On this thirtieth Sunday in
Ordinary Time the readings are about the greatest commandments which we as
Christians need to keep always at any cost, despite whatever the circumstances might
be. In the Gospel, Jesus is approached by a lawyer who questions him about the
most important, rather the greatest commandment in the law. This lawyer comes
to trap Jesus with his question. The lawyer’s intention is not of getting any
new insight or teaching from Jesus. In Mt 22 we have series of group
questioning Jesus. The Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians were silenced by
Jesus through His answer for their questions. This outrages the Jewish
leadership to send some professionals to trap Jesus. Hence, they send a lawyer
of the law, who is responsible for the interpretation of the Jewish Law, the
Torah. There are almost 613 laws in the first five books of the bible (the torah) which a Jew has to follow. To
cull out one particular law as most important and greatest would be a difficult
job. But, Jesus does it. He brings out the everyday prayer of Jews from Deut
6:4-9 as the greatest commandment. Like today’s the angelus which we recite
three times a day, the Jews recite Deut 6:4-9 three times a day. Through the
recitation of this prayer they are ought to remember their duty towards God as
loving Him with their whole self (heart, soul, and mind).
The central message of all
the prophets in the bible is about caring for the weak. Prophets like Jeremiah,
Malachi and Hosea are the champions in speaking against Israel for their ill
treatment towards the poor, strangers, widows and the weak. In our first
reading from the book of Exodus, God commands the Israelites to be magnanimous
towards the stranger, widow, poor and the orphan. This social duty arises from
their historical condition. The commandment says, “You shall not wrong a
stranger or oppress him, for you were
strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Ex 22:21). Their historical condition of
being a slave once upon a time in an align soil and whose cry the Lord God
heard and set them free through the intervention of Moses should serve as the
basis for their kind treatment towards others. The Lord God warns them that if
they mistreat any weaker class in the society, He would hear their cry and act
on their behalf as He acted on the behalf of Israel when they cried out to Him
in an alien soil. The message of Exodus is this; be kind to others, especially towards the weak. The Lord God freed
Israel not just give liberty to them alone [to a particular group of people]
but through them reach out to many others who are living in slavery. God acted
mightily for the freedom of Israelites but that was only the beginning of the
great redemption story. When Jesus equals the commandment to love others as
great as loving God, He gives a call to all of us to be gods to others. Psalm
82:6 says, “You are ‘gods’; you are all sons of the Most High”. Being sons and
daughters of God is to represent God to others just as we represent our earthly
parents in our appearance, words, attitudes and behaviours.
In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus tells us to be salt of the earth and light of the world (Mt 5:13&14).
This Word of God is realized fully in the community of Thessalonica. St. Paul
appreciates the well conducted life of the Thessalonians whose exemplary life
serves as a proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ (1 Thess 1:7-9). We
too can be like those Thessalonians if we keep the greatest commandment of
loving God and neighbour. Jesus summarizes the whole of Old Testament laws and
Prophetic teachings into these two commandments. The escalation of war at
different parts of the world is the result of unloving. The world is losing
humanness because it has forgotten its original place in the history of
creation. God created humans in His image and likeness to represent Him on the
earth. We as humans have duty to show God to others. God loves each one of us
personally as though there is no other besides you and me. This is what God
means about loving a person with one’s whole heart, soul and mind; loving a
person with an undivided heart and in an unconditional way. Yes, dear friends
the present world needs human gods to show the way. The human dignity can be
restored through our kindness. Let this be our task today.
To conclude, let us reflect
and see how many persons do I love? How many persons do I like? Loving and
liking are not the same. We need to love more than liking a person. The social
media is another wonderful platform to know new people and love them. It has
options to express our likes, dislikes and love in emoji’s. Do we use those
options with all our heart, soul and mind? Often, we use those emoji’s either
to build up a conversation or to escape from texting. We need to be gods not
only in places where we are present physically but also in places where we are
present virtually. Let us love God with our whole self so that we may love
others as God loves us which will make them feel the love of God. This is what
we call being gods to other and sons/daughters of the Most High.
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