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"
Sri Ramanuja said, "Have you loved anybody before?"
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