30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A - Oct.
25, 2026
Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10; Matthew
22:34-40
Theme: Love Your God, Love Your Neighbor, And Love
Yourself
A. A
Brief Exegetical Analysis of Matthew 22:34-40
- Historical
and Literary Contexts
The
Jewish religious leaders questioned Jesus’ authority (21:23-27). In response,
Jesus told them three consecutive parables (21:28-32; 21:33-46; 22:1-14),
warning that by rejecting him, the kingdom of heaven was being taken from them
and given to the “outcasts” who repent and believe in him. These parables and
their lessons angered them, leading them to view Jesus as a threat to their
power. Through a series of three entrapping questions, they plotted to either
embarrass him publicly before the Jewish community or gather legal evidence to
accuse him, which would lead to his arrest and condemnation by the Roman
authorities. Our Gospel passage is the third trap. The other two are the
questions about paying taxes to Caesar (22:15-22) and the resurrection of the
dead (22:23-33). Jesus triumphed over all their tests. Immediately after our
text, Matthew discusses the Messiah's sonship (22:41-46).
- Form,
Structure, and Movement
This
Gospel narrative unfolds in two parts: the question posed by a scholar of the
law to Jesus (vv. 34-36) and Jesus’s response (vv. 37-40).
- Detailed
Analysis
Vv.
34-36. The scribe’s question is a test meant to entrap Jesus. The Pharisees
know that Jesus has twice escaped their traps. The first question came from the
unholy alliance of the Pharisees and Herodians (Mt 22:15-22), and the second
from the Sadducees (22:23-33). With these failures in mind, they approached him
again, this time determined to succeed. That is why they appointed an expert in
Mosaic law to represent them. The trap in his question lies in pushing Jesus to
single out one commandment as the greatest, aiming to ridicule him, since for
devout Jews, “all commandments were to be kept with equal care.”[1]
Vv.
37-40. Instead of singling out one greatest commandment, Jesus summarizes all
the laws of Moses into two commandments. The first, quoting the famous Jewish
passage known as the Shema (Dt 6:4-5), is love for God, involving the whole
person (heart, soul, and mind). The emphasis is on the words “all,” “heart,”
“soul,” and “mind.” The Greek word for heart is kardia; it can be understood as
the seat of emotions or affections. Thus, loving God with all of one’s heart
means nurturing one’s affection and emotional attachment to him. The “soul”
refers to one’s spiritual nature. Therefore, loving God with all one’s soul
means pursuing a personal spiritual relationship with God. The “mind” (in
Greek, dianoia) represents an intellectual endeavor. Thus, loving God with all
one’s mind challenges believers to know God not only by faith but also through
intelligence, meaning by studying Sacred Scripture.[2]
Referring
to Lv 19:18, Jesus's second greatest commandment is to love one's neighbor as
oneself. The love for oneself serves as a model for loving one's neighbor.
Everything written in the Law and the Prophets (the Jewish Bible) derives from
these two commandments.
- Synthesis
An
expert in Mosaic law tests Jesus with a question about which of Moses' laws is
greatest. He tries to push Jesus into singling out one law as the greatest so
he can ridicule him publicly, because, for devout Jews, all laws must be
regarded equally. In response, Jesus summarizes all the commandments into two
rather than singling out one. The first is the love for God, which engages the
whole person (heart, soul, and mind). This means believers should love God with
all their affection and emotional attachment (heart), seek a personal and
spiritual relationship with him (soul), and use not only their faith but also
their intelligence (mind). The second commandment is that believers should use
their love for themselves as a model for loving their neighbors. Jesus
concludes by affirming that everything written in the Jewish Bible derives from
these two commandments.
B. Pastoral
Implications
- Liturgical
Context
In
the Gospel, Jesus summarizes the Mosaic laws into two commandments: love for
God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love for our neighbors as we
love ourselves. Then, the sacred author of the first reading explains in detail
how we should live out our love for God and our neighbors. The second reading
encourages us to imitate Jesus and Saint Paul and to become models for our
brothers and sisters.
- What
the Church Teaches Us Today
In
the first commandment, Jesus emphasizes the words “all,” “heart,” “soul,” and
“mind.” The Greek word for heart is kardia; it can be understood as the seat of
our emotions or affections. The “soul” represents our spiritual nature. The
“mind” (in Greek, dianoia) refers to intellectual endeavor. So, when Jesus
commands us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, he calls us to love
God with all our affection and emotional attachment to him (heart), to seek a
personal and spiritual relationship with him (soul), and to use not only our
faith but also our intelligence (mind).
Jesus’
second greatest commandment challenges us to love our neighbors as we love
ourselves. Our first reading offers concrete examples of how to do so. Moses
shares two of God’s Covenant laws with his people and us. Both commandments
fall under the category of “Social Justice Teaching,” or, in Jesus’s language,
“Love for our neighbor.” The first command instructs us to “not oppress or
afflict a resident alien (…) You shall not wrong any widow or orphan” (Exodus
22:20-21). The Hebrew word for resident aliens is ger, which means stranger,
temporary dweller, or sojourner. In Old Testament society, resident aliens are
regularly grouped with widows and orphans as the poorest and most vulnerable.
God gives us one reason we should not abuse strangers or the most vulnerable
people: “For you were once aliens residing in the land of Egypt” (Exodus
22:20), meaning we were all aliens through sin before Jesus redeemed us.
The
second command addresses money lending. In the Old Testament, only the poor
engaged in money lending because they lacked access to other financial
resources. Lenders often took advantage of them by overcharging and demanding
significant collateral. In our first reading, the collateral is the cloak,
which represents the ultimate possession the poor could have, as it served as
their bedding at night to protect against the cold. Therefore, God commanded
them not to demand interest when lending money to the poor; and when they took
a cloak as a pledge, they should return it before sunset so the poor could use
it at bedtime (see Exodus 22:24-26).
Notice
how God identifies the poor: “My people” (v. 24) and “your neighbor” (v. 25).
This teaches us that the poor are God’s people and our neighbors. In biblical
language, especially in the context of our Gospel passage, a neighbor is
anyone, near or far, who needs our material, spiritual, and emotional
assistance, including forgiveness and reconciliation. We are called to love our
“neighbors” because we, too, are “resident aliens” and “neighbors” before God
and need his love, forgiveness, and reconciliation (see Exodus 22:20).
For
Jesus, the love we should extend to our neighbors must be inspired by the way
we love ourselves. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39,
NABRE). We cannot love, forgive, and reconcile with others if we are not
capable of loving, forgiving, and reconciling with ourselves.
In
our second reading, our Holy Mother Church presents Saint Paul and Jesus as
models of those who loved God and their neighbors, urging us to imitate them
with joy, even amid great affliction (1 Thes 1:6). When we do so, we, too, will
become models for our brothers and sisters to follow (1 Thes 1:7).
May
the liturgy of this Mass enable us to love God with all our hearts, souls, and
minds, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
Pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Jackson, MS
&
SVD-USS Biblical Apostolate Coordinator
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