The Two Great Commandments: Ex 22, 1Thess 1, Mt 22

By Prof. Dr. Daniel C. Afonso · Updated 22 September 2026

Scripture:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22:37)

Reflection:

The thirty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) intertwines three texts focusing on the dual commandment of love that forms the basis of our relationship with God and with others. Exodus 22:20-26 translates love to others into concrete obligations of justice: not oppressing the stranger, not mistreating the widow or orphan, and not charging interest to the poor. 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 celebrates the conversion of the Thessalonians from idols to the living God and their expectation of the Son of Heaven. Matthew 22:34-40 synthesizes the whole law and the prophets in the two commandments: to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. The three texts converge: love to God that does not translate into concrete love for the poor, the stranger, and the orphan is not true love. And love that does not anticipate the Son of Heaven lacks the proper horizon.

I. The First Reading: Exodus 22:20-26

The law of Exodus translates love to others into concrete protections for the most vulnerable. “Do not mistreat the stranger or oppress him, for you yourselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex 22:20). The argument is memorial: the experience of oppression should generate compassion, not the repetition of the cycle. “Do not afflict the widow or the orphan. If you do, and they cry out to me, I will hear their cry” (vv. 21-22). God listens to those who have no human advocate: the widow and the orphan have God as their lawyer. And the prohibition against charging interest to the poor: “If you lend money to my people, to the poor who dwell among you, do not deal with them as a creditor; charge them no interest” (v. 24). And the return of the cloak before sunset: it is the only covering of the poor, and to keep it during the night is to leave him to die of cold. The law is not abstract; it protects concrete bodies of concrete people.

II. The Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10

Paul recalls his arrival in Thessalonica: “You know quite well how we have been with you” (1 Ts 1:5c). The community became a follower of Paul and the Lord, receiving the word in great tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit (v. 6). And the result: “Your faith in God has spread everywhere, so that we do not need to say anything” (v. 8). Conversion is visible: “You turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son, Jesus, who was raised from the dead and who saves us from the coming wrath” (vv. 9-10). Conversion has two movements: abandoning idols and waiting for the Son. It is not merely ethical; it is eschatological. Living well is possible because the Son who is expected has already risen and saves.

III. The Gospel: Mt 22:34-40

The Pharisees, knowing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, gathered and a law doctor questioned him: “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” (Mt 22:36). Jesus cited Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; this is the greatest and first commandment” (vv. 37-38). He immediately added: “The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 39). The word “like” is decisive: the two commandments are not simply equivalent, but the second is of the same nature as the first. Loving your neighbor is like loving God because your neighbor is the image of God. Conclusion: “These two commandments depend on all the law and the prophets” (v. 40). Jesus did not abolish the law; he revealed the principle that unifies it and from which it derives. Ex 22 is the second commandment in action: protecting the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and the poor is loving your neighbor as yourself.

IV. Mary and Total Love

The first commandment demands love with “all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind”: the totality of the person, without reserve. Mariology has recognized in Mary the creature who most fully lived this totality. The “Fiat” of the Annunciation was not a partial response: it was the surrender of all that Mary was to what God willed. The Magnificat is the song of a heart that loves with all her soul. And her silence under the Cross is love with all her mind: not the understanding that comprehends, but the love that remains when understanding fails. 1 Ts 1 describes those who “await the Son from heaven.” Mary has already received the Son from heaven, already generated him, already seen him rise, already seen him ascend. Her waiting is now different: it is the expectation of the Parousia, the final consummation, within which she intercedes for those who still await for the first time. Ex 22 protects the widow: Mary, who lost Joseph and then her Son, is protected by God with a protection that transcends all human law, the Assumption that did not leave her in the abandonment of death.