Contemplating today’s culture with the eyes of St. Francis.
[One of the scribes] asked [Jesus], “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is…’you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ …Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher… This is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question. Mark 12:28-34 (abbreviated)
Children naturally ask ceaseless questions. Adults also are prone to ask questions; that is, until they do not want to hear an unwelcomed response.
The scribe in the above lesson seems to have it all together. He is asking Jesus questions, and doing quite well in responding to Jesus. The scribe affirms Jesus’ response of needing to love God first and neighbor as yourself. His response takes burnt offerings and sacrifices off of the argumentative table of how to please God.
Jesus then makes one final comment, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Suddenly, the conversation ends. We next read, “no one dared to ask him any question.” What happened? Why did the dialogue cease? The scribe was doing so well. What frightened the other people?
The scribe might be like many of us. We love to have the correct answers, and love getting praise for being “right.” And, like the scribe, we are comfortable with intellectual answers – ones that come out of the “left side” of our brain. It makes sense to hear Jesus say that we need to love God first and our neighbor as ourself. Those words never create fear. Everyone can hop on board with that slogan.
Jesus then adds, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” In response to these words, the scribe and others become silent. You can almost sense a dark cloud of fear overtaking the hearts of all who have just heard the words of Jesus. Since this has been a question-and-answer session with Jesus, surely, we would expect someone to have more questions. Yet, now, no one dares to ask a question.
While the scribe was recognized by Jesus as giving the correct response, he could not help but notice the words, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.” The scribe may have become frightened in anticipation of Jesus’ next question which could have been, “and how are you living out those commandments?” Jesus goes to the heart of the matter. The “right answers” are on the table. Do the actions of the scribes follow?
Is this not like us? We are trained by the church to parrot back the correct answers when asked about Jesus, the church, our faith, and other ecclesial issues. If asked what is the greatest commandment, we most likely get it “right.” However, when we are asked if we are living out that commandment, we become apprehensive. We would rather hide the truth, keep up a false and sanitized image of ourselves, and look good before others. When we sense potential judgment and condemnation before God, we become silent. We dare not speak.
The problem with this scenario of Jesus for the scribe and us is that Jesus had still another comment to make. While the people dared not to speak, Jesus was ready to speak, not with works of condemnation, but words of forgiveness and love.
Christ gets how difficult it is to live a righteous and godly life. Humankind makes mistakes. We know what it means to follow Christ intellectually, but living out God’s command in daily life is really, really hard. God knows that. That is why God comes to us not as a judge, but as a loving person who attempts to lift us up, give us strength, and stand with us as we walk through life.
The commandments are never meant as words by which we are judged. They are there to guide us. If we see that, we are not far from the kingdom of God. The love of God is what marks us as Christians, as we figure out how to faithfully live out those commandments in this world.
May the commandments, overflowing with forgiveness and love, bring you constant peace and joy.
Prayers and Blessings,
Fr. John
