Love God with all your heart… love your neighbor as yourself
Exodus 22:20-26
1 Thessalonians 1:5C-10
Matthew 22:34-40
The Pharisee had asked about the first and greatest commandment. Jesus answered his question, but also told him what he did not ask for, namely the second greatest commandment, that of love of neighbor. Not only did he tell him because these two commandments are closely linked one to the other, but also to teach the Pharisee personally. He had posed the question, not to learn but to test Jesus. The gospel reading starts with the statement: "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..." Asking a question to test another is a sign of lack of love for the neighbor.
This Pharisee was a doctor of the Law. Yet in his question he betrayed a failure to keep the Law in which he was supposed be an expert. Over and over again in the gospels, we observe the failure of the Pharisees to keep the Law of love of God and neighbor, even if they meticulously profess to keep that Law. This is a great lesson particularly to us who know more about our faith than others. I can be an expert in Christian doctrine, yet fail to observe its fundamentals, namely, the commandment to love.
But as on many occasions before, Jesus used the occasion to teach all of us what is fundamental to our happiness and ultimate salvation. The commandments of God are at the same time indications to us of the best course of action that ensures our happiness. God must be loved with all our faculties because he is the source of all goodness, the source of all that our hearts long for. To have God is to have all. The Responsorial Psalm teaches us the source of our strength to love: “I love you, Lord, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my savior. My God is the rock where I take refuge; my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold”.
Our neighbor must be loved with the same measure with which we love ourselves, because the neighbor is as loveable as we are. We never get to know ourselves fully, and much less the neighbor, but if we saw what God who sees everything sees in each individual, then we would not need persuasion to love our neighbor, for we would see how lovely and loveable they are. The commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves is broken down into manageable parts in the first reading by teaching us to be especially sensitive to those who are neediest: the orphans, the widows, the strangers, the poor who come to us for help.
The reading particularly warns against making profit out of someone’s need. Think of some unscrupulous money lenders who give credit at very high interests, and when the borrower cannot pay, take away the property given as a pledge to pay. Think of those who sell fake medicines cheaply, making profit out of people’s sickness and desire for healing. Think of people who get money in the names of widows and orphans with the intention of enriching themselves. Such actions can never really make us happy because the tears of the oppressed ascend to God. On the other hand, coming to the help of the most vulnerable brings down God’s blessings, even when the needy have no means of repaying us back.
