Word to the Wise
Thursday, June 8, 2017 - Thursday in the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
[Tob 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a and Mark 12:28b-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." [Mark]
One can get the impression from reading the gospels that all scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and chief priests and elders were bad guys. While it is clear that the most significant opposition to Jesus came from these groups, we know some of them became believers. Nicodemus, in the Gospel According to John, is a good example, as was Joseph of Arimathea, who tended to Jesus' body when it was taken from the cross. Today we have another example in a scribe who earnestly asks Jesus an important question. Scribes could read and write and were considered experts in matters of Torah. The Torah (first five books of what would later become the Old Testament) contained 613 precepts! It was commonly debated which of these precepts was the most important. So, this scribe wanted to know what Jesus thought. Jesus replies with two of the precepts. The first is known as the "Shema" which pious Jews recite each day, an act of faith and love. The second requires that love of God be expressed in love of neighbor. The fact that the scribe responds by making these two precepts more important than burnt offerings and sacrifices means that he has truly grasped what Jesus teaches. Jesus' own response to the scribe is also remarkable because only God can say who is close to the kingdom! (There is some probably unintended irony here since the scribe is standing in front of Jesus!)
When one looks at major Catholic documents such as the Code of Canon Law with its 1731 "articles" and the Catechism of the Catholic Churchwith its 2865 articles (let alone other rules and regulations governing worship, etc.) one might wonder, like the scribe, what is most important. The answer is given both by Jesus and the scribe in today's gospel. Love of God and neighbor is the starting point for Christian life. Everything else is secondary and built on these. AMEN
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