The Pharisees question Jesus (Notes)

Saint Mark - Chapter 12

'And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart...' J-J Tissot

[28] Et accessit unus de scribis, qui audierat illos conquirentes, et videns quoniam bene illis responderit, interrogavit eum quod esset primum omnium mandatum.
And there came one of the scribes that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all.

[29] Jesus autem respondit ei : Quia primum omnium mandatum est : Audi Israel, Dominus Deus tuus, Deus unus est :
And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God.

[30] et diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota mente tua, et ex tota virtute tua. Hoc est primum mandatum.
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.

[31] Secundum autem simile est illi : Diliges proximum tuum tamquam teipsum. Majus horum aliud mandatum non est.
And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

[32] Et ait illi scriba : Bene, Magister, in veritate dixisti, quia unus est Deus, et non est alius praeter eum.
And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, thou hast said in truth, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him.

[33] Et ut diligatur ex toto corde, et ex toto intellectu, et ex tota anima, et ex tota fortitudine, et diligere proximum tamquam seipsum, majus est omnibus holocautomatibus, et sacrificiis.
And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength; and to love one's neighbour as one's self, is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.

And to love one’s neighbour as oneself is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices. Holocausts were sacrifices in which the whole victim was burnt and sacrificed to God by fire. This is what God says, “I will mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than holocausts” (Hosea 6:6). This young man tacitly assents to the saying of Christ, and condemns the scribes, who preferred sacrifices, which yielded profit to themselves, to mercy and the love of our neighbour. And this was why they bade children say to their parents, when they were in need, corban, i.e., oblation (see on Matt. 15:6).

[34] Jesus autem videns quod sapienter respondisset, dixit illi : Non es longe a regno Dei. Et nemo jam audebat eum interrogare.
And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. Thou art not far from the way of salvation, for the love of God and our neighbour is the pathway to heaven. Again it means, thou art not far from My Church, by which, militant here on earth, we go to the Church triumphant in heaven. “Still, as yet thou lackest faith to believe in Me as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and to obey My commands, so that thou mayest indeed become a Christian. And if thou wilt be perfect, leave all things and follow Me, as the Apostles have done.” When, then, He says, thou art not far, “He shows,” says Victor of Antioch, “that he was still at some distance, and that he ought to reach forward to that which was before, and seek diligently for the things that were yet wanting unto him.”

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam