分类： 主日证道

全部法律

福音：瑪竇22:34-40

Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Claretian Missionaries

我們常常使信仰變得複雜：把它變成一張清單，將它歸結為規則和條例。我們以祈禱的頻率、禁食的長短、禮儀程式是否精確，來衡量自己的信仰。我們建立制度和等級，訂出一堆條條框框。在所參與的各種宗教活動中，我們往往忘記了它的精髓。

法利賽人帶著問題來到耶穌跟前。如果你還記得上主日我們反思的經文，就不難認出：這段經文是他們又一次試圖陷害耶穌。他們熟諳法律，也有把誡命逐一數算的傳統。按照猶太傳統，誡命共有六百一十三條：三百六十五條禁令，對應一年中的每一天；二百四十八條肯定的命令，按照他們的理解，對應人體的每一根骨頭。他們想知道哪一條誡命最大，好為誡命排列次序、劃分等級，建立一套體系。

耶穌沒有給他們一套體系，祂給他們一顆心。祂沒有給他們排名，而是給了他們關係。祂說：「你應全心、全靈、全意愛上主、你的天主。這是最大也是第一條誡命。第二條與此相似：你應當愛近人，如同愛你自己。全部法律和先知，都系於這兩條誡命。」

問題不在於哪一條誡命最大，而在於我們是否真正去愛；在於我們是否交出自己的心，是否讓天主的愛藉著我們流向他人。不在於規則，而在於關係；不在於條文，而在於那唯一重要、持久的事。

可是，我們學會了分割。我們學會了把對天主的愛放在一邊，把與他人的關係放在另一邊。我們參與彌撒、祈禱、舉行熱心敬禮；隨後走出門去，卻把收銀台前的人當作隱形人。我們懷著敬意與天主說話，卻不耐煩地對家人說話。我們用嘴唇唱聖歌，在生活中卻對那些陌生人的需要視而不見。我們在抽象中愛天主，卻未能愛眼前的人。

這不是福音，也不是愛。這是一種只有頭腦、沒有心的宗教，是沒有腳的信仰，是脫離街道的聖殿靈修。耶穌絕不會接受這樣的宗教。

這兩條誡命本為一體。你不能一面愛天主，一面恨你的近人；不能一面敬拜天主，一面忽視窮人；不能一面祈禱，一面心懷怨恨；不能一面領受慈悲，一面拒絕施予慈悲。愛天主與愛近人並非兩項彼此獨立的職責；它們原本是一體的愛，是心靈同一個運動，是靈魂同一個方向。若你愛天主，也必會愛天主所愛的人。而天主愛你的近人，愛陌生人，愛那些惹惱你的人，愛那些傷害你的人，也愛那些你寧願忘記的人。

衡量你對天主之愛的標準，不在於你的情感有多強烈，不在於你祈禱時的口才有多雄辯，也不在於你朝拜時的外表有多華麗；而在於你如何對待那些無法為你做任何事的人，在於你如何同那些惹惱你的人交談，在於你如何寬恕曾傷害你的人，在於你如何看待那些你寧願忽視的人，在於你如何去愛那些不可愛的人。

多少次，我只在抽象中愛天主，卻未能愛眼前的人！多少次，我熱切地祈禱，卻帶著不耐煩說話！多少次，我詠唱聖歌，心中卻懷著怨恨！多少次，我來到祭台前，卻對那個只需要一句善意話語的人視若無睹！多少次，我割裂了天主所結合的事！多少次，我把愛變得複雜，而耶穌卻使它如此簡單！

耶穌話語的簡樸令人震撼：愛天主，愛你的近人。其他一切都只是註解，其他一切都只是細節，其他一切都是次要的。若你做到了這兩件事，你就做到了所有事；若你沒有做到這兩件事，你就什麼都沒有做。這不是關乎你知道多少、遵守了多少規則、你的神學有多正確，而是關乎愛，關乎那唯一重要的事。

這裡還有一個更深的真理：愛不只是一種感覺，不只是一種情緒，也不只是來來去去的溫暖。愛是一種美德，是靈魂的習慣；它是一種需要我們窮盡一生去培養、實踐和深化的品格力量。我們並非生來就會愛；我們生來就需要被愛。慢慢地，藉著恩典和努力，藉著失敗與悔改，藉著日常生活中無數小小的選擇，我們學會去愛。愛並非一蹴而就，而是在歲月中慢慢長成、慢慢養成，並被反覆實踐，直到成為第二天性。

這種實踐會是什麼樣子呢？它表現為在家中克制一時的憤怒；即使看似沒有理由，仍對配偶或弟兄姊妹保持善意。它也表現為實踐慈悲善工：給飢餓者食物，給口渴者水喝，接待陌生人，給赤身露體者衣穿，探望病人，探望囚犯。這些不是可有可無的附加行動，而是愛的實際表現；這是愛變得具體的方式，是愛德這無形的美德在世上變得可見的方式。當我給飢餓者食物時，我在實踐愛；當我接待陌生人時，我在培養美德；當我探望病人時，我在建立愛德的習慣。每一次慈悲善工都是一次操練，每一次操練都會堅固美德，每一次愛的行為都會使下一次更容易。

正因如此，耶穌才說：「全部法律和先知，都系於這兩條誡命。」因為其餘的一切，都是愛德的操練。誡命不是負擔，也不是枷鎖；而是鍛煉品格的操練，是塑造德性的紀律，是通往美德的道路。而美德就是愛。

我在哪裡把天主所結合的拆散了？我在哪裡僅在抽象中愛天主，卻未能愛眼前的人——無論是在家庭、工作場所，還是學校？我在哪裡忙於宗教事務，卻缺乏愛？我在哪裡忘記了那唯一重要的事？答案令人不安；但答案就是道路：通往簡樸的道路，通往整合的道路，通往法律核心的道路。這個核心不是規則，而是關係；是全部法律，是全部先知，是一切，是愛。

© 全屬於祢& 樂仁出版社（中國澳門）
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2026

全部法律
福音：玛窦22:34-40

Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Claretian Missionaries

我们常常使信仰变得复杂：把它变成一张清单，将它归结为规则和条例。我们以祈祷的频率、禁食的长短、礼仪程序是否精确，来衡量自己的信仰。我们建立制度和等级，订出一堆条条框框。在所参与的各种宗教活动中，我们往往忘记了它的精髓。

法利赛人带着问题来到耶稣跟前。如果你还记得上主日我们反思的经文，就不难认出：这段经文是他们又一次试图陷害耶稣。他们熟谙法律，也有把诫命逐一数算的传统。按照犹太传统，诫命共有六百一十三条：三百六十五条禁令，对应一年中的每一天；二百四十八条肯定的命令，按照他们的理解，对应人体的每一根骨头。他们想知道哪一条诫命最大，好为诫命排列次序、划分等级，建立一套体系。

耶稣没有给他们一套体系，祂给他们一颗心。祂没有给他们排名，而是给了他们关系。祂说：「你应全心、全灵、全意爱上主、你的天主。这是最大也是第一条诫命。第二条与此相似：你应当爱近人，如同爱你自己。全部法律和先知，都系于这两条诫命。」

问题不在于哪一条诫命最大，而在于我们是否真正去爱；在于我们是否交出自己的心，是否让天主的爱借着我们流向他人。不在于规则，而在于关系；不在于条文，而在于那唯一重要、持久的事。

可是，我们学会了分割。我们学会了把对天主的爱放在一边，把与他人的关系放在另一边。我们参与弥撒、祈祷、举行热心敬礼；随后走出门去，却把收银台前的人当作隐形人。我们怀着敬意与天主说话，却不耐烦地对家人说话。我们用嘴唇唱圣歌，在生活中却对那些陌生人的需要视而不见。我们在抽象中爱天主，却未能爱眼前的人。

这不是福音，也不是爱。这是一种只有头脑、没有心的宗教，是没有脚的信仰，是脱离街道的圣殿灵修。耶稣绝不会接受这样的宗教。

这两条诫命本为一体。你不能一面爱天主，一面恨你的近人；不能一面敬拜天主，一面忽视穷人；不能一面祈祷，一面心怀怨恨；不能一面领受慈悲，一面拒绝施予慈悲。爱天主与爱近人并非两项彼此独立的职责；它们原本是一体的爱，是心灵同一个运动，是灵魂同一个方向。若你爱天主，也必会爱天主所爱的人。而天主爱你的近人，爱陌生人，爱那些惹恼你的人，爱那些伤害你的人，也爱那些你宁愿忘记的人。

衡量你对天主之爱的标准，不在于你的情感有多强烈，不在于你祈祷时的口才有多雄辩，也不在于你朝拜时的外表有多华丽；而在于你如何对待那些无法为你做任何事的人，在于你如何同那些惹恼你的人交谈，在于你如何宽恕曾伤害你的人，在于你如何看待那些你宁愿忽视的人，在于你如何去爱那些不可爱的人。

多少次，我只在抽象中爱天主，却未能爱眼前的人！多少次，我热切地祈祷，却带着不耐烦说话！多少次，我咏唱圣歌，心中却怀着怨恨！多少次，我来到祭台前，却对那个只需要一句善意话语的人视若无睹！多少次，我割裂了天主所结合的事！多少次，我把爱变得复杂，而耶稣却使它如此简单！

耶稣话语的简朴令人震撼：爱天主，爱你的近人。其他一切都只是批注，其他一切都只是细节，其他一切都是次要的。若你做到了这两件事，你就做到了所有事；若你没有做到这两件事，你就什么都没有做。这不是关乎你知道多少、遵守了多少规则、你的神学有多正确，而是关乎爱，关乎那唯一重要的事。

这里还有一个更深的真理：爱不只是一种感觉，不只是一种情绪，也不只是来来去去的温暖。爱是一种美德，是灵魂的习惯；它是一种需要我们穷尽一生去培养、实践和深化的品格力量。我们并非生来就会爱；我们生来就需要被爱。慢慢地，借着恩典和努力，借着失败与悔改，借着日常生活中无数小小的选择，我们学会去爱。爱并非一蹴而就，而是在岁月中慢慢长成、慢慢养成，并被反复实践，直到成为第二天性。

这种实践会是什么样子呢？它表现为在家中克制一时的愤怒；即使看似没有理由，仍对配偶或弟兄姊妹保持善意。它也表现为实践慈悲善工：给饥饿者食物，给口渴者水喝，接待陌生人，给赤身露体者衣穿，探望病人，探望囚犯。这些不是可有可无的附加行动，而是爱的实际表现；这是爱变得具体的方式，是爱德这无形的美德在世上变得可见的方式。当我给饥饿者食物时，我在实践爱；当我接待陌生人时，我在培养美德；当我探望病人时，我在建立爱德的习惯。每一次慈悲善工都是一次操练，每一次操练都会坚固美德，每一次爱的行为都会使下一次更容易。

正因如此，耶稣才说：「全部法律和先知，都系于这两条诫命。」因为其余的一切，都是爱德的操练。诫命不是负担，也不是枷锁；而是锻炼品格的操练，是塑造德性的纪律，是通往美德的道路。而美德就是爱。

我在哪里把天主所结合的拆散了？我在哪里仅在抽象中爱天主，却未能爱眼前的人——无论是在家庭、工作场所，还是学校？我在哪里忙于宗教事务，却缺乏爱？我在哪里忘记了那唯一重要的事？答案令人不安；但答案就是道路：通往简朴的道路，通往整合的道路，通往法律核心的道路。这个核心不是规则，而是关系；是全部法律，是全部先知，是一切，是爱。

© 全属于祢& 乐仁出版社（中国澳门）
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2026

The Whole Law

Matthew 22:34-40

Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy, CMF
Claretian Missionaries

We make faith complicated. We turn it into a checklist. We reduce it to rules and regulations. We measure it by the frequency of our prayers, the length of our fasts, the precision of our rituals. We create systems. We create hierarchies. We create elaborate structures of obligation. And somewhere in the midst of all our busy religiosity, we lose the heart of it all. We forget what it was always meant to be.

The Pharisees come to Jesus with a question. If you remember the passage we reflected last Sunday, you can easily identify that this passage is another attempt to trap Jesus. They are scholars of the law. They have counted the commandments. There are six hundred and thirteen of them. Three hundred and sixty-five prohibitions—one for each day of the year. Two hundred and forty-eight positive commands—one for each bone in the human body, according to their understanding. They want to know which is the greatest. They want to rank them. They want a hierarchy. They want a system.

And Jesus does not give them a system. He gives them a heart. He does not give them a ranking. He gives them a relationship. He says: Love God with everything you are. And love your neighbour as yourself. The whole law. The whole prophets. Everything hangs on this.

The question is not which commandment is the greatest. The question is whether we have loved. The question is whether we have given our hearts. The question is whether we have allowed the love of God to flow through us to others. The question is not about rules. It is about relationship. It is about the one thing that matters. It is about the only thing that lasts.

But we have learned to separate. We have learned to keep our love of God in one compartment and our relationships with others in another. We come to Mass. We say our prayers. We perform our devotions. And then we walk out the door and treat the person at the checkout counter as invisible. We speak to God with reverence and to our family with impatience. We sing hymns with our lips and ignore the needs of the stranger with our lives. We love God in the abstract and fail to love the human being in front of us.

This is not the gospel. This is not love. This is a religion of the head without the heart. This is a faith of the lips without the feet. This is a spirituality of the temple without the street. And Jesus will not accept it.

The two commandments are one. You cannot love God and hate your neighbour. You cannot worship God and ignore the poor. You cannot pray and hold a grudge. You cannot receive mercy and refuse to give it. The love of God and the love of neighbour are not two separate duties. They are one love. They are one movement of the heart. They are one direction of the soul. If you love God, you will love what God loves. And God loves your neighbour. God loves the stranger. God loves the one who annoys you. God loves the one who hurts you. God loves the one you would rather forget.

The measure of your love of God is not the intensity of your emotion. It is not the eloquence of your prayer. It is not the beauty of your worship. The measure of your love of God is how you treat the person who cannot do anything for you. It is how you speak to the one who annoys you. It is how you forgive the one who hurts you. It is how you see the one you would rather ignore. It is how you love the unlovable.

How often I have loved God in the abstract and failed to love the human being in front of me. How often I have prayed with fervour and spoken with impatience. How often I have sung hymns and held grudges. How often I have come to the altar and then walked past the person who needed a kind word. How often I have separated what God has joined together. How often I have made love complicated when Jesus made it simple.

The simplicity of Jesus is devastating. Love God. Love your neighbour. Everything else is commentary. Everything else is detail. Everything else is secondary. If you have done these two things, you have done everything. If you have failed these two things, you have done nothing. It is not about how much you know. It is not about how many rules you keep. It is not about how correct your theology is. It is about love. It is about the one thing that matters.

And here is the deeper truth. Love is not just a feeling. It is not a sentiment. It is not a warm emotion that comes and goes. Love is a virtue. It is a habit of the soul. It is a strength of character that must be cultivated, practiced, and deepened over a lifetime. We are not born loving. We are born needing to be loved. And slowly, through grace and effort, through failure and repentance, through the countless small choices of daily life, we learn to love. Love is not given to us fully formed. It is grown. It is built. It is practiced until it becomes second nature.

And what does this practice look like? It is withholding a moment of anger at home, being kind to the spouse or sibling despite having no reason to do it. It looks like the works of mercy. It looks like feeding the hungry. Giving drink to the thirsty. Welcoming the stranger. Clothing the naked. Visiting the sick. Visiting the imprisoned. These are not optional extras. These are the practical expressions of love. These are the ways love becomes concrete. These are the ways the invisible virtue of love becomes visible in the world. When I feed the hungry, I am practicing love. When I welcome the stranger, I am cultivating the virtue. When I visit the sick, I am building the habit of charity. Every act of mercy is a repetition. Every repetition strengthens the virtue. Every act of love makes the next act easier.

This is why Jesus can say that the whole law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Because everything else is simply the practice of love. The commandments are not a burden. They are a training ground. They are the exercises that build the muscle. They are the disciplines that form the character. They are the path to the virtue. And the virtue is love.

Where have I separated what God has joined together? Where have I loved God in the abstract and failed to love the human being in front of me, in my own family or work place of school? Where have I been busy with religion and empty of love? Where have I forgotten the one thing that matters? And the answer is uncomfortable. But the answer is the path. The path to simplicity. The path to integration. The path to the heart of the law, which is not a rule but a relationship. The whole law. The whole prophets. Everything. Love.

© Claretian Publications, Macau 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica

甲年常年期第三十主日

瑪竇福音 22:34-40

Fernando Armellini 神父的講道詞

大家好。

瑪竇在他的福音最後部分，記述了耶穌與反對者之間的數次爭辯。可以感受到人們對祂的怨恨與日俱增；關係日趨緊張，事實上，不久之後他們竟將祂判處死刑。過去的幾個主日，我們已經聽到了其中兩次爭辯；記得那些在聖殿裡站在祂面前的司祭長，曾質問祂（面色嚴厲）：“誰允許禰在這裡施教？聖殿裡發生的一切都由我們負責……誰給了禰權柄？”耶穌回答他們說：“有一種權柄不是來自你們。比如洗者若翰，他從誰領受了講道的權柄？他並沒有向你們要求，而是直接從天主領受的；因此，有一種權柄高於你們。”因此，他們感到不安。

上個主日，我們聽到了第二次爭辯：他們來到祂跟前，試圖讓祂就向凱撒納稅的問題表態，以便在羅馬當局前控告祂，或在百姓前敗壞祂的名聲。但上個主日我們沒看到的，還有第三次爭辯。那是與撒杜賽人的爭辯。

這些大司祭的後裔，身居政治與最高宗教職務，來到祂跟前，給祂舉了那個有過七個丈夫的女人的著名例子，嘲笑祂對復活的信仰……

今天，我們看到耶穌被捲入第四場爭議，這次他們在神學領域攻擊祂；拉比們自覺準備充分，因為他們對聖經瞭若指掌。他們為何想讓耶穌捲入新的爭辯？原因是他們視祂為異類，一個顛覆宗教行為的人，令百姓蒙羞，不禁食，不履行淨化禮，而且與稅吏、罪人及生活不檢的婦女來往。但最重要的是，祂傳播了他們眼中最嚴重的異端：因為祂到處對人說：以色列的天主愛所有人，不分善與惡，而他們卻教導說：天主棄絕罪人，惱恨並轉面不顧他們；耶穌卻肯定地說：主也愛他們。這就是為什麼他們覺得有責任在百姓面前敗壞祂的名聲。且聽他們問祂的問題：“法利賽人聽說耶穌使撒杜賽人閉口無言，就聚集在一起，他們中間有一個法學士試探祂，問道：‘師傅，法律中哪條誡命最大？’”首先，值得延伸一下耶穌與撒杜賽人關於復活的爭辯，福音文本總結說，祂讓他們“啞口無言”。

撒杜賽人不信死人復活。因此耶穌引用了出谷紀中天主顯現給梅瑟的一段話：“我是亞巴郎的天主，依撒格的天主，雅各伯的天主。”祂問他們：“難道你們覺得，天主會把自己當作死者的天主嗎？如果祂自稱是亞巴郎、依撒格和雅各伯的天主，這意味著這些先祖都活著。”他們不知如何作答，而他們的對頭法利賽人，卻因耶穌“封住了他們的口”而極為高興。撒杜賽人和法利賽人幾乎在任何事上都不一致；撒杜賽人來自貴族階層，屬於司祭階級——不像法利賽人屬於中產階級——，他們利用宗教斂財，只接受聖經的前五本書（梅瑟五書），駁斥其餘的書卷（例如，他們不承認先知書，因為先知們批評了他們某些宗教習俗，而這些正是他們實踐的一部分；他們也不信復活。

撒杜賽人關心的是在今生過得好。既然他們很有錢，他們只想著今世；在他們的觀念裡，宗教是用來向天主求恩典，讓自己在此世享福的。我們要小心，因為今天一些基督徒中也存在這種利用宗教獲取恩典、向天主求好處的撒杜賽人心態，好讓自己感覺良好。但最終，我們會看到法利賽人和撒杜賽人結盟，因為他們有共同的敵人。上個主日，我們已經看到兩個對立的團體，無論在宗教還是政治上——黑落德黨人和法利賽人——聯合起來對抗共同的敵人。

現在，我們看到法利賽人和撒杜賽人為了同一目的聚在一起。他們原本無法容忍彼此，但現在卻聯合起來，決定從他們中間選出最好的拉比：一位法學博士（nomikós），博學的聖經學者，派他去見耶穌，試圖誆騙祂。他們想在眾人面前敗壞祂的名聲。關於這些法利賽人，我也想說幾句。正如基督徒團體中存在著撒杜賽人心態，法利賽人心態也存在。耶穌始終非常擔憂這種心態會滲入祂的門徒中間。與撒杜賽人不同，法利賽人深受百姓尊敬；他們在乎自己的威望，擔心耶穌的宣講會使他們失去所享有的百姓擁戴。但我相信，大多數法利賽人是出於善意而行事，他們深信自己有責任捍衛天主的工程。他們認真遵守法律的一切規條。保祿在致斐理伯人書中驕傲地宣稱：“就遵守法律而言，我是無可指摘的法利賽人；論到對天主的熱忱，我是迫害教會的。”後來在致弟茂德書中他又說：“起初我是個褻瀆者、迫害者和暴力者，但天主憐憫了我，因為我是在無知中出於善意行事，我是出於無知。”

我認為大多數法利賽人都是如此。他們覺得反對耶穌是自己的職責，因為耶穌挑戰了他們的傳統。我們要小心，因為今天同樣的善意錯誤也會重演：人可能會站在福音的對立面，因為想要忠於某些信念、某些傳統，而福音本要摧毀、擱置這些傳統（福音如同雙刃的劍，刺入人心深處，常要求徹底的改變）。這些法利賽人和那位傑出的聖經學者，法學士，一起來到耶穌面前；他們選他是因為他該問耶穌他們準備好的問題：“師傅，法律中哪條誡命最大？”請注意這個問題，因為它充滿惡意。的確，在當時背景下，關於誡命有多少條、哪些最重要，是有過討論的。出谷紀和申命紀列出了十條誡命，但聖詠15首列出了十一條。依撒意亞先知書第33章只列出了六條，拉比們從聖經中推斷出有610條誡命，有些拉比爭論哪些最重或最輕。其中有希肋耳拉比，他住在耶穌前一代，他作了那樣的區分。另一方面，與耶穌同時代的沙邁拉比，從不肯聽“輕鬆”的誡命。有一天，一個外邦人來找他說：“我想成為猶太人”，並要求他快速總結法律書。自然，那外邦人挨了打，因為沒有“輕鬆的誡命。這不是本福音中那位拉比問耶穌的問題的含義。他問祂，並不是想知道哪一條是最大的誡命，而是哪一條是唯一的偉大誡命。

這個問題也並非善意，因為他們並不是要試探耶穌是否準備好了（他們知道祂準備好了）。而且他們也清楚（連孩子們都知道）那條偉大的誡命是什麼。那就是天主所吩咐遵守的：安息日。這就是為什麼這個問題不懷好意。這就好比有一天夜裡，我在一個居民區以120公里的時速開車，而攔下我的員警問我：在居民區裡可以開多快。我當然只能回答：50公里/小時。如果我告訴他“50”，他就會說：“那你為什麼要開到120？”拉比也是用這樣的問題來攻擊耶穌。如果耶穌回答說安息日就是最大的誡命，他就會立刻說：“那麼你們為什麼不遵守它呢？”耶穌遵守安息日，但並不像他們那樣守……且聽祂的回答：“祂對他說：‘你要以你的全心、全靈、全意，愛上主，你的天主。這是最大的，也是首要的誡命。’”

耶穌沒有按照他們所期望的方式回答。因此，他們感到驚奇，無法按照他們預備好的那樣繼續控告祂。但最令他們驚奇的是，耶穌並沒有以“人必須服從命令、規條，盡服從天主的本職”這樣的話來引出這條最大的誡命。這些都不是。要求人們服從、順從的，是外邦人的神明，而不是納匝肋人耶穌的天主。納匝肋人耶穌的天主所要的，是自由的人（“你應當愛……”），是自由去愛的人。凡想使自己快樂的人，必須使自己捲入天主無條件的愛中。這就是最大的誡命。

“去愛”這個動詞（希伯來語 ohav，אָהַב）在舊約中重複了248次。令我們吃驚的是，在聖經最古老的文本中，“去愛”這個動詞並不歸於天主；歸於祂的，是強烈的情感：祂憤怒，祂悲傷，祂發命令。在最古老的文本裡，我們看不到一位溫柔甘飴的天主的肖像。倘若這個天主的形象是真的，那後果是什麼呢？那就是恐懼。以色列人有一天轉向梅瑟說：“你對我們講話，我們必要聽從你；不要讓天主對我們講話，不然，我們就要死了。”在西奈山下目睹了那一切之後，他們就感到害怕。面對這位嚴厲的天主，人能做什麼呢？他低頭，戰戰兢兢地遵守祂的誡命，害怕受到懲罰。

在聖經中，我們又該如何看待這位用命令灌輸恐懼的天主呢？至關重要的是，我們恭讀聖經的時候，要記住它逐漸向我們揭開天主對以色列的啟示。在聖經中，我們讀到天主與祂子民之間愛情的歷史，但以色列並沒有立刻認出他們天主面容的全部美麗。他們是一點一滴地認識祂的。他們起初所抱持的天主觀念，也是古代中東其他各民族都有的：他們都以為每個民族各有自己的神明；但到了某一點上，他們意識到天主只有一個，以色列的天主是普世的天主。

然後，天主派遣先知來啟發祂的子民，眾先知把同一天主的面容上放射出的輝映帶給了他們。他們宣導了一位溫柔的天主的形象，把祂比作新郎，邀請眾人與祂建立嶄新的聯繫。不再是那必須服從主人命令的僕人與主人之間的關係，而是那自由熱戀中的妻子，想要使新郎開心的愛情。情侶之間不遵守誡命或法令；那是一種快樂的衝動，是願意去做一切令所愛之人快樂的事。緊接著，他們也宣導了天主的慈父、慈母形象：天主是父親，天主是母親。在依撒意亞先知書第49章，我們讀到天主慈母般的美好形象：耶路撒冷抱怨說：“我的上主遺棄了我，上主把我忘記了。”天主應允說：“婦人豈能忘記自己所生的兒子，不加以憐憫他呢？就算她能忘記自己所生的兒子，我也決不會把你們遺忘。”

危險在於：停留在聖經中那些古老的天主形象裡，而不向先知們逐漸宣導的新光敞開自己的心扉。那些與耶穌抗衡的法利賽人和撒杜賽人，就停留在古老的形象裡，他們沒有敞開自己的心扉，接納先知的訊息，也沒有機敏地吸收聖詠作者的屬靈訊息。事實上，這些法利賽人和撒杜賽人，實在沒有準備好去把握站在他們面前的這位耶穌。他們沒有在祂身上看到，完全展露出來的天主俊美的面容。其實，只要看祂一眼就夠了，但他們首先得讓自己被聖經預備妥當。

耶穌愛這些人，愛祂的仇敵；祂想把他們從強令他們順從、強令他們敬畏天主的狀態中釋放出來，使他們從對天主的怕懼中解脫出來，好能快樂，能與那些意識到自己被唯一真天主無條件地愛著的人一同喜樂。那麼，耶穌做了什麼呢？祂沒有講服從。在福音中，從來沒有要求我們服從。風聽從耶穌，惡神聽從祂，海浪也聽從祂，但人卻總不服從祂。耶穌從來沒有說過必須服從，連對天主也不必。天主聖子不服從；祂好似在天上的慈父一樣。在福音中，沒有“順從”（ὑπακοή，hutapoé）這樣的詞彙，這樣的詞彙並不存在。順從天主，只是要求我們以祂賜給我們的兒女身份服從祂；認識它，並以這種身份生活。

即使耶穌順從祂的天父的時候，祂也沒有服從命令；祂只是以兒子的身份順從祂。在祂的回應中，耶穌並沒有追憶服從的命令和職責；祂想起的是那段信仰宣認，就是虔誠的猶太人在清晨和晚上，面朝耶路撒冷，一天兩次所誦念的。猶太人還有第三次虔誠的祈禱，就是在睡覺以前。這樣的虔誠行為，在申命紀第6章中，以色列那著名的祈禱文裡可以看到：“聽啊，以色列！上主我們的天主是唯一的神。你要以你的全心、你的全靈、你的全意，愛上主，你的天主。”（申6:4-5）

以我們的全心愛天主，是什麼意思呢？對我們而言，內心是情感的核心，對以色列人而言也是這樣；但對他們而言，心同時也是全部思想、一切選擇、一切決定的核心。“全心”意味著沒有不屬於天主的空間。所有決定、所有思想、所有選擇，都與祂一致；沒有給別的、給偶像留下任何空間。以色列的天主是嫉妒的。如果你對祂半心半意，又把你的心分給別的傾慕物件，你決不會幸福，你決不會完全認識到自己是祂的兒女。我們知道，戀愛中的人決不會接受自己所愛的人把心分給另一個人。他們想把一切都留給自己。我們知道，丈夫、妻子，都愛聽對方說：“我都是你的。”這正是天主想要的心；如果你真愛天主，那麼，你在愛內與天主同在。

那麼，以你的全靈愛祂，又是什麼意思呢？“靈魂”（希臘文 ψυχή，psyche；希伯來文 נֶפֶשׁ，nefesh）指的是全人。生命中沒有留下任何讓我們的偶像——我們的驕傲、我們的懶惰、我們的虛榮——得以放縱的空隙。全人都向唯一的愛主投降。那麼，以全意去愛的人所想望的是誰呢？就是那被人喜愛的人。他所看到的一切，都讓他想起自己所愛的人。一段旋律讓他想起那個特別的人；一朵花讓他想起他們首次互訴愛意的時刻……每一件事都讓他想起自己心愛之人。因此，信眾真正的興趣，在於尋求天主。湧向祂的思緒，源源不絕。因此，耶穌說，真正的信仰、真正對天主的依附，也必須囊括人的思想。

這一點並不在申命紀上。在信仰的宣認中，“用你全部的面容”被譯作“以你的全心、全靈、全力”。耶穌補充說：“用你的全意。”這是說：對天主的依附，是經過深思熟慮、有意識、出於理性而作出的選擇的結果，就像一切真愛那樣；否則，那只是站不住腳的迷戀。——當人只是一時迷戀，新的情人來到，初戀情人立刻被人遺忘——這就是耶穌所要求的、對天主的依附：“要以全意”順從天主，意味著要對自己選擇相信的信仰，作出理性的交代，而這個選擇必須很合理。真愛源自對所愛之人美麗的發現。因此，如果你不透過福音認識耶穌，你對祂的依附就會非常匱乏；它會淪為一種輕易的、轉瞬即逝的迷戀，之後，就像所有沒有根基、同樣缺乏認知的愛情一樣，很快就會敗落。

所以，讓我們記住：那不專心研究天主聖言的人，就是指那些沒有以自己的全意去愛天主、不能理性地作出自己選擇的人，就是那些沒有以自己的全心去愛天主的人。那些在場的人，一定對耶穌的回答感到驚訝和疑惑；這正是一個令人吃驚、令人困惑的時刻。

“第二條誡命與第一條相似：你要愛你的近人，如同愛你自己一樣。全部法律和先知都系于這兩條誡命。”

耶穌想讓撒杜賽人和法利賽人反思他們每天所重複的信仰宣認。“你們要愛上主，你們的天主”，耶穌說，這不是指要順從上主，

你們的天主，而是要服從祂的誡命、持守規條，以免受到懲罰。那是外邦人對待天主的方式。而祂，既然想盡一切辦法要使他們快樂，就設法把他們帶入與上主之間嶄新的關係，一種會使他們感到喜樂的關係，因為它讓他們感受到自己被無條件地愛著。如果你行為不檢，你不會感到幸福，但祂仍然愛你。當你自由地感受到被愛的時候，你也會學會如何自由去愛。

耶穌一直在談論愛，因為我們因愛而受造。天主把我們造成這樣。愛並不意味著要尋找我們自己喜愛的事物，愛意環視四周，看看誰能讓我們感到快樂。這就是為什麼我們總要舉目向上，因為我們蒙召，為的是要使天主因我們的孝愛感到喜樂。當我們按照祂的思想和情感，和睦生活的時候，我們就可以使祂喜樂……妻子在愛情與和諧中與丈夫共同生活，才會幸福。

此外，我們不僅舉目向上，我們不僅要讓天主喜樂。天主也安排我們去使我們身邊的人——那些需要我們服務、需要我們的愛的兄弟——感到快樂。這就是為什麼，首先“你們要舉目向上去愛”，耶穌立刻加上第二條：“你要愛你的近人，如同愛你自己一樣。”耶穌並沒有發明這第二條“你要愛”的誡命。祂取自肋未紀所載，天主提出的一個令人心痛的建議：“不可復仇，不可怨恨你的本國人。你要愛你的近人，如同愛你一樣。”（肋19:18）“我的近人”指的是以色列。

我要把原文表達的含義譯作：“你要愛你的近人”（כָּמֹוךָ，kā-mō-w-ḵā），那個與你相似的人，因為他與你相似。在依撒意亞先知書第58章，依撒意亞說：“他是你的血肉。”假如我們要反思這個真理，就是：看到那在我們身邊的人，與我們相似，出自我們的血肉，我們在犯罪以前，難道不加思索嗎？

然而，理解“愛屬於你所愛的子民”，只是第一步。正如耶穌對愛的理解不會止步，我們的目光，也必須超越對愛的這種理解。舊約的進展，已經走得更遠了。上主已經給自己的百姓講清楚了：愛應當超越以色列人的界限。在申命紀上，有一句箴言：“上主說：‘你們的天主喜愛旅客；祂賜給他們食糧和衣服。因此，要愛旅客，要記得，你們也曾在埃及作旅客。’”但是，天主怎樣給旅客吃穿呢？祂在申命紀第24章又告訴我們，總是帶著一條令人心痛的規定：你在田裡割草的時候，忘記了一片玉米穗，你不可以把它再撿起來；而是要把它留給旅客。”這很美。拉比說：“你知道上主是如何牧養外邦人的嗎？祂使自己的百姓忘記幾片玉米穗。”在申命紀第24章，祂繼續補充說：你在葡萄園裡收葡萄的時候，你不可採摘所有的葡萄，要把你遺忘的葡萄，留給旅客。”另一段經文也指明了這第二條“你應當去愛”該往何處去。

但是，耶穌更進一步。衡量愛別人的尺度不是“如同你一樣”，而是“要彼此相愛，如同我愛了你們一樣”。耶穌說的愛，包括甘願為人捨命。此外，在耶穌的口中，“近人”一詞，包括我們所有的人；所有人都是兄弟姐妹，是同一天主聖父的兒女。但是，還有最後一步，最困難的一步，就是我們在耶穌口中聽到的“你們要彼此相愛”。它現在的含義，比過去在肋未紀和申命紀中的含義，更為廣泛：它也必須來到仇敵那裡。你環視仇敵，當你的仇敵需要你使他快樂時，你就要讓自己成為可及的，甚至要為傷害你的人付出你的性命：“現在，我給你們說，要愛你們的仇敵，為那些迫害你們的人祈禱。”

為了什麼原因呢？不是為了要在天國積攢功績，而是要成為你們在天之父的兒女。沒有什麼賞報，比得上聽天父說：“你實在堪當被愛，我承認禰是我的慈父；你真是我的兒子，因為你如同我愛你一樣，無條件地愛了我。”我們不愛我們的兄弟，我們對天父的愛也不存在。若望一書第4章寫道：“如果有人說：‘我愛天主’，但不愛自己的兄弟，他就是個騙子；他不愛他所看到的兄弟，他又怎能說他愛他所看不到的天主呢？’”這是我們受自祂的誡命：凡愛天主的，也要愛自己的兄弟。這樣，我們便明白：“你要愛”不是出自外在的誡命，而是出自我們作天主兒女的本性。我們的本性是為愛而構型的；它引導我們去愛。我們從天父那裡所領受的生命之種，當我們容許自己，以天主兒女的身份受其引導時，它就顯露了出來。既然每人都領受了天主性的恩典，即便那些不認識福音的人，甚至他們愛仇，也不足為奇。因為天主兒女的身份，決定我們要遵守愛的誡命。

然而，我們也注意到：如果沒有提到對天主的愛，就很難愛我們的兄弟。那在祂背後沒有信德、沒有覺察到自己被捲入天主無條件的愛情中的人，他們會發覺：在某些情況下，更難以去愛人，比如原諒配偶的背叛，善待嚴重傷害你的人，容忍令你不悅的人，最重要的是：把你的產業分給有需要的人，甚至仇人，也要分給他們……如果你不認識福音，不常與納匝肋人耶穌的訊息保持接觸，你會發現，這一切會變得更為困難。耶穌繼續講論，全部法律和先知都系于這兩條誡命。在這裡，有一個重要的希臘動詞：κρέμαται（krématai），這個詞被翻譯成“系”。它暗指一個鉤子，一個把所有別的東西固定在一起的固定點。同樣，在聖經上，耶穌的全部訊息，都與這兩個“你要愛”聯繫在一起，“你要愛”如同兩個鉤子，上主的全部聖言都系於它。

我們沒有看到法利賽人和撒杜賽人的反應。然而，從接下來的事件中，我們就會得出結論：就連耶穌也沒有能力，使他們脫離自己的執信。他們繼續朝拜他們的神，就是立法和公義之神。他們繼續朝拜那神，也正是因為那神的緣故，他們才定耶穌的罪。

我祝大家主日喜樂，一周愉快。

© 全屬於祢 & 樂仁出版社（中國香港）
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2026

甲年常年期第三十主日

玛窦福音 22:34-40

Fernando Armellini 神父的讲道词

大家好。

玛窦在他的福音最后部分，记述了耶稣与反对者之间的数次争辩。可以感受到人们对祂的怨恨与日俱增；关系日趋紧张，事实上，不久之后他们竟将祂判处死刑。过去的几个主日，我们已经听到了其中两次争辩；记得那些在圣殿里站在祂面前的司祭长，曾质问祂（面色严厉）：“谁允许祢在这里施教？圣殿里发生的一切都由我们负责……谁给了祢权柄？”耶稣回答他们说：“有一种权柄不是来自你们。比如洗者若翰，他从谁领受了讲道的权柄？他并没有向你们要求，而是直接从天主领受的；因此，有一种权柄高于你们。”因此，他们感到不安。

上个主日，我们听到了第二次争辩：他们来到祂跟前，试图让祂就向凯撒纳税的问题表态，以便在罗马当局前控告祂，或在百姓前败坏祂的名声。但上个主日我们没看到的，还有第三次争辩。那是与撒杜赛人的争辩。

这些大司祭的后裔，身居政治与最高宗教职务，来到祂跟前，给祂举了那个有过七个丈夫的女人的著名例子，嘲笑祂对复活的信仰……

今天，我们看到耶稣被卷入第四场争议，这次他们在神学领域攻击祂；拉比们自觉准备充分，因为他们对圣经了如指掌。他们为何想让耶稣卷入新的争辩？原因是他们视祂为异类，一个颠覆宗教行为的人，令百姓蒙羞，不禁食，不履行净化礼，而且与税吏、罪人及生活不检的妇女来往。但最重要的是，祂传播了他们眼中最严重的异端：因为祂到处对人说：以色列的天主爱所有人，不分善与恶，而他们却教导说：天主弃绝罪人，恼恨并转面不顾他们；耶稣却肯定地说：主也爱他们。这就是为什么他们觉得有责任在百姓面前败坏祂的名声。且听他们问祂的问题：“法利赛人听说耶稣使撒杜赛人闭口无言，就聚集在一起，他们中间有一个法学士试探祂，问道：‘师傅，法律中哪条诫命最大？’”首先，值得延伸一下耶稣与撒杜赛人关于复活的争辩，福音文本总结说，祂让他们“哑口无言”。

撒杜赛人不信死人复活。因此耶稣引用了出谷纪中天主显现给梅瑟的一段话：“我是亚巴郎的天主，依撒格的天主，雅各伯的天主。”祂问他们：“难道你们觉得，天主会把自己当作死者的天主吗？如果祂自称是亚巴郎、依撒格和雅各伯的天主，这意味着这些先祖都活着。”他们不知如何作答，而他们的对头法利赛人，却因耶稣“封住了他们的口”而极为高兴。撒杜赛人和法利赛人几乎在任何事上都不一致；撒杜赛人来自贵族阶层，属于司祭阶级——不像法利赛人属于中产阶级——，他们利用宗教敛财，只接受圣经的前五本书（梅瑟五书），驳斥其余的书卷（例如，他们不承认先知书，因为先知们批评了他们某些宗教习俗，而这些正是他们实践的一部分；他们也不信复活。

撒杜赛人关心的是在今生过得好。既然他们很有钱，他们只想着今世；在他们的观念里，宗教是用来向天主求恩典，让自己在此世享福的。我们要小心，因为今天一些基督徒中也存在这种利用宗教获取恩典、向天主求好处的撒杜赛人心态，好让自己感觉良好。但最终，我们会看到法利赛人和撒杜赛人结盟，因为他们有共同的敌人。上个主日，我们已经看到两个对立的团体，无论在宗教还是政治上——黑落德党人和法利赛人——联合起来对抗共同的敌人。

现在，我们看到法利赛人和撒杜赛人为了同一目的聚在一起。他们原本无法容忍彼此，但现在却联合起来，决定从他们中间选出最好的拉比：一位法学博士（nomikós），博学的圣经学者，派他去见耶稣，试图诓骗祂。他们想在众人面前败坏祂的名声。关于这些法利赛人，我也想说几句。正如基督徒团体中存在着撒杜赛人心态，法利赛人心态也存在。耶稣始终非常担忧这种心态会渗入祂的门徒中间。与撒杜赛人不同，法利赛人深受百姓尊敬；他们在乎自己的威望，担心耶稣的宣讲会使他们失去所享有的百姓拥戴。但我相信，大多数法利赛人是出于善意而行事，他们深信自己有责任捍卫天主的工程。他们认真遵守法律的一切规条。保禄在致斐理伯人书中骄傲地宣称：“就遵守法律而言，我是无可指摘的法利赛人；论到对天主的热忱，我是迫害教会的。”后来在致弟茂德书中他又说：“起初我是个亵渎者、迫害者和暴力者，但天主怜悯了我，因为我是在无知中出于善意行事，我是出于无知。”

我认为大多数法利赛人都是如此。他们觉得反对耶稣是自己的职责，因为耶稣挑战了他们的传统。我们要小心，因为今天同样的善意错误也会重演：人可能会站在福音的对立面，因为想要忠于某些信念、某些传统，而福音本要摧毁、搁置这些传统（福音如同双刃的剑，刺入人心深处，常要求彻底的改变）。这些法利赛人和那位杰出的圣经学者，法学士，一起来到耶稣面前；他们选他是因为他该问耶稣他们准备好的问题：“师傅，法律中哪条诫命最大？”请注意这个问题，因为它充满恶意。的确，在当时背景下，关于诫命有多少条、哪些最重要，是有过讨论的。出谷纪和申命纪列出了十条诫命，但圣咏15首列出了十一条。依撒意亚先知书第33章只列出了六条，拉比们从圣经中推断出有610条诫命，有些拉比争论哪些最重或最轻。其中有希肋耳拉比，他住在耶稣前一代，他作了那样的区分。另一方面，与耶稣同时代的沙迈拉比，从不肯听“轻松”的诫命。有一天，一个外邦人来找他说：“我想成为犹太人”，并要求他快速总结法律书。自然，那外邦人挨了打，因为没有“轻松的诫命。这不是本福音中那位拉比问耶稣的问题的含义。他问祂，并不是想知道哪一条是最大的诫命，而是哪一条是唯一的伟大诫命。

这个问题也并非善意，因为他们并不是要试探耶稣是否准备好了（他们知道祂准备好了）。而且他们也清楚（连孩子们都知道）那条伟大的诫命是什么。那就是天主所吩咐遵守的：安息日。这就是为什么这个问题不怀好意。这就好比有一天夜里，我在一个居民区以120公里的时速开车，而拦下我的警察问我：在居民区里可以开多快。我当然只能回答：50公里/小时。如果我告诉他“50”，他就会说：“那你为什么要开到120？”拉比也是用这样的问题来攻击耶稣。如果耶稣回答说安息日就是最大的诫命，他就会立刻说：“那么你们为什么不遵守它呢？”耶稣遵守安息日，但并不像他们那样守……且听祂的回答：“祂对他说：‘你要以你的全心、全灵、全意，爱上主，你的天主。这是最大的，也是首要的诫命。’”

耶稣没有按照他们所期望的方式回答。因此，他们感到惊奇，无法按照他们预备好的那样继续控告祂。但最令他们惊奇的是，耶稣并没有以“人必须服从命令、规条，尽服从天主的本职”这样的话来引出这条最大的诫命。这些都不是。要求人们服从、顺从的，是外邦人的神明，而不是纳匝肋人耶稣的天主。纳匝肋人耶稣的天主所要的，是自由的人（“你应当爱……”），是自由去爱的人。凡想使自己快乐的人，必须使自己卷入天主无条件的爱中。这就是最大的诫命。

“去爱”这个动词（希伯来语 ohav，אָהַב）在旧约中重复了248次。令我们吃惊的是，在圣经最古老的文本中，“去爱”这个动词并不归于天主；归于祂的，是强烈的情感：祂愤怒，祂悲伤，祂发命令。在最古老的文本里，我们看不到一位温柔甘饴的天主的肖像。倘若这个天主的形象是真的，那后果是什么呢？那就是恐惧。以色列人有一天转向梅瑟说：“你对我们讲话，我们必要听从你；不要让天主对我们讲话，不然，我们就要死了。”在西奈山下目睹了那一切之后，他们就感到害怕。面对这位严厉的天主，人能做什么呢？他低头，战战兢兢地遵守祂的诫命，害怕受到惩罚。

在圣经中，我们又该如何看待这位用命令灌输恐惧的天主呢？至关重要的是，我们恭读圣经的时候，要记住它逐渐向我们揭开天主对以色列的启示。在圣经中，我们读到天主与祂子民之间爱情的历史，但以色列并没有立刻认出他们天主面容的全部美丽。他们是一点一滴地认识祂的。他们起初所抱持的天主观念，也是古代中东其他各民族都有的：他们都以为每个民族各有自己的神明；但到了某一点上，他们意识到天主只有一个，以色列的天主是普世的天主。

然后，天主派遣先知来启发祂的子民，众先知把同一天主的面容上放射出的辉映带给了他们。他们宣导了一位温柔的天主的形象，把祂比作新郎，邀请众人与祂建立崭新的联系。不再是那必须服从主人命令的仆人与主人之间的关系，而是那自由热恋中的妻子，想要使新郎开心的爱情。情侣之间不遵守诫命或法令；那是一种快乐的冲动，是愿意去做一切令所爱之人快乐的事。紧接着，他们也宣导了天主的慈父、慈母形象：天主是父亲，天主是母亲。在依撒意亚先知书第49章，我们读到天主慈母般的美好形象：耶路撒冷抱怨说：“我的上主遗弃了我，上主把我忘记了。”天主应允说：“妇人岂能忘记自己所生的儿子，不加以怜悯他呢？就算她能忘记自己所生的儿子，我也决不会把你们遗忘。”

危险在于：停留在圣经中那些古老的天主形象里，而不向先知们逐渐宣导的新光敞开自己的心扉。那些与耶稣抗衡的法利赛人和撒杜赛人，就停留在古老的形象里，他们没有敞开自己的心扉，接纳先知的讯息，也没有机敏地吸收圣咏作者的属灵讯息。事实上，这些法利赛人和撒杜赛人，实在没有准备好去把握站在他们面前的这位耶稣。他们没有在祂身上看到，完全展露出来的天主俊美的面容。其实，只要看祂一眼就够了，但他们首先得让自己被圣经预备妥当。

耶稣爱这些人，爱祂的仇敌；祂想把他们从强令他们顺从、强令他们敬畏天主的状态中释放出来，使他们从对天主的怕惧中解脱出来，好能快乐，能与那些意识到自己被唯一真天主无条件地爱着的人一同喜乐。那么，耶稣做了什么呢？祂没有讲服从。在福音中，从来没有要求我们服从。风听从耶稣，恶神听从祂，海浪也听从祂，但人却总不服从祂。耶稣从来没有说过必须服从，连对天主也不必。天主圣子不服从；祂好似在天上的慈父一样。在福音中，没有“顺从”（ὑπακοή，hutapoé）这样的词汇，这样的词汇并不存在。顺从天主，只是要求我们以祂赐给我们的儿女身份服从祂；认识它，并以这种身份生活。

即使耶稣顺从祂的天父的时候，祂也没有服从命令；祂只是以儿子的身份顺从祂。在祂的回应中，耶稣并没有追忆服从的命令和职责；祂想起的是那段信仰宣认，就是虔诚的犹太人在清晨和晚上，面朝耶路撒冷，一天两次所诵念的。犹太人还有第三次虔诚的祈祷，就是在睡觉以前。这样的虔诚行为，在申命纪第6章中，以色列那著名的祈祷文里可以看到：“听啊，以色列！上主我们的天主是唯一的神。你要以你的全心、你的全灵、你的全意，爱上主，你的天主。”（申6:4-5）

以我们的全心爱天主，是什么意思呢？对我们而言，内心是情感的核心，对以色列人而言也是这样；但对他们而言，心同时也是全部思想、一切选择、一切决定的核心。“全心”意味着没有不属于天主的空间。所有决定、所有思想、所有选择，都与祂一致；没有给别的、给偶像留下任何空间。以色列的天主是嫉妒的。如果你对祂半心半意，又把你的心分给别的倾慕对象，你决不会幸福，你决不会完全认识到自己是祂的儿女。我们知道，恋爱中的人决不会接受自己所爱的人把心分给另一个人。他们想把一切都留给自己。我们知道，丈夫、妻子，都爱听对方说：“我都是你的。”这正是天主想要的心；如果你真爱天主，那么，你在爱内与天主同在。

那么，以你的全灵爱祂，又是什么意思呢？“灵魂”（希腊文 ψυχή，psyche；希伯来文 נֶפֶשׁ，nefesh）指的是全人。生命中没有留下任何让我们的偶像——我们的骄傲、我们的懒惰、我们的虚荣——得以放纵的空隙。全人都向唯一的爱主投降。那么，以全意去爱的人所想望的是谁呢？就是那被人喜爱的人。他所看到的一切，都让他想起自己所爱的人。一段旋律让他想起那个特别的人；一朵花让他想起他们首次互诉爱意的时刻……每一件事都让他想起自己心爱之人。因此，信众真正的兴趣，在于寻求天主。涌向祂的思绪，源源不绝。因此，耶稣说，真正的信仰、真正对天主的依附，也必须囊括人的思想。

这一点并不在申命纪上。在信仰的宣认中，“用你全部的面容”被译作“以你的全心、全灵、全力”。耶稣补充说：“用你的全意。”这是说：对天主的依附，是经过深思熟虑、有意识、出于理性而作出的选择的结果，就像一切真爱那样；否则，那只是站不住脚的迷恋。——当人只是一时迷恋，新的情人来到，初恋情人立刻被人遗忘——这就是耶稣所要求的、对天主的依附：“要以全意”顺从天主，意味着要对自己选择相信的信仰，作出理性的交代，而这个选择必须很合理。真爱源自对所爱之人美丽的发现。因此，如果你不透过福音认识耶稣，你对祂的依附就会非常匮乏；它会沦为一种轻易的、转瞬即逝的迷恋，之后，就像所有没有根基、同样缺乏认知的爱情一样，很快就会败落。

所以，让我们记住：那不专心研究天主圣言的人，就是指那些没有以自己的全意去爱天主、不能理性地作出自己选择的人，就是那些没有以自己的全心去爱天主的人。那些在场的人，一定对耶稣的回答感到惊讶和疑惑；这正是一个令人吃惊、令人困惑的时刻。

“第二条诫命与第一条相似：你要爱你的近人，如同爱你自己一样。全部法律和先知都系于这两条诫命。”

耶稣想让撒杜赛人和法利赛人反思他们每天所重复的信仰宣认。“你们要爱上主，你们的天主”，耶稣说，这不是指要顺从上主，

你们的天主，而是要服从祂的诫命、持守规条，以免受到惩罚。那是外邦人对待天主的方式。而祂，既然想尽一切办法要使他们快乐，就设法把他们带入与上主之间崭新的关系，一种会使他们感到喜乐的关系，因为它让他们感受到自己被无条件地爱着。如果你行为不检，你不会感到幸福，但祂仍然爱你。当你自由地感受到被爱的时候，你也会学会如何自由去爱。

耶稣一直在谈论爱，因为我们因爱而受造。天主把我们造成这样。爱并不意味着要寻找我们自己喜爱的事物，爱意环视四周，看看谁能让我们感到快乐。这就是为什么我们总要举目向上，因为我们蒙召，为的是要使天主因我们的孝爱感到喜乐。当我们按照祂的思想和情感，和睦生活的时候，我们就可以使祂喜乐……妻子在爱情与和谐中与丈夫共同生活，才会幸福。

此外，我们不仅举目向上，我们不仅要让天主喜乐。天主也安排我们去使我们身边的人——那些需要我们服务、需要我们的爱的兄弟——感到快乐。这就是为什么，首先“你们要举目向上去爱”，耶稣立刻加上第二条：“你要爱你的近人，如同爱你自己一样。”耶稣并没有发明这第二条“你要爱”的诫命。祂取自肋未纪所载，天主提出的一个令人心痛的建议：“不可复仇，不可怨恨你的本国人。你要爱你的近人，如同爱你一样。”（肋19:18）“我的近人”指的是以色列。

我要把原文表达的含义译作：“你要爱你的近人”（כָּמֹוךָ，kā-mō-w-ḵā），那个与你相似的人，因为他与你相似。在依撒意亚先知书第58章，依撒意亚说：“他是你的血肉。”假如我们要反思这个真理，就是：看到那在我们身边的人，与我们相似，出自我们的血肉，我们在犯罪以前，难道不加思索吗？

然而，理解“爱属于你所爱的子民”，只是第一步。正如耶稣对爱的理解不会止步，我们的目光，也必须超越对爱的这种理解。旧约的进展，已经走得更远了。上主已经给自己的百姓讲清楚了：爱应当超越以色列人的界限。在申命纪上，有一句箴言：“上主说：‘你们的天主喜爱旅客；祂赐给他们食粮和衣服。因此，要爱旅客，要记得，你们也曾在埃及作旅客。’”但是，天主怎样给旅客吃穿呢？祂在申命纪第24章又告诉我们，总是带着一条令人心痛的规定：你在田里割草的时候，忘记了一片玉米穗，你不可以把它再捡起来；而是要把它留给旅客。”这很美。拉比说：“你知道上主是如何牧养外邦人的吗？祂使自己的百姓忘记几片玉米穗。”在申命纪第24章，祂继续补充说：你在葡萄园里收葡萄的时候，你不可采摘所有的葡萄，要把你遗忘的葡萄，留给旅客。”另一段经文也指明了这第二条“你应当去爱”该往何处去。

但是，耶稣更进一步。衡量爱别人的尺度不是“如同你一样”，而是“要彼此相爱，如同我爱了你们一样”。耶稣说的爱，包括甘愿为人舍命。此外，在耶稣的口中，“近人”一词，包括我们所有的人；所有人都是兄弟姐妹，是同一天主圣父的儿女。但是，还有最后一步，最困难的一步，就是我们在耶稣口中听到的“你们要彼此相爱”。它现在的含义，比过去在肋未纪和申命纪中的含义，更为广泛：它也必须来到仇敌那里。你环视仇敌，当你的仇敌需要你使他快乐时，你就要让自己成为可及的，甚至要为伤害你的人付出你的性命：“现在，我给你们说，要爱你们的仇敌，为那些迫害你们的人祈祷。”

为了什么原因呢？不是为了要在天国积攒功绩，而是要成为你们在天之父的儿女。没有什么赏报，比得上听天父说：“你实在堪当被爱，我承认祢是我的慈父；你真是我的儿子，因为你如同我爱你一样，无条件地爱了我。”我们不爱我们的兄弟，我们对天父的爱也不存在。若望一书第4章写道：“如果有人说：‘我爱天主’，但不爱自己的兄弟，他就是个骗子；他不爱他所看到的兄弟，他又怎能说他爱他所看不到的天主呢？’”这是我们受自祂的诫命：凡爱天主的，也要爱自己的兄弟。这样，我们便明白：“你要爱”不是出自外在的诫命，而是出自我们作天主儿女的本性。我们的本性是为爱而构型的；它引导我们去爱。我们从天父那里所领受的生命之种，当我们容许自己，以天主儿女的身份受其引导时，它就显露了出来。既然每人都领受了天主性的恩典，即便那些不认识福音的人，甚至他们爱仇，也不足为奇。因为天主儿女的身份，决定我们要遵守爱的诫命。

然而，我们也注意到：如果没有提到对天主的爱，就很难爱我们的兄弟。那在祂背后没有信德、没有觉察到自己被卷入天主无条件的爱情中的人，他们会发觉：在某些情况下，更难以去爱人，比如原谅配偶的背叛，善待严重伤害你的人，容忍令你不悦的人，最重要的是：把你的产业分给有需要的人，甚至仇人，也要分给他们……如果你不认识福音，不常与纳匝肋人耶稣的讯息保持接触，你会发现，这一切会变得更为困难。耶稣继续讲论，全部法律和先知都系于这两条诫命。在这里，有一个重要的希腊动词：κρέμαται（krématai），这个词被翻译成“系”。它暗指一个钩子，一个把所有别的东西固定在一起的固定点。同样，在圣经上，耶稣的全部讯息，都与这两个“你要爱”联系在一起，“你要爱”如同两个钩子，上主的全部圣言都系于它。

我们没有看到法利赛人和撒杜赛人的反应。然而，从接下来的事件中，我们就会得出结论：就连耶稣也没有能力，使他们脱离自己的执信。他们继续朝拜他们的神，就是立法和公义之神。他们继续朝拜那神，也正是因为那神的缘故，他们才定耶稣的罪。

我祝大家主日喜乐，一周愉快。

© 全属于祢 & 乐仁出版社（中国香港）
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2026

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A

Matthew 22:34-40

Commentary of Fr. Fernando Armellini

Greetings to all.

In the last part of his Gospel, Matthew relates Jesus’s disputes with his adversaries. One senses a growing resentment towards him; relations became increasingly strained, and, in fact, shortly after that they went so far as to condemn him to death. Two of these disputes we have already encountered in the past Sundays; remember that the chief priests who had stood before him in the temple had questioned him (with a hard face): “Who has allowed you to teach here? We are responsible for all that goes on in the Temple… Who authorized you?” And Jesus had answered them: “There is an authority that does not come from you. The Baptist, for example, from whom had he received the authority to preach? He had not asked it of you; he had received it directly from God; therefore, there is an authority superior to yours.” Therefore, they were troubled.

Last Sunday, we heard the second dispute when they approached him, trying to get him to take a stand concerning the payment of tribute to Caesar to accuse him before the Roman authority or to discredit him before the people. But there was also a third dispute that we did not see last Sunday. It was the one with the Sadducees. These descendants of the high priest, who held political and the highest religious office, had come to him to ridicule his belief in the resurrection by presenting him with the famous example of that woman who had had seven husbands…

Today, we find Jesus involved in a fourth controversy, and this time, the attack on him will be in the theological field; the rabbis feel well prepared because they know the scriptures inside out. Why do they want to involve Jesus in a new controversy? The reason is that they consider him a heretic, one who subverts religious practice, who scandalizes the people, who do not practice the fasts, who do not perform the purifications, and who, moreover, associatewith publicans, sinners and women of doubtful life. But above all, who spreads what they consider the greatest heresy because he goes about telling people that the Lord God of Israel loves all, that he makes no distinction between good and bad while they teach that God rejects sinners, that he hates them and turns away; Jesus affirms, on the other hand, that the Lord also loves them. That is why they feel the duty to discredit him before the people. Let us hear what question they ask him:

“When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’”

To begin with, it is worthwhile to extend the mention to the dispute that Jesus had with the Sadducees about the resurrection and in which he concluded, “covering their mouths,” as the Gospel text describes it.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. That is why Jesus quotes them a text from Exodus in which God appears to Moses saying to him: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” And he asks them: “Does it seem possible to you that God presents himself as a God of people who are dead? If he presents himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it means that these patriarchs are alive.” They did not know what to answer, and the Pharisees, who were their adversaries, were super pleased that Jesus “closed their mouths.”

The Sadducees and the Pharisees did not agree on practically anything; the Sadducees were coming from the aristocracy, they belonged to the priestly caste—unlike the Pharisees, who belonged to the middle classes—, they used religion to enrich themselves, and they only accepted the first five books (the Torah) from the Bible refuting the remaining ones (they did not consider the books of the prophets, for example, because the prophets criticized certain religious customs that, precisely, were part of their practice; and they also did not believe in the resurrection.
The Sadducees cared about being well off here, in this world. And since they had a lot of money, they only thought about this life; religion, in their conception, served to ask favors to God, to be well off here. Let’s be careful because of a certain Sadducee mentality of using religion to obtain graces, get favors from God, and feel good here is also present in some Christians today.

But, at last, we will see Pharisees and Sadducees allying because they have a common enemy. Last Sunday, we already saw two opposing groups, both religiously and politically— the Herodians and the Pharisees—to oppose a common enemy. And now, we see how Pharisees and Sadducees come together for the same purpose. They could not stand each other, but they allied themselves and they decide to choose among them the best rabbi they have: a νομικός (nomikós), a Doctor of the Law, a learned biblical scholar, to send him to Jesus and try to deceive him. They want to discredit him in front of all the people.

I want to say a few words also about these Pharisees. Such as, in the Christian community, the Sadducee mentality is present, and so is the Pharisaic mentality. Jesus was always very concerned that this mentality would infiltrate among his disciples. Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees were highly esteemed by the people; they cared about their prestige and feared that Jesus, with his preaching, would alienate them from this popular sympathy they enjoyed. I believe, however, that the majority of the Pharisees acted in good faith because they acted convinced that they were in their right to defend the cause of God. They were conscientiousobservers of all the precepts of the Law. Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians, proudly declares: “As for the observance of the Torah, I was a blameless Pharisee, and as for zeal for God, I was a Church persecutor.” And then, in the Epistle of Timothy, he will say: “First, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, a violent one, but God showed me mercy because I acted in good faith, I was acting out of ignorance.”

I think most of the Pharisees were like that. They felt like it was their duty to oppose Jesus, who challenged all their traditions. Let us be careful because today, the same bona fide error can be repeated, one can take sides against the Gospel because one wants to remain faithful to certain convictions, to certain traditions that the Gospel wanted to undermine, wanted to be set aside (the Gospel is like a double-edged sword that penetrates the innermost part of the heart and often demands radical changes).

These Pharisees present themselves to Jesus together with the distinguished biblical scholar, a nomikós; they choose him because he should ask Jesus the question they have prepared: “Teacher, which is the great commandment of the Law?” Let us observe the question because it is very malicious. It is true that, in that context, there was a discussion about how many were the commandments and which were the most relevant. In Exodus and Deuteronomy, ten commandments are listed, but in Psalm 15, eleven are listed. The prophet Isaiah, on the other hand, in chapter 33, lists only six and the rabbis had inferred in the Bible 610 with some rabbis arguing which were the most or the least important. Among them is Rabbi Hillel, who lived a generation before Jesus and made that distinction. On the other hand, Rabbi Shammai Jesus’ contemporary, never wanted to hear about “light” commandments. One day, a pagan came to him and said: “I want to become a Jew,” and asked him to summarize quickly the Torah. And, naturally, the pagan was beaten up because there were no “light” commandments. This is not the meaning of the question that the rabbi of this gospel asks Jesus. He does not question him to know which is the greatest commandment, but which is the only great commandment.

And the question is not innocent because they do not want to test whether Jesus is ready (they know that). And also, they know very well (even children know) what the great commandment is. It is what God observes: the Sabbath. That is why this question is not benevolent. It is as if, during the night, I am driving at 120 km/h in a residential area, and the policeman who stops me asks me how fast I can go in a residential area. Of course, I know I have to answer: 50 km/h. And if I tell him: “At 50”, he will say, “Why were you going 120?” In the same way, the rabbi asked Jesus the question to attack him. If Jesus answered that the great commandment is the Sabbath, he would immediately say: Why do you not keep it? Jesus kept the Sabbath, but not as they observed it… Let us listen to his answer:

“He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.’”

Jesus did not answer as they expected. And therefore, they were bewildered and could not continue with the accusation they had prepared. But what astonished them the most was that Jesus did not introduce the great commandment by saying that one had to obey orders, precepts, and the duty to be submissive to God. None of this. It was the pagan gods that demanded people to be submissive and obedient. Not the God of Jesus of Nazareth. The God of Jesus of Nazareth wants free people (“You shall love…”). Free to love. All who want to be happy, must be involved in the unconditional love of God. This is the great commandment.

The verb “to love” (ָהב ְמאֹו , ohav in Hebrew) is repeated 248 times in the Old Testament. That which may surprise us is that, in the oldest texts of the Bible, the verb “to love” is not attributed to God; to him alone is attributed strong passions: he is indignant, he grieves, he commands. In the most ancient texts, we do not find the image of a tender and sweet God. The consequence of this image of God, if it is true, what can it be? Fear. The people of Israel one day turn to Moses and say: “You speak to us; we will listen to you; let not God speak to us otherwise, we shall die.” After the spectacle they had witnessed at the foot of Mount Sinai, they were afraid. In the face of this severe God, what does a man do? He bows his head; he observes his commands with fear and trembling, he fears punishment.

How do we also find this God who instills fear with his commands in the Bible? It is essential that, when reading the Bible, remember that it progressively presents us with God’s revelation to Israel. In the Bible, we find the account of the history of love between God and his people, but Israel did not immediately discover the full beauty of the face of their God. It understood it little by little. It started from the conception of God which all the other peoples of the Ancient Middle East also had; they thought that each people had its own god; then, at one point, they realized that God was one and that the Lord God of Israel was the God of the universe.

Then God sent the prophets to enlighten his people, and the prophets shed new light on the face of the one God. They introduced the tender images of a God, who presents himself as the Bridegroom and invites people to a new relationship with him. No longer the relationship of the employee who must obey his master’s orders but that of the wife who loves freely and wants to make the Bridegroom happy. Spousal love does not obey precepts or commands; it is a joyful impulse, the willingness to do everything that can make the beloved happy. And immediately they also introduced the familiar image of God: God who is father, God who is mother. In the 49th chapter of Isaiah, we find the wonderful maternal image of God when Jerusalem complains and says: “My Lord has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me.” And God responds: “Does a woman forget the son of her womb and is not moved with pity for him? Even if the woman forgets her son, remember that I will never forget you.”

The danger is to get stuck in the archaic images of God that we find in the Bible and not to open our hearts to the new light that the prophets progressively introduced.

The Pharisees and Sadducees who are confronting Jesus are stuck, glued to archaic images, they have not opened their hearts to the message of the prophets, have not assimilated the spiritual sensitivity of the psalmists. Indeed, these Pharisees and Sadducees are not prepared to grasp this Jesus before them. They do not see in him the full revelation of the beauty of the face of God. It would have been enough to look at him, but first, they should have let themselves be prepared by the Scriptures.

Jesus loves these men, his opponents; he wants to free them from subjection and the fear of God and to be free from the fear of God, to be happy, partakers of the joy of those conscious of being unconditionally loved by the true God. So, what does Jesus do? He does not speak of obeying. In the Gospels, it never says we have to obey. Jesus is obeyed by the wind, by evil spirits, by the waves of the sea, but never by people. Jesus never says that it is necessary to obey, not even to God. The Son of God does not obey; he resembles the Father in heaven. In the Gospels, there is no such term as ‘obedience’ (ὑπακοή, hutapoé); it does not exist. To obey God means to obey to the identity of sons and daughters that he has given us; to recognize it, and to live according to that identity.

Even when Jesus obeys his Father, he does not obey orders; he obeys his identity as Son. In his response, Jesus does not recalls commands and duties to obedience; he remembers the profession of faith, which the pious Jew recites twice a day, in the morning and the evening, facing Jerusalem. There is also a third time in which the Jew makes this profession of faith and it is before going to sleep. This profession of faith is the one found in Deuteronomy chapter 6,

the famous Shema Israel:א ָחד׃יהוָהיהוָהיהוָהיהוָהיהוָהי ְש ָר ֵאלש ַמעŠəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl YHWHʾĕlōhēnū YHWH ʾeḥād. (“The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.”).

What does it mean to love God with all our hearts? The heart, for us, is the center of emotions and also for the people of Israel; however, for them, the heart was also the center of all thoughts, of all choices, of all decisions. “With all the heart” means that there are no spaces left that do not belong to God. All decisions, all thoughts, all choices are made in tune with him; there are no spaces reserved for others, for idols. The God of Israel is jealous. If you bind your heart a little to him and a little to other lovers, you will not be happy, you will not be fully realized as his son or daughter. We know that lovers do not accept that the beloved person share the heart with another. They want it all for themselves. We know that the husband, the wife, love to be told: “I am all yours.” That’s the heart that God wants; if you are genuinely in love with God, then you are in love with God.

And what does it mean to love him with all your soul? “Soul” (ψυχή, psyche, in Greek, and ֶפש ֶנ ֶ֫ , nefesh, in Hebrew) means the whole person. There are no gaps in life that can be reserved to indulge our idols, our pride, our laziness, our vanity, no. The whole person surrenders to the one love.

And with the entire mind, who does the one who loves think about? Of the beloved. And everything he sees reminds him of the beloved. A melody reminds him of the special one; the flower reminds him when together they made the first declaration of love… Everything reminds him of the beloved. Therefore, the interest of the true believer is set on the search for God. The thought is constantly directed to him, like the lover and the beloved, and, therefore, true faith, true adherence to God, says Jesus, must also involve the mind.

This was not in the book of Deuteronomy. In the profession of faith, it says: “With all your face” that is translated as “with all your heart, soul, and strength.” Jesus adds, “with all the mind.” That is to say that adherence to God is the result of a meditated, conscious choice, reasonable, like all true love; otherwise, they are infatuations that do not hold up. —when one is only infatuated, a new lover arrives, and the first love is immediately forgotten—.

That is the adherence to God that Jesus asks for. “With the whole mind” means to know how to give reasons for one’s choice of faith, which must be very reasonable. True love comes from the discovery of the beauty of the loved one. Therefore, if you do not know Jesus through his Gospel, your adhesion to him will always be very poor; it will be reduced to the following to an easy momentary infatuation that later, like all fragile loves that have no basis also in intelligence will soon fail. So, let us remember that the one who does not dedicate time to the study of the word of God means that he does not love with all his mind; he who cannot give reasons for his choice does not love with all his mind.

Those present must have been surprised and bewildered by Jesus’ answer; no doubt it was a moment of surprise and of bewilderment. No sooner had they recovered than Jesus introduced a second love as great as the first. Let us listen:

“The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Jesus tried to make the Sadducees and Pharisees reflect on the profession they repeated daily. “You shalt love the Lord thy God,” Jesus said, does not refer to subjection, to the obligation to obey commands, to the precepts for fear of punishment. This is a pagan way of dealing with the Lord. And he, as he wants to make them happy, tries, by all means, to introduce them into the new relationship with the Lord, a relationship that will give them joy because it makes them feel unconditionally loved. You will not be happy if you misbehave, but he still loves you. And when you feel loved freely, you, too, will learn to love freely.
Jesus keeps talking about loving because we are made to love. God has programmed us to do so. To love does not mean looking for what we like; to love means looking around us to see who we can make happy. And that’s why our gaze is directed upwards because we are called to make God happy with our love. And we can make him happy by living in harmony with his thoughts and feelings… The wife is happy in complete love and harmony with her husband.
Moreover, our gaze is not only directed upward; we must not only make God happy. We are programmed to make happy the ones we see next to us, the brother who needs our service, our love. This is the reason why, at first, ‘you shalt love,’ upward, Jesus immediately adds a second one: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus did not invent this second ‘you shalt love’; he took it from the book of Leviticus, where God makes a poignant recommendation: “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). And my neighbor is meant Israel.

I would translate the expression ני ִ אכ ֹ֑ מוָךָך עֵר לע ֶּ֔ ֶמָך ְו ָֹֽא ַה ְב ָ תב ֵ ֵ֣ניאת-תט רת ֹּ֤ קם ְו ֹֽל א–א ל(lō-ṯiq-qōmwə-lō-ṯiṭ-ṭōr’eṯ-bə-nê’am-me-ḵā, wə-‘ā-haḇ-tālə-rê-‘ă-ḵākā-mō-w-ḵā) As “You shall love the one next to you” (kā-mō-w-ḵā), the one who is like you, because he is like you. In chapter 58, the prophet Isaiah says, “He is your flesh.”
If we were to reflect on this truth that he whom we see beside us is like ourselves, of our flesh, would we not think before we commit certain crimes?

Nevertheless, this love ‘for those who belong to your people’ is only the first step. Love as Jesus understands it does not stop here; the gaze must go beyond this. Already, the Old Testament had gone a step further. The Lord had made it clear to his people that love should go beyond the borders of the Israelites. In the book of Deuteronomy, there is a poignant recommendation: “The Lord says: ‘Your God loves the stranger; he gives him bread and clothing.’ Therefore, love the stranger, and remember that you also were strangers in Egypt.’” But how does God feed and clothe the stranger? He tells us again in the book of Deuteronomy, always with a poignant provision, in chapter 24: “When you mow your field, and you forget a panel of ears of corn, you shall not pick it up again; it shall be for the stranger.” This is very beautiful. The rabbis said: “Do you know how the Lord feeds the stranger? By making one of his people forget a few ears of corn.” And, still in chapter 24, he adds: “When thou gather in thy vineyard, you shalt not gather again all the clusters of grapes; what you have forgotten shall be for the stranger.” Another passage shows where this second ‘you shalt love’ should go.

But Jesus went even further. The measure of love for another is not that it be “as yourself” but that it be “Love one another as I have loved you.” The love Jesus speaks of involves being willing to lay down one’s life. Furthermore, on the lips of Jesus, the term ‘neighbor’ includes every person; all are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the one Father. And there is still one last step, the most difficult one, to accept this ‘you shalt love’ which we find on the lips of Jesus. It now has a much wider meaning than what it used to mean in the book of

Leviticus and Deuteronomy: it must also reach the enemy. When you look around you and your enemy needs you to be happy, you must make yourself available and even give your life for those who have harmed you: “Now I say to you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.”

For what reason? Not to gain merit in heaven, but to be children of your heavenly Father. There is no greater reward than to hear from the heavenly Father: “You so love that I acknowledge you as your Father; you are truly my child because you love as I love, unconditionally.” Without this love for our brother, even the love for God does not exist. The First Letter of John in chapter 4 says, “If one says: ‘I love God’ but does not love his brother, he is a liar. He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he say that he loves God whom he does not see?’” This is the commandment we have received from him: He who loves God, let him love his brother also.

Thus, we see how this ‘you shalt love’ is not a commandment from outside but from our nature as children of God. Our nature is programmed for love; it leads us to love. The seed of life we receive from the Father in heaven is manifested as we allow ourselves to be guided by our identity as children of God. And since every person has received this gift of the divine nature, it should come as no surprise that even those who have not known the Gospel can come to love even the enemy, for it is the nature of the son and daughter of God that dictates the commandment to love.
However, we also observe that it is difficult to love one’s brother when there is no reference to the love of God. He who has no faith behind him and has not become conscious of being involved in the unconditional love of the Father in heaven, will find it much more difficult to love in certain situations, such as forgiving a spouse for a betrayal, to do good to someone who has wronged you very seriously, to put up with unpleasant people, and, above all, to detach your heart from your possessions to put them at the disposal of anyone in need… even if he is an enemy. If you do not know the gospel and do not keep constantly in touch with the message of Jesus of Nazareth, you will find all this much more difficult.

Jesus goes on to say that of these two commandments ‘depend’ on the whole Law and the prophets. Here is an important Greek verb: κρέμαται (krématai) which translates as “depend.” It conceptually alludes to a hook, a firm point that holds everything else together. In the same way, the whole biblical message of Jesus is connected to these two ‘you shall love’ as to a hook on which the whole word of the Lord rests.

We observe no response from the Pharisees and Sadducees. However, from the events that follow, we will conclude that not even Jesus was capable to detach them from their convictions. They continued to worship their god, that lawgiver-justice god. They continued to worship that god, and it was precisely because of their love for it that they would come to condemn Jesus.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.

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