Here at the end of Mark 12, we find Jesus proclaiming the greatest commandments—to love God, and to love our neighbors. The centrality of love to the Christian life, and the tremendous difficulty this poses, forms the focus of today’s service. When we sing hymns such as Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, O Worship The King, and My God, My Portion, And My Love we are proclaiming our love for God as commanded in the Scripture reading from Deuteronomy. We “gratefully sing His pow’r and His love,” a love that is “unchanging” and “ineffable.” But as the Confession of Sin from 1 John reminds us, we are in our own strength incapable of love: “it is only through Your love that we are enabled to love You and one another.” Because of this, we also pray in song for “the love of Jesus” to fill us “as the waters fill the sea” (May The Mind Of Christ, My Savior), and that His Holy Spirit would transform us so that we would love Him to the end (There Is No Greater Portrait). As we leave this morning, with the plaintive melody of O The Deep, Deep Love Of Jesus echoing in our ears, I hope this love which is “vast, unmeasured, boundless, free” would transform not only our worship service but every aspect of our lives as well. —Henry C. Haffner
Key Words: Commandment, Lord, Greater, Love
Keystone Verse: There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:31)