Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
† Sunday 5th November 2000

Theme: Love God and your neighbour as your first priority.

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy 6 : 2 - 6
This first reading directs our attention to the Gospel of the day, which is also concerned with the first commandment of the kingdom, “You shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength...let these words today be written on your hearts.”.

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews 7 : 23 - 28
Still following the theme of the comparison between the Temple priesthood, and the priesthood of the New Covenant in Christ, the writer of this letter shows how the priests of former years, had to spend time atoning for their own sins, while Christ for us is the ideal priest, “holy, innocent, uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised up above the heavens...the Son who is made perfect for ever.”

The Gospel according to Mark 12 : 28 - 34
The scribes are not presented as being hostile in putting the question to Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Many a Jewish Rabbi would have been presented with the same question, and there are some famous answers recorded. So the central question that may concern us all, what is the basic law that should govern our life? For Jesus, it is first to love God with all our being, and then, “you must love your neighbour as yourself.” Someone who does this is, says Jesus, “not far from the Kingdom of God.”

© Peter Harrison 2000