Scripture Reflection, October 26: Back to the Basics

Scripture Readings:
Exodus 22:20-26
Psalm 18
I Thessalonians 1: 5c-10
Matthew 22: 34-40

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Sometimes in life we need to “get back to the basics.” In the midst of the recent financial crisis, we have heard calls for reform in the regulations for banks and financial corporations – fundamental reform that will prevent the kind of meltdown Wall Street has been experiencing. As we watch the Phillies and the Rays in the World Series, we often hear that it is the team that knows how to execute the “fundamentals of the game” that has the best chance to win the championship. In our personal lives, when things become overly complicated and we cannot find our way through the forest, we need to get back in touch with the fundamental values that shape our lives.

Jesus’ response to the question of the lawyer in this Sunday’s gospel brings us back to the basics, right to the very heart of our Christian faith. When asked which is the greatest commandment of the Law he responds with words that are very familiar to us: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. … You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus sums up the 613 commandments of the Law of Moses by joining together these two basic commands of love. He unites them so firmly that they can never again be understood as separate. Jesus’ words in the gospel are not simply about laws or theoretical principles. They are words spoken with passion, words meant to give us the fundamental vision, the entire direction of our lives. This great commandment is meant to serve as our moral and spiritual compass. We are people who are called to love God with our entire selves and to express that love in our care for one another.

It is difficult to dispute the wisdom of this great commandment given to us by Jesus. But we might object that the difficult, troublesome part comes in putting it into practice in all of the complicated situations of our lives. Sometimes the complex challenges that we face make it difficult to know exactly how to live out this commandment. And, amidst the stresses of life, it can be a distinct challenge to preserve the motivation we need to love God and neighbor with the commitment of which Jesus speaks.

I think that this Sunday’s first reading gives us a clue about putting Jesus’ words into practice, especially with regard to the question of motivation. In the passage from the Book of Exodus, Moses is presented as speaking in God’s name, instructing the people about the responsibilities of their covenant relationship with God. The reading begins with this commandment: “You shall not oppress an alien, for you were once aliens in the land of Egypt.” In learning what it is that God asks of them, God’s people are instructed to remember. They must remember the ordeal that they endured in Egypt, when they were enslaved in a foreign land, when they were the victims of injustice. They need to recall that experience and also to remember what God has done in liberating them and guiding them to their own land. They need to remember the compassion of God that they have experienced in order to know how to treat others with justice and compassion.

If we are to live Jesus’ great commandment of love we, too, need to remember. It is important for us to remember the moments of pain and struggle in our lives, the times in which we have been treated unjustly or have been ignored or marginalized. We are meant to recall these experiences not to dwell on them in resentment but in order to recognize our own deep desire to be treated with justice and compassion, our own need to be cared for by others. We are also invited to remember the people in our lives who have shown us justice and compassion. Some of these people may have rescued us at moments when we were in real trouble. They served as instruments of God’s love in our lives. They have taught us some important lessons about what it means to fulfill Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor.

This “neighbor” whom we are called to love as we love ourselves certainly includes those we live and work with every day – our family members, friends, fellow students and workers. But the Scriptures for this Sunday also challenge us to extend that same active concern to those who are the aliens, the widows and orphans in our world. It is good to remember that as Catholics we were once an immigrant church in a U. S. society that discriminated against Catholics. Now we have gained considerable status, power and influence in our society. In the midst of intense debates about immigration and about how to deal with “foreigners” in general, it is very important for us to recall that we were once “aliens in the land of Egypt.” This memory does not provide easy answers to complex problems, but it does impel us to be attentive to the aliens, widows and orphans in our own society who may be facing similar discrimination.

Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we make memory of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We recall the ways in which God has taken the initiative to reach out to us. We “tell the story” of God’s compassionate and faithful love. As we receive the body and blood of the Lord this Sunday each one of us is invited to remember how important we are in the eyes of God. As we experience his love anew, may we pray for the grace to love God more deeply and to care for our neighbors with justice and compassion.

Fr. Robin Ryan, cp