Which Is The Greatest Commandment?

[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0829441700″ locale=”us” height=”320″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41sZgiGkdSL._SL160_.jpg” width=”214″]In listening to this weekend’s readings, I cannot help but think that as a Trinidadian this is God’s message to us as a people. In the first reading, we hear God speaking to Moses telling him to tell the sons of Israel this, “you must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers once in the land of Egypt. Then God continues, “you must not be harsh with the widow or the orphan. If you are harsh with them they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry.’ Let us pause there for a while.

God is passing on some very important information to Moses about how the people of that time should treat each other especially the stranger the widow and the orphan. Why does God seem to single out these groups of people? It is because these groups have no one to defend them, no one that is but God Himself. You see the helpless and the marginalized people in our society hold a very special place in the heart of God.

You know sometimes in reading the gospel about the Scribes and the Pharisees I often wonder when will they get it. I often wonder if they do not know that they cannot outsmart Jesus. Yet again they came at him in an attempt to disconcert him. They came with the question of which is the greatest commandment. Now to understand the trap they were trying to set for Jesus, it will be helpful first to know that the Scribes and Pharisees had hundreds of laws. They had laws about how someone should wash their hands before a meal for instance. This is why Jesus in a previous Gospel called them hypocrites because of the rules and laws they were creating as burdens unto others. So they were expecting Jesus to quote maybe a Mosaic law as the greatest but He did not. In fact He gave then two for the price of one. They asked him for a law but he gave them two; and it may well have been two that they may not have known or may not have heard said that way.

Jesus said to them, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.” Jesus continues, “the second resembles it. You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands hang the whole Law and the Prophets also.” This weekend’s reading are all about love; loving God first and foremost and then loving our neighbors as ourselves.

It is important to note the language of the gospel and of the first reading as well. Love is presented not as an option but as a command. In the first reading God commands Moses to tell the sons of Israel. In the gospel reading, Jesus says “you must love God” and “you must love your neighbor”. He did not say that we should or you could or you aught to. He said you must.

So how are we to love God? Is it by attending Mass every weekend? We’ll while that is and should be part of our response, it is not all. What happens during the rest of the week when we are not at Mass must also be factored into our response. Do I live the rest of the week for God? Do I put him first, high above all else in all my dealings? In all my decisions do I apply the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) principle?  In other words, do I truly seek to be pleasing to God in all things? Do I make time for prayer every day? Do I remember to thank God for my meals? Do I think about God? Do I reverence His Name and that of His Son Jesus Christ? Do I look for opportunities to share my Catholic faith and to tell others about the love of God, or am I ashamed of my faith and would rather not let others know that part of my life?

What does it mean to love your neighbor? You should note that the love God speaks of is not the same the world speaks of. What the world speaks of most often is not love at all. Do I see every man, woman and child as made by God and, like myself, do I recognize that we are all made in the image and likeness of God, regardless of color, creed, race, or class? Do I genuinely seek to help someone in need? Do I recognize that every gift I have is in fact gift from God, not for my own selfish pleasure but for the building up of the body of Christ?.

Heavenly Father, please hasten to come into our hearts, for as individuals and as a people, we have lost our way.  Lord, our hearts have become so cold and indifferent to the needs of others.  Please God, give us hearts of flesh that we may love you high above all else, first and foremost; then open the eyes of our hearts Lord that we may see you in all mankind.  Give us the grace Lord to love all men, all women and every child  – especially the unborn – as you love us.  Amen.