Homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Greatest Commandment 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, October 31, 2023

Developed Israelites of Jesus’ time were required to keep 613 commandments found in the Bible’s first five books. As a result, it was a common practice among the rabbis to inquire from one another what is the greatest commandment, what is the central commandment and the organizing principle of the law. Sometimes to ensure clarity and succinctness, a rabbi was compelled to offer this summary while standing on one foot. In accord with this custom, one of the Pharisees, a scholar of the law approaches Jesus and asks, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Matthew 22:36). Although his question was meant to entrap Jesus and use whatever he says against him, Jesus, nevertheless,  gives an honest, clear and extremely illuminating answer: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If you are still wondering what Christianity is about, this is it! Mind you, this is not one more philosopher among the many speaking. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God speaking and telling us what the heart of the law is. So, it is incumbent on us and actually obligatory that we listen and obey. More to it, Jesus’ illuminating answer should set the tone for your entire life. I don’t mean your life for today or tomorrow, but your entire life.

But why are the two commandments so tightly linked in Christianity? By the way, it is not controversial to say that the heart of religion is the command to direct one’s energy and life towards God, the Highest Good. It is self-evident that loving God totally, and following his will completely is at the heart of religion. But as dysfunctional people, this is not always obvious. We have to be told again and again. This is one of the reasons why going to church is important. We have to be reminded over and over again to direct the whole of our life and every energy in us following God’s will. Not wealth, not pleasure, not power, not honor, not knowledge, not country, not political party, not family etc. Mind you, all these are good in themselves but God must be the center of our life. Apart from God, nothing else is the highest good. If God is central in your life, if you make Jesus the absolute center of your life, all the things we mentioned and many others will find their rightful place in your life.

As I said earlier, it is not controversial to insist that loving God completely and unreservedly is at the heart of religion. But why does Jesus immediately add the second commandment? Don’t forget that the Pharisee, the scholar of the law, only asked for one commandment: “Teacher, what commandment (not commandments) in the law is the greatest?” He asked for just one, but Jesus added a second one. Why? Because God loves everything and everyone that he has made. Everything visible and invisible would not have existed unless God loves them into being. Therefore, if you love God with all your soul, heart and mind, you will unquestionably and certainly love what God loves. This is precisely why the two commandments are interlaced. As I was growing up in my family, I got to know that there were certain things my mother loved not so much because they were her thing; she loved them because my father, whom she loved, loved those things. As we can see, the requirement of love is far more than simple affection or warm sentiment. Our love for our neighbor must express itself in concrete terms. So, who in your life, right now is in most need of love? Who is the poorest right now in your life? Think of someone that is irritating to you. Think of someone that is distasteful to you. Think of someone that you don’t really like. Think of someone you make an effort to avoid. Think of someone you may not automatically seek out. You may have plenty of reasons why you don’t like them. But remember this: that person has been loved into existence by God. What matters is not the person’s worth to you, but that person’s worth to God. You might consider the person ‘worthless,” “useless” and “not needed.” But the stubborn fact here is that that person has value and worth to God. So, love that person because God loves them and we love God.

You love the Lord with all your mind, heart and soul. Right? If you really do, you won’t forget the poor, the marginalized, the needy and the forgotten. You won’t forget those on the margins of the society mentioned in our first reading (Exodus 22:20-26) for today: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him.” God loves all things and all people. They won’t come into existence unless he loved them into being. But littered in so many pages of the Bible is God’s focused attention on the “poorest of the poor.” God loves  with a special love, those who are most in need of love. And so should we if we love God with everything we have got. For the past 55 years, the Catholic Church speaks about the preferential option for the poor. Now, don’t get it twisted. The Church loves everybody because God loves everybody and the Church loves what God loves. However, the Church loves with a special love, those who are poor in every sense of that term. The command now is to love them specially.

Veni Sancte Spiritus!