Mark's version of the greatest commandment adds a fourth element to Matthew's three: strength (ischys). The Shema in Deuteronomy 6:5 uses the Hebrew meod — translated “strength,” “might,” or “very-ness” (every ounce of what you have). The scribe who asks the question recognizes a correct answer when he hears one, and he says so. Jesus, observing his insight, tells him he is not far from the kingdom. The conversation between Jesus and a teachable scribe is one of the few positive exchanges with a religious leader in the Gospels.

From the writers we read together

Carmen Joy Imes

Old Testament scholar, author of Bearing God's Name

Imes writes about the imago Dei — the image of God — as a vocation, not merely a description. Human beings are image-bearers not because of what they are but because of what they are called to do: represent God's character and governance in the world. The four-fold love commandment is the vocation in miniature. To love with heart, soul, mind, and strength is to bear the image faithfully — to show the world what the God who loves the whole world looks like, by loving with your whole self.

Imes would note that the scribe's response in Mark 12:33 is remarkable: he says that loving God and neighbor “is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” He has understood the commandment better than many of his colleagues. The whole of the sacrificial system — the worship infrastructure of Israel — exists to serve this one double-commandment, not the other way around. Worship does not replace wholehearted love; it trains you for it. You go to the sanctuary so that you can leave with a heart engaged toward God and a body ready to love the neighbor.