You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. his is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole Law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."-Matt 22:37-40. Friends, God is good, all the time.
At the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea, a man's incredible rescue in the Finn sailing competition by a fellow competitor became the games' highlight. Canadian Olympic Finn sailor Larry Lemieux, who was cruising in the 2nd place in the sailing race, discovered Joseph Chan of Singapore, who had fallen from his boat, screaming for help. Larry abandoned his dream of placing well and winning a medal to rescue Joseph and waited till the official rescue team arrived before continuing his race.
Following his exceptional sportsmanship, the National Olympic Committee handed him an award of excellence with the second place he was at when the incident occurred. Larry asserted in an interview, "The very first rule is to help people in distress."
In the first reading from Exodus EX 22:20-26, the Lord cautions the Hebrews against the mistreatment of aliens living with them, just as he had heard their cry for help at their mistreatment as aliens in Egypt. Here, God dispenses his special care and support for vulnerable and disadvantaged people, such as the unborn, orphans, widows, and aliens. As Larry Lemieux reminds us, it is the first eternal rule of life "to help people in distress," which often include these people. And any failure on our part never places us to stand in good stead with God and them.
We meet Jesus teaching us about the supreme commandant of love. Asked about which commandment is the greatest, the Lord points to the double sides of love to God and neighbor. The commandment to love God (see Deut. 6:5) and neighbor (Lev 19"18) places each person (YOU) at the center. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” …You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
By linking the two separate commandments as one, with the love of neighbor as the underside of the love of God, as the Theologian Maclaren explains, Jesus "shifts the center from conduct to character, from deeds to affections." Love then becomes our nature, our character from which our conducts emerge, and not an isolated instance of doing good or helping others. As Jesus concluded, the whole Law and the prophets depend on the two commandments. If our essence is love, loving becomes more manageable and profitable. It does not become hard for us to love people without basing it on anything, nor will anything become a reason for not loving.
It is also true that if we reverse the order, making the love of self and neighbor first, it would be impossible to fulfill it well, "because the second is a consequence of the first." The love we give to God, the self, and our neighbor must be understood as the sum of our goodness and duty.