Close But No Cigar

“And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.” --Mark 12:28-34 ESV

This scribe, who is a theological scholar, has this discussion with Jesus. Jesus answers his question and it says that the scribe agrees with Jesus about what the greatest commandment is. Then this dialogue ends with Jesus telling him “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” This scribe, knows the teachings of God’s Word. He knows the laws of God and he knows that putting God before all things is more important than any religious activity or practice that he could do. And to this guy who knows so much and understands so much, Jesus says “You are close.” You see the problem is that the scribe doesn’t understand who Jesus is. He is missing it. The problem with that is that close isn’t good enough.

I wonder how many people are sitting in church on any given Sunday, who are close. They know the word, they know the rules, they believe and follow the rules, but they are missing Jesus. That is a scary position to be in. When there are so many things that are right and are in place, it makes it hard to realize that you need something else. And Jesus’ words to them are “You are not far. You just need me.” I fear that the number in churches across the world who this applies to is a lot higher than we think. We need to tell them that faith is not like horseshoes and hand grenades. We need to give them Jesus!