Sunday 3rd of November 2024 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deuteronomy 6:2-6/ Psalm 17(18)/ Hebrews 7:23-28/ Mark 12:28-34

What is Love? Love is a small word but has a multitude of meanings with wide interpretations. Love features heavily in much popular music and with so much use it may be that its deeper meaning has been diluted somewhat. The ancient Greeks had four differing terms to distinguish separate types of affection which we now simply call love. The love we hear mostly about in our music is a romantic type of love, the Greeks called this eros. The second type of love the Greeks defined was the love found between family members, they called this love, storge, a natural or instinctive affection. A third Greek term is philia, a term for the affection between friends. Finally, the word agape is the highest form of love, used to describe the love God has for us, his created people, and the love that we should aspire to love God and others with.

Today the word love is abused in many ways. When we read about love in scripture it is not about affection so much as about commitment. We may feel warm feelings of gratitude towards God because of all we receive from him, but it is not warm feelings that are demanded in the first reading but total commitment, to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength.

The scribe in the gospel account does not appear to be trying to catch Jesus out as in other encounters with those in authority. There seems to be a genuine search for the truth from this official who has the job of interpreting the six hundred or so rules that govern the lives of the Jewish people. When he asks Jesus which of the commandments is the greatest Jesus answers him by drawing two key pieces of scripture together. Firstly, the Shema, a prayer recited by devout Jews twice a day and is the central expression of Jewish faith and secondly, he adds to it the requirement to love our neighbour. Again, not a soft sentimental love but a call to take the needs of others seriously. In his reply Jesus summarises the entire law giving it meaning rather than it being a dry list of rules and precepts. We cannot love God with all our being if we do not love those God created in a similar manner. What we do for others and what we fail to do for others we do or fail to do for God. Jesus is calling the scribe and us to a love that imitates the love God has within the Trinity that flows out unconditionally to all of humanity.

We see this agape love demonstrated by God who, in Jesus, gave his son to us totally and unconditionally. We see it in Jesus who fulfilled the will of his father by stretching out his arms on the cross submitting completely to human death so that he could come through the resurrection leading us all to the perfection we were created for. A perfection that we cannot achieve by our own merits but do so through the total sacrificial love between God the Father and Jesus his son. The second reading explains this by showing how Jesus is the perfect sacrifice as well as the perfect high priest. Jesus is engaged in continual intercession on our behalf, he is the mediator, priest, and victim.

The encounter between the scribe and Jesus is not confrontational but shows mutual respect between them. It is as though the precept of loving neighbour is already at play between them as they converse with each other. How we interact with people is vitally important to the relationship we have with them. So often these days there seems to be confrontation, a feeling of one side or another, I am right so you must be wrong. Our tone of voice, our body language, or the way we type messages into social media can convey an attitude that leads to hurt feelings and misunderstandings. To counter this we need to approach others, especially those who have opposing opinions to us, with a gentle tone and respect for their genuinely held beliefs. This great commandment to love God with all we have and to love neighbour similarly can come to life in our everyday encounters with others as we show tolerance, love, and respect.

We are not yet perfect in the way God created us to be but in imitating Jesus we will begin to prepare for the time when we will achieve the perfection that Jesus has won for us. In Jesus we have the perfect sacrifice and perfect priest to offer it. Jesus is engaged in continual intercession on our behalf. This is a cause of great confidence for us when we ourselves continually fail to live up to this great commandment. The sacrifice on the cross is not a past event, it is a reality in heaven until the end of our age. The mass we attend is the reflection of this great sacrifice where Jesus brings us to the Father and covers all our human failures. This should give us great joy and hope and will spur us on as we strive to fulfil the commandment to Love God and love neighbour.

God Bless Brendan.