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Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exodus 22:20–26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5c–10; Matthew 22:34–40
There are many commandments in the Bible.
There are many rules in the life of the Church.
There are many teachings in the Catechism.
All of them matter.
But most of us cannot remember everything.
We have work to do.
Families to care for.
Problems to face.
Decisions to make.
So the question in today’s Gospel is not only a question from a scholar of the Law.
It is also our question:
What is the greatest commandment?
What is the center?
What must never be forgotten?
Jesus answers with two commandments.
First:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
And second:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Then He adds:
“The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
This means that love is not one commandment among many.
Love is the heart of all the commandments.
Without love, even religion becomes empty.
Without love, prayer becomes words.
Without love, rules become heavy.
Without love, knowledge becomes pride.
But where does this love begin?
It begins with God.
We do not love God first.
God loved us first.
He created us.
He called us.
He forgave us.
He sent His Son for us.
In Jesus Christ, we see what the love of God looks like.
It is not distant.
It is not only a feeling.
It is love that comes near.
Love that heals.
Love that forgives.
Love that gives itself on the Cross.
Love that rises from the dead and gives us new life.
That is why the first commandment is not a cold order.
It is a response.
Love the Lord your God, because He has loved you first.
Love Him with your heart, because He has touched your heart.
Love Him with your soul, because He has saved your life.
Love Him with your mind, because His truth gives light to your path.
But Jesus does not stop there.
He immediately adds:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love of God and love of neighbor cannot be separated.
The first reading makes this very concrete.
God tells His people not to oppress the stranger.
Not to harm the widow or the orphan.
Not to exploit the poor.
This is not abstract love.
It is love with a face.
The stranger.
The widow.
The orphan.
The poor.
The person who cannot defend himself.
The person who has no one to speak for her.
The person whom society easily forgets.
God says: do not forget them.
If we say we love God, but ignore the suffering person beside us, our love is not yet true.
If we worship God, but wound our neighbor, something is wrong.
If we pray beautifully, but live selfishly, we have missed the heart of the Law.
Saint John says it strongly:
Whoever does not love the brother or sister whom he can see cannot love God whom he cannot see.
This is why Christian love is not only emotion.
It is not only being nice.
It is not only saying kind words.
Love is faith becoming visible.
Love is worship becoming action.
Love is the Gospel taking flesh in daily life.
Today, Jesus gives us the center.
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Everything else depends on this.
So we can ask ourselves:
Is my faith becoming love?
Is my worship changing the way I treat others?
Who is the stranger, the poor, the wounded, or the forgotten person whom God is asking me to notice?
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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© 2025 Krakus.
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