Gospel: Matthew 22: 34-40
Another day and another episode wherein Pharisees try to trap Jesus with a question. Today the question is: what is the greatest commandment of the law? There are 613 laws in the Jewish Torah and the opinions are many and varied on this point - which one is most important? Jesus gives us two laws and merges them into one: love God and love neighbor. We only love God by loving our neighbor, by showing compassion and mercy in concrete ways to everyone.
Seems simple, right? But in Luke's Gospel the lawyer will seek to know who our neighbor is. That entails another set of opinions and Jesus' simple answer of "everybody" is as difficult to accept now as it was then. Today's generation of Pharisee and lawyer would ask what is meant by love. After all, executing people, refusing help to immigrants, refugees, and the poor, and amassing wealth are surely acts of love for the modern Christian.
None of us is worthy of Jesus' help and yet he stooped down to save us. There is not a single instance in the Gospels where Jesus refused to help someone, no place where he acted cruelly toward others, no time when the rich get a pass. We are called to love as Jesus loved - extended to all without condition or qualification.
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