the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Mark 12:18-34
In their turn, the Sadducees try to pit themselves against the wisdom of the Lord Jesus. They, in fact, did not believe in the resurrection (see Acts 23:8), but the Lord in v. 26 meets them on their own ground and silences them with the Word. The resurrection is confirmed twice over: by the Scriptures and by the power of God which brought Christ back to life (v. 24). However there is probably no other truth more opposed by the unbelief of men (see Acts 26:8). But, as Paul demonstrates in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, it is one of the essential foundations of Christianity; we cannot touch this truth without our whole faith collapsing.
In contrast to the preceding arguers, the scribe is honest and intelligent as he questions the Lord on the subject of the greatest commandment. Love, replies the Lord Jesus, that is the first commandment; love for God and for your neighbour, that is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10; Galatians 5:14). Dear friends, should we not love more than the children of Israel, we who have been sought though we were further away than they (among nations who were strangers to the promises) and brought very near into the relationship of children of the God of love? (Ephesians 2:13).
