8 March 2024 - Only By Grace Reflections
#OnlyByGraceReflections #CFC #CouplesforChrist
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TOPIC: WHAT MORE POWERFUL WAY IS THERE TO CARE FOR AND SERVE YOUR NEIGHBOR THAN TO BE WILLING TO DIE FOR THEM?
First Reading: Hosea 14: 2-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 81: 6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17
Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 17
Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34
A scribe friendly to Jesus, (as not all Pharisees and scribes were hostile to Him), asked which, among the 613 commandments in the Jewish law had priority over the others. Jesus promptly points out and summarizes all these into two.
Perhaps the Scribe was expecting only one answer. But Jesus gave two. First is “You shall love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Unexpectedly, 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 soul, with all your mind, with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth all the burnt offerings and sacrifices”.
Jesus was impressed and positively acknowledged the scribe’s well-spoken assessment and said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God”. The Lord’s commendation was encouraging but at the same time enigmatic. If he was not ‘far from the kingdom’, he was not yet ‘in’. What was still lacking then? The scribe’s wise response was not sufficient. It was not just about being wise but something more was needed. The scribe may have been operating still at the level of academic interest. Perhaps it is safe to assume that it had something to do with acts of justice, since Jesus often heavily criticized the scribes for their pride and unjust ways. But his encounter and discourse with Jesus may have sparked
