Proper 26 (31), 3rd November 2024

Mark 12:28-34

Two commandments: love God and neighbor

12:28One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

12:29Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;

12:30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

12:31The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

12:32Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’;

12:33and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’ –this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

12:34When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

^[28]Καὶ προσελθὼν εἷς τῶν γραμματέων, ἀκούσας αὐτῶν συζητούντων, ἰδὼν ὅτι καλῶς αὐτοῖς ἀπεκρίθη, ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτόν· ποία ἐστὶ πρώτη πάντων ἐντολή;

 ^[29]ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ὅτι πρώτη πάντων ἐντολή· ἄκουε, ᾿Ισραήλ, Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν Κύριος εἷς ἐστι·

^[30]καὶ ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος σου. αὕτη πρώτη ἐντολή.

 ^[31]καὶ δευτέρα ὁμοία, αὕτη· ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν. μείζων τούτων ἄλλη ἐντολὴ οὐκ ἔστι. 

^[32]καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ γραμματεύς· καλῶς, διδάσκαλε, ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας εἶπας ὅτι εἷς ἐστι καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλος πλὴν αὐτοῦ· 

^[33]καὶ τὸ ἀγαπᾶν αὐτὸν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς συνέσεως καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος, καὶ τὸ ἀγαπᾶν τὸν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτὸν πλεῖόν ἐστι πάντων τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καὶ θυσιῶν. 

^[34]καὶ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἰδὼν ὅτι νουνεχῶς ἀπεκρίθη, εἶπεν αὐτῷ· οὐ μακρὰν εἶ ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ οὐδεὶς οὐκέτι ἐτόλμα αὐτὸν ἐπερωτῆσαι.

Comments

The passage opens with the key verbs ‘answered (upon careful thought)’ and ‘asked’ which are echoed at the end. In between, the LXX is quoted, and St Mark’s Greek is for that reason esp. unclassical. The unclassical ‘holocausts’, a term known from the LXX, is an example.

[28] ἀπεκρίθη, ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτόν· ποία… ἐντολή: ἀποκρίνομαι, mid. vc., ‘answer, reply to’, aor. ἀπεκρινάμην (cl. Gk); LXX almost always uses the pass. aor. ἀπεκρίθην; NT freq. employs the pass. aor. (LSJ s.v. IV. 1 &3; EDNT s.v. 1). ‘The preposition ἀπό in the sense of “suitable, based upon (an evaluation)” underscores the element of circumspect selection and judgment’ (EDNT ibid.). So ἀπεκρίθη, more than merely ‘he answered’, means ‘he replied after thinking’ vel sim. Imagine the person answering stroking his beard or his jaw as he distills his thoughts into an answer in a dialogue.

ἐπερωτάω, ‘inquire of’, c. acc. pers. (cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v. I); also in LXX (Muraoka s.v. 1).

ποία… ἐντολή: ποῖος, ποία, ποῖον, interr. pron., shifted in meaning. In Homer = ‘of what kind?’, expressing surprise/ shock; in cl. Gk, the same sense with ‘scornful surprise’ (LSJ s.v. ποῖος, 1 & 2). But in LXX, used as a subst., it means ‘which (of)?’ (Muraoka s.v. II); so also in most cases in NT (EDNT s.v. 2a). In modern Gk the pronoun also means ‘which?’

ἐντολή: ‘injunction, command’ (rare in cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v.); freq. in LXX (Muraoka s.v. 1) and NT (EDNT s.v.).

[30] διανοίας: διάνοια, ‘thought’, ‘thinking’, ‘intelligence’, ‘intention’, etc., esp. in cl. Gk philosophy (LSJ s.v. I-V). In LXX= ‘mind’, ‘inner being’ (Muraoka s.v. 1 & 2); here = ‘thinking’, a less freq. NT sense (EDNT s.v. 3).

[33] συνέσεως: σύνεσις, in cl. Gk, LXX, and NT, ‘understanding, insight’ (EDNT s.v.).

ὁλοκαυτωμάτων: the noun is not used in cl. Gk (LSJ s.v. ὁλοκαύτωμα), but the vbs ὁλοκαυτέω & ὁολοκαυτόω, ‘I offer a sacrifice of whole victims’ are (e.g., Xenophon, Anabasis 7.8.4). ὁλοκαύτωμα is attested in the LXX Pentateuch usually in the pl. , ‘wholly burnt offering’ (Muraoka s.v.).

[34] νουνεχῶς: ‘sensibly, prudently’ (post-cl. Gk) (LSJ s.v. νουνεχής).