Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 3, 2024 - 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Deut 6:2-6; Heb 7:23-28; Mark 12:28b-34]"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today." [Deuteronomy] One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: 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." [Mark] T
The words from Deuteronomy, repeated by Jesus in reply to the scribe, form the "Shema Yisroel" prayer which pious Jews recite every day. They form the foundation of Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism in Jesus' time, the scribes and Pharisees debated the relative importance of the 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law (the torah). Inevitably there would be apparent differences in observance and interpretation. Which precepts were more important? Jesus' reply comes from Deuteronomy, quoted above, and Leviticus 19:18. The scribe agrees and goes even further to emphasize (with Jesus' approval) that to observe the two greatest commandments is more important than any act of worship ("burnt offerings and sacrifices"). Love of God and love of neighbor are two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other.
We Catholics may well ask the same question that the scribe asked. The Code of Canon Law contains 1752 "articles." The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains 2865 "articles." Most of us do not have degrees in canon law or theology. How do we navigate this forest of laws? The answer comes from Jesus and Moses. How does any particular observance or rule help us to love God and neighbor? Yes, we do have the Pope who can call on canon lawyers and theologians to respond to the more complicated and thorny issues that contemporary life constantly raises, but most of us don't live on that level on an everyday basis. My suggestion is to read the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel According to Matthew, Chapters 5-7 plus the parable of the Last Judgment (Mt. 25:31-45) and read the parables in the Gospel According to Luke of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the Rich Fool. These shed additional light to guide the observance of the two most important commandments. The "code" and the "catechism" are not meant to replace those commandments and must always be read in the light of them. AMEN