Wednesday of Third Week of Lent
First Published: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Readings for Wednesday the 3rd Week of Lent
Reflection:
What strikes us most immediately in Wednesday's readings is the link between Moses giving the Law to the Hebrew People and his instructions to them to be faithful to it and Jesus who comes to fulfill it. It is pretty easy to see how Jesus came to fulfill what the Prophets had been saying for the 2,000 years of Hebrew history. There were enough clues in the Old Testament scriptures to lead us to understand that statement before he (Jesus) made it. What takes more thought, though, is how he came to fulfill the Law.
The reason that is a difficult question for us is that, to us, the Law is a set of rules that guide behavior. We must first understand the view of the Hebrews concerning the Law if we are to realize the immense import of the statement Jesus made when he said; "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." The statement for the commentary really helps us here:
"The Law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations with God." (see below, Jerome Biblical Commentary on Mt 5:17)
When we look at his statement through this lens, we understand. What Jesus said in that short statement was; he came to reveal the living God. He came to provide the path to the Lord God, the Logos (Word) made flesh.
It kind of takes the whole revelation to a new level once we see that the Law Moses presented was more than just rules. The question that strikes in us though is; if the law of Christ was more than rules for the early Christians, what should it be for us today?
If we accept Christ's word as being the "sacramental assurance of good relations with God", what place must they assume in our lives? They not only guide our actions but our hearts, not only our thoughts but our prayers. It is clear we must work very hard to accept Christ's leadership in our lives, no mater how difficult the road. Pax
I welcome your comments. If you would like to make one and are not registered on Myspace, you can email me at miles_jj@excite.com and, if you wish, I will post your response as a comment. Thanks.
Scripture[1] from Dt 4:1, 5-9
Jerome Biblical Commentary[2]
1 "Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
5 Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the LORD, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Law to All Israel (4:1-14). This promulgation is new because some had already heard the Law given at Horeb (1:3; 4:12-13). Moses undertakes to explain it (4:1; cf. 1:5). Because of displacements and successive editing, the place of this section in the overall structure of the work is not clear, but it is a prologue to the stipulations of the law, following the historical introduction, as evident from we'attah (4:1) and the stylistic inclusion (4:1,14-same formula).,We might surmise that the introduction to the deuteronomic history ends at, 3 :29 and that the original law book begins here, I :1-5 being added when the two were joined. 1. The Dt style is strongly exhortatory (see also vv. 9, 15, etc.); emq (listen) indicates the opening of a liturgical address (cf. 5:1; 6:1; 6:3,4; 9:7). statutes and decrees: The word hq means a positive decree of law; mipat indicates a judicial decision as a basis for case law from the root pt, "to judge." The giving of the Law is intimately connected with the promise of the land (cf. 4:1,5,14,21, 25,38,40). Canaan is seen as a source of temptation-the great theme of the prophets, especially in the north-hence, the relevance at the time of Josiah's reform and in the years immediately preceding the return from the Exile.
6 Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, 'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'
7 For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?
8 Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
6. your wisdom and your intelligence: Hokmah often should be translated "prudence" rather than "wisdom" in the OT, but we may detect here the beginning of the process which eventually identified the Law with wisdom (see Pry 8 :22-36; Sir 24). Also present, perhaps, is an appeal to the ruling classes of the writer's day. 7. what great nation. . .?: This theology of "the God who' is near" is connected with the older ideology of the Ark, as the locus of Yahweh's active presence to his people; he comes near in theophany, which is intimately associated with the Ark that Dt calls "the ark of the covenant' (Dt 31:9,25,26; 10:18; Jos3:8). We see here too Dts' role in a great national revival, for the Ark was also the political center-Israel is here "a great nation," gy gadl. God rescues his people when they caIl upon him, as is clear from the deuteronomic edition of Jgs.
9 "However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children.
9. The role of memory and tradition, with reference to the Exodus Horeb event, is often stressed in Dt (cf. B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [London, 1962]). Israel is addressed here in the singular.
[1] All biblical references -New American Bible United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000 December 09, 2002 Copyright by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
[2] All references to Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc. 1968
Scripture from Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20
Jerome Biblical Commentary
12 Glorify the LORD, Jerusalem; Zion, offer praise to your God,
13 Who has strengthened the bars of your gates, blessed your children within you,
15 4 The LORD sends a command to earth; his word runs swiftly!
4 [15-19] God speaks through the thunder of nature and the word of revealed law. Cf Isaiah 55:10-11. The weather phenomena are well known in Jerusalem: a blizzard of snow and hail followed by a thunderstorm that melts the ice.
Ps 147. This hymn of praise is divided into three strophes by an invitation to sound the praises of God: 1-6, praise of the Lord as restorer of Israel and as creator; 7-11, God's providential direction of nature; 12-20, God's power over nature and his care for Zion and Israel. For some of the ideas in this Ps, see Pss 33,104, and Is 40-66.
15. The creative "word" of Yahweh is to be found in Is 55 :10-12; Gn 1; Ps 33 :6. Here the word is a messenger that does his will and works in nature (the poet betrays real feeling for nature in the following lines).
16 Thus snow is spread like wool, frost is scattered like ash,
16-18. A description of winter and spring in Palestine.
19 The LORD also proclaims his word to Jacob, decrees and laws to Israel.
20 God has not done this for other nations; of such laws they know nothing. Hallelujah!
19. Another aspect of the "word" of Yahweh: His "ordinances" are for Israel alone (cf. Dt 4:7-8).
Scripture from Mt 5:17-19
Jerome Biblical Commentary
17 13 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
13 [17-20] This statement of Jesus' position concerning the Mosaic law is composed of traditional material from Matthew's sermon documentation (see the note on Matthew 5:1-7:29), other Q material (cf Matthew 18; Luke 16:17), and the evangelist's own editorial touches. To fulfill the law appears at first to mean a literal enforcement of the law in the least detail: until heaven and earth pass away nothing of the law will pass (Matthew 5:18). Yet the "passing away" of heaven and earth is not necessarily the end of the world understood, as in much apocalyptic literature, as the dissolution of the existing universe. The "turning of the ages" comes with the apocalyptic event of Jesus' death and resurrection, and those to whom this gospel is addressed are living in the new and final age, prophesied by Isaiah as the time of "new heavens and a new earth" (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22). Meanwhile, during Jesus' ministry when the kingdom is already breaking in, his mission remains within the framework of the law, though with significant anticipation of the age to come, as the following antitheses (Matthew 5:21-48) show.
(c) THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL (5:I7-48). In the initial encounter of the Gospel with Judaism, as well as in those primitive churches that were entirely or largely Jewish in membership, the attitude of Jesus and the Church to the Law was an urgent question. The Law had a sacredness and a saving value in Pharisaic Judaism that do not perfectly reflect the place of the Law in pre-exilic Israel. The Law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations with God. This value of the Law Jesus did not and could not accept; implicitly for most Jews the Law was the terminal revelation of God.
The attitude of the NT books toward the Law is not homogeneous. This does not mean that it is inconsistent, but simply that it reflects the development of the Christian understanding of the Law and its relation to the Gospel. One can trace the uneasy stages of this development in the epistles of Paul. A certain superficial inconsistency could be found, if one wished to be captious, even in 5:17-20, and much more easily in the entire Sermon on the Mount. To affirm inconsistency ignores the subtlety and the complexity of the problem, as well as the historical conditions in which Jesus proclaimed the gospel. This introductory pericope is Matthew's effort to state Jesus' position toward the Law in general. It must be read with the rest of the Gospel in mind.
17. not to annul: It was not the mission of Jesus to annul (break down, as a camp) the Law and the Prophets; these two words are often used to designate the whole collection of the books of the OT, and they are so used here. His mission is to "fulfill" them. Fulfill: This word cannot refer to a simple literal observance; the following six examples negate such a facile interpretation. "Fulfill" means to bring the Law to perfection, to give it that finality the Pharisees believed it possessed. Jesus affirms indirectly that the Law is imperfect, unfinished; he will perfect and finish it. In popular messianism the Messiah had a relation to the Law, but it was not a relation of bringing the Law to completeness. Jesus affirms the enduring, even eternal reality of the Law that we find affirmed in the rabbinical writings; but it is the finished and perfect Law that endures, not the Law of Moses with its explanatory oral teachings.
18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
18. Amen: In this affirmation Jesus uses the asseverative Amen so common in the Gospels. There is no parallel to this use of the word. It usually expresses agreement with a statement or a wish, particularly a prayer; Jesus uses it as an asseverative particle of his own words. jot: The Hebr consonant, yodh, the smallest of the 22 consonants in the late or square Hebr script. tittle: Lit., "little horn"; it is less certain in meaning, but probably designates the small decorative "horn" added to many Hebr consonants in the square script. until all things be done: A deliberately obscure phrase; the Law will not pass until it has been finished and perfected by the Messianic work of Jesus.
19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 14
14 [19] Probably these commandments means those of the Mosaic law. But this is an interim ethic "until heaven and earth pass away."
19. Jesus accepts the rabbinical distinction between "heavy" and "light" commandments; the rabbis counted 613 distinct precepts in the Pentateuch and classified them according to their seriousness. From the terms "great" and "small" the words of praise and condemnation are derived. This again is not a program of literal Pharisaic observances; in fact, it is most probably the Pharisees who are meant by those who teach and practice nonobservance; see 15:3-6; 23:16-26. The nonobservance by Jesus of the traditional Sabbath ordinances and of the laws of Levitical cleanliness was a frequent source of controversy. Jesus is not recommending here that which he repudiated in teaching and practice. The Law therefore that the disciples are to "do and teach" is again the perfect and complete law. Observance of the Law and the traditions will secure the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees; this righteousness will not gain admission to the reign. The righteousness of the disciples must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees; it is a submission to the will of God that goes beyond the observance of the Law. What this departure from the Law means is illustrated in the following six examples (5:21-48). Paul also speaks of a righteousness of the Law that is not true righteousness and does not save; true righteousness is achieved through faith in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:20; 10:5; Gal 2:16; 3:21; Phil 3:9). For Matthew also, faith is that which saves.
First Published: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Readings for Wednesday the 3rd Week of Lent
Reflection:
What strikes us most immediately in Wednesday's readings is the link between Moses giving the Law to the Hebrew People and his instructions to them to be faithful to it and Jesus who comes to fulfill it. It is pretty easy to see how Jesus came to fulfill what the Prophets had been saying for the 2,000 years of Hebrew history. There were enough clues in the Old Testament scriptures to lead us to understand that statement before he (Jesus) made it. What takes more thought, though, is how he came to fulfill the Law.
The reason that is a difficult question for us is that, to us, the Law is a set of rules that guide behavior. We must first understand the view of the Hebrews concerning the Law if we are to realize the immense import of the statement Jesus made when he said; "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." The statement for the commentary really helps us here:
"The Law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations with God." (see below, Jerome Biblical Commentary on Mt 5:17)
When we look at his statement through this lens, we understand. What Jesus said in that short statement was; he came to reveal the living God. He came to provide the path to the Lord God, the Logos (Word) made flesh.
It kind of takes the whole revelation to a new level once we see that the Law Moses presented was more than just rules. The question that strikes in us though is; if the law of Christ was more than rules for the early Christians, what should it be for us today?
If we accept Christ's word as being the "sacramental assurance of good relations with God", what place must they assume in our lives? They not only guide our actions but our hearts, not only our thoughts but our prayers. It is clear we must work very hard to accept Christ's leadership in our lives, no mater how difficult the road. Pax
I welcome your comments. If you would like to make one and are not registered on Myspace, you can email me at miles_jj@excite.com and, if you wish, I will post your response as a comment. Thanks.
Scripture[1] from Dt 4:1, 5-9
Jerome Biblical Commentary[2]
1 "Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
5 Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the LORD, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Law to All Israel (4:1-14). This promulgation is new because some had already heard the Law given at Horeb (1:3; 4:12-13). Moses undertakes to explain it (4:1; cf. 1:5). Because of displacements and successive editing, the place of this section in the overall structure of the work is not clear, but it is a prologue to the stipulations of the law, following the historical introduction, as evident from we'attah (4:1) and the stylistic inclusion (4:1,14-same formula).,We might surmise that the introduction to the deuteronomic history ends at, 3 :29 and that the original law book begins here, I :1-5 being added when the two were joined. 1. The Dt style is strongly exhortatory (see also vv. 9, 15, etc.); emq (listen) indicates the opening of a liturgical address (cf. 5:1; 6:1; 6:3,4; 9:7). statutes and decrees: The word hq means a positive decree of law; mipat indicates a judicial decision as a basis for case law from the root pt, "to judge." The giving of the Law is intimately connected with the promise of the land (cf. 4:1,5,14,21, 25,38,40). Canaan is seen as a source of temptation-the great theme of the prophets, especially in the north-hence, the relevance at the time of Josiah's reform and in the years immediately preceding the return from the Exile.
6 Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, 'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'
7 For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?
8 Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
6. your wisdom and your intelligence: Hokmah often should be translated "prudence" rather than "wisdom" in the OT, but we may detect here the beginning of the process which eventually identified the Law with wisdom (see Pry 8 :22-36; Sir 24). Also present, perhaps, is an appeal to the ruling classes of the writer's day. 7. what great nation. . .?: This theology of "the God who' is near" is connected with the older ideology of the Ark, as the locus of Yahweh's active presence to his people; he comes near in theophany, which is intimately associated with the Ark that Dt calls "the ark of the covenant' (Dt 31:9,25,26; 10:18; Jos3:8). We see here too Dts' role in a great national revival, for the Ark was also the political center-Israel is here "a great nation," gy gadl. God rescues his people when they caIl upon him, as is clear from the deuteronomic edition of Jgs.
9 "However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children.
9. The role of memory and tradition, with reference to the Exodus Horeb event, is often stressed in Dt (cf. B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [London, 1962]). Israel is addressed here in the singular.
[1] All biblical references -New American Bible United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000 December 09, 2002 Copyright by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
[2] All references to Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc. 1968
Scripture from Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20
Jerome Biblical Commentary
12 Glorify the LORD, Jerusalem; Zion, offer praise to your God,
13 Who has strengthened the bars of your gates, blessed your children within you,
15 4 The LORD sends a command to earth; his word runs swiftly!
4 [15-19] God speaks through the thunder of nature and the word of revealed law. Cf Isaiah 55:10-11. The weather phenomena are well known in Jerusalem: a blizzard of snow and hail followed by a thunderstorm that melts the ice.
Ps 147. This hymn of praise is divided into three strophes by an invitation to sound the praises of God: 1-6, praise of the Lord as restorer of Israel and as creator; 7-11, God's providential direction of nature; 12-20, God's power over nature and his care for Zion and Israel. For some of the ideas in this Ps, see Pss 33,104, and Is 40-66.
15. The creative "word" of Yahweh is to be found in Is 55 :10-12; Gn 1; Ps 33 :6. Here the word is a messenger that does his will and works in nature (the poet betrays real feeling for nature in the following lines).
16 Thus snow is spread like wool, frost is scattered like ash,
16-18. A description of winter and spring in Palestine.
19 The LORD also proclaims his word to Jacob, decrees and laws to Israel.
20 God has not done this for other nations; of such laws they know nothing. Hallelujah!
19. Another aspect of the "word" of Yahweh: His "ordinances" are for Israel alone (cf. Dt 4:7-8).
Scripture from Mt 5:17-19
Jerome Biblical Commentary
17 13 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
13 [17-20] This statement of Jesus' position concerning the Mosaic law is composed of traditional material from Matthew's sermon documentation (see the note on Matthew 5:1-7:29), other Q material (cf Matthew 18; Luke 16:17), and the evangelist's own editorial touches. To fulfill the law appears at first to mean a literal enforcement of the law in the least detail: until heaven and earth pass away nothing of the law will pass (Matthew 5:18). Yet the "passing away" of heaven and earth is not necessarily the end of the world understood, as in much apocalyptic literature, as the dissolution of the existing universe. The "turning of the ages" comes with the apocalyptic event of Jesus' death and resurrection, and those to whom this gospel is addressed are living in the new and final age, prophesied by Isaiah as the time of "new heavens and a new earth" (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22). Meanwhile, during Jesus' ministry when the kingdom is already breaking in, his mission remains within the framework of the law, though with significant anticipation of the age to come, as the following antitheses (Matthew 5:21-48) show.
(c) THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL (5:I7-48). In the initial encounter of the Gospel with Judaism, as well as in those primitive churches that were entirely or largely Jewish in membership, the attitude of Jesus and the Church to the Law was an urgent question. The Law had a sacredness and a saving value in Pharisaic Judaism that do not perfectly reflect the place of the Law in pre-exilic Israel. The Law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations with God. This value of the Law Jesus did not and could not accept; implicitly for most Jews the Law was the terminal revelation of God.
The attitude of the NT books toward the Law is not homogeneous. This does not mean that it is inconsistent, but simply that it reflects the development of the Christian understanding of the Law and its relation to the Gospel. One can trace the uneasy stages of this development in the epistles of Paul. A certain superficial inconsistency could be found, if one wished to be captious, even in 5:17-20, and much more easily in the entire Sermon on the Mount. To affirm inconsistency ignores the subtlety and the complexity of the problem, as well as the historical conditions in which Jesus proclaimed the gospel. This introductory pericope is Matthew's effort to state Jesus' position toward the Law in general. It must be read with the rest of the Gospel in mind.
17. not to annul: It was not the mission of Jesus to annul (break down, as a camp) the Law and the Prophets; these two words are often used to designate the whole collection of the books of the OT, and they are so used here. His mission is to "fulfill" them. Fulfill: This word cannot refer to a simple literal observance; the following six examples negate such a facile interpretation. "Fulfill" means to bring the Law to perfection, to give it that finality the Pharisees believed it possessed. Jesus affirms indirectly that the Law is imperfect, unfinished; he will perfect and finish it. In popular messianism the Messiah had a relation to the Law, but it was not a relation of bringing the Law to completeness. Jesus affirms the enduring, even eternal reality of the Law that we find affirmed in the rabbinical writings; but it is the finished and perfect Law that endures, not the Law of Moses with its explanatory oral teachings.
18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
18. Amen: In this affirmation Jesus uses the asseverative Amen so common in the Gospels. There is no parallel to this use of the word. It usually expresses agreement with a statement or a wish, particularly a prayer; Jesus uses it as an asseverative particle of his own words. jot: The Hebr consonant, yodh, the smallest of the 22 consonants in the late or square Hebr script. tittle: Lit., "little horn"; it is less certain in meaning, but probably designates the small decorative "horn" added to many Hebr consonants in the square script. until all things be done: A deliberately obscure phrase; the Law will not pass until it has been finished and perfected by the Messianic work of Jesus.
19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 14
14 [19] Probably these commandments means those of the Mosaic law. But this is an interim ethic "until heaven and earth pass away."
19. Jesus accepts the rabbinical distinction between "heavy" and "light" commandments; the rabbis counted 613 distinct precepts in the Pentateuch and classified them according to their seriousness. From the terms "great" and "small" the words of praise and condemnation are derived. This again is not a program of literal Pharisaic observances; in fact, it is most probably the Pharisees who are meant by those who teach and practice nonobservance; see 15:3-6; 23:16-26. The nonobservance by Jesus of the traditional Sabbath ordinances and of the laws of Levitical cleanliness was a frequent source of controversy. Jesus is not recommending here that which he repudiated in teaching and practice. The Law therefore that the disciples are to "do and teach" is again the perfect and complete law. Observance of the Law and the traditions will secure the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees; this righteousness will not gain admission to the reign. The righteousness of the disciples must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees; it is a submission to the will of God that goes beyond the observance of the Law. What this departure from the Law means is illustrated in the following six examples (5:21-48). Paul also speaks of a righteousness of the Law that is not true righteousness and does not save; true righteousness is achieved through faith in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:20; 10:5; Gal 2:16; 3:21; Phil 3:9). For Matthew also, faith is that which saves.
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