Sunday, November 3, 2024

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, November 3, 2024

(Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28-34)

Today’s scriptures are brief, but deeply significant. We will focus on the first and the gospel and leave the second reading for another occasion.

The passage from the book of Deuteronomy literally calls for our attention. “Hear, O Israel,” Moses cries out to the Israelite people. He announces the famous “Shema,” the saying that every pious Jew repeats twice a day. Moses shouts it because it contains perhaps the most important message in history. He addresses us, Catholic Christians in the year 2024, as much as he did the Hebrews freed from the tyranny of Pharaoh more than three thousand years ago. He wants us to tune out for a moment our inner voice to heed the word of God.

The message has two parts.  First, Moses continues, the Lord is the only god there is. All idols and fetishes – whether myths like “Mother Earth” or the cravings of our hearts like luxuries – are imaginary. They have no substance, much less the power to save. They are like clouds during a drought, bringing hope whenever they appear, but soon dissipating.

Second, Moses urges us to love the Lord, our God, not a little like we love our pets, but more than our own lives. “…with all your heart … soul, (and) … strength” says the prophet. We are to live for the purpose of pleasing God. Because today, November 3, is the Feast of St. Martin de Porres, let’s use him as an example. Martin spent his nights doing penance and praying to the Lord. He spent his days doing works of charity for God’s children.

Now let’s look at the gospel. Jesus is now in Jerusalem.  He has just bested the Pharisees about paying tribute to Caesar and the Sadducees about the resurrection from the dead. Evidently his ideas have impressed one scribe so much that the scribe wants his judgment on a pressing question of his day: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” The answer is not as obvious as it appears. The famous Rabbi Hillel said shortly before Jesus’ time that the first commandment is: “What you hate for yourself, do not do to your neighbor.” Today some, considering its placement in the Bible, would say that the first commandment is: “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Jesus’ answer to the question shows greater wisdom. He gives two commandments known to every Jew in his time. They are similar in structure, but different in their objectives and their importance with the second being derived from the first. First, we are to love God above all else. Second, we are to love our neighbor, who is God’s child, as ourselves. If we keep both commandments in their proper order, we will never stray from the path to eternal life.

The scribe is pleased with Jesus’ response. He acknowledges that acting in this way “is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” However, he does not say that sacrifices lose all value. In fact, they have great value for the one who performs them and for the beneficiary named by the doer. We need to remember this when we are told that ethics are all that matters, that prayers and sacrifices, even the Mass, can be set aside. But if we set them aside, how will we be forgiven when we fail to show love to others? And what will we do when we find ourselves completely overwhelmed with difficulties?

The passage ends with Jesus congratulating the scribe on his insight. He tells him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” He is not far because he is staring in the face of the Kingdom. If he follows Jesus like Bartimaeus in last Sunday’s gospel, he will reach the eternal Kingdom. It is the same with us. If we follow Jesus by putting God before everything and treating others as we want to be treated, the Kingdom is ours forever.