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LOVE IS GOD’S MOST IMPORTANT COMMANDMENT

(A biblical refection on THE 31^stSUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 4 NOVEMBER, 2012)

Gospel Reading: Mark 12:28-34

First Reading: Deut 6:2-6; Psalms: Ps 18:2-4,47,51; Second Reading: Heb 7:23-28

The Scripture Text

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that He answered them well, asked Him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to Him, “You are right, Teacher; You have truly said that He is one, and there is no other but He; and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that He answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask Him any question. (Mk 12:28-34 RSV)

Jesus praised the scribe for understanding that love is God’s most important commandment. Love of God and love of neighbor – these were the great commandments, Jesus told him. And the man agreed wholeheartedly.

But it is not as easy as it sounds. Real love is a great challenge to us – modern women and men – greater than ever before. We – especially people of big cities – have too many material comforts, and that tends to make people selfish. In the old days people had to struggle hard and give up much for the basic family and community needs. Children had to work hard on farms to help keep the family alive; families had to give generously of their own time and materials to build churches and community centers. This had its drawbacks, but it was a genuine gift of self, a human response, cooperation for the common needs. And it developed a sense of responsibility.

Today we do not automatically feel this great for each other. And how many people are lonely and starved for true love! An increasing flood of false literature gives a wrong picture of what human love is. If you do not have shiny teeth and soft hair and rosebud perfume, nobody will love you. We laugh at these ridiculous TV commercials, but they seep into our thinking. They make us want to get instead of give. Love then becomes a mere surface attraction which has nothing to do with real love.

What a tragedy if a beautiful home with color TV, two fine cars and all the rest, is an unhappy home, because true love is missing. There is no real love which is not open and generous and sacrificing and well-disciplined. God is love, and only those who live in real love can live in God. True love goes out of self to others. If genuine love does not actively grow and flourish in the family, how can it go out to others? Here is the parents’ first responsibility: to teach real love to their children, by having it themselves. They must learn love in order to learn of God, for God is love.

Short Prayer: Jesus, teach me to love because God is love, and only those who live in real love can live in God. Amen.

A Christian Pilgrim

WHY CHARLIE CHAPLIN GOT IT RIGHT

(A biblical refection on THE 31st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 4 November, 2012)

First Reading: Deut 6:2-6; Psalms: Ps 18:2-4,47,51; Second Reading: Heb 7:23-28; Gospel Reading: Mk 12:28-34

On Christmas Day 1977, the world’s most celebrated and controversial comedian died. A genius of the silent films, Charlie Chaplin left behind him miles of film featuring the pathetic and lovable little tramp. He also wrote a brilliant autobiography, detailing his life of trials, triumphs and disappointments. At the time of his birth, his mother was a singer on the variety stage; a year later, his parents separated and his mother was left to support the two children. Everything went reasonably well until his mother’s voice grew progressively worse through laryngitis. Engagements fell to nothing; their savings soon vanished; his mother’s belongings were sold to supplement a tiny income from her dressmaking.

Chaplin recalled that they lived in a world of cheerless twilight, but that the love they shared sustained them. He wrote: “I remember an evening in our own room in the basement of Oakley Street. I lay in bed recovering from a fever. Mother and I were alone. It was late afternoon, and she sat with her back to the window reading, acting and explaining the New Testament and Christ’s love and pity for the poor and for little children. She read into the dusk, stopping only to light the lamp, then told of the faith Jesus inspired in the sick. She described Jesus and His arrest and His calm dignity before Pontius Pilate. And in His last dying agony crying out: ‘My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’

“Mother had me so carried away that I wanted to die that very night to meet Jesus. But Mother was not so enthusiastic. ‘Jesus wants you to live first and fulfil your destiny here,’ she said. In that dark room in the basement of Oakley Street, Mother illuminated to me the kindliest light this world has ever known, which has endowed literature and the theatre with their greatest and richest themes: love, pity and humanity.”

Charlie Chaplin summed up Jesus’ life in terms of the kindliest light in the world, one which showed love, pity and humanity. We all have our own way of summing up the importance of Jesus, and in the process we say as much about our own values as we do about the person of Jesus. That practice of summing up what really counts is one we all engage in. And in today’s Gospel we see how Jesus is invited to give His summary of the essence of the Law.

The practice of focusing the mind by summarizing the Law was a popular tradition among rabbis and their pupils. Perhaps the most famous example in Jewish tradition is the student who asked to be taught the essence of the Law while he stood on one leg. His teacher, Hillel, replied: “what you hat for yourself, do not to your neighbour. This is the whole Law, the rest is commentary; go and learn.”

Jesus gathers up the traditional wisdom of Israel in one statement. The first part of His statement quotes the creed of Judaism, to love the one God who is Lord with your whole person and everything in your power. This creed was contained inside a tiny case called the mezuzah, which was fixed to the doorpost of every Jewish house and to the door of every room inside. No pious Jew could disagree with this part of Jesus’ summary. But alongside this, Jesus places another scriptural passage, to love your neighbour as yourself. For Jesus, it is a combination of these separated texts that makes for the essence of the Law. And it is that combination that has given Christianity its basic commandment for life.

In His reply to the scribe Jesus makes it clear that you cannot compose summaries of the Law while forgetting love of neighbour. The scribe is pleased with Jesus’ reply and adds his own point, that the love of God and neighbour is far more important than any ritual worship. In supporting the scribe’s addition, Jesus places the demands of liturgy far below the demands of active love. This we see clearly developed in the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the priest and the levite hurry past the demand for love to attend to the demand for liturgy. As Jesus combines love of God and love of neighbour, so these religious officials disconnect them.

Jesus’ summary of the Law is not an academic pastime, it is a personal challenge to love God wholeheartedly and have tender regard for our neighbour in actively promoting His good, just as we should want to do in our own case. That is not only Jesus’ digest of the Law, it is also the Gospel portrait of Jesus. That is why Charlie Chaplin’s concise summing up of Jesus is right. The man whose pants were too baggy, whose coat was too tight, whose hat was too small, whose shoes were too big summed up Jesus with Gospel accuracy: “Love, pity, compassion.” All the rest is commentary.

Note: Taken from Fr. Denis McBride CSsR, SEASONS OF THE WORD – Reflections on the Sunday Readings, Chawton, Alton, Hants.: Redemptorist Publications, 1993 (Third Printing), pages 354-355.