The Greatest Commandment (Sunday, Week 30, Year A)

As we come to the end of the liturgical year, the gospel passages of these last Sundays report to us what transpired during the last days of Jesus in Jerusalem before His suffering and death. It was a very trying moment for Jesus; a big opportunity for his adversaries (mostly, the Jewish religious leaders) to rally around, unite and do away with Him. Last Sunday, we learnt from Matthew 22:15-21 that two Jewish groups – Pharisees and Herodians – went to Jesus and presented a difficult question (about paying of taxes) to Him, in order to entrap Him in His words. Jesus used it as an opportunity to teach. In verse 22, we are told that “when they heard Jesus’ response, they were amazed; they left Him and went away”. From verses 23-32, another Jewish group – the Sadducees – went to Jesus with another difficult question about the resurrection. Again, it was another opportunity for Jesus to teach. In verse 33, we are told that “the crowd was astounded at his teaching”. In the gospel text (cf. Matt. 22:34-40) of today’s mass, the Pharisees, when they heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, went back to Jesus with another question about the law, asking Him: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Let us remember that God gave the people of Israel Ten Commandments, delivered to them by Moses. Out of these ten, the Pharisees, the Scribes, the Jewish lawyers and religious leaders created more laws making the total number of prohibitions and commandments 613. The Pharisees prided themselves on keeping all the 613 laws. And for them, every article of the legal code mattered a lot. Their question to Jesus was simple: which of these commandments should be considered prior? It is not as if they did not know. They knew. But they went to Jesus in order to test Him.

Jesus referred them to their Law Books. In response, He quoted Deut. 6:4, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”. To make his first response more concrete and practical, he gave another response by quoting Lev. 19:18, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”. And He finally ruled that “on these two commandments depend all the law and prophets”. In verse 46 of Matt. 22, we are told that “from that day no one dared to ask Him any more questions”.  

Jesus said, “Love God and love neighbour”. There are three words here: God, Neighbour and Love. Who is God? Have you seen God before? No! How can you love someone you have not seen? But God dwells in your neighbour. Remember that in our creation, He put His essence, His Spirit in each of us (cf. Gen. 2:7). Your neighbour is thus the God that you can see. In 1 John 4:20, the Word of God says that “Those who say that they love God and hate their neighbours are liars; if you don’t love your brother and sister whom you see, you cannot say that you love God whom you have not seen”. That is why Jesus concretized and reinforced His answer by quoting Lev. 19:18: “Love your neighbour as yourself”. On the basis of Jesus response, the question we must ask and reflect upon is: Who is a neighbour? To a Jew of Jesus’ time, a neighbour must be his fellow Jew. But the first reading may have something deeper for our consideration. It mentioned four groups of people: a stranger (or foreigner), a widow, an orphan and the poor. These are the most vulnerable people in society. In the ancient Jewish culture, a stranger has no rights because he is a foreigner; a widow has no rights because she has no husband; an orphan has no rights because he has no father; and a poor person has no rights, in fact he shouldn’t even talk in the company of people (elders). These people are most vulnerable. They have no one to fight for them except God. That is why God said that His wrath will burn if these people are oppressed.

Those groups of people (strangers, widows, orphans, the poor) are not the only people who should be regarded as “neighbour”. A neighbour is anyone in need. Remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:25-37). 

We are told to love our neighbour. And the Greek word of that statement that is translated as “love” is agape. Agape is not an erotic love (between a man and a woman). It is not a filial love (between family members). It is not an affectionate love (between friends and those that we like). Agape is not having warm affectionate feelings for something or for somebody. Agape is a sacrificial love: the kind of love that Christ had for humanity which ultimately shone out on the cross. Agape is an unwavering commitment to take the needs of others very seriously. It doesn’t mean that we must have warm feelings for them. No! God loved the world that He sent His Son. In other words, God committed Himself to taking our needs seriously by sending His Son into this world to come and suffer and die for us.         

God is in our neighbour; He lives in all of us. If we can bow down or do reverence when we enter a Church just because we believe that God is there, why can’t we have some reverence or respect for human beings in our dealings with them?