Reading
Matthew 22:34-40
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Comment
After having put Jesus to a test with the dangerous question of whether it was lawful to pay the tribute to Caesar, the Pharisees "return to the attack" by asking him a question that this time does not risk attracting the hostility of the Roman political authorities, but of the different Pharisaic currents, in dispute among themselves over the interpretation of the Scriptures.
Jesus is therefore asked which is the greatest of the precepts of the law. The commandments recognized by the Jewish masters are in all 613, of which 365 are negative (prohibitions) and 248 are positive. It would have been easy, therefore, to offer an answer capable of provoking a dispute and antagonizing those who recognized him as a teacher of the law.
Jesus in his answer goes further and indicates not only what he believes to be the first and greatest commandment, but also the second, similar - the Greek text omoía means "of the same substance" - to this, which is "Love your neighbor as yourself "(v. 39). In these two commandments, Jesus summarizes the two tablets of the Law: the first, with the duties towards God, and the second, with the duties towards the neighbor.
At the same time, he indicates that precepts, abstentions, and ritual actions, only make sense if they are aroused by love. "Love is the fulfillment of the law", the apostle Paul will affirm, faithfully to the Gospel, in his letter to the Romans (Rom 13:10). While John in his first letter clearly highlights the connection between the two commandments: "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen" (1 Jn 4:20). The exercise of charity towards man made in the image of God and redeemed by the blood of his Son is the parameter for understanding how great our love for God is.
And yet, despite their complementarity, the two commandments show an important difference: while God is to be loved "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind" (v. 37), your neighbor is to be loved "as yourself "(v. 39). Charity put into practice by the Christian is different from simple social activism, it does not arise from a utopia determined by a purely horizontal vision.
The cross describes the double dimension of the "greatest commandment" (v. 36), declined in the singular but divided into two rules of life. The vertical axis, projected upwards - towards God - allows the horizontal one to embrace a wider panorama, extending the arms of charity towards every man.
Prayer
O God, we know to you an immeasurable debt of love; and since you loved man so much that you gave him your only Son, we commit ourselves to love our brothers and sisters for the glory of your name. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
