Reflection

Gospel

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 neighbour as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments”.                                        Matthew 22: 34-40

Reflection

In the Gospel today the Pharisees ask Jesus what is the greatest commandment. It’s surely a test trying to slip him up, get him to say something they can criticise or prosecute. Maybe their point is that all the commandments are important. But what Jesus does is perfect and logical and simple. He says the first commandment is to love God above anything else. That’s the greatest commandment, and it would include following God’s commandments. If you love God you will not have false gods or idols, you will keep God’s day holy, and won’t take the Lord’s name in vain. In essence, all sin is putting something before God, giving anything more importance than God in our lives. So if everyone just did this one commandment, put God before anything else, all the other commandments would be moot.

But then he adds that the second commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself. If you love your neighbours you will not harm them. If you love your neighbours you won’t kill them, or steal from them or try to cheat them or lie to them. If you love your parents you will honour them and treat them well. And who are our neighbours? Everyone else.   If you treat others fairly and decently, the way you yourself would want to be treated by others, you will live in harmony, as God intended.

He says the whole law depends on these two commandments. Put God first, and treat all others fairly and decently. How great would our world be if people actually did this? No crime, no discrimination, no greed. I don’t even understand how some people can be so cruel, so selfish, advancing their own interests even at the expense of others. But that is not how it is supposed to be. If people would love God and each other, that’s all we need.

Julie Leonard Religious Education Leader/Wellbeing Leader