What is the first of all the commandments?

 

Recently in the gospels we have seen how it was the scribes who made hundreds of insignificant interpretations of the Law which were making the life of the people difficult beyond measure. But the first lesson in today's gospel is that we can never generalise about people and put them all in the same box. Today we meet a scribe who comes to ask Jesus which is the first of all the commandments. Jesus makes it clear that the first is that we must love God with all our hear, soul and mind and that the second is to treat our neighbours with the same love. The two are inseparable as John makes it clear in his first letter 4:19-21. ''Those who say 'I love God, and hate their brothers or sisters are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this; those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.'' The scribe who asked Jesus the question accepted his answer and said that to love God and neighbour as yourself is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.'' Jesus looked on him with great approval and said, ''You are not far from the kingdom of God.'' But it is not all who link love of God with love of neighbour. We are familiar with the priest and the levite who scurried past the wounded man on the side of the road so that they would get to the temple on time. Dictators in South America, responsible for the torture and death of hundreds would occupy the front seats and expect Communion in the cathedral on the national feast. May we discover You, Jesus, in all our sisters and brothers especially in the most abandoned and suffering for you have loved each and everyone of us first.

 

Don Hornsey