Daily Word Of God
Mark 12:28b-34
One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’
The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’
Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him anymore.
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus made it clear that love of God and love of neighbor are two sides of the same coin.
- Jesus went on to say that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This has many implications: for instance, what if we do not love ourselves enough because of our low self-esteem or if we have an excessive inflated ego?
- Let us reflect on what makes it difficult for us to love others, and pray for the grace of healing and the strength to overcome these obstacles that prevent us from loving God, others and ourselves as fully as God Wills of us.