for June 4
Thursday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time

About the time of Jesus there is a story about a man who wanted to learn the Torah, the whole Mosaic Law, while standing on one foot. Rabbi Shammai chased him away but Rabbi Hillel said: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary.” That saying is what is often called the “Silver Rule.” Given that one tradition suggested there were 613 commandments or precepts in the Mosaic Law, the question the scribe asks Jesus in today’s gospel is not unusual.

What Jesus calls the first in importance about love of God is a quote from the Book of Deuteronomy, part of the Shema prayer that Jewish believers then and now are to recite every day. But the context has changed. At the time of Moses, it meant to love the Lord your God alone, that is not also to love the Caananite gods they would encounter once they entered the promised land. By the time of Jesus, with monotheism dominant, it meant to love God fully. Our context is somewhat in between. Surely, we want to pray to God more than just that hour a week at Mass on Sunday. Nor are we tempted to worship pagan gods as such. But what about the attraction of money and possessions? Or of power, prestige, and self-importance?

Second in importance for Jesus is love of neighbor as quoted from the Book of Leviticus. Note it is love of neighbor as we love ourselves. So if we love, treat, and delight ourselves as we often do, we should equally do so in regard to the neighbor. But one author notes: If we have no sense of our own self-worth, our own dignity, and the personal love of God for each of us, it is impossible for us to give the same to others. The insight is that our love of God is a response to the love God has shown us.

Back to the scribe in the gospel who likes Jesus’ answer and adds his comment that love of God and neighbor is “worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices,” a teaching often emphasized by the Old Testament prophets. We read it, for example, in the Book of Hosea: For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Jesus then likes his response and adds that the scribe is not far from the kingdom of God, thus implying however he is not there yet.

While the love of God and neighbor the scribe praises are clearly characteristics of the kingdom or reign of God, since it is Jesus who is proclaiming and inaugurating that kingdom, the scribe needs to accept Jesus and become a disciple. We are those who have accepted Jesus and who consider ourselves his disciples. But what kind of disciples are we? I suspect that sometimes we are dynamic and spirited disciples, but sometimes tempted to be lethargic and complacent ones. While these are challenging times, we can find solace in the phrase in today’s first reading that the word of God is not chained.
—Edward O’Donnell SJ

Today’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website.