Gospel Mt. 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Homily
Imagine a person after putting his/her foot into an ants` nest, wondering which ant first bit him/her. The question asked of Jesus by the Pharisees is very similar and was meant to trap Jesus. The Pharisees identified 613 commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Were some more important than others? Whatever answer Jesus gave would lead to controversy.
Jesus beats the Pharisees at their own game. In reply to the Pharisee’s question about the “greatest commandment,” Jesus combines two: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind” (citing and amending Deut 6:5). And the second of equal importance is “love your neighbour as yourself” (citing Lev 19:18). Jesus then connects all the other commandments to these two. He explicitly adds: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Jesus is in fact telling the Pharisees that it is meaningless to want to decide which commandment is the greatest because they are all linked and all find their meaning in love.
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It is important though to understand what Jesus meant by love. The Jews, our ancestors in the faith, were strongly group centered. As in most non-western societies, the group was family, village, neighbourhood, and factions (like the Twelve, the Pharisees, etc.) which a person might join. The group gave a sense of identity, a sense of belonging, and advice for actions to be taken or avoided. The group was an external conscience exerting enormous pressure on its individual members. In this context, love and hate are best understood as group attachment and group dis-attachment. Whether emotion or affection is involved is beside the point. The major feeling in love and hate is a feeling of belonging or not belonging, respectively. Thus, to love God with all one’s heart is to be totally attached to God. To love neighbour as self is to be as totally attached to people in one’s neighbourhood or immediate circle of friends (i.e., fellow Israelites) as one is to one’s family group. Jesus however, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, expands the meaning of neighbour to include those outside of one’s group and extends even to those who consider us or whom we consider to be enemies. Love of neighbour implies therefore the removing of barriers between ourselves and others, be these barriers ethnic, social, linguistic, financial religious or national so that people come to a sense of belonging, a sense of being part of the group. The first reading for the liturgy of this Sunday from the book of Exodus (22:20 – 26) reminds us of the obligation mentioned above, to help the most vulnerable in our midst come to a sense of belonging and to an experience of true human love.
Today we remember the people who dedicate their lives to tearing down the walls of separation in our land and in our world. We remember Mother Teresa and her sisters, helping the most abandoned to die knowing that they belong to a group which truly appreciates them.
We remember Nelson Mandela and his struggle to create a unified South Africa in which all, former oppressors and former oppressed can experience that they belong, and we remember those who have welcomed us into their homes and gave us a sense of belonging. All of us who have been students in foreign lands have experienced this. These persons show us in very real ways that it is possible to break down barriers. It is possible to give to others a sense of belonging. We remember and thank God for these persons. Our world is so much better because of them.
The two commandments cited by Jesus are intimately related to each other. It is attachment to God and to the message brought by his son Jesus, whether we are conscious of this or not, which gives us the strength to work for the removal of barriers which separate us from one another. Our work for the removal of barriers most often brings us to a greater attachment to God.
The Gospel passage for this weekend leaves us then with two questions. The first is this; Am I really attached to God and the message that he has sent? The second is; Am I dedicated to removing barriers which separate or am I a person who keeps them in existence? My position before God depends on the way that I live these two commandments.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, We thank you for the message given to us in our gospel reading. We thank you for inviting us to belong to your people, for removing sin which separates us from You and from each other. Help us Father to become more and more attached to You and to the message which You give us in your Son Jesus. Help us to dedicate ourselves to removing the barriers which separate us so that the coming of your kingdom, even here on earth may be hastened. We ask this through your Son Jesus and through Mary his Mother and our Mother, who in his human nature taught Jesus to love. Amen
