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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is Sound and Season. It's Wednesday, 31st day of Lent. Our passage today comes from the gospel of Mark chapter 12 verses 28 through 44. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well asked him, which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1.
Jeffrey Heine:And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him, you are right teacher. You have truly said that he is 1 and there is no other besides him, And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Jeffrey Heine:And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. And as Jesus taught in the temple he said, how can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself and the Holy Spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. David himself calls him Lord, so how is he his son?
Jeffrey Heine:And the great throng heard him gladly. And in his teaching he said, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the place of honor at the feasts, who devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers, they will receive the greater condemnation. And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box, many rich people put in large sums, And a poor widow came and put in 2 small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Our reflection for today comes from the 4th century Bishop Gregory of Nyssa. Human life consists in a threefold unity. We are taught similarly by the apostle in what he says to the Ephesians, praying for them that the complete grace of their body and soul and spirit may be preserved at the coming of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:We use the word body for the nutritive part, the word for the vital, soul, and the word spirit for the intellective dimension. In just this way, the Lord instructs the writer of the gospel that he should set before every commandment that love to God, which is exercised with all the heart, and soul, and mind. This single phrase embraces the human whole, the corporal heart, the mind as the lighter intellectual and mental nature, and the soul as their mediator. And from the 4th century archbishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom, This is the summit of virtue, the foundation of all God's commandments. To the love of God is joined also love of neighbor.
Jeffrey Heine:One who loves God does not neglect his brother or sister, nor esteem money more than limb of his own, but shows him great generosity mindful of him who has said, whoever did it to the least of my brothers or sisters did it to me. He is aware that the Lord of all considers as done to himself what is done in generosity to the poor, in giving relief. He does not take into consideration the lowly appearance of the poor, but the greatness of the one who has promised to accept as done to himself what is given to the poor. Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you. Let us pray.
Jeffrey Heine:O God, you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son. We pray that by his death he has called us to life, so by his love may he raise us to eternal joy. This Lent, oh spirit, renew the joy of our salvation so we might join the angels and the archangels declaring together, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of your glory. Oh lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Glory to the father and to the son, and to the holy spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen.