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| “Moses” by Guido Reni, 1600-10 |
Reading I: Deuteronomy
4:1, 5-9
Moses spoke to the people and
said:
“Now, Israel
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.
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.
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.’
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?
Or what great nation has
statutes and decrees
that are as just as this
whole law
which I am setting before you
today?
“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.”
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Commentary on Dt 4:1, 5-9
This passage from
Deuteronomy marks the end of the historical part of the book and the beginning
of Moses’ presentation of the law and statutes. He addresses the whole people,
telling them that unless they follow the statutes which he is about to present,
they will not receive what God promises the faithful, in this case the land of
milk and honey. There is a strong emphasis placed on passing the law on
faithfully to the generations that follow, not forgetting any statute God
enjoins upon them. While the promise of Moses was the inheritance of the land
in a physical or literal sense, God’s later promise was a kingdom not of this
earth.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20
R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the
bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children
within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem
He sends forth his command to
the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem
He has proclaimed his word to
Jacob,
his statutes and his
ordinances to Israel
He has not done thus for any
other nation;
his ordinances he has not
made known to them.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem
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Commentary on Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20
Psalm 147 is a hymn of
praise. In these strophes the singer celebrates God’s gifts to his people, the
gift of faith to the patriarch Jacob, and the gift of his presence in the holy
city Jerusalem. These strophes are from the third section (each section
offering praise for a different gift from God to his special people). This
section focuses on the gift of the Promised Land with Jerusalem as its
spiritual center. We see the call to praise Jerusalem, the Holy city because in
it was revealed the Word of God and a call to holiness. The Lord is praised for
sending food that sustains the people. The final strophe also rejoices that the
Law was handed on to them through Jacob.
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Gospel: Matthew
5:17-19
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have
come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish
but to fulfill.
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.
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.”
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Commentary on Mt 5:17-19
Those who
believed that Jesus came to destroy the Jewish faith and laws are refuted in
this passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel. The Lord tells them that he did not
come to destroy the law even though he disagreed with the way some of those
laws were being implemented. Rather he came to fulfill it, essentially giving
the law a reinterpretation through his own revelation.
In this early
encounter between Jesus’ mission and the Law of Moses we are told that Jesus
came to “fulfill” the law, to bring it to perfection as the messiah. He
supports the rabbinical teaching of the time, which separates the 613
individual precepts of the law found in the Pentateuch into “great and small”
based upon their seriousness, when he refers to breaking the least of the commandments.
It is important to understand the Hebrew view of the Law: "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." [4]
The passage is concluded in
almost Mosaic style by saying that those who follow the law will be great in
heaven. This draws a distinction between those who would break the law being
least in heaven in the previous sentence.
CCC: Mt 5:17-19 577, 592, 1967; Mt 5:17 2053
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Reflection:
What strikes us most immediately today is the connection
between Moses giving the Law to the Hebrew people with his instructions to them
to be faithful to it, and Jesus who comes to fulfill the Law. 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 Jesus
made it (reflecting also on the Augustinian quote: “The New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old is revealed in
the New.”). What takes more thought,
however, 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 importance 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 scholarly statements about the meaning of
the Law really help 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.” [5]
When
we look at his statement in the context of Lord’s mission on earth, 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
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 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 the Word of God assume in our lives? The Word is not only a guide for our actions
but for 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 matter how difficult the road.
Pax
[2]
The picture used is “Moses” by Guido Reni, 1600-10
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[4]
Jerome
Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 43:34, pp. 70
[5]
Ibid
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