LOVE
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 also 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!