31^st Sunday in O.T. B); 10-31-2021

Dt 6:2-6.  Ps 18.  Heb 7:23-28.  Mk 12:28-24

Deacon Jim McFadden

            There is a legend contained in Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish ceremonial law, that records a fascinating story of a young gentile man who’s interested in converting to Judaism.  He approaches Rabbi Shammai, a Jewish scholar who was actually a contemporary of Jesus and promises to convert if Shammai could teach him the Torah while the young man stood one foot.  Shammai was not the kind of teacher who suffered fools wisely, so he whupped the youth upside his head with a stick that he happened to be holding.  Shammai must have been thinking: “Who’s this guy who thinks the depth and breadth of the Torah could be reduced to a few words.  That’s impossible.”  So, whap!

            Undaunted, the young man went to Rabbi Hillel, who generally favored a more lenient interpretation of the Law, and offered him the same challenge.  Hillel was a lot more patient with him and said, “What is hateful  to you, do not do to your fellow man.  This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary.  Now go and learn it.”  Shortly thereafter, the man converted to Judaism.

            Synthesizing the Torah was the sort of enterprise that rabbis frequently did.  There are traditionally 613 laws in the Torah, which can be found in the Holiness Code in the book of Leviticus.  A third century rabbi Simlai  taught that they represented 365 prohibitions given to Moses which corresponded to the  days of the year.  And, there were 248 positive commandments that’s corresponded to the limbs of the human body.  Simlai taught that they could be reduced to certain basic principles of doing right and keeping justice.  Rabbi Akiva (of the first century) reduced the laws to just one: love thy neighbor.

            In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus receives a similar challenge like that posed by the young gentile man.  A scribe asks Jesus which of the commands is the greatest.  The challenge is not simply to come up with the most important commandment in some kind of ranking system, but to reveal the lens through which all the others and, indeed, life itself may be interpretated.  Jesus responds by quoting the Shema: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Dt  6:4).  Jesus, then adds, quoting Leviticus 19:18, “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  One scribe was delighted in hearing this, noting that love “is worth more than all burn offerings and sacrifices” (Mk 12:33d).

            Jesus has given us the Great Commandment and we should consider these two commandments as one, for love by its very nature is unitive.  To love God and not to love human beings is just not possible.  And, to imagine that one could love human beings without cultivating love of God—the very source of love—is to make a colossal mistake.  The evangelist John brings the two together in his 1^st Letter: “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).

St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans that loving another fulfills the law

(Rom 18:8) because love is the one thing that is eternal (1 Cor 13:8).

            Brothers and sisters, since God is love—that is not an attribute but is God’s very nature—then love is both the means by which we attain union with God and is the principle expression of what it means to be a Christian.  We are hard wired to be in communion with God; we yearn to participate in his very Being because we are made in the image of God.  We realize that deepest desire by operating  as God does: namely, we give ourselves away in sacrificial giving, which St. John-Paul II calls the Law of the Gift.  And, as we do that we truly manifest that we are, indeed, followers of Christ: as the contemporary praise-song puts it, “They will know that we are Christians by our love, by our love; yes, they will know that we are Christians by our love.”  In short, Christian life is “faith working through love”

(Gal 5:6).

            One of the most difficult challenges to our faith is to love those who are very difficult to love, especially to those who are the bane of our existence and may be actively persecuting us.  During these times, we have to remind ourselves that love is not merely an emotional affection, but is a choice.  Love for God and neighbor expresses itself as service, generosity, and care.  As Jesus said to Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep (cf. Jn 21:15-17). This can only be done through grace.  Through deep and abiding prayer, being grounded in God helps us to recognize that God’s grace falls on the just and unjust alike (cf. Mt 5:45).  Why?  Every human being, even our worst enemy, has intrinsic value because they, too, are made in the image of God and are, therefore, a beloved child of God.  Such recognition will change our spiritual posture and behavior towards them.

            So, during this week, I encourage you to think of someone in your life who is difficult to love.  Then hold this person daily in prayer for one week, and see that transpires.  You may not become friends, and your aversion may not vanish.  But, you may start to love him or her.  And, that’s what counts.  Amen.