Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

JESUS ​​TO THE GOOD SCRIBE: «YOU ARE NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD».

«One of the scribes asked him: “Which is the first of all commandments?”. Jesus replied: “The first is: Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord; you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength". The second is this: "You will love your neighbor as yourself". There is no other commandment greater than these ".

Author
Hermit Monk

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Before this Sunday's Gospel passage Jesus had to face several groups of adversaries: priests, scribes and elders of the people (Mc 11,27ss.); Pharisees and Herodians (Mc 12,13ss.), finally the Sadducees (Mc 12,18ss.).

Reggio Calabria: Jesus and the scribe, Metropolitan Cathedral of Maria Santissima Assunta

Now, But, He approaches him, alone, a single member of one of these groups. It has no preventions, nor a prejudicially negative disposition towards Jesus. He has just listened to the last discussion with the Sadducees on the Resurrection and must have appreciated its wisdom. In fact, a sincere consonance is established between the two. Let's read the passage:

"During that time, one of the scribes approached Jesus and asked him: “Which is the first of all commandments?”. Jesus replied: “The first is: Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord; you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength". The second is this: "You will love your neighbor as yourself". There is no other commandment greater than these”. The scribe told him: “You said it right, Maestro, and according to truth, that He is unique and there is no other but Him; love him with all my heart, with all the intelligence and with all the strength and loving one's neighbor as oneself is worth more than all the holocausts and sacrifices”. Seeing that he had responded wisely, Jesus told him: “You are not far from the kingdom of God”. And no one had the courage to question him anymore.". (MC 12,28-34).

The question asked by the scribe: «Which is the first of all commandments?», was born from a widespread need among industry experts Torah: there is a commandment, a summary of God's precepts, on which all others depend? The rabbis will count 613 commands in the Babylonian Talmud and this search for the essential, of the commandment on which everything else "was hung" is not new. In the Old Testament there were already several formulations of precepts in synthetic form. In Shall 15 are listed 11, in Is 33,15-16 hello beautiful 6 and so on. Later elaborated by the wise men of Israel, were divided, particularly from the school of Rabbi Hillel, in «heavy» or «light». Even Jesus seems to accept this approach and recognizes that there are "minimal" precepts (Mt 5,19), which however cannot be overlooked.

Jesus responds citing the beginning of the as the first commandment Shema, the profession of faith in the Lord God repeated three times a day by every Jewish believer, central to the entire rabbinic tradition:

«Listen, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You will love the Lord, your god, with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength" (Dt 6,4-5).

According to this prayer listening has absolute primacy and is man's decisive relationship with God. Obedient listening is then the basis of love towards God and beyond, as we'll see. Looking closely at the words of Deuteronomy, taken from Jesus, outline a theological path, spiritual and emotional starting from listening, «Listen, Israel", It leads to the faith, "The Lord is our God"; from faith to his intimate knowledge, «The Lord is one», and from knowledge to love: «You will love the Lord». This increasingly penetrating knowledge that distinguishes Jewish monotheism and which influenced Christianity and then Islam is something original and unique in the cultural and religious panorama of the time. It is not born from an idea, from a philosophical reflection, as could happen in Greece, but from the experience that God has acted in history in favor of his people, saving it and making an alliance with it. From this revelation which requires recognition we arrive at a relationship of love for God, therefore we are His and He is for us. One and only God who loves each other with all the powers of the human soul.

But there's more. While the scribe asks Jesus for just one commandment, here He advances a second one, citing that of love for others: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lv 19,18). The full version of the Leviticus verse reads:

«You shall not take revenge or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord ".

Love for others even in the tradition preceding Jesus it was considered a fundamental precept, that, together with the precept of love for God, it condensed the whole Torah. But Jesus connects the two commands, indissolubly combining the love of God with that of others. For Jesus the two precepts unite heaven and earth; man to God and man to man: "vertical" love which implies loving God and "horizontal" love which requires loving one's neighbor can no longer be separated. From this answer, therefore, it seems that love for God cannot exist without love for others. The first commandment implies the second and the second presupposes the first.

It is important to reflect on the new, at the level of the contents of faith, that this combination of biblical passages brings with it. There is no doubt that Jesus establishes a precise hierarchy between the two precepts, placing love for God above all else. At the same time, But, going back to the will of the Legislator, he discerns that love of God and neighbor are in close connection with each other: the Law and the Prophets are summarized and depend on the love of God and neighbor, never one without the other. It is no coincidence that in Matthew's version the second commandment is defined as similar to the first (Mt 22,39), while the evangelist Luke even unites them in one great commandment: «You will love the Lord your God […] and your next one" (LC 10,27). In other words, if it is true that every human being is created by God in his image (Gen 1,26-27), it is not possible to claim to love God and, at the same time, despise his image on earth.

The Christian tradition he expressed his love for God in different ways, expressing it as a movement of research, longing or desire. Or the love for Him was perceived as obeying, in the true sense of listening to his word and responding to it. It is the love that seeks to carry out God's will and to live as He wants. Anyhow, despite what the world thinks, world that curiously is linked to many gods and idols, until you become a slave to it, Christian love is liberating because it is inscribed in this relationship with God who exalts and strengthens it and like a pole attracts towards itself every type of love that man can build on earth.

In the end, in the Gospel of John, Jesus will take a further step when he affirms: “Love one another as I have loved you” (GV 13,34; 15,12), that is, without measure, "until the end" (GV 13,1). In this bold synthesis, Jesus does not even make explicit the request to love God, because he knows well that when people love each other, in doing this they already experience the love of God. This mutual love also becomes the recognizable sign of Jesus' disciples:

«From this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (GV 13,35).

At this point everyone stops, as satisfied, and they don't go any further. After all, what topic is more engaging and all-encompassing than love, especially if it is aimed at God. I like, instead, conclude by still remembering this scribe who provoked Jesus' answers. The fact, for instance, that he waited for the right moment to approach him. In conclusion, after all those discussions with those who wanted to test him, Jesus could also decline and say enough. Instead, the Lord must have found his question pertinent and took inspiration from it for a new teaching that we still find inexhaustible today.. This scribe replies to Jesus that he spoke well, repeat his words, unifying them in a single commandment that summarizes them. Finally he recognizes that this commandment even surpasses the system of sacrifices and burnt offerings, in that moment, it represented an important article of Jewish belief and worship. He therefore richly deserves that praise of Jesus which will remain forever: «You are not far from the kingdom of God».

From the Hermitage, 3 November 2024

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

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