Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catechism Links [1]
CCC 2083: Commandments as a call for a response of love
CCC 2052, 2093-2094: The first commandment
CCC 1539-1547: Holy Orders in the economy of salvation
 

“Moses with the Ten Commandments”
by Philippe de Champaigne,1648

Readings for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time [2]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem bible [3]
 
Readings and Commentary: [4]
 
Reading 1: Deuteronomy 6:2-6
 
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
"Fear the LORD, your God,
and keep, throughout the days of your lives,
all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you,
and thus have long life.
Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them,
that you may grow and prosper the more,
in keeping with the promise of the LORD, the God of your fathers,
to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.
 
"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today."
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Commentary on Dt 6:2-6
 
This passage is taken from Moses’ second address, introducing the “Law” to the people of God. Here he speaks of the covenantal responsibility the faithful have to keep the Law of God. The people are entering the land of Canaan, a fertile area (“a land flowing with milk and honey”), much different from the desert they have wandered. Moses points to this gift as God’s offering in return for their faithful adherence to the Law.
 
The selection continues with an iteration of the “Shema” (hear). It is prayer offered each day by religious Jews. It is basically an expansion of the First Commandment, exhorting the people to reject all other gods (in the historical context of the reading, this would apply especially to the Baal of Canaan). The clear intent is to place the love of God first in all things, making the need to offer all things to God foremost in all circumstances and endeavors.
 
 "When someone asks him, 'Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?' (Matthew 22:36) Jesus replies: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.' (Matthew 22:37-40; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18) The Decalogue must be interpreted in light of this twofold yet single commandment of love, the fullness of the Law." (CCC 2055)
 
CCC: Dt 6:4-5 201, 459, 2093; Dt 6:4 228, 2083; Dt 6:5 368, 2055, 2133
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Responsorial Psalm:  Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
 
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
 
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
 
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
 
The LORD lives! And blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
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Commentary on Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
 
The first strophes of this selection announce that Psalm 18 is a song of thanksgiving and praise.  God is seen as a protector in battle, and a sure fortress against all foes.  David gives personal thanks in the final strophes for the victory God has given, and the kindness he shows to his faithful.
 
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Reading 2: Hebrews 7:23-28
 
Brothers and sisters:
The levitical priests were many
because they were prevented by death from remaining in office,
but Jesus, because he remains forever,
has a priesthood that does not pass away.
Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him,
since he lives forever to make intercession for them.
 
It was fitting that we should have such a high priest:
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,
higher than the heavens.
He has no need, as did the high priests,
to offer sacrifice day after day,
first for his own sins and then for those of the people;
he did that once for all when he offered himself.
For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests,
but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law,
appoints a son,
who has been made perfect forever.
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Commentary on Heb 7:23-28
 
In this selection, the author continues to compare the priesthood of Christ to the Levitical priesthood. He launches into the third reason Christ’s priesthood supersedes the priesthood of the Levites. The Levitical priests, because they were mortal, died, and it was necessary to replace them so the people would continue to have intercessors, while Jesus, who is eternal, is eternally present. As we see in Romans 6:9-10: “We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.” Jesus is the eternal intercessor.
 
The second part of this reading (v. 26-28) constitutes a hymn of praise to Christ the High Priest, summing up all that has gone before. When Jesus ascended his throne and assumed his High Priesthood, he made the one final sacrifice that frees all people from their sins, the sacrifice of atonement that never needs to be repeated. He sacrificed himself once and for all. In doing so God appointed his Only Begotten Son as Eternal High Priest, “perfect forever.”
 
CCC: Heb 7:24 1366, 1564; Heb 7:25-27 1364; Heb 7:25 519, 662, 2634, 2741; Heb 7:26 1544; Heb 7:27 1085, 1366, 1540
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Gospel: Mark 12:28b-34
 
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
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."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
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Commentary on Mk 12:28b-34
 
In the continuing dialogue with the Sadducees from the Gospel of St. Mark, we find the scribe is impressed with the way Jesus handled the challenge by the Sadducees (found in the previous verses). The Lord answers his question about the law with the Great Commandment, the opening of the Shema, the great Jewish prayer, and then he follows that statement with the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself (see also Leviticus 19:18). When the scholar clearly understands what Jesus is saying, the Lord tells him he is "not far from the Kingdom of God" (see also the commentary on Matthew 22:34ff).
 
CCC: Mk 12:28-34 575; Mk 12:29-31 129, 2196; Mk 12:29-30 202; Mk 12:29 228
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Reflection:
 
When I was just a child, I have to admit I was a real stinker.  If I wanted to do something fun, like having a practice fire drill and have my sisters jump out of a window into the snow as part of it, I’d first go to one parent (they had to be alone – never try this when they are together) and see if they would agree.  If the first parent did not, I’d figure out what the objection was and then go and ask the other one, making sure to avoid the area where I’d gotten objections from the first.  It was pretty effective, even though it did cause some rather heated discussions between my parents when one said yes and the other no.
 
I must say I think my parents caught on to my little ploy pretty quickly.  Whenever the family gets together one of the favorite stories my sisters like to tell is how I had them jump out of a window 8 feet into a snow drift, in their pajamas, with my practice fire drill.  Oh, and my parents never said “Go ask your father.” Or “Go ask your mother.”  That’s how I got the idea in the first place.
 
As we look at the Scripture passages that were proclaimed today we can see a similar kind of rivalry over authority.  In Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking to the Hebrew people expounding the First Commandment, saying:
 
“The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.”
 
That important pronouncement later became the heart of a prayer said by religious Jews to this day known as the Shema (meaning hear).  It calls the faithful to put God absolutely first – all that is done in thought, word, and actions must derive from the love of God.
 
In the Gospel from St. Mark, we hear Jesus responding to a Jewish scholar, a scribe, using the same reference.  However, the Lord takes it further; he then goes on to quote another section of the Law from Leviticus 19:18 creating the Great Commandment.
 
We can see the tension between the Jewish tradition and its dedication to the rule of the Law and Prophets and the Christian realization that Jesus came as Messiah fulfilling God’s promise, clearly articulated in the Hebrews reading as the author contrasts the Levitical priesthood with our High Priest, Jesus Christ.  The priests that offered sacrifices at the temple for the Jewish people were mortal.  They died and successors needed to be appointed so there would be someone to intercede on behalf of the people, offering sacrifices of atonement to God.
 
Jesus, on the other hand is eternal, our Eternal High Priest. He offered only one sacrifice, and that sacrifice of himself upon the cross was for all mankind and for all ages.  That tension exists to this day.
 
Consider for a moment the Lord’s whole purpose in not only addressing the crowds to whom he was speaking, but his whole reason for coming into the world, the sacrifice he was making.  His sacrifice is expressed in the kenotic hymn from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians:
 
“Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)
 
Jesus came to us because, in spite of all of God’s messages and messengers to the Hebrew people, they did not understand the simple idea that without surrendering to the love of God, they were committing their souls to eternal torment – Hell. What Jesus was trying to offer them, with all his strength was the voice of love and the heaven that our first parents, Adam and Eve, rejected when they listened to the Evil One and, in doing so, caused the whole human race to fall into sin, forever banished from the intimacy of adoption by God, who is love.
 
With the mission of salvation in mind, because leading God’s favorite creation to the Kingdom of God is our salvation, we can see the frustration the Lord felt as these supposed leaders of the faith try to trick him into a violation of the law instead of asking him for the water of life which he so wanted to give them.
 
What parent would not be moved to tears of desperate frustration if they saw a child whom they loved obstinately chose a path that would lead to death, not life.
 
What we will say now is not going to be a “feel good” moment of the Good News.  I recently had the privilege of attending a seminar given by Msgr. Charles Pope from the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. who said, whether quoting or not: “Without the bad news, the Good News is no news.”  We must understand that those who reject Jesus, reject the Good News, are not just headed for purgatory; their immortal souls (we all have immortal souls) are headed for an eternity in darkness, bereft of all light and warmth, completely and utterly without God.”  Imagine an endless night without love.
 
We won’t go into the scientific proof for that immortal soul. However, Johns Hopkins has done a study of individuals who have been clinically dead and been resuscitated and discovered that 40% had experienced some form of what we term as near-death experiences. In those experiences those who were blind (from birth) saw, the deaf heard, the crippled walked.  We have an immortal soul.
 
Suddenly, with our belief in the promise of eternal life (or eternal death), evangelization, bringing the Good News of the Gospel to those who either have not heard it or have rejected it (been taught to reject it) has become urgent.  The Lord’s commandment to the Pharisees and Sadducees becomes critical.  It becomes our duty to reach out and do our best to bring those who have either fallen away or have never head of the God of love, personified in Christ Jesus, to bring them into the light, onto the path that leads to an eternity in the light and love of God. It does not matter if this outreach is through words or actions, but we are commanded.
 
May we all hear the words and heed the call, for the sake of all others whom we are likewise commanded to love.
 
Pax

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[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture is “Moses with the Ten Commandments” by Philippe de Champaigne,1648.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.