There Is No Greater Commandment!

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

Reading I
Hosea 14:2-10
Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
“I am like a verdant cypress tree”–
Because of me you bear fruit!

Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.
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"More than any other prophet, Hosea tells about God’s love for his people." (Vatican II Missal)

After many negative words from the prophet to God’s people, Hosea in this last part of his book sounds a note of hope, which he had already hinted at earlier. Today’s passage is a liturgical prayer expressing sincere repentance, concluding with a firm promise of God’s blessing.

In this closing passage of his book, Hosea calls the people back to God. The troubles they have been experiencing are due to their alienation from God. If they will only come back to him, where they belong, their lives will flourish. God is only too anxious to shower his love and gifts on them.

Hosea urges the people to say: "Take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls we will dedicate to you our lips." In other words, expressions of true repentance will take the place of purely external rituals.

Nor is there much good in looking for help in powerful neighbours like Assyria nor in the ‘riding of horses’ (perhaps a reference to Egypt). Rather God is "the one in whom orphans find compassion".

God will bring his healing - "I shall cure them of disloyalty, I shall love them with all my heart". These gifts and their results are expressed in lovely phrases taken from plant life:

- I will be like the dew for Israel
- they will blossom like the lily
- they will strike root like a cedar of Lebanon
- and put forth shoots splendid as the olive tree
- fragrant as a cedar of Lebanon
- produce grain and blossom like the vine
- become as famous as the wine of Lebanon.

God - and this is unique in the Old Testament - compares himself to the greenness of a cypress tree, a source of life and fruitfulness for his people.

If we can only learn that only through the ways of life which God proposes can be found the true fulfilment of our deepest longings, then we will experience a deep happiness right through our life. During this Lent let us open our hearts to a total and unconditional love of God and of those around us.
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Responsorial
Psalm 81
I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
An unfamiliar speech I hear:
“I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you.”
I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
“Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?”
I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
“There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt.”
I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
“If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them.”
I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
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Gospel
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.
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In the Gospel we find one of the rare meetings between Jesus and a teacher of the Law which is not confrontational. The man seems genuinely interested in Jesus’ answer to a question that was often asked by interpreters of the Law. Again, rather unusually, Jesus answers the question directly.

In fact, he gives a double answer. In doing so, he links in a special and indivisible way a total love of God with love of those around us. The scribe is impressed. He fully endorses what Jesus has said and even adds that such love transcends any purely religious activity. Jesus is also impressed and tells the scribe that he is very close to the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says this because the scribe puts love of God and neighbour at the very centre of living but he will not be fully in the Kingdom until he becomes a follower of the Way of Jesus. Whether that happened or not we do not know.

What we do know is that we today are being called to follow Jesus in a total commitment of heart, mind and strength to loving God and to loving unconditionally every single person we come in contact with.

Lent is a good time for us to evaluate how we are doing in this regard.