November 4^th 2018. Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL Mark 12:28-34

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL: Mark 12:28-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and 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 neighbour as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
'He is One and there is no other than he.'
And 'to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbour as yourself'
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In Sunday’s Gospel, a scribe asks Jesus which is the first of all the commandments. Jesus gives the traditional reply, to love God with all of one’s being. This is a verse that would have been recited by the scribes a few times daily. They knew the theory perfectly. In fact, Jesus says, “You are not far from the Kingdom”. But for the scribes, this remained something abstract, something to be repeated and argued over. Jesus is the one who goes beyond the theory. The scribes knew it, and it was for this reason that “no one dared to ask him any more questions”.  Jesus is the one who lives the “all” that is repeated four times in the first commandment. It is this complete love, without reserve, that enables him to be crowned with thorns, to endure the evil which surrounds him, to be crucified. He loves without keeping anything for himself. Jesus tells us that this complete love is what we need to live an authentic life. What is the alternative to this love? If a man said to his wife, “I love you with part of my mind and part of my heart. I will do certain things for you but not everything”, no woman would be impressed! The alternative to the completeness of Christ’s love is the mediocrity with which we live our lives. He loves without conditions and without reserve. Jesus puts flesh on the first commandment. And when we allow ourselves to be loved by him, then his flesh begins to become ours. On this 31^st Sunday of Ordinary Time, we consume the Eucharist in order to have this “all” in our hearts, so that we too, through his grace, can become capable along with him of loving without mediocrity, without half measures, but right to the end.

The scribe is “near” the Kingdom in that he can state what is essential for life: the total love of God and neighbour. But for the scribes, this was just a formula, an abstraction.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, a scribe asks Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” In other words, what is important in life? What is essential? What is the first thing that we must concern ourselves with? In Hebrew, the word “first” really means the foundation, the basic thing in all of existence. Jesus gives the traditional response, the same response that would have been repeated by every pious Jew a number of times daily. But for the scribes this verse was just another piece of information, something learned off by heart, a point used by them for constructing arguments against others. But for Jesus, this is something absolutely essential, as he asserts at the end of the passage when he says, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God”. Jesus is really saying that the Kingdom is not just a theory. It is something close by. We can move from theory to reality and cease living in abstractions. It is interesting that no one questions Jesus further after he makes this assertion of the nearness of the Kingdom. They do not have the strength or courage to make this final leap in quality to the things of the Kingdom. This is the leap that the theorists of religion always have difficulty making.

Jesus is the one who really lives the “all” that is repeated four times in the first commandment. This is what permits him to subject himself to crucifixion and insults. He loves completely, without retaining anything for himself

It is one thing to meet a person who can tell us interesting things, but a different thing entirely to meet a person who is himself interesting. It is one thing to meet a person who can tell us that the love of God requires heart, soul and mind, but another thing to meet a person who actually reasons according to love in an interior way, who emanates love in his very actions, with an intelligence that has been informed by the faith, and whose sentiments are instructed by authentic love. Such a person is one who has really taken on board the “all” that is repeated four times in the first commandment: “all of his heart, all of his mind, all of his soul and all of his strength”. If such a person exists, then he is someone who loves, plain and simple. He has taken on a way of life that is characterised by fraternal love, who knows how to pardon, for love is not something that only goes so far and no further. Such a person looks on others as part of himself. How can I not forgive and welcome the other who is a part of me? Such a man, whose love is not partial but complete, will be capable of bearing a crown of thorns. He will love even when he does not understand. He knows that to love involves entrusting oneself to God, refusing to respond to evil with evil. He will allow himself to be crucified in order to refrain from responding to the evil of those who surround him. He will be a man whose heart is crushed because he is one who has loved without keeping anything for himself.

The alternative to the “all” of Jesus is the mediocrity with which we live our lives

This phrase, “all your heart, soul and mind” is either true or false. In Jesus the phrase is true! If such love is not possible, if it is an exaggeration, then what sort of life is possible for us? If my love is not with all of my heart, all of my actions, if I retain other things in my heart for myself, if my actions are only partially directed towards others, then the state I am in is called “mediocrity”. If a man said to a woman, “Dearest I love you with part of my mind and part of my heart. I wouldn’t do anything for you, just a limited number of things”. No woman would be impressed with such a declaration. Jesus makes a declaration of an entirely different sort. He loves with everything that he is. If we ask Jesus what is essential for him, to what extent he will love us, the single word that he will utter in reply is, “completely”. This is the word that is repeated in the first commandment. He loves without conditions and without reserve. Jesus puts flesh on this commandment. And when we allow ourselves to be loved in this way, then his flesh begins to become ours. On this 31^st Sunday of Ordinary Time, we will consume the Eucharist in order to have this “all” in our hearts, so that we too, through his grace, can become capable along with him of loving without mediocrity, without half measures, but right to the end.