The Great Commandment of Love!

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dt 6: 2-6; Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28-34

The thirty-first Sunday invites us to discover ‘love’ as the underlying principle of God’s covenantal relationship with Israelites and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. 

The great commandment that highlights the love of God and the love of neighbor is itself united by the word ‘love.’

If loving God is manifested in listening to and keeping the commandments, loving neighbors becomes its natural corollary. Today’s readings help us discover the theme.  

The first reading highlights the central and most important prayer in Judaism – Shema Israel, or the Shema. The prayer expresses Israel’s allegiance to the one true God. It denotes the singularity of God, that is, God’s oneness and incomparability. It does not merely symbolize the monotheistic belief but calls for an exclusive devotion to the worship of YHWH. For Jews, the Shema is the centerpiece of the daily morning and evening prayer services. They also recite this prayer as their dying words. The use of the words ‘heart,’ ‘soul,’ and ‘strength’ mean the totality of their commitment to the one God. In other words, the Israelites can only honor their covenantal relationship with God through their commitment to both actions and intentions. In sum, the Shema signifies Israel’s faithful allegiance to God, which again ensures their life in the promised land.

The second reading gives us two insights regarding the priesthood of Jesus. As against the Levitical priests who eventually died, the priesthood of Jesus is marked by permanence because he lives forever. Jesus’ eternal priesthood brings us eternal salvation. Secondly, it is about the sacrifice that Jesus offered on the cross. Jesus’ sacrifice should be set against the backdrop of the insufficiency of the OT sacrifices and the all-sufficient sacrifice that he himself offered on the cross. The absolute sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice is emphasized by the term ‘once for all.’ In this way, Jesus fulfilled his twofold role of high priest and mediator.

The Gospel highlights the most essential aspect of God’s commandments. Leaving the 613 precepts of the OT law, Jesus’ answer to the scribe combines the two OT verses (Deut 6:4-5 and Lev 19:18), thus underlining his fondness to go to the root of things. Hence, it is not about originality but rather about Jesus’ emphasis on our inner and basic dispositions. Secondly, Jesus’ response in the form of ‘The Great Commandment’ comprises love of God and love of neighbor, very much mimicking the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. The twin parts of the TC are about loving God and loving one’s neighbors, and Jesus renews the OT teaching through his words. 

But why would Jesus tirelessly emphasize the twin forms of love? Because loving God and not those created in His image and likeness renders one’s commitment incomplete; in the same way, love of neighbors without its corollary love of God is both reductive and false because it denies the innermost longing of every human to be related to God. 

Like the first reading, we have four words, namely ‘heart,’ ‘soul,’ ‘mind,’ and ‘strength’ that indicate the fullness and entirety of one’s commitment to God. 

As regards the attitude of the scribe whom Jesus admires, he is not hostile like his counterparts while showing a keen interest in learning from Jesus rather than entering into a controversy with him. Because the scribe rightly understands the moral content of the sacrifices as the love of God and love of neighbor, his understanding of what is more essential brings him closer to the Kingdom. 

The readings give us some important insights for practical life. 

1.The Shema is a reminder for us that, in Christian life, everything begins with listening to God’s word. A good and faithful life is only a result of our willful listening to the word of God and acting on it. 

2. God gave us the commandments for our own good. It is not for God’s own benefit and delight but for ours. Through the law, we could become freer and happier. 

3. Jesus, the high priest, is sympathetic toward our struggles and difficulties. The merciful and compassionate priest will readily embrace us if only we have the courage to turn to him in faith. 

4. In the form of the great commandment, what Jesus emphasizes is the grammar of Christian life. By loving God and loving our neighbors, we live out the essence of Jesus’ teachings. 

5. Jesus connects the love of God and the love of neighbor only using the word ‘love.’ Jesus is the example of all that the word ‘love’ stands for. God’s love for the people of Israel and Jesus’ love that died on the cross were not different from each other. Jesus reconciled the world with God only through his love for us.  

Let us pray that we may possess the right understanding of God’s laws and live out their essence so that we may inch closer to the coming Kingdom!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar