Scripture
Focal text
Mark 12:28-34
28 One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord,30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength.[a] 31 The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself.[b] No other commandment is greater than these.”
32 The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Supplemental texts
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (CEB)
1 Now these are the commandments, the regulations, and the case laws that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you to follow in the land you are entering to possess, 2 so that you will fear the Lord your God by keeping all his regulations and his commandments that I am commanding you—both you and your sons and daughters—all the days of your life and so that you will lengthen your life. 3 Listen to them, Israel! Follow them carefully so that things will go well for you and so that you will continue to multiply exactly as the Lord, your ancestors’ God, promised you, in a land full of milk and honey.
4 Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord!
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength.6 These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds.7 Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol.[b] 9 Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates.
Psalm 119:1-8
1 Those whose way is blameless—
who walk in the Lord’s Instruction—are truly happy!
2 Those who guard God’s laws are truly happy!
They seek God with all their hearts.
3 They don’t even do anything wrong!
They walk in God’s ways.
4 God, you have ordered that your decrees
should be kept most carefully.
5 How I wish my ways were strong
when it comes to keeping your statutes!
6 Then I wouldn’t be ashamed
when I examine all your commandments.
7 I will give thanks to you with a heart that does right
as I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes.
Please don’t leave me all alone!
Hebrews 9:11-14
11 But Christ has appeared as the high priest of the good things that have happened. He passed through the greater and more perfect meeting tent, which isn’t made by human hands (that is, it’s not a part of this world). 12 He entered the holy of holies once for all by his own blood, not by the blood of goats or calves, securing our deliverance for all time. 13 If the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of cows made spiritually contaminated people holy and clean, 14 how much more will the blood of Jesus wash our consciences clean from dead works in order to serve the living God? He offered himself to God through the eternal Spirit as a sacrifice without any flaw.
Children’s story
A camp for peace
Every year, the Korea Peacebuilding Institute helps plan a peace camp. The camp is for young people from China, Japan and Korea. These three countries are neighbors, but because of wars and bad things that have happened in the past, many Chinese and Korean youth are taught to feel hatred toward Japan.
At the Youth Peace Camp, the campers gather in friendship. This is what Heo Hyo-eun, a 15-year-old girl from Korea, said about her experience:
“On the first day of Peace Camp, I had no idea what it would be like. When I saw one young girl from Japan, Yuki, I wanted to be her friend. We were placed on the same team, and I was happy! Through playing, dancing and games, we became close.
“In the mornings at camp, we did games and other activities that helped us to build trust with each other. In the afternoons, we had time to think about peace and express our ideas through drama and talking. I felt hopeful, since everyone there seemed to really want peace.
“One of the biggest things I will remember is the relationships we built with friends from other countries. Since we’re students, we have all studied about our history of pain and hurt. Even just sharing space together and eating food together was a powerful experience for us.
“The last night of Peace Camp, my Chinese friend and roommate, Linda, shared a lot. She said, crying, ‘We hated Japan, because we cannot forget what Japan did to us … but through this camp, my hatred toward Japan has disappeared. I want to be closer to them.’
“When it was the Japanese students’ turn, they went to the front. They were crying, and said, ‘We are very sorry to Korea and China … really sorry … sorry.’ Their tears extinguished the fire of my hatred. Yuki, from Japan, had become my best friend.
“After this, we had a candle-lighting ceremony. Each person placed a candle on the world map on the floor, in an area where they wanted to see peace grow. The area between China, Korea and Japan became the shining-est part of the map. I thought to myself, ‘Let’s love warmly and accept each other, just like these candles. And may we never again repeat our painful history.’”
Questions for discussion
- Sometimes when we hear bad things about someone, we dislike them without even knowing them. How can that change when we get to know that person?
- How can games and activities help us really get to know someone?
- Why do you think the Japanese students were so sorry?
Prayer
Dear God, help us not to dislike others because of how they look or what we’ve heard about them. Help us to get to know them and make friends. Amen.
Sermon starters
Read Mark 12:28-34
As Christians, when we talk about the water of life or a spring of living water, most of us would understand that to be about God’s love and saving grace found in Jesus Christ. We use the metaphor of a spring of water that bubbles up from the ground in a continuous flow, representing God’s grace, mercy and love that is abundant and ever-flowing for God’s people and God’s creation.
I was on vacation this fall at Little Eden Camp in Onekama, Michigan. Next to the camp is a fountain of fresh water that bubbles up from the ground. Over the years, it has been reinforced by cement, rocks and pipes, and you can now drink from the fountain or fill a water bottle or jug from the spout. This water is always running, year-round. On a hot sunny day in August, this is the most refreshing and good-tasting water around. It refreshes the physical body. Jesus is the living water that refreshes our soul.
The commandment to love God with all our heart and soul and might is found in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:1-9). In the Mark verses, often labeled the greatest commandment, with similar verses found in Matthew 22:34-40 and Luke 10:25-28, Jesus is found in Jerusalem in or near a temple and talking with the chief priests, scribes and elders. These educated leaders were well versed in the oral laws of Moses and the Torah laws. When we read the chapters leading up to our passage today, we find that often these leaders weren’t happy with Jesus’ response. And quite honestly, Jesus wasn’t pleased with these leaders’ actions. But in these verses we find common ground between one scribe and Jesus (vs. 32-34).
Love that bubbles up and flows freely for our neighbors is what we are called to, but sometimes it requires us to find common ground in which we can express this love. The church, even in its earliest days, has tried to understand what it means to be church among people who have very different world experiences and views. The disciples and other early Jewish believers who walked with Jesus had to learn to love and live with Greek and pagan converts. Paul, who experienced his own conversion, wrote many letters to churches struggling to understand how to live and worship together. It’s hard work to be the church, and we haven’t always gotten it right. I sometimes wonder what makes us think we can get it right, since, after all, we are only human.
Without the bubbling love of a creator God who offers grace, mercy and forgiveness for our sins and wrongs, we cannot find hope, peace or justice in this world. A call to be reconciled to God, to one another, and even to ourselves is a constant challenge in a society where people are driven and measured by independence, wealth, success and status. The church has a message that needs to be heard loud and clear … God’s love bubbles over for you and me! And we are called to love one another with the same grace, mercy and forgiveness.
Share a personal, community, or worldwide story of God’s love bubbling up like a gift from the spring of the water of life. It does our hearts good to hear, and repeat often, the stories of God at work in the world today. It is, after all, God who does the work, and we are the messengers. To God be the glory!
—Sandy Miller,
Former director of Mission Network Church Relations
Need help finding a worldwide story? Check out the stories on Mission Network’s website.
Worship resources
Gathering prayer/Call to worship
Leader: Come, experience the loving arms of a mighty God.
People: We come, loving the Lord with all our heart.
Leader: Come, giving to God all that burdens you this week.
People: We come, knowing that God will give us peace.
Leader: Come, where milk and honey flows for all people.
People: We come, using our strength to gather in this place.
Leader: Come, where the Spirit of God exists and the water of life is freely offered.
People: We come, surrendering our whole being—heart, mind, soul and strength—in worship to God.
All: Amen.
Suggested hymns and songs from Voices Together
- No. 7 “Come, Let Us All Unite to Sing”
- No. 581 “Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song”
- No. 420 “God of the Bible”
- No. 790 “How Can We Be silent”
- No. 412 “My Soul Cries Out”
Prayer for restoration
Mighty and loving God, you bless those who are blameless and walk according to your ways. In our busyness, we may miss the nudge of your Holy Spirit to act in grace and love. Sometimes we act without considering the good of others. We seek you with all our heart, but we don’t always obey. God, do not forsake your children and our unyielding heart, but give to each of us your grace, mercy and love. Amen.
Sending
Leader: Spirit of God, send us into our world with your greatest commandment written on our hearts and ready to share.
All: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:30-31 NIV)
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