God loves us freely

 

One passage in Mark’s gospel opens with a question of a scribe: “Which is the first of all the commandments?”  (Mark 12:28-34).  The question presented to Jesus by the scribe wasn’t an idle one; the rabbis of the time had determined that there were 613 distinct commandments in the law – both great and small, and very great and trivially small.  Sadly, some observed merely the letter of the law without regard to its spirit, despite the warnings of the prophets throughout Israel’s history.  No doubt, the scribe was searching for a deeper understanding.

Jesus’ answer to the scribe was simple:  Love God…with all your heart, soul, mind, strength!  And love your neighbor as yourself!  That’s it:  the letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law, simply stated…and supported by the teaching and example of Jesus Himself.

As Hosea points out, God loves us freely.  “Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them.”  (Hosea 14:2-10)

My reflection today led me to remember my Confirmation when I was in the 8^th grade.  Confirmation is sometimes a societal rite of passage, a graduation of sorts from primary school; more importantly, it’s a rite of passage into an adult faith life in the Church.  Naturally, most 12-year-olds tend to be more excited about the societal trappings - new clothes, generous gifts, big family parties, bouncy castles at said parties - than they are about continuing in their faith lives as adults.  So to prepare for Confirmation, we had almost an entire year of catechism classes on nothing but the Sacraments, specifically the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which we had to memorize.

When we were questioned by the teachers, most of us had a hard time articulating differences, because three of the gifts have names that we use almost interchangeably: wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. 

When the big day arrived and Bishop Manning started asking questions, our difficulties with these three gifts continued to shine brightly, despite our confidence that we did understand them.  The Q&A period went something like this:

Bishop: “Who can tell me what the gift of ‘wisdom’ is?”

Candidates: “You’re wise when you know a lot of things.” “No, a wise person understands things!”

Bishop: “Ok then, who can tell me what the gift of ‘knowledge’ is?”

Candidates: “Knowledge is when you know about things.” “Ah, when you understand things!”

Bishop: “You mean like knowing the answers on your math tests? Knowing information?”

Candidates: “Yes!”

Bishop: “So when you get confirmed, you won’t have to study for math anymore, because you’ll have knowledge?”

Candidates: “Um... well, no...”

(At this point, some of the parents in attendance couldn’t help themselves, and started laughing.)

Bishop: “What about the gift of ‘understanding?”’

Candidates: “That’s when you know stuff, and you get it.” “No, that’s when you can understand how someone is feeling.”

Bishop: “You mean you can sympathize with someone? As in, ‘to be understanding’ towards someone else?”

Candidates: “Yeah, like that.”

I think we (the candidates) all found out that year that the catechism is supremely unhelpful in defining the difference between these words in the section about the gifts of the Holy Spirit unless we put them all in the context of a growing relationship with God.  These gifts are seeds and continue to grow throughout our faith lives.  To be wise is to desire a relationship with God.  The gift of knowledge allows us to learn about God and about ourselves, and to discern God’s will for us.  The gift of understanding allows us to see truth in that knowledge and leads us into loving relationship with God.  Perhaps it’s in this context, where the scribe in Mark’s Gospel replies with love for God, that Jesus says, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”  (Mark 12:28-34)