30th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (A)

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

Mt 22:34-40

EXPLANATION OF THE READING

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees….

Previous to this encounter with the Pharisees, the Sadducees tried to confound Jesus by putting to him a hypothetical problem. A woman married a man. The man died childless. According to the Levirate law, the man’s brother had to marry the widow so that the family lie of the dead man could be continued. In the end, all seven brothers married the widow. At the resurrection, whose wife will she be? Jesus replied by saying that in the resurrection there will be no marriage.

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

This seems to be genuine question for at the time of Jesus there seemed to have been a concern to systematize the Torah which consisted of 613 precepts. Hillel (a rabbi) reduced them to one: "Do not do what is hateful to you to a fellow human being" (cf. Lev. 19:18) while Simlai (another rabbi) pointed to Amos 5:4, "Seek me and live!"

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."

The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses “with all your heart” instead of “with all you mind”. “Mind” should be understood as referring to thought or to reflection.

The second is like it.

The first and second commandments are similar not identical. They are not identical such that loving one’s neighbour means loving God and vice versa. They are similar because of their nature (both concern love) and of their equal importance (both commandments have to be kept).

An alternative translation would be: “The second is equally important”.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The expression “as yourself” means that we should love our neighbour totally (with all your heart). It is not a recommendation to love ourselves first in order to be able to love our neighbour nor to love them in the same way as we love ourselves.

The originality of the response of Jesus is not in the idea of love of God and of neighbour. For these commandments are found in Lv 19:18 and Dt 6:5, but in the fact that Jesus united them and gave them equal importance and above all in the simplification and concentration of the whole law in these two commandments.