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As Near As Here
We are never alone.
"You are not far from the Reign
of God"
Mark 12:34
The story is told of the Old Testament
period in which the Israelites were suffering in Egyptian bondage...
God traveled around the earth in search
of people who would be willing to follow His law. He came upon
a Mideastern entrepreneur and said to him, "Would you like
to follow My commandments?" The man frowned suspiciously.
"Like what, for instance?" he asked. God replied, "One
is, 'Thou shalt not kill!'" "You must be mad,"
said the man. "I earn my livelihood by lying in wait for
desert camel trains, killing the merchants when they arrive and
taking all their goods. A commandment like that would put me
out of business."
God turned away and resumed His search.
He came upon another entrepreneur in Babylonia. "Would you
like to follow My commandments?" God asked. "What,
for example?" asked the man. "Thou shalt not steal!"
said God. "I'm sorry," the man replied, "in my
business, lying and cheating and misrepresenting increase my
profits. If I cannot steal, I'll never get rich."
Rather discouraged, God traveled to Egypt
where he found a bearded old man named Moses who was trying to
get the ruler of the land to set his people free. "Moses,
would you like to follow My commandments?" God asked. Moses
replied, "How much do they cost?" "Why, nothing,"
said God, "I'm giving them away. They're free." "In
that case," said Moses, "I'll take ten."1
God's commandments are the subject of today's
Gospel Lesson. Jesus is walking in the Temple area and various
chief priests, elders, pharisees and scribes approach Him, in
turn, with questions designed to entrap Him. Today's Lesson describes
one such encounter -- with a Scribe.
The Scribes were highly respected by the
Jewish Community because of their superior knowledge of religious
law and their ability to interpret it for the people. Most Scribes
were also Pharisees. They insisted on rigid interpretation of
the religious law, down to the last detail. And because Jesus
was teaching that it was the "spirit" rather than the
"letter" of the law that mattered most, the Scribes
saw Him as a threat to their authority. They questioned His authority
to speak in God's Name. They called Him a blasphemer. They called
Him a law-breaker when He placed human values above the value
of strict adherence to oppressive laws. They found fault with
His friendly attitude toward public sinners. They said He was
in league with the devil. And it is one of their number who decided
to test Jesus with this question: "Which is the first of
all commandments?" (Mk. 12:28).
Jesus answered, "You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind, and with all your strength." Then he said, "This
is the second: You shall love your neighbor as yourself"
(Mk. 12:30-31).
"Excellent, Teacher!" the Scribe
replied, adding that the law of love of God and neighbor is "worth
more than any burnt offering or sacrifice" (Mk. 12:33).
Jesus and the Scribe were in complete agreement on a point of
law. The Scribe had no quarrel with Jesus' interpretation of
the law. This was a rare occurrence! To this Scribe, Jesus said,
"You are not far from the reign of God." To his credit,
the Scribe knew that all the commandments are summed up in the
one great commandment of love. All of his scholarship, his learning,
his expertise, had brought him to that point. Still, he was one
step removed from the law-of-love's fulfillment. As a Pharisee,
his concern for the enforcement of petty legalisms often kept
him from taking action to promote higher values. He remained
standing at the Kingdom's threshold. Again, in Jesus' words,
he was "not far from the reign of God." Knowing God's
Will is one step removed from doing it!
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said
that He had come not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. Consequently,
to the great commandment of love in the old law He added a new
dimension: "I give you a new commandment," He said:
"Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn. 13:34).
The truly marvelous thing about Jesus' new commandment is that
the newness never wears off. Each individual act of compassion,
each act of understanding, each act of healing, each act of forgiveness,
is a new and unique revelation of what love is all about and,
therefore, what God and fulfillment and eternal happiness are
all about.
In the famous story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery,
the Little Prince had one possession he considered unique in
all the Universe. His rose was the most beautiful living thing
he could ever imagine and he had raised her and joyously cared
for her. By day he would gently water her and tend the soil around
her delicate stem, and at night he would cover her with a glass
globe to protect her from any harm. Her soft laughter filled
him with the most amazing feelings of fulfillment, and her singular
beauty made his small planet complete. When the Little Prince
came to visit Earth, one of the first sights he happened upon
was a whole garden filled with roses, all laughing and chatting
and filling the air with their familiar perfume. The Little Prince
stared at them, overcome with the realization that his rose was
only one of numberless others that flourished in the Universe.
He laid down on the ground and wept. But, slowly, as he listened
to the gay sounds flowing out of the garden, a deeper thought
came to him, and a feeling of contentment began to stir. His
rose was unique. She was the object of his unique love -- different
from all other roses.
Everyone who has ever been loved is unique
in this sense. It begins with God's unique love for each individual
human being. God loves each of you in a way that is special to
you because you are different from every other person. And when
you love another person, you do so in a way that is special to
that person for the same reason.
While on leave, a young serviceman proposed
to his sweetheart, who happily accepted. They made plans to marry
in six months, after his overseas tour of duty. He then returned
overseas, only to learn that he was being transferred back to
the U.S. immediately, and to a base not far from his fiancee's
home. He decided to surprise her with the news, and with a flourish.
He rented a stretch limousine, drove it to his bride-to-be's
house and parked in the driveway. Nervously, he picked up the
limousine's cellular phone and dialed her number. The drapes
were open, and he saw her take the call in the living room. "It's
me," he said softly. "You sound so near!" she
cried, "Where are you?" "I'm near," he answered
coyly. "How near?" she asked with a growing sense of
excitement. Whereupon he beeped the horn and waved. "As
near as here!" he said.
"God is love," Scripture tells
us. And sometimes we struggle to reach through to God as if He
were far away, as if He were strange and hard to find. Sometimes
we are so intent on our search that we pass Him by. We turn Him
into a vague abstraction and we get lost in a maze of words.
And all the while He is right here with us, in us, around us.
All the while He is "as near as here!"
He is speaking to us with a thousand voices
and revealing Himself in a thousand faces. Looking for God is
like looking for the air when all the time we are breathing it.
It is like looking for the sun when all the time we are basking
in it. Once we have truly come to recognize God as love, we do
not call for Him and agonize for an answer. We see Him everywhere.
We see Him looking at us from the eyes of mothers and fathers
and sweethearts and wives and husbands and children and neighbors
and friends and strangers too, and even enemies. We feel His
Presence in every touch of a friendly hand. We hear His voice
in every kind word. When we know that God is love, we find Him
in every loving thought, word and deed, and we are one with Him.
When we know that God is love, we are never alone.2
1 - Asimov, I., "Treasury of Humor,"
Houghton Mifflin Co. (adapted).
2 - Freeman, J.D., "Love, Loved, Loving," an adaptation.
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