RBWords

     Today we hear the third of the four questions I mentioned yesterday.  (Scripture scholars believe the evangelist structured this material around a typical rabbinical debate that would involve four questions.)  Today's question is about the relative importance of the 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law.  Which one(s) should receive emphasis.  Jesus responds with quotations from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 which are, of course familiar to us: Hear O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these."

     The scribe compliments Jesus on the answer and makes an extraordinary comment for a scribe when he says that these two commandments are "worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Jesus returns the compliment by saying: "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."  

     There is an important lesson in this exchange.  "The Kingdom of God" does not consist in institutions or in any devotional expression that our faith may lead us to create.  All of these are meant to enable the Kingdom of God to be preached.  Those two commandments of love of God and neighbor are the essential elements of the Kingdom of God.  Institutions can become corrupt (as the temple system had in Jesus' time and the institutional church has become at different points in history).  Devotional expressions come and go.  But the love we must have for God and neighbor remains the bedrock of all faith.  As St. John of the Cross  once wrote: "In the evening of life, we shall be judged on love alone."  AMEN