32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Shock of shocks – this individual scribe agreed with Jesus. But as mentioned earlier, the ideas were already there in the Hebrew Scriptures. But what would have been in question was the context of Lev 19:18.  In the narrow sense of to whom it applied as the command is defined by the prior reference to “the sons of your own people” in the beginning of the verse in Leviticus. Although not from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus lifted the commandment from this restriction in reference, with his startling teaching concerning the breadth of  neighbor in the passage of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25–37). The Lukan statement concerning the will of God and its fulfillment as the combined and inseparable love for God and love for men is evident in subsequent apostolic teaching (cf. Rom. 13:8–9; Gal. 5:14; Jas. 2:8). I would suggest that given Mark is writing for a Roman audience, the wider understanding of being neighbor might be a given.

What might be surprising in the scribe’s response is that these two commands are “worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Lane [433-4] offers: “The common scribal  position is well summarized in the maxim of Simon the Just (ca. 200 B.C.): ‘The world rests on three things: the Law, the sacrificial worship, and expressions of love’ (M. Aboth I. 2). In addition, there are also statements in rabbinic literature which are attached explicitly or implicitly to OT texts like

1 Sam. 15:22 – “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to the LORD’s command? Obedience is better than sacrifice, to listen, better than the fat of rams.”

Hos. 6:6  – “For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings”

Prov. 21:3 – “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice”

These texts affirm the superiority of the moral life, and especially of love, to cult and sacrifice. A careful reading of the texts indicates that “love” is understood as benevolence expressed in works of love which are set above sacrifice because of their atoning significance (cf. Aboth de Rabbi Nathan IV. 2). This concept falls short of expressing that inner commitment to God for his own sake which Jesus had affirmed” and to which the scribe agreed. (Lane, 434)

Image credit: The Pharisees and the Sadducees Come to Tempt Jesus | James Tissot | Brooklyn Museum, PD-US