WHICH IS THE FIRST OF ALL THE COMMANDMENTS?

2Tm 2,8-15; Ps 24; Mk 12,28b-34
7 JUNE
The doctor of the Law who asks: “What is the first of all the commandments?”, certainly does not do so with intentions to test Jesus. It can be deduced from the immediate response of the Lord and also from the conclusion of the story: “Seeing that he had answered wisely, Jesus said to him: “You are not far from the kingdom of God””. We know that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit of God he sees the heart of every man. He always answers to the heart. If the heart is pure, he responds with purity. If the heart is evil, he responds with divine intelligence and prudence. We can preach of Christ Jesus what is preached of the Father in the Psalms.

Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes. With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute. For You save an afflicted people, But haughty eyes You abase. For You light my lamp; The Lord my God illumines my darkness (Ps 18 (17) 23-29).  Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord. You have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me. This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it. Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there Your hand will lead me; Your right hand will hold on to me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”— even the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.  For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began. God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend; how vast their sum is! If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with You (Ps 139 (138) 1-18).

In Jesus’ response, the two commandments of love are admirably brought together and made a single commandment. Love for God and love for man are two commandments, but one obedience. It is God that establishes how God is loved and how the neighbour is loved. It is God who has given us the means to love God and to love our neighbour. The two commandments must never be separated, because they are one Law and one obedience. Separating the commandment to make two of them, one to observe it and the other to ignore it, is equal to not observing any. One is the Law and one is obedience, because one is the command, one is the will of God and one is the Word.

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘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.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

All the problems of modern society arise from the separation of the love of God and neighbour from the Word, from the Commandments, from the Law and from obedience to the will of God. Loving is obeying. Obeying is observing and observing is fulfilling every Word that has come out of the mouth of God. He loves whoever listens to God.

Faithful Virgin, Angels and Saints ensure that our love is most pure obedience to God.