SUNDAY, THIRTY FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Dt 6: 2-6 Ps 18: 2-4, 47, 51 Heb 7: 23-28 Mk 12: 28-34
EXCLUSIVE AND INCLUSIVE LOVE
In everyone’s life there is what is called most important, most essential, the first and foremost one, and he or she is ready to do anything to adhere to it. Ready to sacrifice anything or ready to undergo any hardship in order to achieve or protect it. For some, it may be parents, others may be their family, some others may be property, others may be their name. But in today’s gospel we hear one Scribe question Jesus, “Which is the first commandment of all? And the answer from Jesus is clear. The first is “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”. And then Jesus continues to say, the second is this, you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
What is the attitude of Jesus towards observance of the commandments? What is the newness that Jesus brought into the old Jewish mentality? Jesus united all the commandments into the commandment of love of God and of neighbour. Jesus declared the punishment and reward for those who disregard or observe the commandments respectively: “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:19).
Love of God and Love of neighbour, cannot exist without the other. They are like two sides of the same coin. So authentic love of God consists in loving one’s neighbour. This means we cannot love God enough without loving one’s neighbour. It is an exclusive love of God, inclusive of everyone. So love of God is illusory if it does not lead to love of neighbour.
As we hear in the first reading for a Jew the first commandment is love of God. But for Jesus the second commandment love of neighbour is the extension of the first one, which means love of God consists in loving one’s neighbour. We have been created in the likeness and image of God and also we are all children of that heavenly God. Then how can we not love each other as we live together? Above all it makes it very clear that one cannot love God who is invisible, if one cannot love one’s neighbour who is visible. Necessarily God has to be seen and found in our brothers and sisters whom we come in touch with every day of our lives. And so loving them or serving them we love and serve God himself.
Jesus himself gives a beautiful example in the parable of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46). In this parable Jesus clearly makes us aware that whatever way we serve or help others we do to him, and whatever way we fail to serve others we fail to serve him. So it is now clear that in loving and serving our brothers and sisters we love and serve God himself because God is to be found in our brothers and sisters, with whom we live, whom we meet every day of our lives.
Besides both first reading as well as Jesus in the gospel clearly points out to us that to love with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and with all our strength. The repetition of all means totally, completely, and regardless. Jesus loved us completely and not in part and died on the Cross for us that we might die fully for others. So we see love presupposes sacrifices. This means we must be ready for any involved sacrifice to make so as to love and serve others. This is not that easy as we speak, but need to work out in our lives. We require a kind of constant reminder to ourselves and making effort being fully aware of it and above all to pray for that gift of seeing God in everyone and loving them as I love myself.
What we need to learn more is to appreciate all, learn to interact with all, learn to love all, learn to serve all. The more we become other centered the more we will love God. God’s love becomes vivid in our lives, a reality. Jesus’ love was a sacrificial love and to such sacrificial love God invites all of us. So keeping the commandments means obedience to the will of God, and doing the will of God means loving God totally. God is exclusively inclusive of each and every one of us.
Response: I love you, Lord, my strength.
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