Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures we are being reminded of the most fundamental truth of our Christian faith and that is the fact that we are all truly and most dearly beloved people of God, whom He had shown His perfect love in the person of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Love of God made flesh, by which we all have seen the assurance of God’s salvation and the fulfilment of our Hope in Him. We are reminded that God is always with us, by our side, journeying with us and supporting us all even throughout the most difficult moments of our lives and journey. We must never lose hope and we should always trust in the Lord, knowing that He will guide us through even the most difficult and challenging obstacles.

In our first reading today, we heard from the second Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to St. Timothy, his protege and one of the first bishops of the Church in which the Apostle continued to encourage St. Timothy and all the other missionaries of the Good News of God to go forth and follow in his footsteps in glorifying God by their actions and works among the people. He reminded them that all the sufferings that he had to endure, he gladly did them for the sake of the glory of God. In addition, he was glad that he did all of those works and endure all those sufferings for the sake of the people to whom that he had been sent to minister, for the sake of their salvation and liberation from the tyranny of sin and evil.

And St. Paul also reminded St. Timothy and the others that the Lord is always ever faithful and loving towards us, regardless of how we have treated Him, and how we might have neglected Him and our obligations towards Him. The Covenant which He had made with each and every one of us endures, and through His offering of His perfect Love to us through His Son, Whom He had sent into this world, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour as mentioned earlier, we have partaken our share in His suffering, death and Resurrection, and just as we do not suffer alone, but suffering together with Christ, we too share in His death to our past sinful and wicked way of life and existence, and delivered into the renewed existence and life, full of God’s grace, in sharing eventually His glorious Resurrection.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the interactions between the Lord Jesus and one of the teachers of the Law who came up to Him to ask Him about which Law among all the Law and commandments of God is the most important of all of them. The teacher of the Law might have wanted to test the Lord and see His responses, as many among the teachers of the Law thought that He was teaching and propagating the idea that the Law is to be superseded and overwritten, and hence were quite strong in their opposition and disapproval against Him. Alternatively this teacher of the Law might have also been just genuinely curious to know which among the Law was indeed the most important commandment of all.

For the context, we must understand that the Law of God as it was revealed through Moses during the time after the Exodus from Egypt and the journey of the Israelites in the desert consisted of many laws, commandments, rules and ordinances, all of which were extensive and detailed, and over time, they were expanded by the many rituals and practices that the Israelites, the people of God and their descendants continued to apply in their interpretations and applications of those laws and commandments. According to the Jewish tradition, there are a total of six hundred and thirteen laws all in all, if not even more. And that was why, it may seem to be very difficult and burdensome for the people of God to practice and fuflil all of them.

But the Lord made it very clear that the purpose of the Law was in fact not to burden the people, but to lead them all towards God. The Law was meant to show the people of God on how they ought to live their lives in the manner that is good, worthy and just so that they may truly be able to follow the Lord our God faithfully and worthily at all times. Hence, the Lord Jesus summarised the Law into two main components, under which all the laws, rules, commandments and all the precepts of the Law ultimately came under, that as He mentioned, that we all ought to first of all, love the Lord our God, Who has loved us all unconditionally first, with all of our hearts, might and strength, and then secondly to love the people around us in the same way as well, and this is especially even more so for those whom we love and whom God has entrusted to us to love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore ponder these words of the Scriptures that we have received today so that by appreciating better the love of God and His intentions for us, all the guidance and help that He has provided and shown to us, all of us may grow in faith and become ever stronger in our devotion towards the Lord, and in living our lives worthily in the manner that He Himself has shown and taught us all. Each and every one of us should do our best to emulate Christ’s own examples in loving and obeying His heavenly Father, and in His most generous, patient and merciful love towards each and every one of us. Through this love that we have actively practiced in each and every moments of our lives, may we draw ever closer to the Lord.

May the Lord our most loving and compassionate God continue to guide us all in our respective journeys in life, helping us all to remain firm in our commitment and endeavour to practice and show the love of God manifested in each and every one of our own actions, words and deeds, in everything we do at every moments in our lives. This is so that we may truly love God in the manner of how He has loved us first, embracing His love for us fully and doing our best to show that same love at all times. May all of us be blessed in our every loving actions, words and deeds, in our loving interactions to all those around us, to bring all people and all things ever closer to God. Amen.