By Fr. Francis Gonsalves, SJ –
31st Sunday of the Year – Cycle B
Deut 6:2-6; Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28-34
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart …and your neighbour as yourself” (Mk)
Three Scriptural Signposts:
1. Today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy contains the popular ‘Shema, Israel’ or ‘Hear, O Israel!’ invocation that became the daily Jewish prayer. The reading begins with an exhortation to the Israelites to obey God’s commandments, first among which was “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” In the Hebraic worldview, heart, soul and strength do not mean separate human faculties but the person in the totality of one’s being.
In sum, one was to cling to God with an undivided love. At heart of the First Testament is God’s covenant with people, which was meant to be an alive and active relationship of parental-filial, faithful, love. The first commandment to love God totally and unconditionally is the wellspring for all other commandments in the Decalogue.
2. “Which commandment is the first of all?” query of the scribe (today’s ‘theologian’) arises in the context of the confusion created by the scribes and the rabbis who debated endlessly on legal and ritual matters. Most of their debates served no practical purpose except to showcase their superiority over others in matters of law, rite and ritual.
The scribe who raises the question seems to be a sincere seeker. Sensing this, Jesus gives him a frank explanation, referring once again to the ‘Shema Israel’ of the first reading. However, Jesus takes the ‘love commandment’ to a higher plane by putting the love of neighbour—“You must love your neighbour as yourself!” (Lev 19:18)—parallel to the love of God. Basically, Jesus teaches that love of God is a farce and futile if it doesn’t lead to love of neighbour, and the love of neighbour is rootless and aimless if it doesn’t spring from love of God.
3. The love of neighbour is not merely the fellow-Jew or, in today’s terminology, one’s ‘country cousins’ or ‘friends-circle’, but is the wounded traveller seen in the story of the Good Samaritan. Hence, Jesus’ further explanation that this harmonizing of love of God and love of neighbour “is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” is crucial to realize that all observances of commandments and performance of rituals count for nothing if not animated by love. Seeing that the scribe had got the basics right—at least in theory—Jesus seems to commend him, saying, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Many of Jesus’ followers would soon be part of this ‘kingdom’ by virtue of their being loving children of the ‘God of the kingdom’ as well as being sisters and brothers of the ‘kin-dom’ that Jesus inaugurated with all peoples—especially the poorest of the poor.
Three Signposts from Tradition:
1. Early in the apostolic Tradition, evangelist John reminds his community about the love commandment. Apart from the well-known command: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12), he writes more pointedly, “If someone says s/he loves God and hates her/his brother, s/he is a liar; for s/he who does not love her/his brother who s/he has seen, cannot love God whom s/he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20). So also, James calls this commandment, a “royal law” and stresses: “faith without works is dead” (Jam 2:8,17,26).
2. St. Augustine’s Sermon on 1st Letter of John: “Now, what are His members, you know, brethren: none other than the Church of God. In this we know that we love the children of God, in that we love God. And how? Are not the children of God one thing, God Himself another? But those that love God, love His precepts. And what are the precepts of God? ‘A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another’ (John 13:34). Let none excuse himself by another love, for another love; so, and so only is it with this love: as the love itself is compacted in one, so too all that hang by it does it make one, and as fire melts them down into one. It is gold: the lump is molten and becomes some one thing. But unless the fervor of charity be applied, of many there can be no melting down into one.”
3. Pope Benedict XVI in ‘Deus Caritas Est’: By participating in the Eucharist, we too become involved in the dynamics of Christ’s act of giving. We unite ourselves to Him, and at the same time unite ourselves with everyone else to whom He gives Himself. Thus, we all become ‘a single body’. In this way, love for God and love for others are truly fused together. The dual commandment, thanks to this encounter with the ‘agape’ of God, is no longer just a requirement: love can be ‘commanded’, because first it was given.”
A Possible Link of the Psalm and 2nd Reading to the Theme:
The refrain to the psalm (18) expresses a fitting response to the command of the Shema: “I love you, Lord, my strength.” The Letter to the Hebrews (7:23-28), which explains Christ’s priesthood, shows that Christ’s new covenant is based upon his new commandment harmonizing love of God and neighbour. Hence, “He has no need, like those [former] high priests, to offer sacrifices daily…. he did this for all when he offered up himself”. His priesthood becomes the model of perfect, self-sacrificing love.
Current Concern:
Whether it be Ayodhya or Sabarimala, issues of religion continue to divide peoples and induce hatred. Nowadays, Lord Ram is used to demonize Muslims and Lord Ayyappa has become contentious with subverting the rights of women to pray in a temple. Moreover, on October 31, a Rs. 3050 crore metal statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel has been blessed and opened for tourism. This ‘iron man’ impinges on Gujarati Adivasi lands and river, blatantly brushing aside concerns of ecology and economy that adversely affect our poor brethren. Who is my neighbour?
Reflection:
When believers of different religions discuss about God, or, when fanatics of any one religion nitpick about laws, rites and rituals, there is often conflict since one seeks to prove that one’s God is greater than the other’s gods or one’s practice of laws and performance of rites is superior to that of others. However, when true love of God is translated into concrete works of love, people of different religions and diverse rites can unite and work concertedly for progress and peace. These two loves—of God and of neighbour—are not really two, but one. Love unites.
A model of love of God and love of neighbour: One winter, a little girl was left abandoned beside Gandhi’s Sabarmati ashram. Seeing her plight, Gandhiji asked the inmates to give her food and shelter. He then left for a long trip. On returning, he asked the caretaker, “Have you taken good care of that little girl?” “Yes!” replied the caretaker pointing to the girl asleep under a blanket. Gandhiji asked the man, “How many blankets do you use?” He replied, “Two!” Gandhiji then asked, “How is it that you have two blankets and have given this child only one?”
Fr. Francis Gonsalves is a Gujarat Jesuit, former Principal of Vidyajyoti College, Delhi, and currently Dean of Theology at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. He is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. He has authored many books and articles and is a columnist with The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle national dailies.