Once upon a time, there was a meeting of demons; they wanted to figure out where to hide God from human beings. One suggested, “Let us hide God in the Bible and keep human beings busy so they will have no time to read their Bible.” The other demons rejected the proposal as they felt some human beings might create time to read the Bible even with their busy schedule. Another demon suggested, “Let us hide God in the Church and distract human beings with various social activities all day to keep them away from the Church.” The other demons opposed the proposal. The third demon suggested, “Let us hide God in human beings, and they will never suspect that God is in their fellow human beings.” This proposal got the highest number of votes and it is on this strategy the demons have been thriving. Many people climb mountains, cross oceans, and pass through fires in search of God, but one place they never search for God is in their fellow human beings.
In today’s Gospel passage, “One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied by quoting from today’s first reading, the Book of Deuteronomy; “… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.” He continued, “The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.”
One thing that caught my attention in this passage was the relationship between the question and the answer. In his question, the scribe wanted to know which of the commandments is first; he was requesting a single commandment, but in his answer, Jesus gave two commandments. He mentioned the love of God and said, “The second is this:” then he mentioned the love of neighbor. In his answer, he broke the barrier between the love of God and the love of neighbor. The two are like the two wings of a bird. Without one of the wings, a bird cannot fly. One gives life, meaning, and purpose to the other. You cannot claim to love God while you hate your neighbor. When you love your neighbor, you cannot escape from loving God. The love of neighbor is like the mirror that tells your level of holiness. You cannot pray to God all day and yet have no time to talk or listen to God’s creatures. Similarly, how you treat your fellow human beings is an accurate measure of your level of intelligence.
In the past, people treated the love of God and the love of neighbor as two separate entities that were in competition, but the mission of Jesus is to take us from that understanding. Shortly before his death, he made it simpler by making the two commandments one; he said, I give you a new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” So, instead of love of God and love of neighbor, it is now love of God through neighbor. His last surviving apostle, John, puts it this way, “If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others whom we have seen. The commandment that Christ has given us is this: who loves God must love others also” (1 John 4:20-21).
Martin Luther King Junior quoted one of his student, who quoted the following poem,
I sought my soul, but my soul, I did not see
I sought my God, but he eluded me,
I sought my brother, and I found all three.
My dear friends, are you still searching for God? Have you found God? Now you know where God is: in your wife, your husband, your child, your sibling, your parent, your in-law, your extended family member, your co-worker, your teacher, your student, the other human being, even the one you find difficult to understand; yes, God is there. Do not go any further, and I assure you, you will not be disappointed.
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