Fr. Michael Williams

If we want to find out something about a subject it’s might be an idea to consult an expert on that subject. Jesus was seen by many as an expert on the Law of God and so questions are put to Him throughout the gospels. The Pharisees and Sadducees believed they were the experts, and in today’s gospel they try to “disconcert Jesus” with the question, “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law”?

Jesus being the true expert on the Divine Law sums up the whole Law of God as love. He tells His questioners, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind [and] you must love your neighbour as yourself”.

At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel we are told that Jesus is called Emmanuel, “a name which means God is with us”. So when Jesus speaks about the Law it is God speaking about it. Jesus has the authority to speak about God’s Law then.

Jesus is qualified to state what God’s Law entails, because as the Son of God, He revealed the God’s Law to Moses and the other prophets. The Lord who revealed God’s Law to Moses is the One who knows the truth about the Law. Unbeknown to the Pharisees who were trying to catch Him out, Jesus is the author of God’s Law, and that is why He is qualified to speak about it. Jesus certainly knows “which is the greatest commandment of the Law”.

To love God with all of one’s heart, soul, and mind means to be completely dedicated Him. It means putting God in the first place in our lives, rather than Him being an appendage to our lives. And we are called to love God because He loved us first. St Paul tells us, “It is proof of God’s own love for us, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). St John tells us something similar, “it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent His Son to expiate our sins”. In the relationship of love between God and His people God makes the first move.

Our love for God is a response to His love for us. Loving God means to “break with idolatry…and becoming servants of the real, living God”. To put God as the priority of our lives is a radical move. In modern Britain if you have God as the foundation stone of your life then you are among the radicals.

Jesus reminds us that to love God leads us to love those whom He has made in His own image and likeness. The book of Genesis tells us that, “God created man in the image of Himself, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them”. Therefore every human being has a supreme dignity as they reflect God’s image. We are called to love and honour that image present in all human life, bar none. As Jesus tells us, “love your neighbour as yourself”.

Following the way of Christ, which is the way of love, demands sacrifice. Christ revealed His love of the Heavenly Father, and His love for His neighbour, by laying down His life for fallen humanity. Let us pray that we will manifest our love for God, and our neighbour, by acts of sacrificial love, after the example of Christ.