The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to examine if the depth of our relationship with God is affected by our stubbornness.
Too stubborn to hear?
The reading from the Prophet Hosea is a plea for repentance along with assurance of forgiveness.
* [14:9] Verdant cypress tree: the symbol of lasting life, the opposite of the sacred trees of the Baal cult (4:13). The Lord provides the “fruit” (peri) to Israel (2:7, 10), another instance of the wordplay on Ephraim (see notes on 9:16 and 13:15).1
Psalm 81 declares God’s appeal to stubborn Israel.
* [Psalm 81] At a pilgrimage feast, probably harvest in the fall, the people assemble in the Temple in accord with the Sinai ordinances (Ps 81:2–6). They hear a divine word (mediated by a Temple speaker) telling how God rescued them from slavery in Egypt (Ps 81:7–9), gave them the fundamental commandment of fidelity (Ps 81:9–11), which would bring punishment if they refused to obey (Ps 81:12–13). But if Israel repents, God will be with them once again, bestowing protection and fertility (Ps 81:14–16).2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus proclaims the First Commandment.
* [12:13–34] In the ensuing conflicts (cf. also Mk 2:1–3:6) Jesus vanquishes his adversaries by his responses to their questions and reduces them to silence (Mk 12:34). * [12:28–34] See note on Mt 22:34–40.3
Mark Latta comments that it is not always easy to love God in an emotional context, especially when facing the challenges embedded in our daily struggles in the world. It is important for us to be courageous in acknowledging this in our prayer life and be our true selves with God in our efforts to adhere to this first commandment. One hint as to how we might begin to love God above all else can be found in the “Suscipe” prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola from in his well-known work, the Spiritual Exercises.
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,that is enough for me.4
Don Schwager quotes “The fire of God's love,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Gravity keeps everything in its own place. Fire climbs up, while a stone goes down. Elements that are not in their own place are restless until they find it. This applies also to us. My weight is my love; wherever I go, I am driven by it. By the love of God we catch fire ourselves and, by moving up, find our place and our rest." (excerpt from Confessions 13,9)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 12:28-34 comments that the scribe has a choice to make. Will he stay close to Jesus and come to faith in him? Or will he dismiss Jesus’ claims out of hand and keep waiting for a fulfillment that has already happened? We don’t know whether the scribe embraced faith in Jesus or remained “not far” from him, but we can be sure of one thing: if he had known that God himself was present in Jesus, he would have been overwhelmed. He would have worshipped him instead of just discussing God with him.
Sometimes we too stop short of the kingdom. Instead of listening humbly when we bring our concerns to Jesus, we do all the talking. Instead of submitting to his commands, we look for a loophole or shortcut. Don’t let that happen today! Turn to him and let him teach you how to live in the love that he came to bring. He alone fulfills the two great commandments, and he alone can share that accomplishment with you. He’s standing at the door right now. Will you recognize him as the gift you’ve been waiting for? “Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of your kingdom. Teach me how to love you and your people today.”6
Friar Jude Winkler points out the stubborn reliance of the Israelites on alliances and political effort instead of turning to God. Our intellect, very life, conscience, and possessions are to be focused on Love of God. Friar Jude reminds us that Jesus is Wisdom.
Matthue Roth describes when Jesus said The Shema on the web site Jewniverse.
Today, when we say “the Shema,” we’re talking about the verse Deuteronomy 6:4 as well as three other paragraphs (two from Deuteronomy and one from Numbers), but the prayer has been through a number of iterations. Several hundred years ago, the Shema contained the entire text of the Ten Commandments. At one point, early rabbis proposed that the Shema should contain the entirety of Parashat Balak, but other early rabbis nixed it–for no other reason, they said, than it would be too hard for a normal person to keep concentrating intensely on the Shema for 30 minutes. It turns out that the Shema was significant even two thousand years ago. One of the most famous Jews is on record as saying it–that’s right, Jesus, in Mark 12:29.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, recalls the beautiful prayer for union from Jesus’ Last Supper address to his disciples. It might be the highest level of mystical teaching in the entire New Testament. (John 17:1, 20–23). The less we can connect, the less transformed we are. If we can’t connect with people of other religions, classes, or races, with our “enemies” or with those who are suffering, we’re not very converted. Truly transformed individuals are capable of a universal recognition. They see that everything is one.
We don’t go to heaven; we learn how to live in heaven now. And no one lives in heaven alone. Either we learn how to live in communion with other people and with all that God has created, or, quite simply, we’re not ready for heaven. If we want to live an isolated life, trying to prove that we’re better than everybody else or believing we’re worse than everybody else, we are already in hell. We have been invited—even now, even today, even this moment—to live consciously in the communion of saints, in the Presence, in the Body, in the Life of the eternal and eternally Risen Christ. This must be an almost perfect way to describe salvation itself.8
We pray to hear the nudges of the Spirit to move closer to Jesus' example of living the Great Commandment.
References
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