The Greatest Commandment

We return to our narrative in the Gospel of Mark to find one more question posed to Jesus. While the Gospel according to Matthew presents the questioner as a Pharisee who wanted to "test" Jesus (Matt. 22:35), Mark presents him in a more positive light than the previous interrogators. According to Mark, this scribe was curious because Jesus answered the questions well (v28). He also seemed to appreciate Jesus' response and affirmed it (v32-33), and Jesus treated him quite graciously, telling him that he is "not far from the kingdom of God" (v34).