Jesus went to school. Do you ever think about that? What kind of student he might have been? What he would have learned? Today’s message looks at a Bible verse that Jesus would have memorized when he was a boy, something called the Shema. This Bible verse helps Jesus keep the main thing the main thing, even when things get really hard. The main thing, we’ll see, is love. By the end of this podcast, I hope you will experience God’s love for you, and how we can share that love with others. You might even learn some math. Please open a Bible to the gospel of Mark, chapter 12, verse 28. First, let us pray:

Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though dark the winter and cheerless, the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and fearless. Love be our song and love our prayer and love our endless story; may God fill every day we share and bring us at last into glory. Amen (Awake, Awake, ELW 242, v.4).

Mark 12:28-34

The holy Gospel according to St Mark, the twelfth chapter, beginning at verse 28:

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

The gospel of the Lord. Thanks be to God.