In the gospels, some questions aimed at Jesus are innocent like the words of the rich young man who enquired of Jesus what he had to do to gain eternal life? But many of the questions aimed at Jesus are full of malice with the aim of trapping him.
Last week the Pharisees and elders tried to trap him with a question about taxes but he easily avoided them. This week we ponder his answer to the question put to him about the greatest commandment? His answer is as usual not what they expect. Instead of one commandment – to love God with our whole being, he adds another without being asked – to love God as we love our own self.
The Jewish people believed in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, what they called the Torah. The two commandments sum up the 631 laws which they had to abide by in the Torah
His answer is a response to their question on his terms and not on their terms. He does not evade their questions but often turns his answer back on the questioner, namely the scribes and Pharisees, or his answer implies a criticism of the questioner and the question.
It is a technique we could remember today. There are many media interviewers who are aggressive in their manner. The truth is people being interviewed do not have to agree with the boundaries of debate which the interviewer sets. It was said about Bob Santamaria that anyone who agreed with his first question or opening statement would have to agree with each statement or question that followed. Politicians on the other hand, often ignore the question and say what they want to say which is fundamentally frustrating for people listening who want a worthwhile debate.
There were 631 rules which the Jewish law proposed and many people, especially the uneducated could not keep them or did not know them.
Jesus attacks the leaders of the people for not helping people to live a proper relationship with God because of the many rules and regulations. His words present the ‘big picture’ of relationship with God and neighbour. One’s attitude is essentially an openness to God.
The laws were to help people to establish their identity with God and help them follow practices which helped them understand their role as a worshipping people. Laws and rules exist to allow people to organise themselves and eliminate chaos. They give order to people’s lives. In every age and we see it clearly today as then that he thought they had lost their way, their rules became more important than their relationship with God. In fact, the rules became the way to worship God.
Today as much as in the time of Matthew, leaders in faith are to follow the pattern of Jesus himself who came to serve and not be served. It is not God who needs to be defended by rules but the widows, orphans and strangers – God’s people.
Columban Fr Gary Walker is currently living at the Columban house in Sandgate, Brisbane.
