Scripture Scribbles: October 31, 2021

the Gospel

Mark 12 : 28-34
One of the scribes came to Jesus and 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 neighbor 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 neighbor 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.

the devotion

I look around the group of newly minted teenagers, blinking back at me. The silence stretches in response to a question I’ve asked. One that has left the six of us in a pause of contemplation.

“Do you know what Jesus told us the first commandment is? The greatest one of all? It’s to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength. How many people do you think follow this in their daily lives?”

I wait as we ponder this, letting the silent answer wash over us. Eventually we reveal that each of us has failed to do this. Thankfully, Confession was next up on our retreat schedule.

So often, people skip right on down to the second commandment that Jesus names in today’s Gospel: to love your neighbor as yourself. I am not downplaying the importance or beauty of this. But I couldn’t help but smile when I realized this was my Gospel to write on. It’s stuck with me since encountering it along my conversion to the Church.

I think it’s because once you understand it, it has to change absolutely everything.

I had been told about the “Golden Rule” all my life: to treat others the way you want to be treated. I had even heard that Jesus taught this. But that Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, your mind, your soul and your strength? That one seemed to have slipped through the cracks.

What would your life really look like if this was how you built it?

People say going to Mass every Sunday isn’t a necessity anymore, that following what the Church teaches is an optional endeavor, that making time for prayer everyday is just impossible. That all of that is outdated, something that we no longer need to do.

But if, according to Jesus, the very first and greatest commandment of all is to love God with your whole mind, soul, strength and heart, wouldn’t we have to care about living out what it is that God has revealed? Wouldn’t these things need to take priority? Wouldn’t we begin by structuring our lives so that things like the Mass, Scripture, daily prayer and Church Teaching come first, and not the other way around?

Today I invite you to allow the Holy Spirit to convict you of this.

Am I really living out the greatest and first of all the commandments in my life?

Today’s devotion was written by Rachel Smith.