As we approach Election Day and settle into the season’s shift with Eastern Standard Time, we’re drawn to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” In the midst of change and uncertainty, these words call us back to the two great commandments—love of God and love of neighbor. May we listen deeply and carry this message into our lives, moving closer to the kingdom through love, understanding, and action. Written by Sister Colette Didier, SNDdeN, and shared at Mount Notre Dame chapel, this reflection comes with the Sisters' prayers for all during this time.
Here we all are, all accounted for, after falling back to the traditional Eastern Standard Time. We are getting adjusted to more light in the morning and more darkness in the evening, adjusting to a new rhythm as creatures of the earth.
And then, here we are, a day before the elections, bracing for more change, regardless of which candidate wins, wondering if we’ll be ready—or not—for what lies ahead.
We might be forgiven for wondering where this will all end.
Then, in the midst of all this, we are called to listen to God’s word to us today.
I’m going to start with the last sentence in today’s gospel.
“You are not far from the kingdom of God." Mark 12:34
In the midst of our struggles, our misgivings and fears, our struggles to love God with our whole self, and our neighbor as ourselves, Jesus tells US as well as the scribe: You are not far…
What reassuring words these are, in the midst of OUR times, our Eastern Standard Time, a time when the very concept of neighbor is being called into question, the most consequential election of our time, and so it goes.
You are not far from the kingdom of God.
We are called back to the essentials, to the two great commandments.
So let us go back to the beginning:
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of the commandments? Jesus replied, “the first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Actually, the scribe has heard these words before, they are part of the ancient tradition embedded in both morning and evening prayer for any faithful Jew, called the Shema. But it seems he wants to hear the words from Jesus himself, wants to hear them confirmed.
And the HEARING is important; recall the first words, HEAR O Israel, but it isn’t just about HEARING, it’s about LISTENING, about HEEDING the words, taking the words to heart, the scribe’s heart, OUR hearts, and into our lives, allowing the words to penetrate into our being, fashioning them into our way of life.
These are words that call the scribe, the people of Israel, and US to a love that requires nothing less than our entire being- soul, mind, strength. So, they are dangerous words, demanding words, words that can change us if we are truly listening, heeding.
The scribe is moved by Jesus’ recounting of the great commandments, and he resonates strongly with what the teacher is laying out before him. He hears them, grasps them, comprehends them in a new light.
And so the scribe said to him “Well said, teacher, you are right…” now that takes a little moxie, doesn’t it? The scribe telling Jesus he’s right. But it’s his way of saying “I’m all in.”
Jesus saw that the scribe answered with understanding. The scribe “got it,” and so Jesus said to him “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
It was a heart-felt understanding of all that LISTENING and observing the great commandments encompassed, a meeting of the scribe’s heart and mind with the teacher.
He was a scribe, that’s all we know of him. Don’t you wonder what the rest of HIS day was like? But what a great gift Jesus gave the scribe and what a great gift he gives to each of us, who also attempt to LISTEN with understanding, and to respond daily.
You are not far from the kingdom of God. Something to hold onto as we begin this very consequential week, in these very consequential times.