Two simple rules
Gospel: Mk 12:28-34
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030824.cfm
I have been teaching Sunday school for about 10 years and I use this gospel to set the guidelines of the classroom. It doesn’t matter what age of kids I teach, we go over Jesus’s two rules. I explain that I have no control over these rules for them; they’re decisions they make for themselves. I go on to explain that I definitely have no control over the first rule in my classroom. Their relationship with God is their relationship with God. In the classroom though, we will follow the second rule. Now I can’t make them love their neighbor as themself, but we can treat each other as we want to be treated. That is the only rule we have. If we need more rules, then I will make more rules depending on their behavior and actions. We then review normal classroom rules and I explain how they are not needed. For example, you don’t need to raise your hand before you speak, but if they start talking over one another, we will create the rule. I’ve had to threaten more rules from time to time, but I have never added another rule in my years of teaching.
This gospel is part of a section in Mark that tells stories about how people tested Jesus. What makes this particular story unique is that the scribe has a change of heart about Jesus. The scribe says that Jesus’s rules are “worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Offerings were burnt for thanksgiving to God and atonement for sins. They were done to make a right relationship with God. They were a means of making up for a break in the covenant with God. The scribe thought about what Jesus was saying in the context of the law. The scribes were the ones who knew the law the best because they transcribed them over and over again. The scribe understood that Jesus’s rules, not only summarized the covenant but were the full spirit behind it.
We all make a lot of rules and guidelines on how we live our lives. We also impose these rules and guidelines onto other people. We’ve got our lists of how we judge who is good and who isn’t. We are constantly measuring ourselves and others by these rules. Jesus only gave us two to keep in mind. Examine the rules you put out yourself and on others. How are your rules based on the two that Jesus put out there? How are they not? How can you simplify your life to Jesus’s way of thinking about that law? Remind yourself that you have control over you and not everyone else. If it worked for Jesus and a bunch of elementary students, it might just work for you too.
