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Gospel: Matthew 22: 34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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How do we please God?
If you asked a first-century Jew, then they would tell you simply, “Follow the Law.”
That, of course, could mean many things.
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In Jesus’ day, there were two major schools of thought regarding the Law.
Some Jews wanted to expand it as much as possible. They were meticulous and exceptionally detailed, so much so they created 613 rules to follow, involving everything from honoring one’s parents to the treatment of birds.
Others treated the Law like an accordion, wanting to condense it down to its very essence. Such is the case in today’s Gospel.
A Pharisee asks Jesus, “Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?”
Jesus responds with not one – but two – commandments; they must go together. You cannot please God if you follow one, but not the other.
Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, and soul, and your neighbor as yourself.
This is THE new insight of Christianity. We cannot mistreat other people while believing that we’re living in a rightful relationship with God.
As John writes in his Gospel, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his neighbor, he is a liar. One who does not love the neighbor whom he has seen, cannot love the God whom he has not seen.”
Pleasing God boils down to a single action: love.
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But what exactly is love?
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Love’s a bit like humility. It’s hard to define. But you know it when you see it in action. You know it when feel it. And you know it when you don’t.
Throughout the centuries, poets like Dante have tried defining “love” with varying degrees of success. For example, in The Divine Comedy, Dante writes, “Love is what moves the sun and the other stars.”
Nice, but a bit too abstract to me.
Shakespeare, on the other hand, got it right.
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In one of the most famous scenes from Romeo and Juliet, a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo from her balcony and says to him:
“Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”
The happier Romeo was, the happier Juliet became. That’s the very essence of love: the more we give, the more we have.
Love opens our eyes to a world of “we,” not just “me.”
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Parents know this well. Think of how delighted you are when you see your children succeed. You’ll sacrifice almost anything to make their futures brighter.
The more you love them, the happier you become.
Or the delight teachers experience when they teach their students how to read. Watching a child speak the story as they turn the pages of a book will warm any heart.
Or the sense of meaning we find when volunteering to help the most vulnerable among us. Knowing we made a difference in someone else’s day brightens our own.
If Juliet is right, then the more we give to anyone, the happier we become.
This must be true, above all, when we love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul. The more we give ourselves to Him, the happier we become.
This is why love fulfills the Law; it’s the force that moves the sun and the other stars. It motivates us to live in a world of “we,” not just “me.”
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Love never fails.
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Who do I love? How do I live in a world of “we,” not “me”?
Is there anyone I can love a little more?
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Love your God. Love your neighbor.
This not only fulfills the Law; it also satisfies the human heart.
Because the more you give to anyone, the happier you become.
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Image credits: (1) The Tack Online (2) World History Encyclopedia (3) Think and Let Think