Reflection
In today’s Gospel the scribe tests Jesus, looking to see which of the 613 laws of Moses Jesus will choose as the greatest. Jesus’ response not only reveals the answer but also indicates his very nature; Jesus is love itself.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, is tested with the “yoke” question about the Law. Every scholar of the Law had an opinion on which of the 613 laws of Moses was the most important, the one “yoke” on which all the other laws depended. Jesus answered that all the other laws depend on the two laws of love: first, love of God above all things (Deuteronomy 6:4); second, love of neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). Elsewhere, Jesus teaches: “My yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11:30). This means that Jesus not only gives laws about love but also gives the power to fulfill the New Law of charity.
Just as the flawless lambs examined throughout the week leading up to Passover foreshadowed the spotless Lamb who would be slain, so every Old Testament sacrifice – every burnt offering, sin offering, and peace offering – stood as a forward-pointing shadow of the one true and final Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When the scribe rightly declared that loving God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving one’s neighbor as oneself is “much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices,” Jesus affirmed him with divine approval. In Christ, the entire sacrificial system reaches its glorious fulfillment: the Lamb has been offered once for all, and the altar is now the human heart. Therefore, the only sacrifice still required – and the only one that is truly pleasing to God – is the living offering of ourselves in wholehearted love for him and sacrificial love for others. This is how we present our bodies as a holy and acceptable sacrifice (Romans 12:1), not by the ritual slaughter of an animal but by the daily surrender of love made possible through the work of Jesus. In this pleasing sacrifice of love, every believer is united with Christ and joins in the eternal and heavenly worship of the Father, the Lamb, and the Spirit.
Today’s Questions for Prayer and Reflection
How am I living the commandment to love God above all things? How am I living the commandment to love my brothers and sisters?
Source for today’s reflection: https://epriest.com/reflections/view/3368