THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

26 October 2008

Readings: Ex 22:20-26; Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51; 1 Thess 1:5c-10; Matt 22:34-40

The Greatest Commandment

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the greatest and the first commanment. The second is like it: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these
two commandments.”

One of my favorite moments in the history of literature, particularly in the19th century

when Romanticism dominated the first half of the century with diverse literary
developments such as realism, symbolism and the so-called fin de siècle “decadent”
movement, is the episode in Victor Hugo’s novel ‘Les Miserables.’ 1 It is a story of Jean
Valjean, the main character, who goes to prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his
sister’s child. As an ex-convict and embittered by the injustice of his sentence, he is
offered hospitality by an abbé in his chancery. However, he steals the abbe’s silver
candlesticks and flees. The following morning he is brought back to confront his host –
the abbé and right there he already anticipates the torments reserved for escaped galley
slaves like him. Contrary to his expectation when the abbé says to the gendarmes, “I
gave him the candlesticks, you can let him go.” That was a redeeming moment for him
and he was never the same again.

As I was staring down the barrel of another episode in Matthew’s gospel, I came
to recognize the two-sided coin of love or charity which forms the essentials of our
Christian lives. These are the two great commandments which are radically rooted in the
spirit of love. Jesus, in his teachings, shows us that the God of the Hebrew Bible and
Christian Scriptures is not a god of ‘exclusion.’ He does not discriminate against people
of one race, color or creed. When one begins to exclude certain neighbors because he is a
disgrace in society or wicked, for instance, he breaks God’s net of inclusive love and rips
to shreds the so-called blanket of faith.

The Jewish people have this main prayer which they recite twice a day – when
they wake up in the morning and when they go to bed. It is known as Shema (translated
“hear” in Hebrew) and Jesus repeats it in the New Testament and he tells us that by
keeping these two commandments we keep all the others. Shema says, “Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one; Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your strength” (Dt 6:4-5, NIV).
1
cf. Wikipedia, free encyclopedia online. It is a novel by French author Victor Hugo in the 19th century and
translated variously from French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched
Poor, The Victims (1862). It examines the nature of good, evil, and the law, in a sweeping story that
expounds upon the history of France in numerous aspects. It contains a multitude of plots, but the thread
that binds them together is the story of the ex-convict Jean Valjean who becomes a force for good in the
world, but cannot escape his past.
 We may recall when God gave Moses2 the Ten Commandments3 which represent
God’s own summary of our duties toward him. There are actually two versions of the
Decalogue with similarity in meaning but somewhat different in wording. The version in
Deuteronomy, for instance, adds the detail of Moses saying that God “delivered unto me
two tablets of stone written with the finger of God.” Jewish people, however, believe that
the first five books of the OT contains not ten, but 613 laws of Moses. They believe that
248 were considered to be positive laws and 365 were negative.4 Because for them “to
keep so many laws is an angel’s work.”

There was much debate at that time and the context of this episode brings to mind
a series of questions. If we remember the disciples of the Pharisees and Herodians asked
Jesus about whether or not taxes should be paid to the Romans. Then came the
Sadducees with a contrived question about marriage the resurrection. Then finally, there
was this group of Pharisees asking about the commandments.

Jesus was not a scholar but he knows how to get to the substance of the law. True
love of God is incarnated or reflected in the act of loving one’s neighbor. Like the two
sided coin of love, one cannot claim he loves God if he does not love his neighbor. These
two great commandments are interwoven in application.

Perhaps some of us may not feel comfortable with these verses from the gospel
since we are challenged to act differently; that we have to start treating others with love
and respect even those we cannot stand. This is the radical meaning of Jesus’ greatest
commandment – love. This is the real essence of being in this world that we have to live
out our love for others in practical, concrete and extreme ways.

I remember the closing scene of the musical Les Miserables as Jean Valjean nears
death. It is very moving for me because as a forgiven and restored person, Valjean offers
his home, life, and everything including hislove for Cosette, the orphaned daughter of
Fantine. And Valjean sings these words to Cosette: “Take my love/ for love is
everlasting. And remember the truth that once was spoken, to love another is to see the
face of God.” This portion of truth reminds us that horizontal movement in our
relationship with others reflects the measure of experiencing God in his love. God bless
you.

2
The great leader of the Hebrews who led them to flee from slavery in Egypt.
3
These are a set of laws which were given to Moses by God. While the Law of Moses is made up of over
600 rules, the Ten Commandments were a succinct list of rules from which the others were developed.
They are recorded in two chapters of the Hebrew Scriptures particularly the Pentateuch: Exodus 20:2-17
and Deuteronomy 5:5:6-21. These are two versions, generally similar but somewhat different in wording.
4
cf. People’s New Testament Commentary