PROPER 26 (31) – Year B
24th Sunday after Pentecost — November 3, 2024
Gospel Lectionary Text
Mark 12:28-34
12:28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"
12:29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;
12:30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
12:31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
12:32 Then the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other';
12:33 and 'to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself' --this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
12:34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question.
CONTEXT
Welcome to the 24th Sunday after Pentecost. In today's Gospel, a scribe approaches Jesus with a heartfelt question: "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus begins by quoting the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Notice that the first command isn't "Love" but "Listen." Listening is the foundational act that opens us to God's presence.
But Jesus doesn't stop there. He intertwines loving God with loving our neighbor. The two are one. He cites the same chapter in Leviticus that commands us to love the outsider living among us and explicitly forbids vengeance and grudges. The scribe agrees, affirming that these are more important than all “burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
In this text, Jesus is inviting the scribe to listen carefully to the connection between idolatry and sacrifice. When we stop listening to God, we start creating idols — ideas, systems, or structures that demand sacrifices to maintain order.
Jesus reveals that the heart of God isn't found in the machinery of sacrifice but in the radical, risky, and messy work of relationship, worked out among our neighbors. And if we listen carefully to the heart of our neighbor we can hear the voice of God calling us forth in love. Are we listening?
Question
While we don't offer burnt offerings anymore, who and what do we scapegoat and sacrifice in the place of loving God and our neighbor?
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, wild and free. Do as you please. Shine your light on me that I might see things as they are, not as I am. Free me to act in your name with courage, creativity, and compassion. See the complete prayer
Word from Below Reflections
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Weekly Homily by James Alison