Memento – to know more and implement the command of love.

Many of you know that when someone is sick, we often have to encourage them to eat and drink more fluids. The ill person is fighting back; he doesn’t want to, yet you don’t give up. Talk to the sick person, encourage him… And at the same time, no one objects or says, Why don’t you respect the free will of a sick person!? The patient needs to be helped. All the more so when we feel something more towards the ill person, love, friendship, and seeing him as a child of God.

The Lord Jesus comes to a sick world marked by original sin and personal sins of people. He comes as our brother to help us understand the command of love in our lives. We should remember “which commandment in the Law is the greatest” (Mt 22:34). When a man sinned, he became ill. However, even then, God did not stop loving people. He sends prophets, leaders, and teachers to his people, who inform and teach the people the commands of God. It happened that there were 613 commands. They began to divide these into big and small. And also into “commandments,” which were 365, like the days of the year, and “prohibitions,” which were 248, according to the time understanding as much as there are limbs or parts in the human body. There was still a rich commentary on these commands. The question arose from this, with which they also came to Jesus: “Teacher,

They ask Jesus about the “greatest” commandment. Jesus repeatedly fought with the teachers, Pharisees, and scribes. It was not only in the case of whether it is permissible to heal on the Sabbath but also whether it is permissible to do so on the Sabbath, like the apostles who passed through the grain field on the Sabbath and ate grains of grain. On these and other occasions, Jesus emphasized at least his freedom by relegating the other commandments to the commandment of love. Therefore, the pressing question became where to look for the measure and what is the “chief commandment” to which all others must submit. Those who come with the question to “tempt” him know very well that the first command is the command to love God, and they also know it because God often pointed to the command to love one’s neighbor. We must not be surprised that there were also what in the labyrinth of many orders they did not know. The answer of Jesus in the Gospel is nothing new, which would be unknown to His adversaries.

Let us pray for ourselves, for Christians, and all people so that we can always open ourselves to the command of love. Just as you, Jesus, our God, Savior, and Redeemer, taught us to love in word and deed, we also want to help each other because we are all marked by sickness and sin against love for God and neighbor as well as ourselves.