Mark de Boer
Another sermon outline: the topic of last Sunday was ‘Shema Israel’ – the jewish confession of faith. I think it is fascinating to see God reveal himself as ‘One’ or ‘The only one’ in a time where every people had its own god (see Deut 32:8). Declaring this ‘Shema’, the jewish people committed themselves to YHWH, confessing his sovereignty.
It is even more fascinating to read in the New Testament that this declaration was still not ‘good enough’ to enter into the Kingdom of God: Jesus says in Marc 12:34 (following a conversation about the Shema) that the teacher of the law is ‘not far from the Kingdom’. In the next verses he reveals the key to this: the Messiah, exalted to the highest place, with all his enemies below his feet.
Read the outline here (Powerpoint, in Dutch, 64Kb). If you want to read more on the Shema from a jewish perspective: http://www.aish.com/literacy/mitzvahs/Shema_Yisrael.asp.
