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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings: Nov. 5, 2006
By Dan Luby
Catholic News Service
November 5, Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B Readings:
1) Deuteronomy 6:2-6
Psalm 18:2-4, 47, 51
2) Hebrews 7:23-28
3) Gospel: Mark 12:28b-34
The encounter begins with a trick question, like asking a coach at a team meeting to name her best player or a parent at Sunday dinner to pick a favorite child. It's an "either-or" question, and I imagine an edge in the scribe's voice as he asks it, a smirk on his face, glancing at his clever friends.
But if the scribe's opening gambit seems aggressive, Jesus' answer reflects confidence and peace and wisdom. He answers, but not in the narrow categories of the questioner, not ceding the rules of engagement to his prickly opponent. He answers instead in a way that both disarms his challenger and invites consideration of a new perspective on truths the scribe thought he already grasped.
Jesus' first response is not a statement but a prayer: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! ... Love the Lord your God with all your heart."
The Shema, so called for its opening Hebrew word "Hear!" would have echoed familiarly in the ears of Jesus' listeners. Devout Jews recited this prayer three times daily, both as a reminder of God's sovereignty and as a call to fidelity to his gracious covenant.
The scribe asks for only one commandment, but Jesus gives him a second, thus deepening and clarifying the meaning of the first: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
The impulse to division, to an "either-or" approach to wisdom and life and human community, while clarifying in the short run, proves too small for Jesus. To love God deeply, with passionate commitment, always implies a similarly deep and courageous love of our sisters and brothers.
The measure of our love for God, and the fruit of authentic worship, is the depth and generosity of our love for each other, demonstrated in our imitation of Christ, God's love made flesh.
QUESTIONS:
Who is a person in my life to whom I can demonstrate love more clearly? How? What are some concrete ways I can cultivate in my heart a deeper love for God?
SCRIPTURE TO BE ILLUSTRATED:
"Which is the first of all the commandments?" (Mark 12:28)
END
Copyright © 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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