"You are not far from the kingdom of God." (v. 34)

It was a discussion on the Great Commandment. We call it the "controversy source." An unnamed scribe, one of the straightforward individuals in the gospel narrative, came to Jesus asking a question. It was a candid inquiry, asked by a guileless person.

Let us recall, first, that the man was a scribe. His business was recording the scripture. Long before the invention of printing by the Chinese, all documents were executed by hand. What a tiresome, monotonous job: day in, day out, copying the same passages. Through sheer rote, words would have been fixed in his mind - unconscious memory. Of course, he knew the Law; he had copied it, perhaps hundreds of times.

This inquirer wanted to know which was the greatest Commandment. When Jesus gav…