Moses said to the people: ‘If you fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and if you keep all his laws and commandments which I lay on you, you will have a long life, you and your son and your grandson. Listen then, Israel, keep and observe what will make you prosper and give you great increase, as the Lord the God of your fathers has promised you, giving you a land where milk and honey flow.
‘Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart.’
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 17(18):2-4,47,51
I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, Lord, my strength,
my rock, my fortress, my saviour.
My God is the rock where I take refuge;
my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold.
The Lord is worthy of all praise,
when I call I am saved from my foes.
Long life to the Lord, my rock!
Praised be the God who saves me,
He has given great victories to his king
and shown his love for his anointed.
Second Reading: Hebrews 7:23-28
Christ, because he remains for ever, can never lose his priesthood
There used to be a great number of priests under the former covenant, because death put an end to each one of them; but this one, because he remains for ever, can never lose his priesthood. It follows, then, that his power to save is utterly certain, since he is living for ever to intercede for all who come to God through him.
To suit us, the ideal high priest would have to be holy, innocent and uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised up above the heavens; one who would not need to offer sacrifices every day, as the other high priests do for their own sins and then for those of the people, because he has done this once and for all by offering himself. The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son who is made perfect for ever.
Gospel Acclamation: cf. John 6:63,68
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Gospel Mark 12:28-34
'You are not far from the kingdom of God'
One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must 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 must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more.
Reflection
Both the First Reading and the Gospel today speak of what the Jews usually referred to as the “Great Command”. Others designate this command with the first three words that open the instruction: “Hear O Israel”. This command is a very important one for the people of Israel. The command that Israel is called to hear is “to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength”. The passage as found in the First Reading and quoted by Jesus in the Gospel Reading (Deut 6:4-9) is the fundamental truth of the religion of Israel. We may even call it the “Credo” or profession of faith of the Old Testament religion. It teaches the oneness of God and the duty of the believer as founded on this oneness of God. All practising Jews pray these verses every morning and evening, thus showing its great importance in their religious practice.
The one who professes the oneness of God is called to love God with all his/her being – heart, soul and strength. In modern day perception of things, we may say that the command is to love God in a self-disciplined manner that embraces the whole of the mind both conscious and unconscious. One’s whole attention must be on the love of God. This may seem very demanding but it is only to emphasize that loving the unique, one and only God cannot be done with divided attention. This is further emphasized by Deut 6:6 which enjoin the people to let the words of the “Great Command” be written on their hearts. This expression means that the people are to internalize the command, similar to what Jeremiah said the Lord would do by writing the law upon their hearts (Jer 31:31-33). It is not a command just for a moment but concerns every aspect of the life of the people who have Yahweh as their God.
The attention which the “Great Command” calls for is the reason for calling it the greatest of all commandments but Jesus adds a second commandment which is equally great. Jesus told the scribe who interrogated him that this second commandment is “You must love your neighbour as yourself”. Without giving any explanation why this second one was added, Jesus concludes that there is no commandment greater than these two. He virtually placed both commandments on the same level of importance. The reason Jesus put the two together is because the love of God is inseparable from the love of neighbour. One cannot love God whole-heartedly without such love finding expression in a selfless concern for another human person who is also God’s beloved.
The neighbour of which Jesus speaks is not to be understood in the limited sense given in Lev 19:18 where the neighbour is “the sons of your own people”. In this mind set, the stranger or foreigner is not a neighbour. Jesus broadens the scope of who should be considered a neighbour, making it inclusive of all peoples. Thus, the love of neighbour of which Jesus speaks in the Gospel must be understood in the way he taught it in the parable of Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The neighbour is the one who is in need of us in any situation of life.
The newness of the teaching of Jesus urges us to reflect carefully on the way we practice our religion. We cannot consider religion a matter between the individual and his God. It is not a private matter in so far as there is a social aspect of religious practice. One cannot claim he/she loves God just by keeping to a restricted relationship with God devoid of a relationship with other people. It is not good religious practice to close one’s mind and heart to events taking place around us. Religious practice should also not be limited to people of our own circle. We should not think only of our family or people who belong to the same church community with us.
The worship of God must be expressed in the love of the neighbour who may not have anything in common with us except that he/she is a child of God. It is when we reach out to others in faith that we show that God loves them. It is also an occasion for us to fulfil the command of God to love our neighbour. The love of our neighbour is a call to show concern for the person who is in need of us, here and now. We do not have to look far beyond our own horizon to manifest God’s love for our neighbour. We are called to be a brother/sister to whoever comes our way and is need of our help or assistance.
It is unfortunate that at times we live close to people who are in need or are suffering but we do not realise it or we do not move our hands to offer them help. We may be more open to helping people who are distant from us rather than those close by. We need to open our eyes and be more observant so that we can identify and assist those around us who are in need. May we learn to obey the “Great Command” as taught by Jesus by loving God and loving our neighbour as well. In this way, we shall profess the oneness of humanity manifested in the profession of the oneness of God.
