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Gospel Commentary for Sunday, November 3, 2024
You are not far from the Kingdom
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Peace and Goodness.
Jesus’ answer to the question of the greatest commandment is very simple. Like all his sermons. It is said to be easy, but… How difficult to live! Love God above all things and your neighbor as yourself. And not only that, but with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your being. Well, wow.
Probably life in Jesus’ time would be very complicated. I am referring to the life of the true Jewish believer, with its more than 600 rules, positive and negative, that they had to follow. The fact is that when life gets too complicated – even religious life – it gets too complicated, you feel the need to tidy it up, to simplify it. In the end, what the writer wanted was to be able to know and live what is essential. To stop living under the weight of norms and to feel the joy of prayer and the encounter with God. To live what is important. And the most important thing is love.
It seems to me that we should be grateful to this lawyer for having approached Jesus to ask him this question. He also gave us the opportunity to clarify what is most important. In his answer, the Master unites the two commandments that already appeared in the Old Testament: to love God and to love our neighbor.
The love that God wants is not a fleeting feeling, a passing emotion, a declaration of love made only with the lips, but the total adherence to Him in the fulfillment of what pleases Him. The desire to know and do His will. For the Jews, the heart was not only the seat of emotion, but also of reason and decision. To love God with all one’s heart is to give Him control over all decisions and feelings.
It also means having an undivided heart, a heart in which there is no room for idols. When it is the Lord who fills the heart with His Word, there is no room for the greed of money, whims, ambitions, when it comes to weighing what to do, say, or want. A good point for reflection: Is my heart undivided or divided?
Likewise, it is important for us to know what is central to our lives. Jesus’ watchword is love. A love that goes in two directions. Towards God, giving Him a place of honor in our life, in our mentality, in our hierarchy of values. To know how to listen to him, to adore him, to meet him in prayer, to love what he loves. And to our brothers, to our «neighbor», to those who are nice and those who are less nice, because they are all our brothers and sisters. To love them means not only not to hurt them, but also to help them, to welcome them, to forgive them… Let it not be something ethereal, but something concrete. «You cannot say that you love God, whom you do not see, if you do not love your brother, whom you see,» says the Apostle John (1 Jn 4:20-21).
In order to love others, it is necessary to be reconciled with oneself. Loving ourselves is the condition for being able to love others. If we hate ourselves, we will be aggressive toward others in our dealings with them. And as we grow in self-acceptance, we will feel freer to love others. Let us always remember that the first to love us is God. And from the experience of his love we can love others.
The lawyer thinks that the words of Jesus are true. He has listened attentively and responds wisely. There is no tension between them, as there is on other occasions. Even the Master’s last words confirm the climate of mutual understanding: «You are not far from the kingdom of God. A sincere question that receives an appropriate answer.
However, this learned man does not seem to have become a follower of Jesus. To be «near» does not mean to be «in». With Jesus we have arrived in Jerusalem, and his followers have had time to understand his teachings and, if necessary, become disciples. But this is not for everyone. Some do not come to «see,» they remain blind, like Bartimaeus at the beginning of last week’s story.
If this is our situation, if we feel that we still do not love God above all things or our neighbor as ourselves, all is not lost. We can always retrace the road to Jerusalem with Jesus, continue to draw closer, continue to focus on God. For surely we are not far from the kingdom of God.
Your brother in faith,