Sometimes the Internet can overwhelm us with too much information and with dubious facts and conspiracies. We can truly lose the forest for the trees and lose sight of what is important and true! The Jewish scribe in today’s Gospel also had this feeling of being overwhelmed even without the Internet. As a scribe he zealously and fervently searches and studies the Scripture but has been overwhelmed with too much information. There are too many customs, rules, commands, law, and stories. He sincerely asks Jesus: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus’ answer is simple and focused: love of God and love of neighbor.
“You shall love the Lord your God…”
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus “opens the Scripture” for us and gives us the lens to interpret every other custom, rule, and law in the Scripture. Does our interpretation of Scripture lead us to love God and one another? Jesus wants us to focus on what is true and essential and not to give other customs and/or traditions more importance than they deserve.
This Jewish scribe approves of Jesus’ teaching and Jesus in turn approves of this Jewish scribe: “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” Like this Jewish scribe we too zealously and fervently read and pray the Scripture. Let Jesus guide us in our reading and in our prayer for we too are “not far from the Kingdom of God.”