really important for Jesus, to what is central (Not that the other questions are not important, but they were clearly more set-ups to corner him...). Love God, love your neighbor - this is what you're made for. Love God by loving your neighbor, this is my teaching in a nutshell.

Secondly, this affirmation of Jesus to him, "you are not far from the kingdom of God," may teach us something about relating to people who have not yet repented and believed the good news. Something about loving our neighbor as ourselves. While dealing with sin in the church, especially with elders (1 Tim. 5:19-21,24-25), we ought to deal with it head on and openly.

With those outside who are interested, those that seem somewhat aligned with important principles of the kingdom, can we interact with more generously than perhaps we have in the past? Too often we've been the ones like wolves and lions, not imaging the kingdom that the child of Isaiah 9, 11, and (by inference) 65 has inaugurated.

Some of those in Athens, to whom Paul preached, responded "we will hear you again about this" (Acts 17:33). Inside me, I hear myself saying to people like this man, "let's keep talking about this, we're closer to each other than we may think..."