Thursday, 6/6/13
In Our Lord’s time there had been an ongoing debate among
Jewish Scribes as to which commandments of the Law were more important. One
faction held that it was the laws regarding keeping holy the Sabbath, while the
other faction felt it was the laws regarding observing Kosher.
Hoping that Jesus might have a useful insight into the
question, a young scribe asked him, “Which is the first of all the
commandments?”
Side-stepping the legal debate, and speaking from his wisdom,
Jesus won the young man’s admiration. He had answered that the greatest commandment was the one that
has us loving God with all our hearts. He then added that there was a second
commandment similar to the first one. It is the commandment that we should love
our neighbor as ourselves.
The scribe, speaking in admiration, altered Our Lord’s
answer substantially. While Jesus had spoken of two similar commandments, the
scribe made them into one, as though we showed love for God by loving our
neighbors.
Admiring that insight, Jesus broke off further disputing
with the officials. It was as though he had been waiting for someone to realize
that the real way of showing love for God is by loving his children.
Today is the anniversary of D-Day, when sixty-seven years
ago, the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy. They were putting a halt to the
Nazis who had imprisoned continental Europe, and who had pushed six million
men, women, and children into ovens.
Facing a frightening rain of bullets, a force of a hundred
and sixty thousand British, Australians, and Canadian youths waded up onto the
beaches of Normandy, where they left four thousand of their comrades dead. Today,
we pray for those heroes who showed their love for God by loving their European
neighbors more than themselves.
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