Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

During the Third Week of Lent (especially in Years B and C when the Gospel of the Samaritan woman is not read on the Third Sunday of Lent) optional Mass Texts are offered.

“Moses”
by Jusepe de Ribera, c.1650’s

Readings for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading I: Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
 
Moses spoke to the people and said:
“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.
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, without 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.
 
“The presentation of law was a matter of public education in ancient Israel. The motivation for obedience to the law was based on cultic remembering, in which the past was made present. Within that context real limits were placed on matters of interpretation. The people were not free to ‘add to the word’ or to ‘detract from it’ in any way. They were to know the commandments and to keep them faithfully.” [4]
 
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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 divine revelation.
 
“Jesus is quite aware that his radical spiritual doctrines, which proclaim the primacy of the interior being of man and seem to fly in the face of the Jewish religious establishment, would lend themselves to abuse and misinterpretation by religious dissenters  ̶  those dissatisfied elements who are always looking for a more private and non-conformist religious alternative.” [5]
 
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." [6]
 
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.” [7]
 
When we look at his statement in the context of Lord’s mission on earth, we understand.  Jesus said in that short statement that 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
 
Stations of the Cross

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[1] The picture used is “Moses” by Jusepe de Ribera, c.1650’s.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Duane L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1–21:9, Revised, vol. 6A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 81.
[5] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996), 211.
[6] Jerome Biblical Commentary (Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968), 43:34, p. 70.
[7] Ibid.