Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 25th August 2023

The Gospels recount how the Pharisees were out to get Jesus, hoping to trap him into saying something against the Law or at least against their rather rigid interpretation of the Law. This, in spite of the fact that many of the early followers of Jesus, followers of the Way, as they are described in the Acts of the Apostles, were Pharisees, St Paul for example. Today’s short Gospel passage from Matthew, (Mt 22: 24-30), deals with one such encounter between Jesus and a group of Pharisees.

 

“When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’”

It was clear that the Sadducees would find much to disagree on with Jesus, beginning with the very concept of eternal life, however, it could only be jealousy or fear of losing popularity, power and income that could have motivated the Pharisees to oppose Jesus. They always appear to gang up on him with awkward questions, his answer to which couldn’t have differed very much from their own. Jesus was aware of the evil that was in them and of their evil intentions, however, he always took the time to reply to their questions and he did so politely, without antipathy and always seeking their conversion to the way of salvation, but they were proud men and often seemed not to pay attention to what he had to say. I’m not quite sure in this case why asking him which is the greatest commandment of the Law would disconcert him. Jesus replies, quoting the Law of Moses, to love God above all else, but adds a second, which is to love ones neighbour as oneself, not the second of the Ten, but nevertheless part of the tradition and an acceptable answer even for the Pharisees. Jesus sums up by stating that the entire Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, can be summarised in this way. Having silenced the Sadducees, Jesus has now silenced the Pharisees. But has he silenced you and me, and the people of today, that’s the question we need to answer.