Vigils Reading – 22nd Sunday

THE ESSENCE OF THE LAW

From a commentary by St Irenaeus1

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The Pharisees claimed that the traditions of their elders safeguarded the

Law, but in fact it contravened the Law that Moses had given. By saying: Your

merchants mix water with wine Isaiah shows that the elders mixed their watery

tradition with God’s strict commandment. In other words, they enjoined an

adulterated law which went against the Law, as the Lord also made clear when

he asked them: Why do you transgress God’s commandment for the sake of your

tradition?

By their transgression they not only falsified God’s Law, called to this day

the Pharisaic law. In this their rabbis suppress some of the commandments, add

new ones, and give others their own interpretation, thus making the law serve

their own purposes.

Their desire to justify these traditions kept them from submitting to God’s

Law that taught them about the coming of Christ. Instead, they even found fault

with the Lord for healing on the Sabbath, which was not forbidden by the Law,

for in a sense the Law itself healed by causing circumcision to be performed on

the Sabbath. On the other hand, they found no fault with themselves for

breaking God’s commandment by their tradition and the Pharisaic law just

mentioned, or by lacking the essence of the Law, which is love for God.

That this is the first and greatest commandment, the second being love of

our neighbor, the Lord taught by saying that the whole of the Law and the

prophets depend on these two commandments. He himself taught no greater

commandment than this, but he renewed this same commandment by bidding

his disciples love God with their whole heart, and their neighbor as themselves.3

Paul also says that love is the fulfillment of the Law. When all other

charisms fail, faith, hope and love remain, but the greatest of all is love.

Knowledge is of no avail without the love of God, nor is understanding of

mysteries, faith or prophecy. Without love all are vain and pointless. Love on

the other hand perfects a person, and one who loves God is perfect both in this

world and in the next, for we shall never stop loving God – the longer we gaze

upon Him the more our love for Him will grow.