Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Thursday of the 9th week in ordinary time
June 3, 2021
Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and friends, martyrs.
Reading is delivered by Dylan Christian Kosim dan meditation delivered by Christian Kosim, from the Church of Santo Yakobus Kelapa Gading in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The reading is taken from the holy Gospel according to 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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Our meditation today has the theme: The Heart of Love. All the liturgical readings today speak about the concept and practice of love. The first reading refers to the love of Tobiah and Sarah, while the Gospel reading refers to a lesson on love that touches the core concept of true love.
But there is a problem with love here. The problem is that people practice love as a theory or formula that manifestthought, ideas and norms. For example, norms that say like “Do not speak rudely”, “Do not look dirty to others”, and many other similar prohibitions would explain how people find a meaningful life by obeying what dictated by the law.
That is what the Jews with their Judaism tradition, especially scholars and scribes, did. They had more than 600 formulations of law with the intention to make people better and stronger in faith. However, according to the way of God they didn’t have the heart of love or what the genuine love required. For so obsessed in theory and formulationof laws, they forgot to practice that love. And Jesus himself taught what they should do which was the heart of love, that is to love God and one’s own neighbors, both of which are true and on the same importance.
Furthermore, that teaching indeed requires us not to pursue either extremes, namely to be fanatic for one, and ignorethe other. Even though Rachel’s family were truly Jews and were very devouted, what their daughter Sarah did was probably a merely human affair. This could be mean that in relation with marital union they were not obedient to God’s law and teaching. Therefore, it was not happiness that they obtained, but rather a disaster in life.
Tobiah had received a special call to marry Sarah. This was like to discover the heart love that had been lost for quite a time, namely to offer oneself to God, to worship Him alone, and to remain obedient to His teachings without any intention to go against them. These were all human ways of loving God. From the beginning of their marriage, Tobiahbrought his wife Sarah to sign a love contract with the Almighty God. From this fundamental step, their faithfulness to the only and all-powerful God was expected to grow for the rest of their lives.
Maybe some of us today have their lives are merely oriented by theories, formulas, laws and desires of the world. It could be true that they have lost the heart of love, which is to love God and neighbors according to the teaching of Jesus Christ. Yet they also intend to resolve what have been lacking in their lives. Is the heart of love now with you or has it gone away from you?
Let’s pray. In the name of the Father … O Lord Jesus Christ, guided by Your Spirit may we diligently love You and our neighbors, because in doing so we prove ourselves to be Your true disciples. Glory to the Father… In the name of the Father…