Maybe it’s because Mark himself was a similar person when he first encountered Jesus, but this week’s text from Mark 12:28-34 got me thinking that Mark is for the second time showing us Jesus responding with some affection to an earnest seeker, perhaps both of them earnest young men.
I write this on All Saints Day, November 1, in anticipation of our celebration of All Saints Sunday together on November 4. It’s a time when we remember all those who have gone before us in the faith, all those who have been made saints by the blood and grace of Jesus Christ.
So as I reflect on this passage and on the earlier text about the “rich young ruler” in Mark 10:17-22 I see both men right on the brink of sainthood as they speak with Jesus. They both desire very much to know what God asks of them and to do it. Their hearts are in the right place. About the rich man we hear the sad conclusion that he went away grieving, seemingly unable to give up his possessions. For the scribe in this week’s text, the outcome seems excitingly open. He was “not far from the kingdom of God.” Maybe he took the final step to follow Jesus and learn how to keep the great commandments and thus came all the way into the kingdom.
While we generally think of our own sainthood (or inclusion in the kingdom) as a given, based on profession of faith in Christ, there is a call and question here for us in this text. If we are truly in the kingdom, are we living like it? Are we loving God with our whole being and our neighbors like ourselves. Or despite what we say, are we only standing at the edge of spiritual life, not far from it, but not really in it yet?
We don’t know the outcome for the scribe, but we may determine for ourselves whether we step over the threshold into sainthood. May we be taking those steps every day.