30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A); 10-25-2020

Ex 22:20-26.  Ps 18.  1 Thes 1:5c-10.  Mt 22:34-40

Deacon Jim McFadden

         This Sunday, the Gospel reading reminds us in no uncertain terms that the whole of the Divine Law can be summed up in our love for God and neighbor.  Matthew offers an account in which the Pharisees get together in order to put Jesus to the test.  One of them, a doctor of the Law, asks him this question:  “Teacher, which one is the great commandment of the Law?”  (Mt 22:36).  It’s really an insidious question, because there are 613 laws in the Torah.  Since they all come from God, how should the great commandment stand out among these?  Unfazed, Jesus cuts right to the chase by quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Dt 6:4).  Jesus could have stopped there—I mean who would argue over that selection?  Yet, he adds something extraordinary that may not seem readily apparent.  He says,  “And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39), which he pulled from the Book of Leviticus (19:18b).  What’s so novel about this is that Jesus places these two commandments together—love of God and love of neighbor—revealing that they are in fact inseparable, though distinct, and complimentary.  Simply put, you cannot love God without loving your neighbor and you really can’t love your neighbor without loving God.  Prior to his retirement, Pope Benedict XVI wrote an encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), which offered a beautiful commentary on this topic.

            Benedict was saying in effect that the visible sign that a Christian is in love with God is the concrete love he shows for his brothers and sisters.  The Great Commandment to love God and neighbor is not at the top of the 613 commandments, but at the very center, because it is from the heart that is grounded in love that everything must go and to which everything must return and refer.  Think about it:  we are made in the image of God Who is Love; therefore, we are most human when we are in love and sharing that love with others.  Simply put, we are created to love.

            This response of Jesus is not be glossed over because it reflects that he came not to abrogate the Law, but to fulfill it.  Now, among the numerous precepts of the Hebrew Law, the most important and foundational were the Ten Commandments that formed the basis of the Mosaic Covenant.  But Jesus wants to impress upon us that without love for God and our neighbor there is no true fidelity to this Covenant with Lord.  We may do all sorts of good things, fulfill many commandments, live a righteous life, but if we do not have love, all of these serve no purposes.  Indeed, without love, we probably did the right things for the wrong reasons.

            In our first reading from the Book of Exodus, which contains the so-called ‘Covenant Code,’ we hear that one cannot adhere to the Covenant with the Lord and mistreat those who enjoy his protection.  And, who would these people be?  The Bible, the revealed Word of God, says: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, the migrant, that is, the most lonely and defenseless people

 (cf. Ex 22:20-21).  Moreover, we should have compassion for them.  And, this inclination should ring true for the Israelites because they were once aliens in the land of Egypt.  When they enter into that space in which they were once a foreigner in a strange land, they will experience that sense of vulnerability.  When they go to that space, they will stir up feelings of compassion for widows, orphans, and aliens—this is the biblical call.

            To make the point even clearer, the author of Exodus says that when weak people are ignored, mistreated, and abused, God becomes angry.  It’s not that God is a petulant, disgruntled parent, but rather He is one who wants to get our relationships rightly ordered.  It’s God’s passion to set right human relationships and, therefore, he has compassion for the marginalized, which runs right through the Old Testament tradition to the time of Jesus, which then becomes part of the Church’s social justice tradition. 

            In light of how aliens, immigrants, and those fleeing dangerous situations in their homeland have been recently treated when they came to our borders, we should ask ourselves whether we are adhering to this Biblical mandate to identify with the marginalized.  Do we stand alongside Pope Francis who has spoken out on immigration issues since the beginning of his papacy?  Shortly after being installed as the Bishop of Rome, he said, “Migrants trust they will encounter acceptance, solidarity, and help, that they will meet people who will sympathize with the distress and tragedy experienced by others, recognize the values and resources the latter have to offer, and are open to sharing humanly and materially with the needy and disadvantaged” (Message for the 2013 Word Day of Migrants and Refugees; October 12, 2012). 

            We hear in Matthew 25 that we have a duty to care for the most vulnerable in our society even if they are aliens and foreigners because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Jesus brings this Covenant law to fulfillment.  How so?  He has united in his person, in his flesh both divinity and humanity, a single mystery of love.

            Now, in light of the Incarnation, love is the measure of our faith, and faith is the soul of love.  What Jesus is proposing in this Gospel goes right to our heart’s most authentic desire.  Again, we were created to love and to be loved.  God, who is Love, created us to participate in his Life—to be loved by him and to love him, and with him, to love all the people that he loves.  This is God’s dream  for mankind which is grounded in his very nature.  And to realize this dream, we need his radical grace; we need to receive from him the capacity to love which comes from God himself.  That’s why he offers himself in the Eucharist so that we may consume the one who is Love.  In the Eucharist we receive Jesus in the utmost expression of his love for us, when he offered himself to the Father for our salvation. 

            Once again, brothers and sisters, love is the measure of our faith!   How much do you love?  Do you love the alien, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant?  How much do you serve the weak and vulnerable?  How is your faith?  We have faith as we love.  And faith is the soul of love.  Amen.