Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments [is]: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This [is] the first commandment. 31 “And the second, like [it, is] this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well [said], Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 “And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that no one dared question Him.

– Mark 12:28-34 (NKJV)

I was leading a college trip and another college group was traveling with us to our destination. While we were driving up there were got on our little walkie talkies and we played bible trivia. The other college pastor and I went head to head. Someone from his group would pull out a card and ask me a question and I’d answer. If I got it right, someone from our group would ask him a question. We might have made it through the whole deck without missing a question between us. Someone later commented that they had gotten their “bible study” in for the trip… I quickly pointed out that Bible study was more than trivia. It’s not the facts you know, but what you do with the facts that matter when it comes to bible study.

In this section we see the questions and answer session with Jesus is coming to a close. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, everyone had tried to make Jesus stumble in his words, but he held his own. Finally this man recognized that Jesus is very knowledgeable in the scripture and asks him about the greatest commandment. Jesus answer inspires this man and he notes that loving God and our neighbors is more important than ritual and the blood of sacrifices. Jesus notes this man isn’t far from the kingdom.

You see in all these questions about what the scriptures teach or Jesus’ understanding of this principle or that… What everyone but Jesus seemed to be missing is what they reveal about God. They knew the right answers but they didn’t know why those answers were right.

I used to be part of my high school quiz bowl team. We’d travel to other schools and compete in knowledge based competitions. We studied all sorts of random trivia. I could tell you who authored what Novel, in what year, and other randoms details about the book like “Catch 22,” “Animal Farm,” etc.. I had never read these books or even an article by or about the authors, it was just trivia that was reduced to flashcards. Then one day I picked up one of the books that had been trivia fodder for quiz bowl and I was blown away by it.

This scribe had known about God from the scriptures, but he was closer to knowing God than he might have imagined when he spoke with Jesus! We might study scripture every day and miss the plain truth in front of us. This isn’t a book about trivial things and details. Knowing the names of the twelve apostles isn’t nearly as important as knowing what this book says about God!

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. We are grateful for your word. Let us hide it in our hearts and let it transform us from the inside out. Help us to understand it. Help us to know you and your will better through having read it, memorized it, and spoken it to others. Let your word have it’s full and desired effect in our lives. Let us respond to what we read and hear in a right way as a response to you. Give us discernment as we apply your word to our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.