LISTEN; THEN LOVE

HOMILY FOR THE 31^ST SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

An attentive Christian must have discovered that for some weeks now, the Sunday gospels from Mark have been a narration of Jesus’ way to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem ministry of Jesus started from the 11^th chapter to the 13^th chapter. Having been welcomed in a triumphal way, Jesus had a better ground to drive home his points both by deeds, like the cleansing of the temple (Mark 11:15-19) and by teachings. Some of these teachings followed some question and answer series especially from various leaders of Jewish thought designed to catch him; for instance, the question about the payment of taxes (Mark 12: 13-17) and on resurrection (Mark 12:18-27). Being able to understand this background leads us to appreciate the Gospel of today (Mark 12:28-34) which is a question on the First Commandment. Even though he had been welcomed in a grand style into Jerusalem, Jesus knew that the religious and political atmosphere therein would not be anything but hostile.

One of the scribes (whom Mark portrayed as genuinely searching) who had been impressed about the way Jesus answered those questions came with one of the questions that was a regular source of debate among the Jews: which is the first of all the commandments? Awareness has to made prima facie that the Jews had 613 prescriptions on their list. So, it should not then be surprising if there was an argument concerning the first of them. Jesus’ answer was ready: Listen, O Israel, the Lord our god is the one Lord. And then came the commandment: you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. But Jesus began this answer by a declaration, not law: Listen, O Israel… Declaration comes before the law. It is because I believe in something that I keep its laws. Law makes no sense without a decree. Thus, the greatest commandment is really not so much a commandment; it is a belief. Yes, believe in the one true, beautiful and good God.

Now, the pious Jew was meant to recite this prayer every morning and evening. It is called the shema (which means Listen/hear) drawn from the first word of that prayer. The shema is the daily creed of the Israelite which asserts the supreme nature of the one God that every one of them must embrace and live according to his dictates.  This answer of Jesus reflects the instruction of Moses in the First Reading (Deut. 6:2-6). Moses had instructed the Israelites of the greatness of this shema and had urged them to recite it daily, mornings and evenings, advertise it wherever they work or live and to teach their children how to recite it. The heart meant the centre of affection (relying on God’s love), the mind was the centre of thought (searching in God’s truth), the soul was the inner source of energy for outward action (pushing towards God’s beauty) while strength meant a strong commitment to justice and good behaviour (serving God by loving our neighbour). So, Jesus’ allusion to the shema entails allowing the entirety of our being to be governed and directed by the love of God.

However, as it was typical of Jesus, he did not end with the Shema. He added another important element. Now, notice that the man had asked only for the first of all the commandment but Jesus gave him two; and “the second is: you must love your neighbour as yourself.” This is not unconnected to the fact that Jesus wants us to know that the first commandment has no meaning without the second; for both are inseparable. Love of God must be followed up and shown by the love of neighbour. The scribe was impressed with the answer of Jesus, and even went ahead to repeat them. He then added an important element which was a deconstruction of the practice prevalent in the Jewish attitude of the time: this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice. Many of their teachers of the law would have given a pride of place to sacrifice more than the law in talking about the first of all the commandments.

Thus, this became a challenge to the order of priorities in the Jewish worship of God; it can also become a challenge to our worship today. Do we place sacrifice before love of God? Do we place harvest/bazaar before charity? Do we place donations in the church before giving alms to the dying man in our streets? Remember, whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do that to me. Love comes first. This was the message of Jesus that this scribe repeated, and we too have to repeat today. As we exclaim with the Psalmist: I love you Lord, my strength, we are then left to discover for ourselves the order of priorities in our society today that tend to place ‘sacrifice’ over love. Love is the way.

Jack had wanted to sell off his old car, but needed the right buyer. By right buyer, he meant someone who needed a car badly but could not afford a new one. And who knew next to nothing about cars. He then succeeded in finding such a buyer, Jin. This buyer paid Jack a high sum not equivalent to the value of the car. Jack felt proud of himself and would boast to his friends how he got a high sum for what he now acknowledged to be an old piece of junk. Jack did not care whether Jin, the father of a young family were to have a bad accident and he were to get killed. Jack had placed his pocket, business, income, money as being more important than the life of a human being. Are we not sometimes like Jack? Yes, only Love is the way. Happy Sunday. God bless you.