Mark 12:34, "And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question."

 This morning, we live in a very indiscreet world. Many times, folks will speak, and perhaps not say anything technically incorrect, but things would have been more profitable if they had not spoken at all. Solomon  spoke of a "time to speak and a time to keep silent." Our actions need to be  patterned after the perfect God Man, and He always answered and spoke discreetly. He even somewhat commended this man for being discreet.

 Discretion does not show cowardice, but rather it is a mark of wisdom. For even if we are foolish, some discretion makes our actions wise.

At the close of this verse, it says that no one asked Christ any more questions. This whole chapter shows those that tried to catch Him at His words. Many different groups tried many different tactics, but they all came to no avail. His answers of wisdom shamed and condemned them, rendering them unable to carry out the wicked intentions of their hearts and kill Him. When the situation called for silence, our Lord was silent. When it called for speaking, He never said too much or too little. 

 Christ can put to silence the most froward critics with a simple statement. When tempted by the rulers about whether to pay tax or not, He simply responded to render Caesar his due and God His due. When tempted by the non-resurrectionists, He told them their error in not being grounded in the Scriptures. When asked about the commandments, He boiled them down to two. Namely, love the Lord with all of your being, and your neighbor as yourself. 

When looking at complicated matters, man always complicates things, but the Lord declares simplicity in Himself. Man has libraries and volumes of books for the laws of the land. The Lord requires but a small space for two sentences. History tells us that the Apostle John, in the latter years of his life, was carried to the meeting-house by the saints. With not much natural stamina, he would exhort the saints to "Love one another." When asked why he declared that so much, he replied, "When you fully keep this commandment, you are keeping the rest as well." 

Finally, when the critics are put to silence, we can learn that we should NEVER reply against or question the word of God. It does profit us to ask questions to learn about the word of God, but we should never question the Lord or His ways.

Questioning should be done to learn and not to catch. May we ever pray that the Lord will grant us the knowledge to walk closely with Him so that we will be discreet and know when to talk (and how much) and when to refrain.

In Hope,

Bro Philip