Posted on 10/26/2014 6:41:23 AM PDT by Salvation
There was an expression common among the rabbis of Jesus time, wherein one rabbi would ask another a question, and request that the answer be given while standing on one foot. This is a Jewish way of saying, Be brief in your answer.
And that sort of expression may be behind the question that is raised in todays gospel by the scholar of law, who asks, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?
Just as an aside, it is likely that the scholar of the law is not asking just for the sake of brevity, since he is in a hostile stance with Jesus. (The text says he speaks to Jesus in order to test him.) In effect, he says to Jesus, All right, lets get right to the point. Youre talking about a lot of new things but what is the greatest commandment?
For this reflection, though, lets just set aside the background hostilities and allow Jesus to recite the Law, standing on one foot. In so doing, Jesus recites the traditional Jewish Shema:
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד.
ĕmaʿ Yisĕrāʾel Ădōnāy Ĕlōhênû Ădōnāy eḥād.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
The fuller text recited by Jesus is from Deuteronomy 6:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts (Deut 6:4-6).
And then Jesus adds, also in common Rabbinic tradition, And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.
Thats it, the whole Law, standing on one foot. The first table of the law (the first three Commandants): love the Lord your God. The second table of the law (Commandments 4-10): love your neighbor.
There is value in noting several aspects of this summary of the law.
I. The Leadership of Love. Jesus says that the whole law and the prophets depend on the command to love God and your neighbor. Love comes first and is the foundation, the power of the law. Jesus says elsewhere, If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). In other words, it is love that enables us to keep the law. When we want to do something, then the doing is both joyful and, in some sense, effortless. Love changes our desires so that we want what God wants and we keep His law not because we have to, but because we want to.
II. The Layers of Love. The text says we should love God with our heart, our soul and our mind. These layers of our existence encompass the whole of the interior person. Thus:
III. The Lavishness of Love. There is the little word ALL. We love the Lord with ALL our heart, ALL our mind, and ALL our soul. When we love we are not minimalists, we are lavish. Our response to God is wholehearted, not perfunctory. Love does not ask, What is the least I can do? Love asks, What more can I do?
It is said that the ancient Rabbi Hillel, being even briefer, said of the second table of the law, Do not do unto others that which you would hate done unto yourself, and all the rest is commentary.
We like to make it more complicated, but it really isnt. If elaboration is required, consider the Ten Commandments understood and expressed in the light of love:
So theres a little commentary if you need it. But it all comes down to love. Love rejoices in God and wants whatever God wants. Love rejoices in the other and wants what is best for them.
Now of course love is the key. And many of us struggle to love. But God can give us a new heart, a heart that actually starts loving God, fully and freely; a heart that has a deep love, even affection, for everyone. God can do that for us. Yes, if we want it, God can do it:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ez 36:26-27).
A thousand questions and doubts may come to mind when we are called to love. It is true that even when we love, we cannot always say yes. Love sometimes must say no, and love cannot approve of everything. Love must sometimes correct and reprove. But in the end, people know if you love them or not, and they know if you love God or not. And if people know of your love and experience it, it is possible to say even difficult and challenging things. Yes in the end, our thousand questions are still answered by love.
And now we ought to stop. For since Jesus is giving the law standing on one foot, then the preacher must also brief. You and I like to complicate things and ask a lot of question. But in the end, the answer is simple enough: love! And all the rest is mere commentary.
We are not minimalists!
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Amen.
If you want see history Cathoic church I used go to this Church when I was living in Fairbanks Ak
Cool slide show. Thanks for sharing.
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