Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Ex 22:20-26; Ps 17:2-4,47.51; 1Thes 1:5-10; Mt 22:34-40
After listening to the 3 temple parables, we are now reading a series of encounters between Jesus and Jews among the groups. In both last week and this week’s encounters, the motive is to entrap Jesus by asking him trick questions. This already shows us that they were not motivated by a true desire for knowledge and understanding and even less so by love of God and the Scriptures. In both instances, the reason behind their questioning reveals a lack of love, exactly the opposite of what the first reading and the Gospel demand from the believer.
The seemingly naïve question of what the greatest commandment is, was actually a brilliant trap because the Jews had 613 precepts of the Law. Of these 248 were positive commands, corresponding to the number of parts of the body. The remaining 365 were negative commands or prohibitions and corresponded to the number of days of the year. All these commands were considered to be equally binding and there were no accepted criteria to determine a hierarchy of importance. Jesus view was that all the precepts of the Law and the Prophets may be understood as expressions of just one command: To love God and one’s neighbour as one singe instruction. Jesus did what no other religious teacher did before him: He joined the command to love God found in the book of Deuteronomy with the command from Leviticus to love one’s neighbour. Jesus knew that it was impossible to separate the two.
So what is love all about? Contrary to what we see on screen, true love is really a decision to commit oneself to seeking the good of the other, promoting the common good and nurturing one another. Contrary to popular belief, love is much more than a strong emotion over which we have no or very little control.
Jesus demonstrated what true love is by his life and teachings, suffering, death and resurrection. To give without counting the cost, to labour without seeking reward, to forgive without calculating the number of injuries, to pray, to work, to heal, to teach, to search, to mourn and rejoice together. All of this is what love involves and demands from us. It is only by loving that the human being grow towards full potential and towards finding God within.
This all may sound very simple but it is actually a lifelong project, to learn to love as Christ loves and to become that love embodied in the world. For this reason, we need all the help that we can get, the Word, the Sacraments, the Community, the devotions and the life of service.
The law is love and all about love – You better believe it!