Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, year A, October 29, 2023
In few, if any, ancient societies, did aliens have rights. In few ancient religions did gods care for widows and orphans. The way of life of God's people was to be different.
Saint Paul greets a community who had received the gospel eagerly and set a good example for other churches. They were all expecting God to bring the world to an end very soon.
The scriptures of the Jews contained over 600 laws, of varying detail. It was customary to argue over how to summarize them, and how to weigh their relative importance. Here they are the subject of a contest between Jesus and one of the groups that would later persecute Matthew's community.
Our Liturgical Setting: This year, we've been making our way through the chapters of Saint Matthew's gospel every Sunday of Ordinary Time. The editors of the lectionary usually pick a first reading that resonates with the day's gospel. In today's gospel, Jesus sums up the Law of God in a formula you'll surely recognize. This passage from Exodus prepares us to hear that.
The Historical Situation: This passage is part of a long narrative, Exodus, chapters 19-24, in which the Hebrews, liberated from Egypt, have wandered into the desert of Sinai. At the risk of oversimplifying things, let us summarize: God announces his desire to enter a covenant with the people. Moses is the mediator. God manifests himself in terrifying thunder, lightning and clouds. God gives the terms of the covenant in various paragraphs, on several occasions. The people assent to the terms. These include the familiar Ten Commandments, and paragraphs that elaborate the commandments in great detail, ritual prescriptions and much more. This is the context of today's first reading.
The Law which God gave through Moses was, in its time, revolutionary in a way that modern people usually underestimate. To put it simply, the Law civilized these people. In few ancient societies did anyone have the courage to say it was wrong to oppress an alien or take advantage of the poor. Nor did other ancient people fancy that their gods cared for widows and orphans. The behaviors codified in this law really liberated these people, and allowed them to begin to build an excellent, humane society. We should not overlook this when we find reading the code so tedious. Humans and their societies will never be without sin, but the Law lifted this society out of barbarism. And so it was a great gift.
Proclaiming It: So when Moses spoke these words the first time, he really got people's attention. When you proclaim them again, speak as if you expect the same, because you appreciate the stature of the Law you are announcing.
You might do this if you want to emphasize the revolutionary character of the Law, as described above: Emphasize the word you every time it occurs. Think of how you would address a child who wants to do something foolish because "all the other kids are doing it." "And if they all jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?" When God spoke the Law, Israel should have heard implied "I expect more of you than, sadly, I can yet expect of other peoples." (There would come a time, of course, when God's favor, and high expectations, would be shown to extend to all peoples, but we're not there yet. We're only in the Sinai a few weeks out of slavery.)
The Historical Situation: Paul is congratulating his audience on the positive effects of their example. They received the gospel with ready faith, and withstood persecution with joy. Those actions bolstered the faith of Christians elsewhere who heard about them.
A Little More History Evident in the Passage: First Thessalonians is the earliest letter we have from Saint Paul. As we'll see in the weeks ahead, Paul and these earliest Christians believed that Jesus would come again very soon. This is what Paul means when he congratulates them because they "turned to God from idols ... to await his Son from heaven," the Son who "delivers us from the coming wrath." That "wrath" means the judgment they expected God soon to visit upon the earth, much to the detriment of the non-believers. Their conviction was that God was soon to bring history to its end with the return of Jesus in glory. This expectation fades over the years during which the New Testament scriptures were composed. Some gospel passages, for example, show evidence of original composition by believers who expected Jesus to return very soon, then later editing by believers who realized that Jesus' return was indefinitely delayed. How the early church switched gradually from that short-term readiness to a long-term vision is a noble part of our heritage.
Proclaiming It: Achaia, what is modern Greece, is pronounced a KI yuh, with a long I sound in the second syllable. To decide what inflections to give the pronouns, notice this: the Thessalonians imitated Paul and the Lord, then the Macedonians and Achaians imitated the Thessalonians. That there are three parties ("us," "you," and "them, the Macedonians and Achaians," should be clear to those listening to your proclamation. It might help you capture the spirit of Paul's letter if you imagined yourself introducing the guest of honor at a testimonial dinner. How positive and enthusiastic would you want to sound?
OCTOBER 25TH, 2020: THIRTIETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Exodus 22:20-26; I Thessalonians 1:5c-10; Matthew 22:34-40
Rarely does a liturgical reading more apply to the “Sitz im Leben” [German for "situation in life" Ed.] we're experiencing right here and now than today's Exodus pericope. “Thus says Yahweh, ‘You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.'”
The authors of our Hebrew Scriptures constantly single out three groups of people for special care: orphans, widows and resident aliens. Each has no one “significant” to plead their cause. The first two have no father or husband; the last are “strangers in the land.” That's why, as we hear in II Samuel 14, any of the three can knock on the palace door 24/7 and demand an audience with the king. Though frequently overlooked, one of the main reasons 11th century BCE Israelites created the monarchy was to make certain the helpless in the land had a protector: the king. Those with no clout could always depend on him to supply that clout.
The biblical prophets and lawmakers presumed the king's obligations also were the people's obligations. Reminding them of their past helplessness, Yahweh expects all Israelites to care for the needs of those who find themselves in a similar predicament. Not only were orphans, widows and resident aliens to receive special care, the poor were also to get singular treatment: there could be no interest on any loan they were forced to take out, nor could a lender keep a cloak overnight that had been taken as collateral. The goal of these laws was to maintain the dignity of those, who through no fault of their own, were in danger of losing that dignity.
The gospel Jesus, as a good Jew, certainly agrees with such generous behavior, quoting the well-known Leviticus command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Yet as a reformer of Judaism, he places such giving of oneself on the same level as loving Yahweh. Writing specifically for a Jewish/Christian audience, Matthew makes certain his readers get the point. His Jesus alone states, “The whole law and the prophets (the biblical term for the Hebrew Scriptures) depend on these two commandments.” In other words, if you're not actively loving God and your neighbor, forget about reading the Bible.
It always bothers me, a priest, to hear Paul write about being a “model” for others to imitate, as he does at the beginning of I Thessalonians. Growing up hearing the term “other Christ” applied solely to priests, it really bothered me when I saw some of those special people physically discipline some of the boys in my grade school class. I couldn't picture the historical Jesus engaging in such violent behavior. (At least I never saw a holy card depicting him “beating the tar out” of some hapless kid.)
Only later, when I learned the title other Christ (Christian) was originally given to all followers of Jesus, I began to understand that all of us should be careful of how we treat others, especially those over whom we have power. Someone's always watching — for good or bad. And someone's always affected — for good or bad. We have no idea how “far” our example reaches.
One of the highest compliments we can be paid is to hear that people are speaking well of us not just to us, but to “others.” Paul pays that compliment to his Thessalonians.
Like almost everyone, we often boast about our influential friends. Telling others that we know them seems to give us a higher stature in their eyes. Rarely do we boast about our friendship with the individuals in our midst who have no clout. Wouldn't it be great if, at the pearly gates, the risen Jesus will one day greet us with, “Welcome! I've already heard all about the good things you've done for the helpless?”
COPYRIGHT 2017 - The Estate of ROGER VERMALEN KARBAN
Clown making up the face of a young girl, Eugene (or Portland), Oregon, U.S.A., ca. 1974. Photo by the author. The scene was a Children's Art Festival in a city park. Two adult clowns were offering makeup, but almost all the children acted afraid of the clowns. This girl worked up the courage to let herself be transformed. She inspired more children to take the chance, and they inspired still more.
This page updated October 26, 2023