HOMILY OF 9TH THURSDAY OF ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY OF 9TH THURSDAY OF ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: THE COMMANDMENT
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall 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 shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
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The first five books of the Bible, Pentateuch, are very important for the Jews because they contain the commandments of God given to Moses. That is why they are collectively called Torah, or the Law. Not only did God give the commandments, but Moses also added many other detailed prescriptions. All in all, there are 613 commandments and precepts in the Torah.
Hence, the question of the scribe is understandable. It is not easy to remember all these laws, let alone follow them. That is why the scribe needs to know which among them are the most important so that he can prioritize them over the others.
In answering the question Jesus does not give just one commandment but two: Love your God with your whole heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. These are nothing new, for they are already in the Law of Moses, namely, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18 respectively.
Nevertheless, Jesus teaches something new regarding these commandments. First, He teaches that the commandment of love is actually one, and not two. The love of God and the Love of neighbor cannot be separated. They are like the two sides of the same coin. He emphasized this point in the parable of the Last Judgement: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).
However, He pointed out that the love of God is the first. And the love of neighbor comes second, but it is like the first. This means that the love of God is the source and basis for the love of neighbor. And the love of neighbor is the concretization of the love of God.
Then He expands the concept of a neighbor. For most people, a neighbor is one who belongs to the family, a friend, or somebody in proximate relationship. But for Jesus, this is a very limited view of neighbor. Anybody who is in need, regardless of color, class, religion or social status is a neighbor. He illustrated this in His Parable of the Good Samaritan. This is the most sublime form of love, which is described by the Greek word ‘agape’.
That is why, the third new idea in His teaching is that love is not only for those who are lovable or those who can reciprocate our acts of kindness, but also for those who are not lovable, and even those who are against us, our enemies. Hence, He offers Himself as the benchmark for this kind of love: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34). And the ultimate act of love is self-sacrifice: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). He showed this by His death on the cross.
Jesus insisted on this kind of love by categorically proclaiming that this is His new commandment. And it is the basis for being known as His disciples, and of becoming true children of God who is Love.
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