02 June. Thursday, Week 9
Saint Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs, optional memorial
1st Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-15
If we have died with him, we will also live with him
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.
Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
Gospel: Mark 12:28-34
Love of God and love of neighbour excel all ritual sacrifice
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other;’ and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbour as oneself,’ this is much more important that all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.
A Love that is Noble
Some of the finest biblical glimpses of marriage and family life appear in the Book of Tobit. The bride’s father, Raguel, expresses a noble view of marriage when he tells young Tobias, “Sarah is yours according to the rules laid down by Moses. Your marriage to her has been decided in heaven. From now on she is your beloved.” This sense of God’s blessing continues in the prayer of newly married husband: “Blessed are you, O Lord of our ancestors… who said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I take this wife not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and let us live together to a happy old age.” After blessing God and receiving a blessing, the newly-weds went to bed for their first night together. The ideal of pre-marital chastity is a given, in this culture.
The gospel links love and commandment. Normally we do not think of love as a law but as a spontaneous response of one person to another. Yet how easily what is called love can be a cloak for lust, in contrast to the noble purpose of Tobias and Sarah in their marriage. True love is a giving of self, “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” It reaches out to others and loves them for themselves, to “love your neighbour as yourself.” Such love is “worth more than any burnt offering or sacrifice.” Without love everything else loses in value, while with it we are “not far from the reign of God.”
The trials of love can chasten and purify the heart. Between the elderly couple, Tobit and Anna, divine providence worked to make the good better, the faithful heart all the more tenacious. The psalmist says of God’s word, “The promises of the Lord are sure, like tried silver, freed from dross, sevenfold refined” (Ps 12:7). Silver ore was placed in a burning cauldron. With strong heat the slack was burnt off and the pure substance remained. Such is the way of true love. It requires a lifetime to become pure and strong, ready for eternal life.
First things first
Jesus is asked a number of questions that are vital to our relationship with God. One of these is at the beginning of today’s gospel. A Jewish scribe comes up to Jesus and asks him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” There were a lot of rules and regulations in the Jewish religion at that time. He wanted to know which one was the most important. In his answer Jesus gave more that he was asked for. He was asked for the first commandment; he gave the first and second commandment, the first being to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and the second being to love our neighbour as ourselves. In that way Jesus was showing that these two commandments are inseparable. We cannot love God without loving our neighbour, and in loving our neighbour we are, at the same time, loving God. Yet, the two commandments are not on the same level, one is first and one is second. It is the love of God which is to be the primary love in our lives. We owe the greatest devotion to God. As Jesus says in one of the other gospels, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” God as revealed in Jesus is to be our greatest love. If we are caught up into a loving relationship with God, it will overflow into a love of all those whom God loves, and our various human loves for other people will reflect something of God’s love for them. [MH]