Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Emmanuel de Leon SVD – Baguio City
Friday 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Behind the question of the scholar of the Law regarding “which commandment in the law is the greatest”, it is worthwhile to note that the Jewish law counts 613 commandments, 365 of which were prohibitions and 248 were positive precepts. For practical reasons, a unifying principle had to be established. So the Prophets and the Rabbis of old searched for this unifying factor. For example, in the book of Leviticus 19,18 Rabbi Akiba said: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” is the greatest of the Law.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus, the prophets — in answer to the question of the scholar of the law — combines two texts of the Law from the Old Testament. The first text is the heart of the Shema (Listen, O Israel) taken from Deuteronomy 6,15 ” You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.” This is the Jewish profession of faith recited everyday.
The second comes from the book of Leviticus 19,18 as quoted earlier. In the Jewish recital, these two texts were not combined. Jesus places the two on the same level. In effect, he is suggesting that the commandment to love holds together all laws, rules and regulations that one can think of.
There are many stages of love: sensual, filial, platonic, etc. But the highest kind of love that Jesus is talking about is agape, that selfless concern for others as shown by him who loved totally, giving everything in the process, to the point of dying on the cross.
What really is love? Frank Mihalic has this reflection to share: In the scene of the stage play and movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, the hero Tevye on one occasion keeps nagging at his wife Golda, asking her whether she loves him or not.
He keeps wanting her to say she does, but she is not into romantic mood and brushes him off, until she turns to him and says, “Look at this man … I am you wife, I cook your meals, wash your clothes, milk the cows, raise half dozen daughters for you, my bed is yours, my time is yours, everything I have and am, I share with you and after all that, you want to know whether I love you? Oh, well, I guess I do…”
Most grown-ups, the religious included, do not go around telling people they love them. But they express this love what they do to people around them everyday.
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