Love!
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
(Ex 22:20-26; 1The 1:5c-10; Mt 22:34-40)
I write this reflection fromKigali,Rwanda. It has not been that easy to write this for several reasons. TodayKigalilooks very beautiful – perhaps the most beautiful African city I have ever visited. People are all smiles – very friendly and cordial. But in 1994, this was the epicentre of the grotesque story where neighbours and friends turned against each other. In a matter of three months almost one million people were killed, just because they belonged to two different social groups. As much as 20% of the population was wiped out in a nation that boasts of perhaps the highest Christian population in the African continent: with almost 95% Christians, and 56% Catholic!
It is easy to raise questions about how these Christians lived the commandment or love, or failed to practise it! Doing a soul-searching myself, I know, I find it so difficult to love. It is easier may be to be kind to all, but to love others as I love myself – it is only in words! And therefore, I am well aware that I preach, first and foremost, to my own self. I want to be challenged by the Word of God on this day!
It is said that at the time of Jesus the rabbis could count up to 613 commandments contained in the Law: 365 were prohibitions (don’t do this!) and 248 were prescriptive (do this!). Some of the rabbis considered all these commandments to be equally important, while others continued to debate to identify the most important commandment. That is why the Pharisees and Sadducees had reasons to ask Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” even if their intention was only to put Jesus to the test. Apparently Jesus gives an answer that is similar to those given by some of the rabbis. For instance, there is a story about one rabbi Hillel, who lived a few years before Jesus. A ‘pagan’ went to rabbi Hillel and challenged him, “I will believe in the value of Torah, if you can teach me the whole law while I stand on one foot.” Hillel replied, “Don’t do to your neighbour what you would not want done to yourself! This is the whole law, and all the rest is only a commentary.”
Similarly, Jesus picks up two sentences and summarises the Torah:
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (from Deutronomy 6:5), and
“You must love your neighbour as yourself” (from Leviticus 19:18).
What is new in Jesus’ rendering though is the linking sentence: “the second resembles the first” (Mt 22:34a). In Jesus’ mind love of God is not separate from the love of neighbour. That is why, in the Gospel of Luke (10:27) Jesus combines the two in one breath!
It is also interesting to note that only once in the Hebrew Scriptures do we find the commandment: You shall love your neighbour (Lev 19:18). But in thirty-seven places the commandment is to love the stranger, as we heard even in the first reading of today. So did Jesus change the meaning in his rendering? Actually in the gospel of Luke (10:25-28), in the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus goes on to clarify that the neighbour is the stranger!
As regards loving your neighbour as yourself, I prefer the version in the Gospel of John: “I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you” (13:34, also 15:12). Even if this is more demanding, it is more consistent with what Jesus was about! So, the measuring rod for my love for others is not merely my love for myself (here, Jesus is only quoting the Torah), but the way Jesus loves me (original of Jesus) – He gives himself for me!
I am not too sure, if I will lay down my life for someone else even if I claim to love this person, leave alone loving a stranger. But I continue to challenge myself to take risks for others, though this is slow to come by.
Last week, I was taught a big lesson on kindness to stranger by a Rwandese young lady. After passing through the Fast-track Immigration counter that was not that fast, and negotiating the escalator that was not escalating, in Nairobi, I reached Kigali, Rwanda, on Saturday (15th Oct) for a meeting organised by my religious order in Africa. No one had come to the airport to pick me up. Being in Kigalifor the first time, I was anxious. I wanted to make a phone call. I approached someone who was selling sim cards and recharger credits at a kiosk. The young lady at the kiosk offered me her own mobile phone to make the call to a fellow priest. I succeeded. Then I asked her how much I was to pay. She said in her childish English: “I have just helped you!” I was surprised. I thanked her and waited for the priest to come to pick me up.
I remembered, in January 2011, when I landed in another African city, I was in a similar situation. The lady at one of those tourism kiosks offered me her phone, and charged me Shilling 50 for a call that would have otherwise cost a mere 3 Shilling.
After all, Rwandese people are kind!
I wanted to surprise that Rwandese young lady. So I went to change some money, and offered her Rwandan Franc 1000 (equivalent of $2). She refused, later reluctantly accepted it. I thought I had done a good turn! But did I? I am not too sure if I just didn’t want to remain indebted: just gracefully accepting the kindness of a stranger!
Sahaya G. Selvam, sdb
Kigali, 23 Oct 2011