Readings for Friday of the Third Week of Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Hosea 14:2-10
In listening to Hosea we must always remember that in this prophetic work an ongoing analogy is playing out using the backdrop of an unfortunate marriage. Hosea’s prophecy paints Israel as an unfaithful wife (seduced away by idolatry and hardened by ignoring the poor) and God as the jealous husband who wants her back in spite of her faults. The language used today, at the very end of the book, has that flavor to it. The selection can be summed up with; in spite of your sins, come back to God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
Psalm 81 is a prophetic liturgy. The voice is a priest speaking in God’s name. We hear in it the Lord’s promise of compassion and the warning to listen to God and turn back to Him.
Gospel Mark 12:28-34
In the dialogue with the scribe Jesus quotes the opening verse Shamá (hear), the principle response to the covenant with God – the Father demands unconditional love from His people. Jesus goes on to incorporate a more inclusive element by saying; “The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.” While both concepts were present in the tradition of the time, the combination is originally with Jesus – something new. In following Jesus’ new teaching, the scribe earns praise from the Lord; “You are not far from the kingdom of God."
Reflection:
A number of years ago I learned to play (poorly) what is called the most difficult and complex board games in the world – Go. Two players attempt to capture the largest part of the game board by lying down black and white stones. What makes Go so difficult is its simplicity. The game only has three rules and is played on a nineteen by nineteen grid board. There are so many different options that it boggles the mind.
The reason I mention the game and its difficulty based upon simplicity is the same is true of the “First Commandment” that is presented in scripture today. It sounds very simple – love God and love your neighbor. The complexity and the difficulty come with the equally simple word – Love.
First we separate love into the two major Greek definitions; eros and agape. Looking at the boundary between them is like looking at the picture I have included today. At some point they come close, intense non-erotic love can be dangerous and I suspect, misinterpreted. Expressions of it in, for instance Victorian England, where women frequently hugged and kissed today would be interpreted as potentially scandalous and quit likely as erotic love. For our purpose today let’s put eros away, it is not what the Lord was talking about.
So we now focus on jus agape, familial love, love of a plutonic nature. How we define that in today’s culture is also complex. For the sake of our discussion, let’s define it as; caring more for the other person interests than one’s own. It is simplistic but it will work for purposes of understanding what Jesus was talking about when he left us the First Commandment.
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Hosea 14:2-10
In listening to Hosea we must always remember that in this prophetic work an ongoing analogy is playing out using the backdrop of an unfortunate marriage. Hosea’s prophecy paints Israel as an unfaithful wife (seduced away by idolatry and hardened by ignoring the poor) and God as the jealous husband who wants her back in spite of her faults. The language used today, at the very end of the book, has that flavor to it. The selection can be summed up with; in spite of your sins, come back to God.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
Psalm 81 is a prophetic liturgy. The voice is a priest speaking in God’s name. We hear in it the Lord’s promise of compassion and the warning to listen to God and turn back to Him.
Gospel Mark 12:28-34
In the dialogue with the scribe Jesus quotes the opening verse Shamá (hear), the principle response to the covenant with God – the Father demands unconditional love from His people. Jesus goes on to incorporate a more inclusive element by saying; “The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.” While both concepts were present in the tradition of the time, the combination is originally with Jesus – something new. In following Jesus’ new teaching, the scribe earns praise from the Lord; “You are not far from the kingdom of God."
Reflection:
A number of years ago I learned to play (poorly) what is called the most difficult and complex board games in the world – Go. Two players attempt to capture the largest part of the game board by lying down black and white stones. What makes Go so difficult is its simplicity. The game only has three rules and is played on a nineteen by nineteen grid board. There are so many different options that it boggles the mind.
The reason I mention the game and its difficulty based upon simplicity is the same is true of the “First Commandment” that is presented in scripture today. It sounds very simple – love God and love your neighbor. The complexity and the difficulty come with the equally simple word – Love.
First we separate love into the two major Greek definitions; eros and agape. Looking at the boundary between them is like looking at the picture I have included today. At some point they come close, intense non-erotic love can be dangerous and I suspect, misinterpreted. Expressions of it in, for instance Victorian England, where women frequently hugged and kissed today would be interpreted as potentially scandalous and quit likely as erotic love. For our purpose today let’s put eros away, it is not what the Lord was talking about.
So we now focus on jus agape, familial love, love of a plutonic nature. How we define that in today’s culture is also complex. For the sake of our discussion, let’s define it as; caring more for the other person interests than one’s own. It is simplistic but it will work for purposes of understanding what Jesus was talking about when he left us the First Commandment.
If we are to place God’s interests in front of our own, we must first, at least at a high level, figure out what God wants. We believe that God wants us to love him. We have been told countless times. Well that was sort of circular, so we go to the other things we know have pleased him – our success pleases him – the good we accomplish in His name reflects on him, just as what our children accomplish reflects upon us. And when we fail, when we fall, that has the opposite effect. (Although, our new understanding is that in our failures, God finds an opportunity to reenergize our love by lifting us up and showing us again his love for us.)
We could go deeper on the first part but let’s get to the second – love our neighbor as our self. Using our definition, that would mean putting the interests of our neighbor before our own. On the surface that does not sound very easy or even wise (if we consider the greedy nature or some of our neighbors). We must therefore consider this from a slightly more complex definition of our neighbor’s interests. Our neighbor’s best interests are to embrace God and that, in turn, will make him happy. We must believe this because the Lord is the source of eternal life and it is only through Him our neighbor can achieve the ultimate reward.
We must, as a consequence of our belief, lead our neighbor to God through our example and invitation. We must, in a loving way, help our neighbor understand God in this way. And that is why what the Lord asks us to do is so difficult. Using the Lord’s example of humble love for all mankind, we are to live that life that will bring all those we meet to join us in loving God.
My head hurts now just trying to get my arms around this, so we will pray today for understanding how God wants us to please him and how we in turn must bring others to do the same.
Pax
[1] After Links Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Heavenly Love and Earthly Love” by Giovanni Baglione, 1602-03
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