On the other hand, the rich and deep theology found in Mark 12 literally begs to be pondered. This last discourse of the Savior to a public audience resonates with both an invitation and an indictment. Each offers a glimpse of the character and nature of Christ. Each invites an opportunity for the serious follower of Christ to grow up, to mature.
Following His summarizing of all 613 Hebrew laws into a simple commandment duo ("Love God with your whole self & love others more than yourself"), Jesus' invitation to the Scribe is found in verse 34: "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Not far...close, but not "in". And "close" only counts in corn hole.
This leader had all of the right information, but he had yet to acknowledge the King. Jesus, the compassionate evangelist, invites the Scribe to finish his faith journey and cross the threshold into the kingdom of God by acknowledging Him as Messiah and Lord.
Sister, if your walk with God is defined by your intellectual assent of His teaching, His work & His ministry...but you have yet to respond to the call of God for the totality of your life, you are close. Near to the Kingdom. But "near" is not "in." This is the invitation of Jesus, son of the Living God: You are not far from the Kingdom. Cross the threshold and come in!
The indictment by the Savior is not so warm and fuzzy. Verses 38-40 are actually a fairly tame summary of Jesus' full-out accusation leveled at the religious leaders found in the companion text, Matthew 23. Matthew's succinct condemnation: "They preach but do not practice..." (verse 3). Wow. Matthew, Mark & Luke each describe the lives of the Pharisees with disdain...but Matthew sums it up: they preach...the laws, rituals, sacrifices & offerings...but they do not practice.
Instead of being the chief lovers of God and lovers of His people, these leaders loved themselves. Their reputation. Their prominence. Their possessions. Their power. Instead of shepherding, guiding, caring for and discipling their people, they used even the poorest for their own glory and advancement.
The strongest indictment by the Savior captures the eternal significance of their self-promotion, verse 13: "You shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in."
It's no wonder that Jesus begins this teaching with the yellow-caution-tape-warning: Beware.
He does not tell the people to be discerning. To be careful. To be alert. He tells them to BEWARE.
Sisters, these leaders who "preach but don't practice" are not extinct. They are among us today. They do not deserve our pity or our patience. There is no room for sentimentality here. Be warned. Beware. Their refusal to love God with all of their lives, their self-promotion and self-serving ministry will lead people not to the Kingdom, but to destruction. There is no more sober warning. Beware.
Closer to home, while not leaders of the same stature as these men, every believer lives out her walk with God publically. What do people see?
- Is she seeking to attract attention by what she wears?
- Is she insistent on respect, admiration, honor?
- Must she have a place of prominence, drawing attention to herself in conversation and relationships?
- Is she unreasonably offended when overlooked or passed by?
- Does she love the sound of her own voice...audibly or in print? (i'm thinking you see the irony now)
- Is she inclined to tell "her story", full of personal pronouns, at the expense of the glory of God?
The truth is that, without the grace of God in Christ, the above paragraph describes Every Christian. It is impossible to live in the context of the great commandment...love God with your whole self & love others more than yourself...but for Jesus. He makes the impossible, possible. To quote my Pastor: "Where our love fails, the love of Jesus makes up for the deficit." Hallelujah.
The invitation, then, is the answer to the indictment. Our humanity is redeemed when we respond to the invitation to cross the threshold and come into the Kingdom.
Sister, if you are a Kingdom-dweller today, be encouraged. Because of Jesus, it is possible to obey this great commandment duo. Ask Him to "see if there is any offensive way" in you and, once exposed, trust Him to change you. Commit yourself, by His grace & for His glory, to be a woman who practices what she preaches...so that you do not "shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces", but instead yours is a life of invitation, urging those who are near to come on in!
