30th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
I
Thessalonians 1:5-10
Matthew 22:34-40
"Love
God with all your hear…
and your neighbor as yourself.”
The Pharisees are really tough guys. Not satisfied with the wits of Jesus and not even learning a lesson from the embarrassments they experienced, they still take their chances to shame the Lord. In today’s gospel, they are set once more to trap him: "Teacher, which commandment of the Law is the greatest?” For Matthew (and for Luke too), this is indeed a trap since in Jesus' time, it was not clear, which commandment is the greatest. But far beyond the Pharisees' expectations, Jesus gives them a double-commandment: love of God and love of neighbor. And what astounds them most is Jesus’ insistence that these two are equally important. Let us, then, meditate on these commandments of love and discover the unparalleled richness of their unity.
1. "Hear, 0 Israel, You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind.” This is the “Shema” (Hear or Listen), which every Israelite must learn and remember by heart, as much as possible, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Thus, in order not to forget it, they are prescribed by the Law (cf Deut 6:7-9) to bind these words at one's wrist, have them as pendant on the forehead, and write them on the doorpost.
2. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18). This seems to be the most celebrated passage of Leviticus wherein the love of self is the criterion of loving others, i.e., of their fellow Jews. Since we operate on self-love and self-preservation, Jews are expected to love and preserve their "neighbor," meaning, their countrymen, and their race. Of course, this is based on the presumption that no one can hate and much less destroy oneself (a presumption, which modern psychology proves to be not always true). Anyhow, this Levitical imperative urges them to love others just the way they love themselves.
3. These two commandments are put into one. The Lord teaches and insists on the inseparability of the two. And in the gospel's language, “On these two commandments the whole law is based and the prophets as well.” The intimate unity of this double-commandment, therefore, makes the greatest law of Christian life, and for that matter, the perfect standard and measure of human conduct.
“It is said that a gentile came to Rabbi Shammai Hillel (leader of a strict school of Judaism) and said that he would like to become a Jew, but could not stay long in Jerusalem. He asked, ‘Can you teach me the whole Torah while I am standing on one foot?’ Shammai sent him away angrily.
“So the gentile went to Rabbi Hillel (a renowned scribe in Jerusalem about the time of Jesus' birth) with the same question. Hillel admitted him as a convert, and said, ‘whatever is hateful to thee, do not do to thy fellow man. This is the whole Torah: all the rest is commentary. Now go and study.’” (From: 365 Days with the Lord, Oct. 24, 1999).
The greatness and nobility of this double-commandment consist in their inseparable unity because:
First, only those who truly love God can love their neighbor. Of course, we may say that since love is one of nature's most beautiful gifts, the experience of love becomes a natural part of life, and in this sense even atheists do love and can live in love. This is a valid statement, and we shall not quarrel over it. But per experience, nature's way of loving is only to love the lovable. And here lies the difference. The faith and morals Christ preaches is to go beyond what is natural. It is to love indiscriminately. It is to love even those who are not so lovable, the unlovable, and even the “hateable.” Thus, Christianity preaches even the love of enemies. In fact, it in loving in this sense that we become worthy of being Christian. But this kind of love is possible only when we truly love God. It is only through the love of God working in us, moving us and urging us that we become capable of loving even the unlovable.
Second, the highest (and perhaps the only) test of loving God is loving one's neighbor. If we can love our neighbor indiscriminately only through and by the love of God, it is also through and by loving our neighbor indiscriminately that we prove our true love of God. The letter of John puts it quite perfectly well: "If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hate his brother is a liar" (1 Jn 4:20). That is why when we see those “churchy” people every now and then praying in the church but afterwards treating inhumanly their servants at home and could not even see eye-to-eye with their neighbors across the fence, how we wish they were a little less pious and a little more charitable.
Third, authentic Christian faith and life is possible
only by equally living out the double-commandments
of love. This Christ shows in many occasions during his preaching and ministry.
We may remember his encounter with the rich young man who searched for God by
heart. But as we recall, this rich young man, however pious and sincere, went
out sad because he could not afford to give away his wealth for his fortunate
brethren. Truly, reaching out to God is quite impossible without reaching out
to one's neighbors. Or else, we recall Jesus’ teaching us about the
parable of the Good Samaritan. Here, Jesus hails the Good Samaritan because his
silent and undefined religion and religiosity finds its concrete meaning and
expression in being "a neighbor to a neighbor.” The robbers' victim ought
to be anybody's neighbor because he was in need. Anyone in need is a
neighbor. But not the priest or the Levite became a neighbor to the needy
neighbor, but the Samaritan. And not only that. When Jesus visited Mary and
Martha, he could neither stop Mary from listening to him while sitting at his
feet nor reprimand Martha not to care for the table. For indeed, there is only
one thing needed. This one thing has two parts: Mary's part and Martha's
part. And although Mary has chosen the better part of it, the part
chosen by Martha is at least a good one too. Surely, while Mary stands for the love
of God, Martha stands for the love of neighbor.
Fourth, and finally, there is no greater reason for this unity but Christ himself. Meaning, the double-commandments of love are that inseparable because that is the whole incarnate life of Christ is all about. By word and deed, by teachings and examples, he shows and demonstrates the love of God by loving us. No amount of explanation, however great, can capture the mystery of the cross. But indeed, the very symbol of the cross is by itself enough a reminder about the truth of the double-commandments of love. The vertical wood stands for the love of God while the horizontal for the love of neighbor. Take any one of them, and there is no cross. But without the cross, there could not have been any salvation either. Thus, perhaps Christ chose the cross as the immortal symbol of salvation because by its very form, the cross stands as a living sign of the greatest commandment: "Love God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself!