Two Commandments

A Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; and the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself; in this twofold commandment the whole Law and the Prophets hang (Mt 22:37-40)

My brethren, have you all listened with attention to the Gospel read today? In it, among other things, the Lord Jesus Christ, in answer to the question of a certain lawyer, told everyone which are the chief commandments of the law of God, which every person must know and keep; namely, He said: «You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your understanding: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself; on these two commandments,—said the Lord,—the whole law and the prophets are established». Since the whole law consists of these two commandments, it is evident that every Christian must know them and understand them well. What does it mean to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind? What it means to love God was explained to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He says in the Gospel: whoever has My commandments and keeps them, that is the one who loves Me[1]; whoever does not love Me does not keep My commandments.

So, the one who loves God is the one who constantly keeps God’s commandments in mind and in heart and observes them. On the other hand, the one who loves God with all his heart is the one who hates lawlessness with all his heart, as it is said: you loved righteousness and you hated lawlessness; the one who loves God with all his heart and with all his mind is the one who constantly ponders God as the Creator, Provider, Savior, and Judge of himself and of the whole world; who constantly calls out to God; who strives with all his heart to please Him; who prays to Him with all his heart at home or in church, and during prayer does not allow himself to be distracted by any worldly cares, or by anything earthly in general, much less by sinful thoughts: he seeks first of all the kingdom of God and His righteousness[2]; he is concerned, first of all and above all, for the salvation of his own soul and the souls of those near him; in every undertaking he remembers God and does everything for His sake earnestly, honestly, exactly. That is who loves God with all his heart! Do we live and act in this way? Do we love God in this way—the One Who gave us life and, with life, everything needed for life and for enjoyment; Who has saved and still saves us from sin, from the curse, and from death; Who is our breath, our light, our strength, our deliverance, our cleansing, our sanctification, our peace, our joy, our Helper and Assistant in every good work? Truly, it is not so! When you look at our life and our actions, it seems that many of us have completely forgotten God and do not love Him at all. I will not undertake to name who does not love God and is estranged from God: let each person’s conscience tell him.

I will continue with the second commandment of the law: it says: love the one nearest to you, that is, your neighbor, every human being, as yourself. In other words: wish every person as much good as you wish for yourself; for example, wish for him the salvation of his soul just as you wish it for yourself; success in his affairs just as much as for yourself; well-being in life as for yourself; wish for him a good name as you wish for yourself, and in no way dishonor him: for he too was created in the image of God, just as you were; for a good name is dear to him as well; deal with him sincerely, simply, from the heart; in general, as you wish people to deal with you, so you deal with them[3]. Do we act this way? We do not. We love ourselves, but often do not love our neighbors; we do not wish them good, we are envious, we demean, dishonor, and revile our neighbors; we often do not help our neighbors; we care little for their salvation, as for our own, and thereby every day we violate and destroy God’s commandments; we provoke the Lord God and bring His righteous wrath down upon ourselves. Let us hasten to amend our ways, and let us keep God’s commandments firmly in mind and faithfully observe them. And so, even now, out of love for our brothers the Serbs and Montenegrins, wronged by the ungodly Turks, let us help them once more with our brotherly offerings. May your hand and your heart never grow weary of good deeds! Good deeds are like good seeds: they will bear fruit for you a hundredfold. May the Lord grant to all of you an abundance of earthly blessings and the salvation of your souls. Amen.