THE WORD
2 Tim 2,8-15 / Mk 12,28-34
One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, 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.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
IN OTHER WORDS
A story is told of an old wise man who told his young grandson that in order to attain understanding he must “go into the rain and raise his head and arms heavenward.” The next day, the young man came to report, and said, “Grandfather, I followed your advice and water owed down my neck…and I felt like a perfect fool.” To this the old man replied: “Well, for the rst day, that is quite an understanding, don’t you think?”
In today’s gospel we heard someone trying to seek understanding from Jesus by asking Him about the first of the commandments. Jesus replied, saying: (1) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all you mind, and with all your strength;” and (2) “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
What an understanding indeed: Without loving God first, everything else we do would mean nothing. Our big-hearted gestures, our generous, philanthropic and humanitarian deeds could come to naught when our hearts are devoid of God’s love. Despite its merit and importance, the love of neighbor should never be used to usurp and absolve us from our lack of love for God. In the same vein, our love for God cannot excuse us from doing something concrete for our brothers and sisters in need. The two commandments are inclusive of each other, as one is pointless without the other.
A few years back, our Muslim neighbors here in Nairobi, Kenya gave our SVD seminary community 30 kg of beef. We were just one of hundreds of their neighbors who received such gift. It was a touching and symbolic gesture, to say the least, especially when seen in the context of overcoming religious prejudices and building bridges across different faith-communities. In such act of kindness, an attempt was made to express an all-inclusive approach to love of neighbor as a way of manifesting one’s love of God.
There are many things to understand in our Christian life, but our love of God and neighbor is the place to begin.
- Fr. Sisoy Cellan , SVD | Kenya
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
