We only have three weeks left of Mark’s Gospel before we celebrate the last Sunday of the Church Year, The Feast of Christ the King, and then begin a whole new Church Year and lectionary cycle at Advent. Two things highlighted more in Mark’s Gospel than in the others are the relentless opposition and tension towards Jesus by many religious groupings in Judaism and the failure of His disciples to grasp the fullness of who He is and what His mission is all about, even to His death.  Every so often, we get a word of hope in the Gospel with someone who does show great faith and profound understanding. And this comes from an unexpected source: someone not a disciple, not even Jewish, a blind man, etc.  In our Gospel this weekend, that person is, again, an unlikely figure: a scribe.  At this point in the Gospel, after Jesus enters Jerusalem, there is story after story of different religious groups testing Jesus – the Pharisees, the elders and scribes, the Sadducees. Jesus has turned the tables in the Temple and not bowed down to the ire of those who are opposing Him. This, of course, is leading to His Crucifixion.

Yet, right in the middle of this, a scribe who is actually impressed with how Jesus is answering all these questions, asks Jesus what is the first commandment. Jesus responds with something so familiar from the Scriptures: to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, and all your strength.  And he links this with a second great commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. The scribe is indeed still impressed with Jesus and applauds His response. The scribe gains praise from Jesus for his profound understanding.  Again, in the context of the trajectory of the Gospel, in the midst of astounding religious opposition to Jesus, this is an unexpected encounter with the scribe who then achieves what only few others in the Gospel have earned.

The commandment from Moses to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength was so important that in the verses immediately following our first reading in Deuteronomy, Moses enjoins the people to take this very seriously and to even bind it to their arms, foreheads and to the doorposts!  We, too, need a constant reminder of how central our love for God is in our lives. Jesus so intentionally shows us the integral connection of these two commandments – love of God and love of neighbor. They are not conflicting loves, but are indeed linked into the one Great Love that moves the sun and all the stars…
 
We must have room in our hearts for the unexpected, for hope even when it does not seem possible – and for people to surprise us, even if we seem to be on opposite ends of a spectrum!  

How are you going to be reminded this week of these great commandments?
How can love of God and neighbor be at the forefront of our day and our lives?