Bastions of Faith

To daily mass, to worship the Lord they come, the elderly, some with gnarly hands, clicking canes, rattling walkers, shuffling feet, swaying unnaturally because of worn out hips and knees. 

To daily mass they come, to worship the Lord, an occasional young mother with her shiny faced, bright eyed little ones. 

Nothing will come between them and their Lord. 

First they worship God at daily mass, then in spiritual love they greet each other with smiles talking about aches and pains, or the weather, or seeking prayers for those in need. In the same spirit those who can no longer drive are sometimes given rides to church by those who can, and after the worship service some will gather at the nearest coffee house for more fellowship. Overlooked, but by God and possibly their pastor, these bastions of faith are ideal examples of this Sunday’s gospel reading. 

^28 One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
^29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!
^30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
^31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
^32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’
^33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
^34 And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
- Mark 12:28b-34 (NAB) 

The Pharisees, Herodians, and scribes had been asking Jesus trick questions in the hope of getting Him to respond with something they could officially charge Him with, but at this point the score was Jesus – 4, Pharisees and Herodians – 0. The scribe in verse 28 seeing how well Jesus had answered them, and decided on a different approach – test Jesus’ knowledge and understanding of scripture.

What began as something of a test concluded in verse 32 and 33 with the scribe’s observation of, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’
^And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”, and in verse 34 with Jesus responding, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

The scribe acknowledged the wisdom of Jesus’ answer, and Jesus acknowledged the scribe’s true grasp of the commandments. Imagine the great joy of our God when His people worship Him with all their heart, understanding, and strength, and love their neighbors as themselves, and do not simply offer burnt offerings and sacrifices as obligated by Church law.