Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

There were hundreds of commandments in Jewish law. These were the source of constant discussion: what is allowed and what is not allowed, which of all these laws was the greatest, the most important, the most binding.

A scribe (a modern day professor in law) in today's gospel wants to get Jesus into this sort of a discussion so he asks Jesus, "Which is the greatest of the law's commandments?"

Rabbi Hillel was a contemporary of Jesus. He was well respected and Jesus probably knew him well also. His answer to this question was “Do not do unto others that which you would hate done unto you.”

Now Jesus could have used any of the Ten Commandments many of which are laws concerning things you shouldn’t do. Instead he chooses from the positive Jewish laws of things you should do.

People often accuse us as Catholics as always saying no to things in life whereas the truth is that we are really saying a deeper yes to Gods law which we know is good for us.

So Jesus reduces all the law to two commandments which he takes from the Torah: "Love God" and "Love your neighbour."

He shows that love of God and love of the other are two basic aspects of the same call.

He said to him: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

This is actually the basis of the Shema prayer that the Jewish people would say 3 times a day. It shaped their lives. We have heard this actual prayer in the first reading.

Its equivalent to the Our Father and so Jesus, Mary and Joseph would have all prayed this Shema prayer as good practising Jews.

What it means is that the love of God must be comprised of a total response of all that you have and all that you are. It’s a total gift of oneself to God. Something active and not just passive.

Also in that first reading we hear about fear of the Lord. This doesn’t mean the modern day definition of fear in terms of being scared. But it means reverence the Lord. Be obedient to him. Because this brings spiritual wisdom. After all if we believe that he made the universe perhaps its wise for us to treat him in this way.

When we lose that spirit of awe and respect, when we become disobedient the first thing that happens is that we lose our prayer life.

Jesus says that the second greatest law is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

In other words the fulfilment of the law and the message of the prophets is fruitless without first loving God and loving our Neighbour.

These two commandments are actually indivisible. To love God is to recognize His likeness and image in every neighbour and to love your neighbour is to also love God. They are connected.

The motivation of Christian life should not to be a law to be feared, but a person to be loved, the person of God and the person of our neighbour.

And when we say love we don’t just mean warm feelings towards another. We mean choosing to see and help others in the right way.

True love is always more of a choice and a decision than a nice feeling. Without true choice love will fail.

It was his love for the Father and his love for all of us that motivated Jesus to become a human being and allow our salvation.

The scribe says to Jesus “Well spoken! You are right” which sounds a little patronising. But the man doesn’t actually know who Jesus is…Jesus is the author of the 10 commandments. And master of the universe.

So to be told that you know the law pretty well must have made him smile.

The scribe adds “this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.” What’s the difference between them?

A sacrifice might have been that of a roasted lamb that was consumed afterwards. But a holocaust was a sacrifice performed on your behalf that was entirely consumed by the fire.

It represented an offer of yourself in entirety. So loving God was greater than even this. Jesus tells the scribe that he is not far from the kingdom of God which stuns the crowd into silence.

So let us make our love of the Father and of our neighbour the primary goal of our lives and motivate all our thoughts, words and actions as we continue to pray daily for God’s help in our lives.