Jerusalem, Notre Dame, 16th March 2007

 

 

Why is so important to know which is the first of all commandments?
Why one of the scribes wanted to know which is the greatest?

At first glance it is only a matter of curiosity or a matter of knowledge. But Jesus says to the scribe: You are not far from the Kingdom of God. Why? What did the scribe do to be not far from the Kingdom? He had knowledge of what is the most important.
We must say that it is very important to know the truth, to know what should I do today? What is the most important? What is the first? What is necessary? What is the greatest?

Maybe we are far from the Kingdom of God not because of our sins but because of our crummy knowledge. Not because we do wrongly, but because we know wrongly. Not because of our hands, but because of our head. I don’t think that the problem of the modern world is in the heart, because it seems that our ancestors were crueller than us. But they had probably better heads. That’s the reason why should we learn, why should we think, why should we meditate, why should we ask, why should we seek. Because we have to know not only the values but also the hierarchy of values.

Now when we know which is the first of all the commandments for Jesus, there is only one question: 
Do you know which is the first of all the commandments for you?