Sunday, 11/4/12
There are two seemingly small details in today’s Gospel that
are of importance. First, I’d like to mention the detail from the end of the
passage; and then I’d draw attention to a detail two-thirds of the way through
the passage.
The important detail from the end of the passage is hidden
in the words, “No one dared to ask him any more questions.” What is important
about that is that after this
interchange with the scribe Jesus cut off public discussions. Something about
the scribe’s statement showed Jesus that he needed to do no more probing.
Two-thirds of the way through the passage the scribe gave an
answer that Jesus found most satisfying. Let me explain. The scribe began the
exchange with Jesus with his question, “Which is the first of all
commandments?” Jesus answered by quoting the commandment from Deuteronomy that
dealt with loving God completely. But, then, Jesus said there is a second
commandment that is like the first: the one about loving our neighbor.
The most important detail in the passage comes with the way scribe
agreed with Jesus about the first commandment. He repeated Our Lord’s words;
but we must note that the scribe didn’t repeat Our Lord’s words exactly. No,
Jesus had recited the commandments for loving God and neighbor as two separate
commandments; but the scribe linked them together as the one first
commandments.
When Jesus heard the scribe linking love of God and love of
neighbor as a single commandment, he gave up all probing. He was satisfied that
someone had finally got the point, which is that the way to express our love
for God is by showing love for his other children.
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