Milan Cathedral, 1386-1965, Milan, Italy 2012.

[Jesus said to the scribe], “You are not far from the kingdom of God”.   Mark 12:34.

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Those words of Jesus must have been music in the ears of the scribe, bursting with love of God, recognized by the Lord of Life, and told he was on the right way to the welcoming arms of God. Isn’t that what each of us longs to hear as we navigate our way through the thorns and confusion of this life, doing the best we can to be a true followers of the Lord? And today’s gospel is so clear as to what we must do in this life to hear those words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself”. So what we must all do is translate that wonderful statement into action, live it out as best we can, and hope we too are close to the kingdom of God with a clear conscience and with a history of love of God, neighbor and self lived to the fullest. And note the timing of this gospel, deliberate or accidental I know not, but it’s close to the end of the church’s year. It is clearly a clarion call to each of us either confirming  our lifestyle, or calling our attention to a need to change it! 

Let’s take a look at today’s first reading from Deuteronomy. This was clearly the inspiration of the scribe’s joyous outburst is the presence of Jesus. It is thought that this passage was written just as the Hebrew people were about to enter their long-promised Holy Land. It sets the scene for what God expects of them once they are settled, and in no uncertain terms, God expects their total love, and God will return it. Love is the driving force of this relationship, not rules and regulations. Remember St. Augustine’s exhortation: “Love and do what you will”. If we do everything as an act of love for the other – or others – then God is present, because God is love. As St. Paul says in his first letter to the Christians in Corinth, “Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury. Love does not rejoice over wrong-doing, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 4-7). And I suspect everyone, the good and even the bad, will see the truth in that exhortation. There is something life-giving there, something of the eternal, something of pure truth. Such a life, not without challenge, is a happy life, as it is constantly focussed on the other, not the self. Happiness is to be found there, especially in the love that is freely and happily returned. For there will God be. Finally, the letter to the Hebrews, our second reading, contrasts the spiritual leaders of the Hebrews, even the very best, are still poor sinners like the rest of us, and so have to make amends for their own sins as well as those of the community. Christians, on the other hand, have the sinless Lord Jesus as their high priest, who conquered even death itself to be our sinless leader and our life. There is someone in whom we can place our total trust and hope, one who will also help us, if we ask, when we fall. For that is what the shepherd does. That is his job to which he is utterly devoted. So each of us is called by name to the flock of the faithful and trusting. There is nowhere safer.

Christ the Good Shepherd, Engebrechtsz c.1510, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

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