Weekly Gospel Reflection

In this week’s Gospel, the Jewish leaders ask Jesus, “Master, which is the greatest commandment of the law?” Jesus breaks his answer into two parts. The first, he says, is to Love God with all your heart and with all your soul. Secondly, he says, is to love your neighbor as yourself.

There are several ways that we can break this down. First, we can see that God is about love. This is perhaps a little different than the relationship that was developed in the Old Testament. The different covenants that God made with the Jewish people can be better understood as a 'deal' or 'agreement' that was made. God would reward and care for the Hebrew people, and in return, they would be looked after. However, Jesus changes the relationship – God loves all people as a father would for their son. Many parables are offered on how this love looks, such as the lost sheep, the lost coin, the Good Samaritan, to name a few. Furthermore, many of the miracles performed by Jesus aimed to show love to the most marginalized people in society – those with disabilities and from ethnic minorities.

However, Jesus is no longer with us physically. Therefore, the law that is given to us is to continue Jesus' work. We are to show love to our neighbors through acts of mercy. This has been explored in some of my previous reflections. However, it is worthwhile to also focus on the phrase "as yourself." This also implies that not only do we need to care and love others, but also ourselves. We are often our own harshest critics. By nature, we often focus on the things that don't go right, what we would like to have that we don't, or the next big thing to do. 

I wonder if the message for love for self has become more relevant now in the 21st century with the rise of social media. How many social influencers show themselves traveling all around the world, looking fit, all the while being entrepreneurs? And if this isn't on your feed, there will be many other images coming up showing you what you don't have. Jesus' message, on the other hand, is simple and authentic – be grateful for what you have, be kind to yourself, and live your own best life without comparing to others. After all, Jesus' disciples were all flawed in their own ways, and yet they were the people with whom he felt most comfortable.

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