WALKING IN THE WAY OF LOVE!

Friday, April 01, 2011

Lenten Weekday

By Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

Mark 12: 28 - 34

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" 29 Jesus answered, "The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and 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.' 31 The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 32 And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any question.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED FRIDAY!!!

Today is April 1. This day is known to be April FOOL’S DAY! The world celebrates this day by making JOKES and all kinds of FOOLISHNESS that are meant to bring LAUGHTER and HILARITY at anything. Most often people make jokes by TELLING something to someone that is NOT TRUE. This is meant to make a fool out of an unscrupulous “believer” about what he/she is told about to believe. Yesterday I receive this text message: “If today anyone praises u for ur gud looks, nature, style and attitude, kick them off. How dare they fool u before April 1st.” This text could somehow remind us that not all affirmations and commendations are sincere and genuine. This is another text I received early this morning: “Hey U Know, Which is the best day to propose a girl.. 1st April.. U Know Why ??? If she accepts den its your luck, otherwise just tell her April Foooooll.” This one reminds us about the fact that proposals of love can also be fake and full of pretension and deception.

In the Gospel today, Jesus is not a prankster telling people about something that is meant to fool those disputing among each other about which is the first commandment of all. Jesus was not fooling anyone to believe about the greatest commandment. He was very clear in declaring that the greatest commandment is to LOVE. 

First is to love God and, second, to love others as one loves oneself. The Scribe who agreed with Jesus was not also fooling around. In fact, Jesus commended the scribe’s wisdom in recognizing that the commandment to love is “MUCH MORE than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Love is the true path to the Kingdom of God. And love goes beyond rituals and customs that could be exclusive only to a certain group or a particular religious community. Love is applicable to all and binds everyone despite differences in political persuasions, cultural background, economic status and religious affiliations. Love is something that everyone is ACCOUNTABLE for. Everyone is CALLED to love. The Gospel today presents love as the HIGHEST MOTIVATION one must have in doing anything. For it is love that gives TRUE VALUE at anything we DO and SAY! And so St. Paul can claim strongly that: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (1Cor 13:1-3).

We can easily fool anyone by making them believe that we love them. But we can not fool God with our pretensions and double-talk about love. God knows the real content of our hearts. Jesus knew the heart of the scribe and so praised him with the claim that he is NOT FAR from the Kingdom of God. This scribe knew the key to the Kingdom of God. However, Jesus was not telling him that he already BELONG to the Kingdom of God. KNOWING is different from DOING. Jesus could have been telling that this Scribe knows the way to the kingdom. And so he is not far from it because he already knew how to reach the Kingdom of God. But it is a different concern whether he will WALK on the PATH of LOVE. Jesus is challenging us today to always be guided by the spirit of love so that in whatever we do or say, it will always be a step closer to the Kingdom of God. Jesus is calling us today to WALK in the WAY of LOVE!