Loving God and neighbour

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 148

 

It-Tletin Ħadd taż-Żmien ta’ Matul is-Sena

Reading 1                                                                                                                                EXodus 22:20-26                                                                                                                    Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens  yourselves in the land of Egypt.  You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.  If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.  My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. "If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him.  If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.  What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."

Qari 1

Qari mill-Ktieb tal-Eżodu Eż 22, 20-26

 Dan jgħid il-Mulej: “La taħqarx il-barrani, u la tgħakksux, għax intom ukoll kontu barranin fl-art tal-Eġittu. La taħqrux l-armla jew l-iltim, għax jekk taħqruhom, u huma jsejħuli, jien żgur nismagħha l-għajta tagħhom; u l-qilla tiegħi tixgħel, neqridkom bix-xabla; u n-nisa tagħkom jormlu u wliedkom jisfaw iltiema. Jekk inti tislef lil xi fqir mill-poplu tiegħi, iġġibx ruħek miegħu bħal wieħed sellief, u teħodlux imgħax. Jekk lil għajrek teħodlu l-libsa tiegħu b’rahan, agħtihielu lura qabel inżul ix-xemx; għax hu dik biss għandu biex jitgħatta, dik biss l-għata ta’ ġismu; inkella fiex tridu jorqod? Għax jekk isejjaħli, jiena nisimgħu, għax jien ħanin”.Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Responsorial Psalm                                                                                                                          PSalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47,  51                                                                                                       I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

Salm Responsorjali

Salm 17 (18), 2-3a.3bc-4.47.51ab

Inħobbok, Mulej, qawwa tiegħi!

Il-Mulej blata tiegħi,

fortizza u ħellies tiegħi. R/.

 R/. (2): Inħobbok, Mulej, qawwa tiegħi

Alla tiegħi, sur tal-kenn tiegħi u tarka tiegħi,

qawwa tas-salvazzjoni tiegħi u kenn tiegħi!

Insejjaħ lill-Mulej, li hu ta’ min ifaħħru,

u nkun meħlus mill-għedewwa tiegħi. R/.

R/. (2): Inħobbok, Mulej, qawwa tiegħi

Ħaj il-Mulej! Imbierek hu, il-blata tiegħi!

Ikun imfaħħar Alla tas-salvazzjoni tiegħi!

Hu jkabbar ir-rebħ lis-sultan tiegħu,

juri mħabbtu mal-midluk tiegħu. R/.

R/. (2): Inħobbok, Mulej, qawwa tiegħi

Reading 2                                                                                                                                              1 THESsalonians 1:5C-10                                                                                          Brothers and sisters: You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.  And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.  For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

Qari 2

Mill-Ewwel Ittra lit-Tessalonkin - 1, 5c-10 

Ħuti, intom tafu kif ġibna ruħna meta konna fostkom għall-ġid tagħkom. Intom sirtu tixbhu lilna u l-Mulej, billi lqajtu l-kelma fost ħafna taħbit bil-ferħ tal-Ispirtu s-Santu. Hekk intom sirtu mudell għal dawk kollha li emmnu fil-Maċedonja u l-Akaja. Mhux biss il-kelma tal-Mulej ħarġet minn għandkom u xterdet fil-Maċedonja u l-Akaja, imma l-fidi li għandkom f’Alla xterdet ma’ kullimkien b’mod li aħna ma għandna għalfejn ngħidu xejn. Huma stess jgħidu x’laqgħa kellna għandkom, u kif dortu lejn Alla u tlaqtu l-idoli biex taqdu lil Alla ħaj u veru u tistennew ġej mis-sema lil Ibnu, li hu qajjem mill-imwiet, Ġesù li ħelisna mill-korla li ġejja. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Gospel                                                                                                                                                  MatThew 22:34-40                                                                                            When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"  He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Evanġelju 

Mattew 22, 34-40 

F’dak iż-żmien, il-Fariżej, meta semgħu kif lis-Sadduċej kien saddilhom ħalqhom, inġabru madwaru, u wieħed minnhom, għaref fil-Liġi, għamillu din il-mistoqsija biex iġarrbu: “Mgħallem, liema hu l-kmandament il-kbir, fil-Liġi?”.Qallu Ġesù: ““Ħobb lill-Mulej, Alla tiegħek, b’qalbek kollha, b’ruħek kollha, u b’moħħok kollu”. Dan hu l-kmandament il-kbir u l-ewwel wieħed. U t-tieni jixbhu: “Ħobb lil għajrek bħalek innifsek”. Dawn iż-żewġ kmandamenti huma l-qofol tal-Liġi kollha u tal-Profeti”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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Being Christian is not the Result of an Ethical Choice

Commentary by Fr Thomas Rosica csb

Sunday’s first reading from Exodus (22:21-27) and Matthew’s Gospel story about the greatest commandment (22:34-40) challenge us in the ways that we love God and neighbour. The Exodus reading relates some specific provisions of the Law regarding widows, orphans, and the poor. The Lord reminds his people that they themselves were once strangers in a foreign land. To the strangers, widows, orphans, and the poor we must show justice and compassion. If not, the Lord himself will punish wrongdoers and defend the helpless.

The Lord deals severely with our negative attitudes and action towards others, particularly the poor, strangers, the disadvantaged, and those different from us. The authenticity of our faith, our love of God, and our relationship with Christ is measured by the way we treat others.

The readings challenge us to seek repentance and forgiveness for our negative attitudes towards others and the way we tend to treat them. This Gospel contains the fundamental prayer of the Shema – the Hebrew profession of faith, always prayers with your hand covering your eyes so you can "listen"  better. (photo): “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Just as we profess our faith with the Creed in Christian worship, the Jewish people profess their faith with the Shema in their synagogue services. The Shema - Isma in Maltese - is a summary of true religion: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (6:4-5).

Matthew 22:34-40 has a Marcan parallel (12:28-34) which is an exchange between Jesus and a scribe who is impressed by the way Jesus has conducted himself in the previous controversy, and compliments him for the answer he gives him. Jesus responds by saying he is, “not far from the kingdom of God” (12:34). Matthew has further developed that scene.

The scholarship of the Pharisees was the knowledge of the Law, which they regarded as the sum of wisdom and the only true learning. The position of scribe in the Jewish community was a respected place of leadership. At first glance, the scholar’s question to Jesus appears to be very honest.

The teachers of the Torah (scribes and Rabbis) had always argued about the relative importance of the commandments in the Old Testament. Scribes were the scholars and intellectuals of Judaism. The Pharisees identified 613 commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Of those 613: 248 were positive, “you shall” commandments, while 365 were negative, “you shall not” commandments. The fundamental question, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” offers Jesus an important teaching moment as he is “put to the test.”

In his response, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and the Shema, recited daily by the Jews. Even though Jesus is asked for one commandment, he provides two in his response. In combining the two commandments, Jesus goes beyond the extent of the question put to him and joins to the greatest and the first commandment, a second: love your neighbour (Leviticus 19:18). The double commandment is the source from which the whole law and the prophets are derived. Jesus does not discard other commandments. He explicitly adds: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). The remarkable thing about the Marcan parallel is that the “scholar” expresses agreement with Jesus by paraphrasing him without any hint of hostility or irony (Mark 12:33-34).

Love of God and neighbour not an original idea of Jesus

Love of God and love of neighbour as the fulfilment of the law is not an original idea of Jesus. It exists very early in the Hebrew Scriptures. There is something unique, however, in Jesus’ assertion that they are alike. Jesus teaches that we cannot have one without the other.

Motivation to love our neighbour springs from our love of God; our love of God is demonstrated and strengthened by our love of neighbour. Love of neighbour is not only a love that is demanded by the love of God, an achievement flowing from it; it is also in a certain sense its antecedent condition. There is no real love for God that is not, in itself, already a love for neighbour; and love for God comes to its own identity through its fulfilment in a love for neighbour.

Teaching of Moses and Jesus

Moses teaches in the Shema (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:34) – and Jesus reaffirms in Sunday’s Gospel – that all of the commandments are summed up in the love of God and loving-kindness towards one’s neighbour. Every time that Jews recite the “Shema Israel” and when Christians recall the first and second great commandments, we are, by God’s grace, brought closer to each other. Whenever we make the sign of the Cross, we are tracing the Shema upon our bodies as we touch our head, heart, and shoulders and pledge them to God’s service.

God is Love

In light of these Scripture readings, let us reflect on two texts this week. The first is #42 of Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church from the Second Vatican Council:

“God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God and God in Him.” But, God pours out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us; thus the first and most necessary gift is love, by which we love God above all things and our neighbour because of God. Indeed, in order that love, as good seed may grow and bring forth fruit in the soul, each one of the faithful must willingly hear the Word of God and accept His Will, and must complete what God has begun by their own actions with the help of God’s grace. These actions consist in the use of the sacraments and in a special way the Eucharist, frequent participation in the sacred action of the Liturgy, application of oneself to prayer, self-abnegation, lively fraternal service and the constant exercise of all the virtues. For charity, as the bond of perfection and the fullness of the law, rules over all the means of attaining holiness and gives life to these same means. It is charity which guides us to our final end. It is the love of God and the love of one’s neighbour which points out the true disciple of Christ.”

The second text is from the opening paragraphs of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s first encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est (“God is Love”), published in 2005, and beautifully summarizes the message of these Scripture readings:

“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction […] In acknowledging the centrality of love, Christian faith has retained the core of Israel’s faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth. The pious Jew prayed daily the words of the Book of Deuteronomy which expressed the heart of his existence: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might” (6:4-5). Jesus united into a single precept this commandment of love for God and the commandment of love for neighbour found in the Book of Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (19:18; cf. Mk 12:29-31). Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere “command”; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us.”