All Or Nothing!

Friday, March 13, 2026

Hos 14:2-10; Mk 12: 28-34

Today’s Gospel underlines commitment to the two inseparable commandments – love of God and love of neighbor.

The radicality with which Jesus defines the two commandments is so unflinching in tone that the word ‘all’ in the sense of totality has been repeated seven times in the Gospel.

Jesus’ teaching on the two great commandments comes as an answer to the Scribe’s question, though he only asks, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’

The first great commandment, the love of God, demands a total commitment that no one can dodge. The second one flows from the first or fulfils it. This is why the inability of someone who is steeped in piety is criticized as hypocrisy.

St. Augustine helps us reflect on God’s unconditional love for us. He wrote, ‘The only measure of love is love without measure.’ If that is God’s love for us, how must it be repaid? I believe that we love God by doing what God wants us to. This is why we think of loving our neighbors as an extension of or as a result of loving God. 

Nevertheless, our love of neighbors cannot be circumstantial. Many a time, who the other is, what s/he has done for us, how they have treated us, and whether we consider them lovable are some determinants that go into our love for the other. Such conditional and circumstantial love works more like an investment plan that looks for profit in return. For Christians, the cross is the symbol of love, not because Christ invested himself in the cross, but because he committed himself to it for our sake.

When Jesus preaches so convincingly on love of God and love of neighbor as the substance and summary of the law and the prophets, the crowd falls silent so that ‘no one dared to ask him any more questions.’ 

Indeed, Jesus said everything that there is through the twin great commandments. Now it depends on us to actualize them. 

Let us pray that our radical love for God may transform us into lovers of humanity. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar