The Greatest Commandment

These are excerpts from the homily I gave on the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 26, 2014.

When the Pharisees ask Jesus what is the most important commandment,  It is a legitimate question.  It is a question the Pharisees have been debating amongst themselves for generations.  The Pharisees identified 613 commandments in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  Two hundred forty-eight were positive, things to do, “thou shall” and three hundred sixty-five were negative, things not to do, “thou shall not”.  Asking Jesus "which commandment in the law is the greatest," the Pharisees are stating that the law comes first and must be followed.

The response Jesus gives to the question is:
“You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus is teaching us that the law comes from our relationships with God, neighbor and ourself.  It defines the reason for following his commands.  Love is part of the greatest commandment because the law flows from God's love for us.  Love comes first then the law follows.

Jesus tells us who our neighbor is by the use of parables.  Think of the Good Samaritan, his neighbor was the total stranger he helped.  We cannot love God if we do not love our neighbor who is also the stranger we do not know.  Love of neighbor is an essential part of our desire to love God.  If we fail in this we fail in our love for God.  If we do not recognize our neighbor as our brother, we cannot recognize God as our Father and we cannot love what we do not recognize.  God makes it quite clear to love either God or neighbor without love for the other is impossible

We read in scripture (1 Jn.3: 20):
"Anyone who says 'I love God' and does not love his neighbor is a liar" for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

Let each one of us ask ourself today how seriously we take the Greatest Commandment of all and the second commandment like it.  How do we show love to our neighbor?  Do we notice those people who pass through our daily life as strangers?  If you are not still not sure who your neighbor is recall the words from Pope Benedict.  This is one of my favorite quotes and comes from the encyclical God is Love:
“Anyone who needs me, and whom I can help, is my neighbor.”