Jesus somehow connected love of God, love of neighbor, love of self

Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

A reflection on the daily readings, for Friday of the Third Week of Lent, by Father Perry.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

+ Perhaps, some would say, the most outrageous moment of idolatry was when Moses went up on the mountain and communicated with God, then came down from that mountain and witnessed the people worshiping a golden cow!

It is hard to imagine what that moment must have been like for Moses.

He stood in the presence of God; then his eyes had to look upon a “cow-god” — false and glitzy.

And the impatient people that they were, were somehow satisfied with a metallic god; so easily swayed were they.

And so this message from Hosea was one that had to be said again and again to these unruly and idolatrous people.

+ Then Jesus himself, when asked, was able to put it so clearly and succinctly in response to the question, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”

And without a moment of hesitation, Jesus responded —

“Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.”

And Jesus added to that: love of neighbor and love of self.

And then a remarkable thing happened.

This particular scribe was struck by Jesus’ simple and simply stunning statement.

For Jesus somehow connected love of God and love of neighbor and love of self.

St. Augustine of Hippo.

St. Augustine, some 350 or so years later, would put it this way —

“Love, then do what you will.”

In other words, when you love, then you will do the right thing.

You will know in and through love how you should live.

And, playing with letters, some have noted that simply changing the letter O to I reveals that to “love” actually becomes “live.”

And Jesus no doubt would say that is how we really live!

But another beautiful and surprising detail to this story was the insightful commentary added by that scribe —

“You are right in saying, …
to love him … and your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

And Jesus noted that someone (that scribe) that very moment, that very day, was indeed a candidate for the kingdom of God.