The scribes were the scholars among the Pharisees and Sadducees who existed in the time of Jesus. They were authorities in the Law and were highly respected by the people for their devotion to the study and interpretation of the Old Testament. According to their teaching, the Jews were obligated to obey 613 precepts in the Law, 365 negative precepts and 248 positive ones. Their favourite exercise was discussing which of these divine commandments was the greatest. Such was the preoccupation of the scribe who came before Jesus today, discussing with Him. Apparently, unlike some Pharisees who came to test Jesus through the questions they presented, this scribe came with no apparent hostile or hidden motive but sought to hear from Jesus and to appraise His skill in answering a much-debated subject in their scribal circle.

One thing that comes out from this encounter between Jesus and this particular scribe is the fact that, although this scribe was an expert in the Jewish Law, he came to Jesus to hear and to learn. His coming to Jesus tells us that no matter what we know and irrespective of the learning we acquire in life we still need the light of truth from Jesus to be fulfilled. This scribe represents all legal luminaries of our time and he calls them to always view all their legal proceedings and litigations against the backdrop of the gospel so that the justice they pursue can always come forth with truth.

This scribe also challenge us who are custodians of our traditional customs and practices to always seek the face of God and search for gospel principles to aid us in promulgating and enforcing noble laws that will serve the true and collective yearnings of our communities. The scribe in our gospel today further invites us Churchmen and Christians alike to queue behind him and seek the face of Jesus as we govern the church through the various administrative strategies we use for our people. As leaders of various religious and civil groups and organizations let us know that any law we promulgate that does not have the face of love is mere litigation.

Perhaps this is why Jesus spoke about love when He was asked about the Law. He begins by quoting the Shema of Deut. 6:4-5 and linking it with the command in Lev. 19:18 to emphasize the love of our One God and all our neighbours. With this Jesus made love the most important thing in life, because “love is the fulfilling of the Law” (Rom. 13:8-10). Yes, if we love God we will experience His love within us and will express that love to others. We do not live by rules but by relationships, a loving relationship to God that enables us to have a caring relationship with others.

Truly, the Christian love has both vertical and horizontal dimensions as we clearly see from the response of Jesus today. What is also interesting to know is that the Shema is a great confession of faith recited each morning and evening by pious Jews even to this day. Indeed, love is all we need and love should be the hallmark of all we do in our everyday life. This is why it is a thing of paradox to claim we are Christians without love in our lives. This is why it is a lie for any Christian to claim he or she loves God without loving the neighbour. John, the Elder, tells us this in 1John 4:20: “If someone says, “I love God”, but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we do not love people that we can see, how can we love God whom we cannot see?” Elsewhere, he teaches that a person who has no love is dead (1Jn. 3:14). Again, he says: “Dear children, let us not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions” (1Jn. 3:18).

This is why our love for God and our neighbours has to be actual and real. We are exhorted to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength as we hear Moses tell the Israelites in our first reading today. We are also told that in loving God and keeping His commandments we will be blessed with divine prosperity and assured of God’s protection over our lives and ventures. Yes, God is Love and until we show true love for God and our neighbours, we will remain far from the kingdom of God.
This is my opinion, I am open to comments, contributions and corrections.

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