Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

31^st Sunday of the Year, B – November 4, 2018.

Readings: Deut. 6:2-6; Ps 17:2-4,47,51; Hebrews 7:23-28; 

Gospel – Mark 12:28-34.

Theme - Unconditional Love: How Far Are You From The Kingdom?

Introduction

Beloved in Christ, today our liturgy reminds us that the Ten Commandments of God (Exodus 20:1-17) are summarised into the love of God and the love of neighbour (Mark 12:30-31).  This is why our reflection titled “Unconditional Love: How Far Are You From The Kingdom?” calls us to measure our love for God on the love of neighbour. Before we relish our readings, we would take a look at the summary of the readings, the various dimensions and types of love, an appropriate narrative of love and the requisite pastoral lessons. 

Background & Summary of the Readings

Our first reading (Deuteronomy 6:2-6) reveals the assurances of Moses to the people of Israel that if they fear the Lord and serve him all their days by keeping his laws and commandments, they and their children as well as grandchildren would live long. It adds that if they keep this covenantal patrimony which they received from their fathers, God would give them a land flowing with “milk and honey.” It concludes by calling them thus: “Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart.”

The second reading (Hebrews 7:23-28) discloses the eternal nature of Christ’s priesthood. It reveals that he is interceding for us perpetually before the father. It assures that his own kind of priesthood differs from that of high priests who offer daily sacrifices. On the contrary, he offered one single sacrifice for sins and is above human weakness.

In the Gospel (Mark 12:28-34), Jesus gives a summary of the law and the prophets as love of God and neighbour. It reveals how Jesus lauds the scribe who said the love of God and nieghbour is the supreme law. Christ tells him: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” What then are the demands of this love we are talking about?

Dimensions of Love

The two dimensions of love are, vertical and horizontal. In the gospel of Matthew (Matt. 22:34-40), Jesus says: “You must 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 commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.” He further stressed: “On these two commandments hang the whole law and the Prophets also.”  As it relates to the gospel of today, this teaching has vertical and horizontal dimensions: 

a). Vertical Dimension of Love: Loving God with all our hearts, souls and minds translates into the vertical dimension of love. This also relates to agape which we shall explain. It is crucial for us to understand that it is in him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Therefore, in the words of St. Paul, as individuals and members of the Church, we must not let anything like death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth and anything else in creation, to come between us and the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:35-39). 

b). Horizontal Dimension of Love:  Philial love fulfills the demands of the love of nieghbour which our liturgy challenges us to embrace. For instance, the popular parable of the Good Samaritan tells us who our nieghbour is – Rather than get stuck on the lethal radar of erotic love, we are challenged to demonstrate real and active love to our family, friends as well as our foes. In Amoris Laetitia or The Joy of Love - Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation on the beauty, joy and love of marriage and the family, the Holy Father reminds us that God is throwing an open invitation to us to develop an unwavering capacity for love because our world is hungry for love, joy, peace, justice, spirituality, sincerity, fidelity and moral upliftment. This leads us to the types of love.

Types of Love

a). Philia: Philia is the love which exists between parents and their children, children with their parents and kids with their siblings. This stems from the natural bond that exists in a family. As a family word, philia is the brotherly or sisterly affection which unites us with one another in a unique way (Rom 12:10).

b). Eros: Erotic love stems from concupiscence of the flesh which St. Thomas Aquinas identifies in his Summa Theologica as one of the causes of sin. Aquinas makes the point that we are induced into sin through inordinate desires - The lust of the flesh includes sexual permissiveness and vain desires. The devil excites within us the concupiscence of the flesh so as to commit sin. The “lust of the flesh,” appears in two more significant passages of Scripture - the temptation of Eve in the Garden (Gen 3:1-6) and the temptation of Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10). St. Paul warns us to “cast off the works of darkness” (Rom 13:12) and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. Paul’s warning that we should shun concupiscence of the flesh is timely.

c). Agape: This is the love of God. It is often sacrificial. As the purest love, agape is the kind of love that Christ demonstrated by the manner of his life, death on the cross and his resurrection. All that Christ asks of us is: “Love one another, just as I have loved you.” (Jn.15:12). Little wonder on several occasions, Jesus would “took pity on his people” and satisfy their hunger (Matthew 14:13-21). This brings us to taking lessons in unconditional love. 

Unconditional Love: A Narrative

A farmer went to the field one day to cultivate. During the work, he glanced at the mango tree and saw a big ripe mango he picked. An idea happened to him not to eat this mango, but to bring it to his wife whom he loved so much, even though he himself was starving. When he got home, he called his wife and gave him this mango to show him his love.

Very happy with this precious gift, the woman thought directly of her child who had gone to school. She took this mango, thanked her husband sincerely and reassured her that she would eat it afterwards. The woman hid the mango and decided to give it to her son as soon as he returned from school to show him his love.

As soon as the child came home from school, the mother gave him this mango with a lot of joy in his heart. The child thanked his mother warmly for this precious gift and told his mother that he would eat it later. He, too, resolved to hide this mango and make a surprise gift to his father who pays him for school, believing that Dad knows nothing about this mango.

In the evening while everyone was eating the family meal, the child said to his father, “One minute dad, I bring you a present because I love you so much.” He ran to his room and took the mango and gave it to his father. Surprised to see the same mango he had given to his beloved wife to return to him again, without comment, he asked for the knife and shared it equitably between him, his wife and his child. All ate this mango with a lot of joy.

That’s how love works. When you give love, it comes back to you in another way, because love is the most extraordinary force that governs the universe of God. Let’s love unconditionally.

Pastoral Application & Practical Lessons

1. Service to God brings longevity: From the first reading, we are reminded that if we fear and serve the Lord all our days, it is likely that we would live long to see our childrens’ children.

2. Obedience to God increases prosperity: Our liturgy assures that if we keep and observe the laws and commandments of God, he would prosper us, grant an increase to all that we do and fulfill the promises he made to our ancestors.

3. Love of God and nieghbour should be our rule: As individuals and members of the Church, we are challenged to wholeheartedly embrace the love of God and nieghbour by engraving it in our hearts.

4. Christ our eternal high priest intercedes for us: Our second reading presents us with Christ as a compassionate high priest who intercedes for us perpetually.

5. Love of God should be measured by love of nieghbour: The discussion between Jesus and the scribe challenges us to measure our love for God by loving our nieghbour as ourselves.

Homiletic Points to Remember

1. Today our liturgy reminds us that the Ten Commandments of God (Exodus 20:1-17) are summarised into the love of God and the love of neighbour (Mark 12:30-31).

2. The second reading (Hebrews 7:23-28) discloses the eternal nature of Christ’s priesthood.

3. In the Gospel (Mark 12:28-34), Jesus gives a summary of the law and the prophets as love of God and love of neighbour.

4. It reveals how Jesus lauds the scribe who said the love of God and nieghbour is the supreme law.

5. When you give love, it comes back to you in another way, because love is the most extraordinary force that governs the universe of God. 

Conclusion

Our liturgy charges us to take a bold step in unconditionally loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. It also calls us to give in charity until it hurts and do something extra-ordinary for our neighbour for the sake of Christ. In case you are in doubt about what to do, remember the story of the family that shared a mango. Always measure your for love for God by the ruler of love of God – only then would you be said to be close to the kingdom. Happy Sunday!