Working with the Word

Focusing the Gospel

Key words and phrases: which commandment, greatest, love, The whole law

To the point: By asking “which commandment in the law is the greatest,” the Pharisees reveal an attitude toward law far different from that of Jesus. Instead of limiting the demand of the law as the Pharisees do to discrete commandments that are kept or not, Jesus teaches that the demand of the law embraces the totality of our relationships with God, self, and neighbor. Love defines our relationships; love is the wellspring of obedience to any commandment. Love is the greatest commandment because it truly is the whole Law of God.

Connecting the Gospel …

… to the First Reading: God has shown Israel how to love: God rescued Israel from being aliens themselves in a foreign land, God hears the cry of  “the widow or orphan” and “poor neighbors” in need.

… to experience: Most of us don’t have difficulty loving those we know and care about. The first reading directs our love even toward the neighbor we don’t know.

**From Saint Louis University