Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time: A Living, Loving Incarnation of Christ

Today is the feast day of San Martín de Porres of Peru, the illegitimate child of Anna Valezquez, a formerly enslaved Afro-Panamanian woman, and a Spanish nobleman who abandoned the family after Martín’s younger sister was born. Martin is the first person of African descent from the Americas to be canonized.

Although Martín was said to have miraculous bilocation powers, the ability to communicate with animals and heal, service was his specialty. Once he met an afflicted beggar and took him to his own bed in the monastery. When the superior reprimanded him for allowing a dirty, contagious stranger into the monastery, Martín replied that he could easily wash the sheets, but not that he felt guilty for neglecting the poor. Ignoring the difference between his rank as a brother and that of his superior, Martín replied, “Compassion, dear brother, is preferable to purity.” Martín could be a good interpreter of the contemporary Liturgy of the Word.

In our reading from Deuteronomy we hear one of many renditions of Moses instructing the people about God’s law. Although there are more than 630 mitzvot (commandments) in the law, Moses summarized them in the “Shema,” the prayer/confession of faith we hear today that begins, “Hear O Israel!” This faith reminds all who proclaim it that when they put their whole heart into the love of God, their primary desire will be to act in God’s name in all times and circumstances. Today’s Gospel makes that more concrete.

One day some Pharisees and Sadducees debated with Jesus about taxes and the circumstances under which a man could divorce his wife. An unnamed scribe (an official with the legal power to transcribe and promulgate scriptural and legal documents) came to Jesus and asked about the greatest of all commandments. As a writer, he knew the law better than most. Was he sincere? Test Jesus? Are you trying to make a point in front of a crowd? Who knows? No matter, Jesus improvised Moses’ teaching. He recited and interpreted the Shema, specifying that that love of neighbor is so similar to the love of God that they are inseparable and encapsulate every dimension of a godly life.

By agreeing with Jesus, the writer sided with Jesus in the previous debates. Unlike the Pharisees, who sought to protect the faithful from any appearance of dealing with foreigners, including paying taxes (Mark 12:14-17), the writer agreed that love was the only core commandment. Unlike the Sadducees, members of the upper class who oversaw temple sacrifices, he agreed that love trumps any kind of sacrifice or ritual. Implicitly, the scribe who had the responsibility of writing divorce decrees also supported Jesus on the issue of the mutual responsibility of husbands and wives (Mark 12:18-27). In a rather ironic exchange, the writer complimented Jesus on his interpretation of the Law and Jesus confirmed that the writer was not far from God’s government.

Moses, the writer, and Jesus shed light on today’s selection from Hebrews. The author, probably Paul’s colleague Priscillarefers to Christ as the highest and final priest and sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice? Offering Himself to humanity and lasting forever as the means by which humanity can encounter God.

St. Martín, a porter, barber-surgeon, healer and friend of the poor. was never ordained. He was a brother whose life preached in a way that few others have done – or perhaps even would do. He understood that love for God implies love for everyone and everything that God loves. He understood that love for Christ means giving yourself unconditionally for God’s beloved. He troubled more than one of his brothers and contemporaries with his freedom to place the law of love above all religious practice and restriction. He set a frightening example because, like Jesus, he went where the Spirit led him, rather than limiting himself to “how it should be done.” He made the word of God as real and effective as a two-edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12)

What could Saint Martin tell us today about love for God and neighbor?

If he were writing English, he might tell us to capitalize the word neighbor because in doing so we recognize that we encounter God’s love, needs, and prophecy in others. He might remind us that in our haste to complete important work or be respectable, we may be ignoring the fact that compassion is far more important than achievement or compliance with the law—regardless of the goal.

Although Martín would never say it himself, he was an icon of Christ, a living, loving incarnation of all that it means to be the body of Christ. As we approach the US elections, he would encourage us to ignore our reputations and fears as we dedicate our whole heart, soul and strength to love of God and neighbor.