Tag Archives: Greatest commandment

Love and Commitment

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As part of our morning prayer as a community of Friars, we read the names aloud for the friars who passed away on the given day. This weekend marks the 12th anniversary of the passing of one of the true characters and legends of our Franciscan province. Brother Juniper Capece was a friar for 60 years, was our provincial tailor, and was the keeper of many of the stories of the friars – you know, the ones that never get written down, but bring everyone to tears because we are laughing so hard. Continue reading →

Some Final Thoughts

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For a final thought, Pheme Perkins [679] offers:

What does it mean for Christians today to say “the Lord our God, the Lord is one”? Most of us do not live surrounded by temples and images of polytheism. Yet we might ask whether we have not given in to another kind of polytheism, a casual pluralism that accepts whatever anyone believes as “okay.” Or again, we allow good things that are not ultimate to become the ultimate and defining forces in our lives — nation, occupation, family, race, political cause, or theological system. [p. 679]

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It is personal

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When Jesus answers the scribe, He uses the second person singular form of the verbs: “You shall love..” Jesus is telling this individual what he should do. In this way it is not a dissimilar encounter with the earlier episode of the rich young man who asks what he must do to inherit the Kingdom (Mark 10:17-22). Although the man goes away sad, he clearly understood that this was an answer to what he, personally, must do. When the scribe responds and virtually repeats what Jesus had said he makes it impersonal. He doesn’t say, “You’re right! I should love ….” It is as though the initial question was somewhat “academic” as opposed to personal; an intellectual exercise for the scribe as opposed to seeking a guide to this life and the Kingdom to come. Even Jesus notes that the scribe has answered “with understanding” perhaps acknowledging the goodness of the answer. Continue reading →

The Scribe’s reaction

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32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. Continue reading →

Jesus’ Reply

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This coming Sunday is the 31st Sunday in Year B.  In yesterday’s post we discussed how Jesus’ reply moves from a singular eternal truth (the uniqueness of God) to a command for the continuous love response. Stoffergen offers an insight on love and its command. He writes: “Could you imagine a young couple on their first date? The woman thinks to herself, ‘I really like this guy. He’s so handsome. He’s so charming. I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of my life with him. What can I do to get him to love me?’ Then you hear the woman say in a stern voice: ‘I command you to love me. You will marry me. We will live happily ever after.’ Would a marriage like that work? Can love be commanded?” Continue reading →

Hear, O Israel

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This coming Sunday is the 31st Sunday in Year B. Mark alone among the evangelists reports that Jesus introduced his answer with the opening words of the Shemaʿ: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!  (Deut. 6:4), a prayer and confession of faith said every morning and evening by pious Jews. The words of the Shema’ indicate that the command to love God is an obligation which stems from his uniqueness as God and his gracious favor in extending his covenant love to Israel. Continue reading →

Questions

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This coming Sunday is the 31st Sunday in Year B. Our gospel is taken from the Gospel of Mark and is one of the most well known passages. Jesus is asked about the commandments: 28 One of the scribes…asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” The response is very familiar to Christians: 29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”  Continue reading →

Commanding Love

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The scribe’s question in our gospel from St. Mark about the greatest commandment was not posed “to test” Jesus as is done in Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels. The question is, in fact, a familiar one from Jewish tradition: “Is there a way of summarizing the commandments?” Jesus gave a traditional answer. The first part is from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (Shemaʿ ), but combined with another part from Leviticus 19:18. Continue reading →

Projection of Power

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I first came upon the idea of the “project of power” as a midshipman at the US Naval Academy. It was via Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. Mahan’s theories and conclusions shaped modern geopolitical power in the 20th century. If you think about it, it was the United State’s ability to project sea power from the continental United States 6,000 miles away to the nation of Japan that was perhaps the key strategic element in winning the war in the Pacific. Even today in our current crisis in Israel and Gaza, the United States is able to project power with two carrier strike groups sent into the eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent to further hostile actions, especially from Hezbollah.  Continue reading →

Love Means…. What?

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This coming Sunday is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Although the Sermon on the Mount has already included an extensive section of Jesus’ teaching to his disciples on love as fundamental to the life of discipleship (5:21–48), in this concluding encounter with his opponents Matthew gives Jesus another opportunity to summarize the core of his teaching (as 7:12). There, the teaching was to his disciples; here, it is to his opponents, in the controversy situation showing his orthodoxy as an advocate of the whole of the Law and the Prophets. Since Matthew here focuses on the argumentative aspect of the scene, he does not develop the theological issues that interest the contemporary interpreter (cf. Luke, who relocates the passage, 10:25–28): (1) the meaning of “love,” (2) the meaning of “neighbor,” and (3) the meaning of Jesus’ responding with two commands. Continue reading →