A reflection from Exodus 22, 21-27; 1Thes 1, 5-10; Matthew 22, 34-40
According to the Scriptures, God has a particular relationship with
the people of Israel. He establishes a covenant with this people giving some
guidelines so that they may walk safely, preserving the life.
It is in this context that the Commandments are born. Living the commandments has become essential in the journey of the people
of Israel to whom the Law is God's Word and The Word of God is Low. When they
state that “The law of the Lord is perfect, comfort for the soul”, they are referring to the Word. There is a deep correlation
between Law and Word, because the commandments of the
Law express the loving care of God who speaks pointing
paths of liberation and then reveal also the true identity of a people who obey, cultivating the sense of belonging to their God. The obedience to the commandments is source of blessings that leads to life, while the disobedience to these
leads to death.
Around the principal Law, the Jews have put so many laws that
gradually shifted the focus from what was essential. The
initial Ten Commandments became 613. The poor people
were considered sinners because they were not able memorize all these
commandments and therefore they didn’t practice them.
However, this part of the population
knew and cultivated the essential of the Law. That is the answer of Jesus when he
says: “You must love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with your entire mind and
with all your strengths” (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5) “and your neighbour as to yourself” (Lev. 19, 18).
Loving God is the first of all the commandments, but Jesus connected it with the love to the neighbour, showing that it is not possible to love God without loving the
neighbour. James in his letter considers liar the one who
says that loves God and doesn’t love the neighbour.
From commandment of loving God flows the loving to the
neighbour, as a result. The source is always God,
because was he who first loved us. It is from the love that God has for us – in a free and
generous way – that is possible to love others authentically. “This is a challenge for all the cultures
including those in Africa, where the loyalty to family
and traditions is often grown as the
first commandment.” (African Bible, p. 1770)
Jesus is the incarnation of the merciful love of God and his life
surrendered for all shows that only through the love the human being can reach
his personal achievement. Of course, that the belonging to a religion and the
participation in the mass are expression of our love to God as priority in our
life. However, in the end of our life the request to us will not be “which
religion did you belong to?” or “how many times did you go to the mass?”, but
the correct question will be, “how was your love for others?” The intensity of
our love to God is expressed in the way how we love others. Truly
love the person who only wishes the best to the beloved one, even if she/he does not deserve. This is how
God loves us, in gratuity and generosity. This experience should lead us to do the same
thing He does.
The essential for Jesus is to love God, loving
also the neighbour. His admirable pedagogy made these
two commandments even more accessible, advising that is enough we love one another as he loved us. Just as God has loved us in Christ, we must love from Christ. The one who loves in this way has
understood the essential of the Low and of the life, because whoever follows
Jesus does not follow a law or a doctrine but a Person.
Therefore, the unique criterion the Christians have to witness the love
of God to the world is to love others as brothers. We love God when we give him
the first place in our life, seeking firstly his Kingdom and his justice; when
we are faithful in our daily prayers; when we participate attentively in the
celebration of the sacraments. We show our love to the neighbour when we are
able to feel compassion before the reality of sorrow and suffering of others
and we are available to help them in their needs. In this sense, it was said about the first Small Christians Communities: “See
how they love one another”. However it was
possible only because they remained together in the love of the One who called
them. This requirement is still valid in
our days and it assures the vitality of our mission as
Christians.
Fr. Ndega
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