The Pharisee’s were
always trying to trip up Jesus. In the Gospel today, they ask him, “which is
the greatest commandment?” Of course at the time of Jesus, there were more than
600 prescriptions of the law including the 10 Commandments. Jesus answered the
Pharisees by splicing together two passages from the Torah, the first from
Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord you God with your whole heart, with
your whole soul, and with all your mind” and the second from Leviticus 19:18
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
I’m reminded of another
time the Pharisees tried to trick him and Jesus did something similar. Once
they asked him if it was lawful for a husband to divorce his wife. Jesus
answered by quoting from the book of Genesis: from the beginning of creation,
‘God made them male and female.’ But then he added something curious. Jesus
said, “What God has joined men must not divide.” Every time I officiate at a
wedding, after the couple exchanges vows, I say these very words, “What God has
joined men must not divide.”
These words have an
immediate context within the debate concerning divorce, but I think they have a
deeper, more spiritual meaning. Jesus answered the question about the greatest
commandment by joining together two commandments: love God and love your
neighbor. What God has joined we must not divide. In other words, you cannot
love God if you don’t love your neighbor. St. John says in one of his letters,
“the man who says he loves God but despises his neighbor is a liar and does not
have the love of God in him.” Likewise, you cannot love your neighbor if you
don’t love God.
The problem with the
Pharisees was they had separated what God had joined. They tried to love God
without loving their neighbor. And because of that, their claim to love God was
suspect. By not loving their neighbor, the Pharisees demonstrated that really
their observance of the law was not an act of true worship but rather of
self-promotion. Instead of leading them to love of neighbor, their observance
of the law led them to scorn others who failed to live up to their standards. Because
they separated what God had joined, they failed in both.
Now today, there are
some people who, like the Pharisees, suffer from self-righteousness and do not
love their neighbor as Christ has instructed. But by and large, I don’t think
this is the greatest fault. People are generally quite charitable. I see young
people involved in many service projects. The Dempsey Challenge raised over 1
million dollars this year. And whether you agree with them or not, the fact
that many people are involved in the Occupy Wall Street protest is a sign that
people are concerned for justice and equality. It seems to me the problem today
isn’t so much love of neighbor as it is love of God. If you separate what God
has joined, you fail in both. Even with the best intentions.
Saturday October 22nd
is the memorial feast of Blessed Pope John Paul II. I was privileged to attend
the 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto Canada. The Pope made a comment that I have
always remembered. To the youth of the world, He said:
“Dear friends, Christ
alone is the cornerstone on which it is possible solidly to build one’s
existence. … The twentieth century often tried to do without that cornerstone,
and attempted to build the city of man without reference to Him. It ended by
actually building that city against man! Christians know that it is not
possible to reject or ignore God without demeaning man.
The aspiration
that humanity nurtures, amid countless injustices and sufferings, is the hope
of a new civilization marked by freedom and peace. But for such an undertaking,
a new generation of builders is needed. Moved not by fear or violence but by
the urgency of genuine love, they must learn to build, brick by brick, the city
of God within the city of man.
Allow me, dear
young people, to consign this hope of mine to you: you must be those
"builders"! You are the men and women of tomorrow. The future is in
your hearts and in your hands. God is entrusting to you the task, at once
difficult and uplifting, of working with him in the building of the civilization
of love.”
My brothers and
sisters, Pope John Paul II reminded us that the “spirit of the world” offers
many false illusions and parodies of happiness and that the greatest deception,
and the deepest source of unhappiness, is the illusion of finding life by
excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral truths and personal
responsibilities. Let us not separate what God has joined. Let us neither
exclude God or our neighbor from our lives. Let us seek the justice and good we
long for by loving the Lord our God with our whole heart, soul and mind and let
us love our neighbor as ourselves. Blessed John Paul II, pray for us.