Readings (Year A):
Exodus 22:20–26
Psalm 18:2–3, 3–4, 47, 51
1 Thessalonians 1:5c–10
Matthew 22:34–40
Reflection: Loving God means loving the most vulnerable
As we enter into the gospel story, we encounter a scholar questioning Jesus about which commandment is the greatest. This question is really asking, “What is the central idea of the law on which all the other instructions depend upon?” Jesus responds that the first and greatest commandment is to love God. Jesus doesn’t just stop there, though. He adds a second commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments are connected: to love God is to love your neighbor; to love your neighbor is to love God. A life of loving our neighbor is a life of loving God.
And this question for Jesus about the central idea of the law is the crux for the instructions found in Exodus. God calls the people of God to be holy. To be holy means to be set apart or to be unique. The instructions God gives them shows the people of God how to live their lives in a way that sets them apart or is unique from how other people were living.
In today’s reading of Exodus, the laws focus on how we treat the vulnerable in society, how we treat our neighbors. The people of God in Exodus experience systematic oppression in Egypt and God hears their cry and shows them compassion. It is because God is compassionate that the people of God are instructed to enact the same compassion that God showed them in their oppression.
We love our neighbor because God loves us. God shows us compassion so we must show compassion to those around us. Our compassion must come from the understanding that we too were once vulnerable. We are responsible for treating the stranger with care because we too were once a stranger. We are responsible for listening to those who cry out to God because we too have cried out.
It is clear that God holds us accountable for whether we treat our neighbor with compassion. God hears the cries of those we have wronged. For God says, “if you ever wrong them … I will surely hear their cry … for I am compassionate.” To love God is to show the compassion that God, throughout our lives in hearing our cries, has shown us.
Because we believe in a God that hears our cries, we must hear the cries of those around us. Our love of our neighbor must be just like our love of God. It is through the treatment of our neighbors, those who are most vulnerable, that we live a holy life. These are the instructions Jesus clarifies for us, the people of God, on what it truly means to live a life set apart, a holy life. It is in our love of the most vulnerable that we love our compassionate God.
“For whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord.”
Alleluia!
