31B SUNDAY HOMILY, MARK 12:28b-34 November 3, 2024
1. STORY
Mary brought home
a birthday invitation card from her new third class classmate, Ruth. All 36 classmates were invited. As her girlfriends were not going to go, she
told her mother that she would not go. After
looking at the invitation, Mary was told that she was going to go. She was shocked as her mother never forced her
to go to a party. On Saturday morning,
her mother drove Mary to the party. The
room was decorated beautifully withy 36 cups of candy, one for each classmate. The two waited for the other classmates to
come. To their great surprise, no one
came. Mary’s heart was filled with
sympathy for Ruth and filled with anger at her 35 selfish classmates. She cried out, “Who needs them?” Though only two, they had a great time playing
games and eating food. At noon Mary’s
mother came to pick her up. Mary thanked
Ruth for the great time they had. Mary
thanked her mother for making her go to the party. Mary learned the great lesson that one caring
person can make a great difference.
2. GOSPEL, MARK
12:28b-34
A. WHICH IS THE
GREATEST COMMANDMENT?
Jesus was asked
which was the greatest commandment. This
was no easy question as the Jews had 613 important commandments. Jesus gave the answer. We must love God, love your neighbor, and love
yourself. How blessed we are knowing
what the most important thing for us to do in life.
3. APPLICATION TO
LIFE
A. LOVE GOD
We love God by
praying to him. Each day when we pray in
the morning and evening, we are loving God. We love God when we obey him. It is like when a child obeys his parents.
B. LOVE YOUR
NEIGHBOR
We love God by
loving our neighbor just as Mary did by attending the birthday party. We love our neighbor when we are willing to
help them by being respectful, by being kind and encouraging in our speech, and
by being forgiving.
C. LOVE OURSELVES
We love God by
loving ourselves. We do this by caring
for our physical and mental health. We
are careful in what we eat and by not overeating. We try to get enough rest and not overwork. We try to relax and avoid being over stressed.
We are God’s children, and God wants us
to be strong and healthy.
4. CONCLUSION
Mary learned the
important lesson that the love of one person makes a great difference. Her presence made the birthday party a great
success. Jesus answered the difficult
question as to which was the greatest commandment. We must love God, our neighbor and ourselves. We carry out this commandment by praying and
obeying God. We obey by being kind and
helpful to our neighbor. We listen to
Jesus by caring for our health. We eat
properly, we get enough rest, and we take time to relax. We thank Jesus for the clear instruction and
ask for his help in carrying out this commandment of love.
