HOMILY FOR 31ST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (LOVE) — YEAR B
HOMILY FOR 31ST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (LOVE) — YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.”
BY: Bishop Anthony Ewherido
Deut. 6:2-6, Heb. 7:23-28, Mk. 12:28-34
Moses’ injunction to Israel to “keep and observe,” which faithful Jews recite at least three times daily, also applies to us. Keeping and observing implies total obedience and loyalty to God. That totality is encapsulated in the insertion of this single-minded commitment to One God (One and Only, not only the one God of the Jews but the one and only God of the whole universe), in the dimensions of heart, soul, and strength, signaling wholeness and that totality.
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Jesus insists in the gospel that we cannot separate this observance from a similar injunction in Lev 19:18, to love neighbor as self. Even if the second is not new, since it was already stated in the Old Testament, what Jesus did by placing it on the same level with the first, having brought them together, is both new and radical. They are not just inseparable. They must be in focus every moment of our lives, such that they become habitual: to love God above all else and love neighbor as self. As Mary Healy notes, “our love for God is concretized and expressed in our love for fellow human beings,” citing St. Bede that, “God cannot be loved apart from our neighbor, nor our neighbor apart from God.” That is the point that is underscored by the threefold questioning of St. Peter by the risen Lord and the instructions that followed on feeding the Lord’s flock in John 21:15-17. The commitment to keeping and observing these injunctions has its reward. For us Christians, that commitment is made more concrete in our encounter with Jesus, who bears the imprint of the One God, and who teaches us what it means to love our neighbor by his words and exemplary life; the reason he notes: “I give you a new commandment; love another as I have loved you.” It is in total love and loyalty to God as demanded in the first reading that the new commandment comes to fruition.
Lord Jesus, teach us total devotion and loyalty to God and unconditional love for neighbor. Amen.
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