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.
Dawg's Thought:
Today's prayer intention - for those who are preparing for marriage.
I don't want to be far from the Kingdom of God.
One of the ways that the scribe says we should love our God is with all of our understanding. It is hard to begin to understand how we are to love God. How do you understand what it means to love God?
Part of my understanding of love comes from what I saw growing up at an early age. I can think of a lot of different stories from each of my parents and say that this is how they loved me.
Through our faith, we can point to different stories in scripture and point to different acts of love from what we understand. Yet, if we are to accept that our God is a loving God, wouldn't His actions throughout the scriptures be an act of love, even though we may not understand it? Wouldn't understanding how He loves help us know how we can love?
Also, wouldn't that understanding of how God loves help us to understand not only how we love our neighbor, but also how our neighbor is loving us? If we understand how our neighbor is loving us through the lens of understanding how God loves us, wouldn't we then grow in our understanding of how we can love our neighbor as ourselves?
In today's reading, Christ told the scribe that he wasn't far from the Kingdom. We know other ways that Christ responded when the Pharisees tried to test Him. Yet, in the sight of a humble scribe, He told him that he wasn't far. Christ affirmed the scribe; the scribe affirmed Our Lord ...
I praise You, Lord!
You are One and there is no other that You.
You deserve to be loved with all my heart,
with all my understanding,
and with all my strength.
May I praise You
as I love my neighbor as myself,
a gift to You that is worth more
than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Amen.
Take care and God Bless.
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