Love sums up the whole of the Law
30th Sunday
Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 22:34-40
This Sunday’s Readings
First Reading
1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9,12-13,22-23
David does not kill Saul.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 103:1-4,8,10,12-13
A song in praise of God’s mercy
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 15:45-49
As we bear the image of Adam, so we will bear the image of the one from heaven.
Gospel Reading
Luke 6:27-38
Jesus teaches his disciples to be merciful as God is merciful.
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’
Background on the Gospel Reading
Today’s gospel reading is a continuation of the teaching that began in last Sunday’s gospel. We continue to hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. Recall that in Luke’s Gospel, this teaching is addressed to Jesus’ disciples. This is in contrast to the parallel found in Matthew’s Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus’ words are addressed to both the disciples and to the crowds.
These words from Jesus’ teaching are familiar to us. They constitute the crux and the challenge of what it means to be a disciple: Love your enemies, turn the other cheek, give to those who ask, do unto others, lend without expecting repayment, judge not lest you be judged.
There are several similarities between Luke’s and Matthew’s report of Jesus’ great teaching. Both begin with the Beatitudes. Matthew includes nearly all the content that Luke does; the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel is longer than Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. There are, however, differences in language and nuance. For example, Matthew presents this portion of the teaching as a contrast between Jesus’ teaching and the teachings of the law and the prophets. This is in keeping with Matthew’s concern to address his predominantly Jewish audience. It is likely that Luke omits this contrast because it was unnecessary for the Gentile believers for whom Luke is writing.
Another point of contrast between Matthew and Luke’s presentation is the terminology. In Luke, Jesus contrasts the behavior of his followers with the behavior of “sinners.” In Matthew, Jesus contrasts the behavior desired with the behavior of tax collectors and Gentiles. Matthew concludes the teaching about love of enemies with the admonition to be perfect as God is perfect; Luke concludes by emphasizing God’s mercy.
In both Gospels, Jesus’ words challenge those who would follow him to be more like God. God loves us beyond our expectations, beyond anything we can possibly imagine. In response to God’s love, we are to love as God loves, beyond expectations and with a depth beyond imagining.
Love sums up the whole of the Law
Love is the basis of the law
Jesus quotes the Shema, the great Jewish prayer based on Deuteronomy 6:4-5. The most important commandment is to commit every part of one’s being to God. Because God cares about people, the next most important commandment is to love others. Love for God must be demonstrated in love for others. All other commandments must be evaluated in the light of these two.
Jesus, a true and faithful Jew
Jesus’ opponents believed he was rejecting his Jewish heritage because it often seemed like Jesus threw out or ignored the Jewish law. In his response to this question, Jesus shows that he isn’t preoccupied with the details of the law. His concern is instead to help people love God and other people – which is the whole point of the law. Jesus wasn’t the first Jew to link these two laws and make them foundational: other widely respected teachers did, too. Jesus’ opponents are likely to have agreed with Jesus’ reply.
Jesus fulfills the law
Matthew’s community was rejected by Jews who thought Jesus was a false teacher. Matthew thus presents Jesus as both the true interpreter and fulfillment of the scriptures (5:17). Jesus fulfilled all that God promised for the world. Therefore, the teaching of Jesus is absolute. There is no greater authority.
PRAYER
O divine Savior, you came into this world to preach your gospel in delightful simplicity. I humbly ask you to let me learn from your example. Make me acquire your spirit of simplicity. By your grace may I spread your word in a simple and direct manner for the spiritual well-being of others. O my dear Savior, pour your spirit of simplicity into my heart so that I may be your true apostle by always cooperating with your grace. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen
(adapted from St. Vincent de Paul)
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Love is everything
José Antonio Pagola
The Jews arrived at counting up to 630 commandments that ought to be observed in order to fulfill the Law with integrity. That’s why it wasn’t strange in the rabbinical circles to ask questions like the one they put to Jesus in trying to seek what’s essential: which commandment is the first one of all?
Jesus responds clearly and precisely: «The first one is: “Love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole being”. The second one is this: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”. There’s no greater commandment than these». How to hear these fundamental words of Jesus today?
There’s something that gets revealed to us with complete clarity: love is everything. What’s asked of us in life is to love. There’s the key. We can later pull out all kinds of consequences and derivations, but what’s essential is to live before God and others in an attitude of love. If we would be able to always act that way, everything would be saved. There’s nothing more important than this, not even if you please, the practice of a determined religion.
But why is love the power that gives meaning, truth and fulness to life? This centrality of love is rooted, according to Christian faith, in one reality: God, the origin of all life, God Self is love. That is the daring and unbeatable definition of Christian faith: «God is love» (1 John 4,8). To say it in another way, although it be deficient, God consists in loving; God doesn’t know, doesn’t want, can’t do any other thing than to love. We can doubt everything, but what we mustn’t ever doubt is God’s love.
Precisely for this reason, to love God is to encounter our own being. What gives true glory to God isn’t our evil, but our life and fulness. Whoever loves God and knows oneself loved by God with infinite love, learns to see oneself, value oneself and take care of oneself with true love. What power and dynamism this particular way of understanding ourselves generates within us. How many fears and anxieties dissolve within us. How different life is when the person learns to say: «Lord, may your will be done, because that’s also how my good is being shaped».
On the other hand, it’s then that we understand in its true profundity the second commandment: «Love your neighbor as you love yourself». Whoever loves God knows that she can’t live in an attitude of indifference, unpreoccupied or forgetful of others. The only human posture in the face of any person whatsoever that we encounter in life is to love them.
This doesn’t mean that we must live in the same way in the intimacy with our spouse, the relationship with a client or a chance meeting with someone in the street. What’s being asked of us is to act in each case seeking positively the welfare for them that we want for ourselves. In these time in which it seems we question everything, it’s good to remember that there’s something unquestionable: a person is a human being when she knows how to love God and love her neighbor.
Mission is love of one’s neighbour and the welcoming of strangers
Romeo Ballan, MCCJ
Today, the missionary month of October and World Mission Sunday draw new inspiration and energy from the Word of God: the book of Exodus (1st Reading) lays claim to paying attention to the strangers, the weak and the needy, and in the Gospel Jesus unites inextricably love of God and love of neighbour. In fact, Jesus is confronting another snare, like the one about the tribute to Caesar last Sunday. What leads up to the answer of Jesus is not the innocent question of a child in a catechism class, but a new trap set by the Pharisees, with its roots in the maze of the 613 precepts they have extracted (big and small, 365 commands and 248 prohibitions) from the Bible for the Doctors of the Law to quibble over. Jesus demolishes the whole structure and simplifies the moral question by going to the heart of the Commandments: Love sums up the whole of the Law (v.40). You must love the Lord your God with all your heart (Dt. 6:5) and you must love your neighbour as yourself (Lv. 19:18) are similar commandments for Jesus (vv. 37,39) and complement each other, like two branches of the one plant, which have a common root and the same sap: love. St. Augustine explains it well: ‘Love of God is what is commanded first, and love for neighbour is what must be put into practice first… Loving one’s neighbour makes vision pure, so as to see God”.
In the context of the missionary month of October and World Mission Sunday, this teaching finds immediate applications, because mission is an expression of love. To proclaim the Gospel is the highest form of love towards God and for one’s neighbour. It is the most efficacious and best service that the Church can offer all nations, for the renewal of individuals and of society. Besides this, the mission of the Church has always offered a wide range of material services, especially to those most in need, thanks to the generous collaboration of many Catholics.
Love of one’s neighbour is one of our daily concrete objectives (1st Reading): the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the needy… God is solemnly committed to hear their cry for help (vv. 22, 26) and He will punish anyone who mistreats them (vv. 22,23). He is a God full of pity, who is concerned about what the poor man has to cover himself at night, without a cloak (v. 26). Our God is great but not far; actually He is close to us: He is concretely concerned for those in need. That is why Jesus raises love of neighbour to the level of love for God. “You must love your neighbour as yourself” (v. 39) signifies that neighbour means one of your own, of your household, your family; someone who belongs to you. Thus nobody is a stranger, an outsider. Your neighbour is like you, like God. In the Last Judgement Jesus will say to us (we hope!): “…you did it to me!” (Mt 25:40).
God’s warning is precise with regard to the attitude towards strangers (1st Reading). “You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt” (v. 20). Welcome to migrants and strangers is a very sticky topic these days, indeed urgent and leading to conflict in many social situations. Sadly, migrants are often the victims of unjust generalisations. Indeed, the term migrant is often linked with ‘clandestine’ and ‘criminal’; but there is also a growing commitment in civil society and among various groups which proclaim: “In my town nobody is a stranger” or “Open your home to the world and the world will be your home!”
In the missionary activity, love of neighbour is made concrete by the announcement of the Gospel, in the works of assistance, education, protection of the weak. Furthermore, the welcome of foreigners (migrants, refugees, displaced people…) has everywhere a close relationship with the missionary activity that is seen as education to global living and a beneficial opening to human and spiritual horizons.
Whoever loves meets God
Fernando Armellini
Introduction
Solitude, silence, and asceticism are needed to create a climate conducive to contemplation, the ‘inner life,’ and an encounter with God. However, they will be signs of disorder if they distance us from people and lead to the neglect of those we live with. The contrast between love for people and the worship of God is founded on pagan myth, not derived from the Gospel.
A friend of humankind, Prometheus, had taught numeracy, letters, the art of domesticating animals, agriculture, navigation and metalwork. He ascended Olympus to steal fire from the gods and bring it to the people below. For this, Zeus had him chained to a rock in the Caucasus and ordered a vulture to eternally rend his flesh. This is how the lord of the gods poured out his grudge against the man who, having benefited people, had antagonized the gods.
Nothing is more contrary to the biblical message than Prometheus’ fate because any promotion and human growth realize God’s plan for humankind. “So let us love one another since he loved us first. If you say, ‘I love God’, while you hate your brother or sister, you are a liar. How can you love God whom you do not see if you do not love your brother or sister who you see? We have received from him this commandment: let those who love God also love their brothers and sisters” (1 Jn 4:19-21). With reason, from a biblical perspective, Prometheus has been called “a man after God’s own heart.” In fact, the Lord has taught his people “that a righteous person must love his human fellows” (Wis 12:19).
First Reading: Exodus 22:20-26
In ancient times, there were no embassies to protect citizens residing abroad. Those who, because of war, natural disaster or work, or forced to abandon their land, their tribe or clan, often experienced oppression and injustice. To abuse foreigners, subject them to heavy and humiliating work, or reduce them to slavery was the usual practice in many nations. None of this was in vogue in Israel, where the law severely prohibited injustice against these helpless people. In the Old Testament, God often warns: “Do not oppress the stranger” (Ex 23:9). The passage mentioned in today’s reading also adds to the motivation: “Love the stranger then, because you yourselves were a stranger in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:17-19).
The Israelites felt deeply united with foreigners because, over the centuries, they repeatedly had the dramatic experience of exile. Their profession of faith begins with a fact: “My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down into Egypt to find refuge there”(Deut 26:5).
The recommendation of the reading ‘not to wrong or oppress a stranger’ is the result of a complaint about discrimination arising from those belonging to a different race, ethnic group, or even different social group. Then it continues: “You shall not harm the widow or the orphan…” (vv. 21-23). Again, we are faced with unprotected persons: the wife without a husband and children without parents easily become victims of abuse. In their defense, God stands up as the “father of orphans and protector of widows” (Ps 68:6), who “protects the stranger, sustains the widow and the orphan” (Ps 146:9).
How do we take care of these people? First of all, giving his people provisions such as this: “When you harvest the wheat in your fields, if you drop a sheaf, do not return to pick it up, but let it be there for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. When you harvest your olives, do not go back to beat the trees another time, what is left shall be for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, do not return to look for what has been left. This will be the share of the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt” (Deut 24:19-21).
About this rule, the rabbis observed: all the other commandments were given by the Almighty because you knowingly observe them, but this is a precept that we fulfill unconsciously. Although the farmer may forget, the Lord feeds the stranger, the orphan and the widow. To abuse these helpless people is to provoke the wrath of God. Applying the principle of ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ He promises to let the culprits die by the sword, making their wives widows and their children orphans (v. 23).
The choice of the sacred author to ascribe to the Lord the practice of the law of retaliation is extremely bold. The image, however, is effective: it serves to inculcate the idea that the God of Israel is not like the pagan gods, who rejoice at the aroma of incense and are placated by burnt offerings. He is the avenger (to be clear—it is just an image!) of the poor and the oppressed. “Oppression of the weak—the sages of Israel say—insults their creator” (Prov 14:31).
The reading continues with the prohibition of lending at interest (v. 24). The Hebrew word that we translate as ‘interest’ is néshek, which literally means bite. It is easy to understand why the Lord—who defends the cause of the afflicted and the rights of the poor (Ps 140:11)—repeatedly and harshly condemns any lending of money or goods for a fee. “If your brother becomes poor and is unable to support himself, help him. Help this stranger or this guest that he may live with you. Do not take interest from him, but fear your God so that your brother may live among you. Do not give him your silver at interest nor your food for gain. I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt” (Lev 25:35-38).
Finally, the last case is moving: The poor man who, in order not to starve, is forced to hand over his cloak in pledge (v. 25). It was a sleeveless cloak with rounded edges that was pulled over his head. The poor man carried it with him everywhere as his only covering. God states that, before evening, it is to be returned to him, without any conditions. Otherwise, he would have nothing to wrap himself with when he goes to bed. If deprived of his cloak during the night, the poor would groan because of the cold. I—says the Lord—would listen to his moan, would lend ear to his request for help and would intervene in his favor, for I am gracious.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10
The birth and development of the community of Thessalonica confirm that the power of God is present and operates through the preaching of the Gospel (1 Thes 1:5ab). Then Paul declares that his blameless life and that of Silas and Timothy gave an important testimony in favor of the authenticity of the Gospel message (v. 5c).
The Thessalonians became imitators of the three apostles and shared their courage and steadfastness in the face of attacks by the forces of evil. They also, in turn, became models for the churches in Macedonia and Achaia (vv. 6-7). At this point, Paul gets carried away with joy and enthusiasm, and in hyperbolic form, expresses his deep appreciation for the community of Thessalonica: “The faith you have in God has become news in so many places that we need say no more about it” (v. 8).
The last part of the passage (vv. 9-10) describes the conversion of Christians at Thessalonica. They were pagans who had rendered worship to inert and false idols. Now they have turned away from evil and have approached the one true God and Giver of life. Having chosen to follow Christ, they need not fear the future judgment that the Lord will pronounce on them. It will certainly be favorable, as it is now to the apostle.
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40
The rabbis of Jesus’ time, in studying the Bible, had come to discover 613 commandments, 365 (such as days of the year) of which were prohibitions and 248 (like the limbs of the human body) were instructive, namely, works to be done. The women were required to observe only the prohibitive precepts. Poor ‘catechists!’ Explaining a commandment per day would take almost two years to teach them all. In the end, the ones learned earlier would certainly have been forgotten. If it was hard to learn them, imagine how complicated it was to observe them; to avoid sin was virtually impossible. The ordinary folks were not able to learn the subtle distinctions and endless moral casuistry and were despised by the scribes: “Only these cursed people, who have no knowledge of the Law,” as referred to by Caiaphas (Jn 7:49).
Jesus considers this variety of rules a heavy yoke which oppresses and tires, takes the breath and the joy of living away (Mt 11:28). He warns the teachers of the law, “A curse is on you! You prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people” (Lk 11:46). One day, one of these scribes, perhaps a little affected, approaches Jesus in a hostile manner,and to tempt Him, he asks: “What is the great commandment in the law?” (v. 36). He means to say: all the 613 precepts are great and important and must be observed with the utmost care. They are a yoke, but “it is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth”(Lam 3:27). How dare, then, call them ‘unbearable burdens,’ perhaps you mean to cancel part of the law (Mt 5:17-20)?
Not all rabbis were so rigid. Many made a distinction between serious and light precepts. They also felt the need to make a summary to find one that would unify them. The text they referred to was the famous ‘Shema,’ which every Israelite recited every morning and evening. Jesus Himself quotes: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all might” (Deut 6:5).
Some put the love of neighbor in the first place. It is said that one day Hillel—a famous rabbi who lived a few years before Christ—was asked to teach the whole Torahwhile standing on one leg. Hillel replied: ‘What you do not like, don’t do to your neighbor! This is the whole Law; the rest is commentary.’ Philo, the Jewish philosopher and a man of letters, a contemporary of Jesus, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, felt that the whole law was summed up in the Ten Commandments and that this, in turn, could be summed up in love of God and neighbor. So, was there no novelty in the response of Jesus? Let us look at His words. The great commandment, the first, is the love of God that must involve three faculties: the heart, the soul and the mind.
God, first of all, is to be loved with ‘an undivided heart’ (with all the ‘heart’). Today we speak of believers and atheists, but this distinction would have made no sense in biblical times because atheists did not exist. The distinction was between ‘believers’ and ‘idolaters,’ among those who loved the living and true God and those who were entrusted to the dead and misleading gods. Today there are believers, people in the Church, who fulfill all religious practices, but at the same time worship their bank account, social position, honorary titles, career, power and ambitions. They have a ‘divided heart’ indeed; they do not love with all their heart, as Jesus calls for.
“With all your life” (soul). The believer is required to have the willingness to sacrifice everything (money, interest, emotional ties and rights) and even the courage to face martyrdom while not failing in their faith. As happens often, loving God and trusting him can lead to making choices and heroic sacrifices. In this case, it is not permissible to resort to subterfuge and misinformation. Compromising solutions cannot be accepted for their own sake nor suggested to others.
“With all your mind.” Even the rational aspect is part of the love of God. Emotions cannot be the object of a commandment. It may instead be the requirement to employ all the intellect in search of the Lord and of His will. Anyone interested in futility, who spends more time with frivolous argument, gossips about celebrities rather than studying the Word of God, ignores theological and moral issues of the day, does not investigate the basis of their faith, is less involved in the love of God.
So far, there is nothing new about the Jewish faith, if not for the fact (essential for a Christian) that the discovery of God’s face and His will comes through the Revelation from Christ and the love of God and is the fruit of the gift of His Spirit.
After having stated what the greatest commandment is, Jesus adds that this is also the first. He makes this specification to introduce the second, which is like the first: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 39), and here the more apparent novelties begin. The qualification of ‘similar’—homoia in Greek—means ‘equally large,’ ‘equally important.’ It is equal to giving the same value to people as to loving God. Only Jesus has placed the two commandments on the same level, giving both equal value.
In the response mentioned above of Hillel, we certainly felt the call addressed by Jesus to His disciples: “So, do to others what you would that others do to you; there you have the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 7:12). We certainly noticed the difference: Jesus has positively turned (do …) the recommendation that Hillel negatively formulated (do not do …). The wisest reflections have inspired the Master among the rabbis to communicate the wholelight of his message.
Concerning the commandment of love of neighbor, He has also used the same procedure. He referred to a biblical text that the rabbis often quoted: “Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). He gave the precept a new perspective, a boundless dimension. For the Israelite, ‘neighbor’ meant the ‘children of his people.’ Jesus is for every person, even the enemy (Mt 5:43-48).
The concluding statement: “The whole Law and the Prophets are founded on these two commandments” (v. 40) must therefore be interpreted with similar expressions used by the rabbis in mind. These two commandments are the point of reference for any rule. They should be taken as criteria for evaluating every precept. All laws are good if they are an expression of love. They should be rejected if they oppose it because they hinder the good of the people.
There remains one final point to clarify: the relationship between love of God and love of neighbor. We note that in the authors of the New Testament, there is a progressive tendency to unify the two commandments. Mark, the first of the Evangelists, speaks of the first and the second commandment. After him, Matthew takes up the same expression but adds: the second is similar, equal to the first. Luke does not mention a first and a second commandment but combines them into one (Lk 10:25-28). John records the words of Jesus who speaks of only one commandment: “Now I give you a new commandment: Love one another! Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-35).
Later, and throughout the rest of the New Testament, there is no emphasis on two commandments, but only on one, the love of people. “For the whole law—Paul reminds us—is summed up in this sentence: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal 5:14). Writing to the Romans, he recommends: “Do not be in debt to anyone. Let this be the only debt of one to another: Love. The one who loves his brother or his neighbor fulfilled the law. For the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not covet and whatever else are summarized in this one: You will love your neighbor as yourself. Love cannot do the neighbor any harm; so love fulfills the whole Law” (Rom 13:8-10).
We know what it means to love others, even though it is not always easy to determine how concrete this love can be made. But how do we love God? If we continue to keep the two commandments separate, we run the risk of putting God and the neighbor in competition with each other and thinking they contend for the human heart, its time thought and interest. In such a situation, what is given to one is removed from the other. Loving God means not subtracting anything from anyone to give it to God. The pagan gods created people to be served by them through their offerings, sacrifice and prostration. The God of Jesus has never asked anything for Himself. He puts Himself at the service of people, even to bending down to wash his feet and asking us to do the same: “If such has been the love of God—John says—we too must love one another” (1 Jn 4:11).
Loving this God means assimilating his feelings towards people; it means loving the orphan, the widow and the stranger, as God loves and protects them. Various rabbis had noted the connection between the two commandments. Someone, however, has also realized the reason why they support one another. It is a sublime reason we make our own: the love for people is still love turned towards God because it is directed towards His image (Gen 1:27).
READ: The religious authorities in Jesus’ time took turns trying to test and trap Jesus to dispose of him. This time, they ask him a religious question regarding the law that has political implications which they might use against him. But Jesus answered them with an equally valid principle, be it in the religious or civil sphere. The Law of Love is the foundation of divine and human laws.
REFLECT: Jesus sticks to the truth no matter what. It may offend the religious and civil authorities, but the truth can withstand any form of scrutiny. The more the opponents of Jesus waylay him with traps, the more he unmasks their hypocrisy by the truth that he brings. No wonder they had to kill him. In this world, the truth will always and forever be lonely.
PRAY: Love and justice should mark all our actions. Let us pray for wisdom and prudence to balance both.
ACT: A cowardly or indifferent life is hardly a life worth living. Today, let us decide to make a stand for the truth and act on it accordingly. Let us commit to stopping even the minor injustices that are done to others.
