TL; DR: The Gospel of this last Sunday comes from Matthew 22 and advances the challenges the opposers of Jesus have devised to get rid of him on his last week of life. Read and enjoy.
Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize in Physics and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, once said that asking good questions, "made me become a scientist." The difference between a good question and a bad question is the issue of intent. Many people ask Jesus good questions that seek to un-vail or uncover the truth. These are questions made for the sake of truth. They start as curiosity, inquisitiveness, and interest. The question in Matthew 22:34-46, the Gospel passage for Sunday, is meant to trip, to test, or to catch Jesus in some incongruence of thought. The purpose is not to advance knowledge, but rather to destroy their enemy. Jesus has been dealing with questions throughout Chapter 22 of Matthew: about taxes, the Sadducees asking a question about marriage in heaven, and now a Pharisee Lawyer asking Jesus about the greatest commandment.
Even though the question for today is asked for malicious intent, it is a question worth asking. Which is the greatest commandment? When the Pharisee asks this question he expects an answer from the book of Deuteronomy, perhaps, “Here, O Israel, the Lord your God is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” This is the greatest Jewish command. The good Jew is to love God above all things and people. This love manifested itself in obedience to the Jewish Instruction we call Torah, which we call the 10 Commandments. There were other groups. The Sadducees, for example, emphasized Leviticus, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Light on their theology, they were fascinated by Greek ideals of humanity, wisdom, and education. For them, love of neighbor is the primary commandment and purpose of the Law. There is no greater command.
Once again, Jesus is in a pickle. If he affirms the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5,) he risks upsetting the Sadducees, who are the humanists, intellectuals, and the most influential people of the day. If he affirms that the love of people, according to Leviticus, is the most important command, he risks upsetting the Pharisees who are the teachers of the Law, the Rabbis. Each group has a partial answer to the question and only half of the truth. In reality these two commandments were never meant to be opposite each other. Jesus’ answer places both commands side by side into one cohesive and comprehensive answer. Both commands are “alike,” equally as important. They cannot be separated; we cannot love God fully without loving our neighbors as ourselves. We don’t have the choice to have a purely spiritual love for God divorced from humanity. Our love for God has a context: our world and our very own communities.
Love of God and love of neighbor are two sides of the same coin. Now, since love is the answer, we must understand what love meant in first century Palestine. There are three different words for love at the time of Jesus. One is erotic or romantic love (Erotao), one is brotherly or sisterly love (Fileo,) and the last one is communal love (Agapao.) The word Jesus is using here is the last word. We are talking about communal love, not erotic love, and not the love you have for your close relatives, that love is assumed. We seldom have to be reminded to love our children. The type of love Jesus is talking about is the type of love you have for your community, your group, your tribe, or your church. This is the same word used for the agape meals of early Christians.
The word has little to do with strong emotions or feelings. It has little to do with what we call “love,” in a Hollywood sense. It is not individualistic, but rather group directed. It is an act of the will. It is a choice you make for others. When Christ says, “Love your neighbor” he is not just talking about the lady who lives next door or your favorite cousin. He is talking about everyone in your community, every person he places in your life. And this type of love is an active verb. It includes action on behalf of the other. It means that you will treat others with respect, will endeavor to treat them fairly, will seek the well-being of others, will communicate truthfully, will not gossip, will not use others as steppingstones, and will treat others with civility.
This type of love is as much a matter of the heart as it is a matter of the mind. In a very real way, this type of love requires decision-making, it is a choice you make. You can choose to love others or you can choose not to love others. Today Jesus says that choosing to love others and, in fact, loving them is as important as loving God. There is a part of this command that we often forget. The command to love others ends with “as you love yourself.” The self cannot get lost in the act of loving. You are not to love others while neglecting yourself, willingly becoming a victim, allowing others to use you, letting others manipulate and control you, accepting abuse as a normal behavior… If you are doing this, you are not loving yourself.
Love of God and love of neighbor is only possible because we have been loved this way by God through his Son, Jesus. He, who died for us on the cross out of love, has shown us the way. With him in our hearts and in our lives this type of love is possible. Loving others means working for the advancement of all, for a world of justice and peace, and respecting the dignity of all human beings, regardless of race or socio-economic status. We have a mandate to live by an ethic of love. We must repent for the many times we use, abuse, and malign others. And we must continue to strive to live as disciples of Jesus in a world that has no room for the God of Israel.
May our Lord continue to bless you. Amen!
Fr. Roman+
