In today’s Gospel a sincere Jewish scribe comes to Jesus with a legitimate question. What is most important? What is the central core of our faith and our faith life? As a scribe he had prayerfully studied the Sacred Scripture. Perhaps he even felt a bit overwhelmed with all the stories, prescriptions, and proscriptions. He was trying to discover from Jesus if everything had equal weight or if there were some core principle or optic through which he should interpret the Sacred Scripture and guide his daily life.
Jesus directs him to two key Scripture passages from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. The first commandment is somewhat obvious since both Jesus and the scribe recite the so-called Shema, twice a day.
“Hear (Shema), O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
Jesus like the prophets before him co-joins this command to love God with the command to love one’s neighbor:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18)
The scribe affirms Jesus’ insight and agrees that love of God and love of neighbor must always go together and agrees with the prophet Hosea and Jesus that God desires mercy even more than sacrifice:
“You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. 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.”
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13; Hosea 6:6).
Jesus in turn approves of the understanding of this Jewish scribe: “And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him,” You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
Jesus guides us in our interpretation of the Scripture and in our faith life. Jesus both teaches and shows that love of God and love of neighbor are the two guiding principles for our faith life. We are called to show that same mercy and compassion that God shows us, particularly in Jesus:
“‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:37-40).
Image: “File:Sofer, Jewish scribe.JPG” by Spaceboyjosh is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.