THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YR B
Deut. 6:2-6; Ps 182;
Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28b-34
YOU ARE NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM
Today, Jesus receives another question but this time it was from a scribe. The scribes could be seen as the lawyers at the time. It is therefore interesting that an expert of Law was seeking some understanding from Jesus. It is also important to keep in mind that this question was not intended to trick him.
The scribe came up to Jesus and asked, “which is the first of all the commandments? The question on face value to some readers may seem to refer to the decalogue (10 commandments) but in fact, it was in reference to all the laws in the Torah. The Jews have about 613 laws which are made up of laws of prohibitions and laws of prescriptions. It is in this context that the question is asked.
In answering this question, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4-7 “Hear, O Israel!The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And he added a second one, “…love your neighbour as your yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
The first of all the commandments is to love God because he has loved us in every respect. We must love him totally without reserve. The heart is the organ of the human body by which man stays alive and also through which we love. The image of the heart over the years has become a symbol of love. This command calls on us to love God with all that keeps us alive. Love of him should become our motivation to live.
The soul is indicative of the individual person. To love God with our soul means that we love him with our whole life. When we do this, there are no inhibitions or disobedience in us. We live our lives for him and him alone. We resign ourselves to his holy will.
The mind is the faculty of reasoning, thinking, understanding and imagination. Love of him should rule the use of these faculties. Our thinking and imaginations should be about love of him. To love him with our strength is when we use our abilities, skills and substance in love of him.
The word “love” has been thrown around a lot and so much so that its meaning for the Christian has been misconstrued. The love of God we are talking about today is seen in our obedience of the commandments of Lord. Remember that the question was about commandments and Jesus summarized it into two levels of love. To love God is to obey his commandments.
This love of God is permissive where everyone does what he or she likes or feels like doing. This love is that which builds up and makes whole. Many people today are living their lives on their own and worse still some presume what God will be ok with. Sometimes they deceive themselves into thinking that God will have no problem with them. But we cannot be the sources of the Laws of God. Not our emotions not our thinking or intelligence. Our actions show our love of him only when they are in tandem with his commandments.
The commandments of God are revealed in the Word of God and the teachings of the Church. Loving God is adhering to these commandments. In the commandments of God there are prohibitions and precepts. There are things we should do and there are things we should not do. For the Christian action and behaviour must be directed and dictated by the Word of God. The commandments come from one who loves us and so each one of us must pay attention to God’s commandments and obey them.
Jesus began by saying, “ Hear O Israel”. The word “Hear” means “to pay attention or to heed”. It is important that Jesus began with this. It calls us all to love God by heeding to his commandments. We must note that the commandments of God are not permissive; it does not close its eyes to waywardness. In fact all the laws of God are given out of love so that we can become better versions of our sinful selves.
The second greatest commandment is love of neighbour. Love of neighbour proceeds from love of God. The only way we can truly love others is when we are sincerely open to the Lord and give him our whole being. If loving God is obedience of his laws, then loving our neighbour will not make us permit what breaks the word of God in our neighbour. To love our neighbour as ourselves also teaches us to treat others with love and patience as God has done for us. No way should our love for our neighbour lead us to break God’s commandments or allow permissive behaviour.
At the end of the interaction, Jesus told the scribe, “you are not far from the Kingdom”. The scribe is not far from the kingdom because he knows about it and what it requires. But he is yet to participate in it. The kingdom is not attained by having knowledge of it but participating in it by obeying God’s commandment of love of him and our neighbour.
Jesus wants us to give our whole being to God. That is how to embrace the kingdom of God.
May God strengthen us.
BY Rev. Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
