Deut 6:2-6; Heb 7:22-28; Mk 12:28-34.
The central message of today's readings is the most fundamental
principle of all religions. It is to love God in loving others and to love
others in loving God.
In history we find thousands of people who have manifested
their love for God even by sacrificing their lives.
On 3 June 1886, thirty-two young men, pages of the court of King Mwanga
of Buganda, were burned to death at Namugongo for their refusal to renounce
Christianity. In the following months many other Christians throughout the
country died by spear or fire for their faith.
Initially, the young Kabacka
had been impressed by Christianity: He liked what he saw and heard of the
Christian message, and he also recognized that his people would benefit from
the education and skills that the missionaries had brought with them.
After some weeks of tension,
which stretched over Eastertide, the young men at court sensed that a major
drama was about to unfold. He demanded that they give up their ways of prayer
and return to unstinting obedience to him in all things. King Kabacka's
rage had been fueled by the increasing reluctance of his young Christian
subjects to indulge immoral activities. Death was the punishment for opposing
the whims and wishes of this absolute sovereign. But the boys stood firm.
Arrested and bound, with ropes cutting into their wrists and feet, they prayed
and sang hymns. The older boys, especially Charles wanga, taught and
encouraged the younger ones, notably Kizito. The youngest of all, he was just
14, and alternated between radiant enthusiasm for Christ and a shaking fear of
the death that now awaited them.
The boys prayed and sang
hymns as they were rolled in rush matting and dragged to the fire.
When Jesus quoted the statement, "You must
love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
might and with all your strength," every devout Jew would agree with
him. Loving God with our whole heart is the key to everything in life; because
our relationship with God affects everything and everyone in our life.
St. Augustine wrote: "Love God – and do what you like."
The second most important
commandment is "You should love your neighbour as yourself." Hillel was a
famous Jewish religious leader. Once he was asked by someone to instruct him in
the whole law while he stood on one leg. Hille's answer was, "What thou
hatest for thyself, do not to thy neighbour. This is the whole law, the rest
is commentary."
Once a person approached Sri Ramanujacharya and
said, "I want to love God. Please let me know how I can love God the way
you do"
The man replied, "I have been very busy
looking for God. So I kept away from love"
Sri Ramanuja urged, "Think properly, do you
remember loving a friend, a woman, a pet animal or something?"
The man replied, "I deliberately kept away
from loving anybody...I just want to love God. Please show me the way to do
it"
Sri Ramanuja for the third time tried to prompt him,
"Search your past. Try to recall if you ever have tasted love a
little"
The man grew impatient, “I have approached you
to know the way to love God. Please show me a way. Why do you ask me such
questions that are unrelated?"
Sri Ramanuja replied, "Then it is very
difficult. Had you loved someone it would have been easy to grasp my words.
Loving someone is to lose oneself in that love. It is to dissolve your ego,
your individuality in the very love. Had you experienced love, I would have
shown you the way to God. Since you have not loved, you will not understand
what I say!”
So Jesus put these two commandments together and taught to love God is to have unconditional love for all beings. No Rabi had
ever done that before. Religion to him was loving God and loving
men.
The scribe had willingly accepted it, and went
on to say that such a love was better than all sacrifices. Hosea had heard God
say, "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice." (Hosea 6:6).
But sometimes rituals take the place of love. So we have to be extremely
careful that we are able to manifest our love for God, by expressing
our love for our brothers and sisters.
Satish