Today’s gospel text (Mark 12:28-34) ends with a sentence that is most hopeful:
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Who would not want to be told these words?
It is truly reassuring to believe that we are not far from God.
Is it not what we want: to get closer to God, day by day?
But what if it were God who draws closer to us?
This is, in fact, what Jesus says in a text from John’s gospel –
the verse that is given to us as the response (Alleluia) to the 2nd reading:
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23).
It is a question of… love, yes, the very love that the 1st reading and the gospel are telling us about.
And keeping the word of Jesus, this is the way of loving he expects from us.
Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/31e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2021/