30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

My dear parishioners.

God Is Good!!! All the Time!!! And All the Time !!! God Is Good!!!

This passage is part of a collection of divine directives clarifying what is expected of the people of Israel. Israel now has a covenant bond with God and so Israel must display this special relationship with God in the things they say and do. In this passage, their special bond with God is to be exhibited in the way they treat the most vulnerable people in their midst: foreigners, widows, orphans, and the poor. These people have no immediate family for protection. But, they have the good fortune of dwelling among God’s covenanted people. Keeping God’s viewpoint in the forefront makes all the difference.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is confronted with yet another test. This time it is by a legal scholar concerning which commandment is the greatest. Rabbinic Judaism be-lieved that there were 613 commandments in the Torah; 248 were positive while 365 were negative. Since one could not be expected to remember all of them, the rabbis would devise summary statements emphasizing the more important commandments. Debates were frequent regarding which commandments were the most important. Jesus is here being brought into that debate.

The question. “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” This is no trick question. Rabbis confronted each other regularly with such an inquiry. Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 which emphasizes loving God with all of one’s heart, soul, and mind. This commandment to love the Lord is not focusing on an emotional feeling. This is all about covenant fidelity that is a matter of willing and doing. Many rabbis would have chosen this very same commandment as the greatest. Here Jesus is doing nothing unique.

The second greatest commandment. While Jesus affirms that Deuteronomy 6:5 is the greatest and the first commandment, he continues on and declares that there is a second commandment very much like the first. Here Jesus quotes Leviticus 19:18 which states that one shall love one’s neighbor as oneself. Here the emphasis is on the right form of self love. According to Jesus, there is a strong and intimate connection between loving the Lord your God and loving your neighbor as yourself.

A new commandment. This combination of Deuteronomy 6:5 with Leviticus 19:18 is not found before the time of Jesus. The uniqueness is in the combination and the declaration that the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. From the love of God all other laws can be derived. The rabbis said that the world hangs on Torah, temple, and deeds of loving kindness. Jesus makes the law itself depend on deeds of love. By all standards, Jesus’ teaching here is clearly based on solid Jewish tradition of his day. He does not create any new laws. What he does do is take traditional teaching and bring it together in a new and creative way. He exposes a richness that was already there, but only he could see it.

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius