Word to the Wise
Friday, March 12, 2010 - Friday in the Third Week of Lent
[Hosea 14:2-10 and Mark 12:28-34]And when Jesus saw that he [the scribe] answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
This comment by Jesus' comes at the end of an exchange about the most important commandments in the Mosaic Law. Given that there are more than 600 precepts in that law, the issue of priorities was (and still is) an important one! Jesus' first response to the question is basically love of God and neighbor. When the scribe agrees, Jesus replies, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." I have often wondered if there was a bit of irony in that statement since Jesus is standing right there in front of the scribe! I think we Catholics occasionally face the question of figuring out what the most important commandments are! We have an enormous amount of legislation of various types in our church! We have first of all the scriptures and particularly the Ten Commandments! Then we have the Code of Canon Law (it has more than 2000 articles in it) and various "directives" and "guidelines" and other sorts of national or local regulations! All of this is in addition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church with all its provisions. One could hardly be blamed for being confused. Yet, we do have our "scribes," as any pastor knows who has been confronted by an indignant parishioner with a copy of some ecclesiastical document that even the issuing authority has forgotten! However, I think we should pay attention to the dialog in today's gospel and pay close attention to Jesus' response! The closer we get to love of God and neighbor, the closer we get to the Kingdom of God. All other law must be seen in that perspective. AMEN
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