Homily
for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)
Based
on Mt 22:34-40
(Gospel), Ex 22:20-26 (First Reading) and 1 Th 1:5-10 (Second
Reading)
From
the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
25-25-50
LOVE
“You must love the Lord your God… You
must love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37,39)
The Gospel for this Ascension Sunday (Cycle A) is taken
from Mt 22:34-40 under the title: “Greatest
commandment of all.” Parallel texts
are:
1. Mk
12:28-31 - One of the scribes who had listened to them debating and observed
how well Jesus had answered them, now came up and put this question to him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments (v. 28)?” Jesus replied, “The first
is this: ‘Listen, O Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord (v. 29)! And you
must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind, and with all your strength (v. 30).’ The second is this: You must
love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these (v.
31).’
2. Lk
10:25-28 - There was a lawyer who, to disconcert him, stood up and said to him, ‘Master, what must
I do to inherit eternal life?’ (v. 25) He said to him, ‘What is written in the
law? What do you read there?’ (v. 26) He replied, ‘You must love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with
all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ (v. 27) ‘You have answered
right’ said Jesus, ‘do this and life is yours.’ (v. 28).
3. Jn
13:34-35 - I give you a new commandment:t
love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another (v.
34). By this love you have for one another everyone will know that you are my
disciples (v. 35). Footnote t
says “The reference to Christ’s
departure, v. 33, (which leads up to the prophecy of Peter’s denial, vv. 36-38)
makes this command, vv. 34-35, a solemn legacy from Christ. Though enunciated n
the Mosaic Law, this precept of love is ‘new’ because sets the standard so high
by telling his followers to love one another as he himself loved them, and
because love is to be the distinguishing mark of the ‘new’ era which the death
of Jesus inaugurates and proclaims to the world.”
Verses 34, 35 and 36 say: But when the Pharisees
heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they got together and, to disconcert
him, one of them put a question, “Master, which is the greatest commandment of
the Law?”
Parallel text of verse 35 is 1 Jn 4:21 that says: So
this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God must
also love his brother.
Verses 37 and 38 say: Jesus said, “You must 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.
Parallel text of verse 37 are:
1. Dt
6:5+ - You shall love Yahweh your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
strengthc. Footnote
c says “This love, echo God’s love for his people,
4:37; 7:8; 10:15, embraces the fear of God, the duty of service and the
observance of precepts, 6:13; 10:12-13; 11:1; cf. 30:2. Outside Dt there is no
explicit command to love God but its equivalent is found in 2 K 23:25 and Ho
6:6. Though the command does not spear, the Psalms and the prophetic books,
especially Hosea and Jeremiah, are full of the love if God. Jesus, quoting Dt
6:5, lays down as the greatest commandment of all, Mt 22:37p; with it goes
fear, the fear of a son, not of a slave, 1 Jn 4:18.”
2.
1 Jn 2:7- My dear people, this is not a new
commandment that I am writing to tell you, but an old commandment that you were
given from the beginning, the original commandment which was the message
brought to you..
Verse 39 says: The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as
yourself.
Parallel text of verse is that says:
1. Lv
19:16 - You must not slander your own
people, and you must not jeopardize your neighbor’s life.e I am
Yahweh. Footnote e says “By a baseless capital
charge.”
2.
Jm 2:8 - Well, the right thing to do is to keep
the supreme law of scripture: you must love your neighbor as yourself…
Verse 40 says: On these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets also.
Parallel texts are:
1. Rm
13:8-10 - Avoid getting into debt,
except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried
out your obligationsc (v. 8). All the commandments: You shall not
commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal,d you shall
not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: you shall love your
neighbore as yourself (v. 9). Love is the one thing that cannot hurt
your neighbor; that is why it is the answer to very one of the commandments.f
Footnote c says “Lit.
‘fulfilled the law’-apparaently law in general, not only the Mosaic Law.”; Footnote
d says “Add (Vulg.)’you shall
not bear false witness’.”; Footnote e says “In Lv the ‘neighbor’ was a fellow countryman, here it is any member of
the human family which is made one in Christ, Ga. 3:28; Mt 25:40.”; Footnote
f says “Lit. ‘that is why love
is the law in all its fullness’.”; Footnote g says “The thought is a fundamental one in Paul’s
moral teaching. The ‘time’ (kairos) is apparently the eschatological era,
called in the bible the ‘latter days’; introduced by Christ’s death and
resurrection and coextensive with the age of the church on earth, the age of
salvation, 2 Co 6:2. It is opposed to the era that preceded it by a difference
not so much of time as of nature. The Christian, henceforward a ‘child of the
day’, emancipated from the wicker world, Ga 1:4, and from the empire of
darkness, belongs to the kingdom of God and of his Son, Col. 1:13; he is
already a citizen of heaven, Phil. 3:20. This entirely new status dominates the
whole moral outlook, cf. 6:3f.”
2.
Ga 5:14 - since the whole Law is summarized in a
single command: Love your neighbor as yourself.
The First Reading is taken from Ex
22:20-26.
Verse 20 says: You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you
lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.
Parallel text of verse is that says:
1. Ex
12:48 - Should a stranger be staying
with youn and wish to celebrate the Passover in honor of Yahweh, all the males of his
household must be circumcised: he may then be admitted to the celebration, for
he becomes as it were a native-born. But no circumcised person may take part.
Footnote n says “Like the
Athenian metechon and the Roman incola, the foreigner who settles in Israel
(the ger) has his own charter. The patriarchs themselves had been resident
aleines in Canaan, Gn 23:4, as had the Israelites in Egypt, Gn 15:13; Ex 2:22.
After the conquest of the Holy Land the roles were reversed: the Israelites
became citizens and played the host to resident foreigners, Dt 10:19. These
last were subject to the Laws, Lv 17:15; 24:16-22, and bound to the observance
of the Sabbath, Ex 20:10; Dt 5:14. They were allowed to make offerings to
Yahweh, Nb 15:15-16; they were also permitted to celebrate Passover, Nb 9:14,
provided they accept circumcision, Ex 12:48. This laid the foundations of the
proselytes’ charter of the Greek period, already foreshadowed in Is 14:1. These
‘strangers’ were the ‘economically unstable’ protected by the law, Lv. 23:22;
25:35; Dt 24 passim; 26:12. This last text and Dt 12:12 compare them to the
Levites who have no possession I Israel; in Jg 17:7 the Bethlehem Levite is
called ‘a stranger resident’ I Judah; cf. Jg 19:1.”
2.
Ex 23:9 - You must not oppress the stranger; you
know how a stranger feels, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.
3.
Lv 19:33 - Is a stranger lives with you in your
land, do not molest him.
Verses 21. 22 and 23 say: You must not be harsh
with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them, they will
surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry; my anger will flare,
and I will kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own
children orphans.
Parallel texts of verse 21 are:
1.
Dt 10:18 - It is he who sees justice done for the
orphan and the widow, who loves stranger and gives him food and clothing.
2.
Dt 24:17 - You must not pervert justice in
dealing with a stranger or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge.
3.
Dt 27:19 - A curse on him who tampers with the rights
of the stranger, the orphan and the widow.” And all the people shall say: Amen.
4.
Ps 146:9 - Yahweh protects the stranger, he
keeps the orphan and widow.
5.
Is 1:17 - Learn to do good, search for justice,
help the oppressed be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.
6.
Ezk 22:7…where people despise their fathers and
mothers; where they ill-treat the settler; where they oppress the widow and the
orphan…
Verse 24 says: If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man
among you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest
from him.
Parallel text of verse is that says:
1.
Ps 109:9 - May his children be orphaned and his
wife widowed.
2.
Lv 25:35-37 - If your brother who is living with
you falls on evil days and is unable to support himself with you, you must
support him as you would a stranger or a guest, and he must continue to live
with you (v. 35). Do not make him work for you, do not take interest from him;
fear your God, and let your brother live with you (v. 36). You are not to lend
him money at interest, or give him food to make a profit out of it (v. 37).
3.
Dt 23:20-21 - You must not lend on interest to
your brother, whether the loan be of money or good or anything else that may
earn interest (v. 20). You may demand interest on a loan to a foreigner, but
you must not demand interest from your brother; so that Yahweh your God may
bless you in all your giving in the land you are to enter and make your own (v.
21).
4.
Pr 28:8 - He
who increases his wealth by usury and interest amasses it for someone else who
will bestow it on the poor.c Footnote
c says
“Ill-gotten gains give no lasting
profit and in the end revert to the poor.”
Verses 25 and 26 say: If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must
give it back to him before sunset.
It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in;
what else would he sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I am full of
pity.
Parallel texts of verse 25 are:
1. Dt
24:10-13,17 - If you are making your
fellow a loan on pledge, you are not to go into his house and seize the pledge,
whatever it maybe (v. 10). You must stay outside, and the man to whom you are
making the loan shall bring the pledge out to you (v. 11). And if the man is
poor, you are not to go to bed with his pledge in your possession (v. 12);a
you must return it to him at sunset so that he can sleep on his cloak and bless
you; and it will be a good action on your part in the sight of Yahweh your God (v. 13). You must not pervert
justice in dealing with a stranger or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in
pledge (v. 17). Footnote a says “Lit. ‘you are not to go to sleep in his pledge’ because originally the
‘pledge’ was a mantle, Ex. 22:25f.”
2.
Jb 22:6 - You have exacted needless pledges from
your brothers, and men go naked now through your despoiling…
3.
Jb 24:9 - Fatherless
children are robbed of their lands, and poor men have their cloaks seized as
security.f Footnote f
says “‘lands’ (lit. ‘field’) corr.;
‘breast’ Hebr. ‘cloaks’ corr.”
4.
Mi 2:10 -
‘Get up! Be off! There is no resting
here.’ For a worthless thing, you exact an extortionate pledge.k Footnote
k says “‘a worthless thing (a
nothing)’ corr. Of Greek; ‘you (singular) destroy and grief’ Hebr.”
The Second Reading is taken from 1 Th 1:5-10.
Verse 5 says: because
we brought the Good Newsb to you, it came to you not only as words,
but as power and as the Holy Spirit and as utter conviction. And you observed
the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your instruction…
Footnote b says “Var. ‘the Good News of God’, or ‘of our God’.”
Parallel texts are:
1. Ac
20:18 - When they arrived he addressed
these words to them:l ‘You know what my way of life has ever since
the first day I set foot among you in Asia…Footnote l says “The third great discourse of Paul in Ac. The
first, ch. 13, exemplified his preaching to the Jews; the second, ch. 17, his
preaching to the pagans; the third, 20:18-35, is as it were the last testament
of the departing pastor. Many of the details of this third discourse are found
in his letters; its tone is that of the Pastoral Letters. After referring to
his mission in Asia, vv.18-21, he speaks of this as a final parting and seems
to him at his death, vv. 22-27. Apostle Paul’s last advice to the elders of
Ephesus (and through them to all the pastors in very church) is vigilance, vv.
28-32, selflessness, charity, vv. 33-35. In all of this Paul appeals to his own
example: the discourse therefore draws a faithful portrait of the apostle
himself.
2. 1
Co 2:4 - and in my speeches and sermons that I gave, there were none of the
arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the
Spirit.
3. 2
Co 12:12 - You have seen done among you all the things that mark the true
apostle, unfailingly produced: the signs, the marvels, the miracles.
4. Ac
1:8 - But you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you,i and then you will be my witnessesj not only in
Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth’.k
Footnote i says “The Holy Spirit is a favorite theme of Luke (Lk 4:1+); he talks mostly
about the Holy Spirit as a Power, Lk 1:35; 24:49;Ac 1:8;10:38; Rm 15:13,19; 1
Co 2:4,5; 1 Th 1:5; Heb 2:4, sent from
God by Christ, Ac 2:38, to broadcast the Good News. 1. The Spirit gives the
charismata, 1 Co 12:4f, that guarantee the message; the gift of tongues, Ac
2:4+, of miracles, 10:38, of prophecy, 11:27+; 20:23; 21:11, of wisdom,
6:3,5,10:2, the Spirit fives strength to proclaim Jesus as Messiah in spite of
persecution 4:8,31; 5:32; 6:10;cf. Ph 1;19 and to bear witness to him, Mt.
10;20p; Jn 15:26; Ac 1:8; 2 Tm 1:7f,cf. following note; 3. The Spirit guides the
Church in her major decisions: the
admission of pagans, Ac 8:29,40; 10:19,44-47; 11;12-16; 15:8, without
obligation to observe the Law, 15:28;
Paul’s mission to the pagan worlds, 13:2f; 16:6-7; 19:1 (Western Text) cf. Mt.
3:16+,Ac also mentions the Spirit as
received in baptism and forgiving sins, 2:38, cf. Rm 5:5+.”; Footnote j
says “The primary functions of the
apostles is to bear witness: not only to Christ’s resurrection, Lk. 24:48, Ac
2:32, 3:15, 4:33, 3:32, 24:48,13;31, 22:15, but also to the whole of is public
life, Lk 1:21, Jn 15:27, Ac. 1:22, 10:39f.”; and Footnote k says
“nothing can limit the apostolic mission.”
Verse 6 says: and you were led to become imitators of us, and of the
Lord; and it was with joy from the holy Spirit that you tock to the gospel, in
spite of the great opposition all round you.
Parallel text of verse is that says:
1. Ac
17:1-9 - Passing through Amphipolis and
Apollonia, they eventually reached Thessalonika, where there was a Jewish
synagogue (v. 1). Paul as usual introduced himself and for three consecutive
Sabbaths developed the arguments from scripture for them (v. 2), explaining and
proving how it was ordained that the Christ should suffer and rise from the
dead. ‘And the Christ’ he said ‘is this Jesus whom I am proclaiming top you (v.
3).’ Some of thema where convinced and joined Paul and Silas, and so
did a great many God-fearing people and Greeks, b as well as a
number of rich women (v. 4). The Jews, full of resentment, enlisted the help of
a gang from the market place, and stirred up a crowd, and soon had the whole
city in an uproar. They made for Jason’s house,c hoping to find
theme there and drag them off to the People’s Assembly (v. 5); however, they
only found Jason and some of the brothers, and these they dragged before the
city council, shouting ‘The people who have been turning the whole world upside
down have come here now (v. 6); they had been staying at Jason’s. They had broken everyone of Caesar’s edicts by
claiming that there is another emperor,d Jesus (v. 7).” Footnote
a says “Aristarchus, one of
Paul’s most faithful companion, cf 20:4; Col 4:10, was probably one of them.”;
Footnote b says “Var. ‘Greek
worshippers of God.’ The reading here preferred distinguishes ‘those who
worship God,’ 10:2+, from ‘Greeks not previously influenced by Jewish
proselytism. Most of the conversions in Thessalonica were made from paganism,
cf. 1 Th 1:9-10, etc.”; Footnote c
says “Possibly Jason of Rm 16:21.”; and Footnote d says “Actually the Christians deliberately avoided
calling Jesus by the emperor’s title basileus (‘king’); they preferred ‘Christ’
(Messiah) and ‘Lord’.”
2. 2
Th 3:7 - You know how you are supposed
to imitate us;b now we were not idle when we were with you. Footnote
b says “By imitating Paul , 1
Co 4:16; Ga 4:12; Ph 3:17, Christians will be imitating Christ, 1 Th 1:6; Ph
2:5; cf Mt 16:24; 1 P 2:21; 1 Jn 2:6; who is the one that Paul is imitating, 1
Co 11:1. Christians must also imitate God, Ep 5:1 (cf. Mt 5:48), and they must
imitate each other, 1 Th 1:7; 2:14; Heb 6:12. Behind this community of life is
the idea of a model of doctrine, Rm 6:17, that has been received by tradition,
v. 6: 1 Co 11:2+; 1 Th 2:13++. The leaders who transmit the doctrine must
themselves be ‘models’ v. 9; Ph 3:17; 1
Tm 1:16; 4:12; Tt 2:7; 1 P 5:3; whose
faith and life are to be imitated, Heb 13:7.”
3.
1 Th 3:3…and prevent any of you from being
unsettled by the present troubles. As you know, these are bound to come our
way…
4.
Rm 14:17…because the kingdom of God does not
mean eating or drinking this or that, it means righteousness and peace and joy
brought by the Holy Spirit.
5.
Ga 5:22- What the Spirit brings is very
different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, truthfulness…
Verse 7 says: This has made you a great example to all believers in
Macedonia and Achaia
Parallel text is 2 Th 1:4 that says: And among the churches of God we can
take pride in you for your constancy and faith under all the persecutions and troubles
you have to bear.
Verse 8 says: since it was from you that the word of the Lord started to
spread – and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for the news of your
faith in God has spread everywhere. We do not need to tell people about it:
Parallel text is Rm 1:8 that says: First, I thank God through Jesus
Christ for all of you and for the way in which your faith is spoken of all over
the world.
Verse 9 says: other people tell us how we started the work among you,
how you broke with idolatry when you were converted to God and became servants
of the real, living God;
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ac 3:19 - Now
you must repent and turn to God,l so that your sins may be wiped out.
Footnote l says “By ‘repentance’ man ‘comes back’ to God, cf. Mt 3:2+. The pagans must
return to God by forsaking idols; see 1 Th 1:9; Ga 4:9; 1 Co
10:7,14:19;26:18,20; the Jews must turn to the Lord by acknowledging Jesus as
Lord: cf. 2 Co 3:16; Ac 9:35. The expression of Lk 1:16; Ac 11:21; cf. 1 P 2:25
is somewhat different. Cf. also Is 6:10, quoted in Ac 28:27; Mt 13:15; Mk 4:12;
Cf. Jn 12:40.”
2. Ga 4:8 - Once you were ignorant of God, and
enslaved to ‘gods’ who are not really gods at all…
Verse 10 says: and how you are
now awaiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to come from
heaven to save us from the retribution which is coming. c Footnote c says “Var. ‘called you’.”
Parallel texts are:
1. 1
Th 2:19-20 - You are; and you will be the crown of which we shall be the
proudest in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes (v. 19). You are our
glory and our joy (v. 20).
2. 1
Th 4:16-17 - At the trumpet of Godi
the voice of an archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will
come down from heaven,j and those who have died with Christ will be
the firstto rise (v. 16). And those of us who are still k alive,
will be taken up in the clouds with them to meet the Lord in the air. So we
shall stay be with the Lord forever (v. 17).l Footnote i
says “‘us’; Paul includes himself among
those who will be present at the parousia; more by aspiration, however, than by
conviction, cf. 5:1+.”; Footnote j says “the trumpet, voice and clouds were traditional signs that accompanied
manifestations of God, cf. Ex 13:32+; 19:16+ and they were adopted as
conventional elements of apocalyptic literature, cf. Mt 24:30f+; 2 Th 1:8+.”;
Footnote k says “Om. ‘(we) who
are still alive’.”; Footnote l says “Of all the details given here: that the dead will answer the summons by
returning to life that they and the living will be taken to meet the Lord, and
that they will accompany him to the judgment with which the eternal kingdom
begins, the essential one is the last: eternal life with Christ, cf. 5:10; 2 Th
2:1. That is to be the ‘salvation, the glory, the kingdom’ that Jesus shares
among his chosen followers.”
3.
1 Th 5:9 - God never meant us to experience the
Retribution, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ…
4. Mt
3:7+ - But when he saw a number of
Phariseese and Sadduceesf coming for baptism he said to
them, ‘Brood of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is
coming?g Footnote e says “A Jewish sect, rigid observers of the Law; undue attachment to the oral
tradition of their rabbis led, however, to the extravagant and artificial
casuistry.”; Footnote f says “In opposition to the outlook of the Pharisees these rejected all
tradition not contained in the written Law. They came for the most part from
the great priestly families. They were less devout than the Pharisees and more
politically minded.”; and Footnote g says “The retribution of the day of Yahweh (Am 5:18+), which was to
inaugurate the messianic era.”
5.
Rm 2:5 - Your stubborn refusal to repent is only
adding to the anger God will have towards you on that day of anger when his
just judgment will be made known.
6. Rm
5:9 - Having died to make us righteous,g
is it likely that he would now fail to save us from God’s anger? Footnote g says Lit. ‘Being justified in his
blood’.
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