| Reading 1 | Response | Reading 2 | Gospel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ex 22:20-26 | Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51 | 1 Thes 1:5c-10 | Mt 22:34-40 |
| RCL: Lv 19:1-2, 15-18 | RCL: 1 Thes 2:1-8 | RCL: Mt 22:34-46 |
Discipleship: love God by loving one’s neighbor
During Ordinary time the Lectionary presents stories and teachings from Jesus’ everyday ministry. This week’s readings focus on how disciples concretely love God by honoring and caring for those who are nearby.
First reading (Ex 22:20-26)
The first reading is from Exodus, the second book of Torah. Exodus tells the stories of Moses, Passover, freedom from Egypt’s slavery, the Ten Commandments, and the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings.
In today’s pericope, the Exodus writers define social regulations to protect the powerless. Hebrew scripture, especially the prophets, demands caring for those who do not have a family patriarch to provide for and to protect them: widows, orphans, the resident alien, and the poor. Society’s weakest are most vulnerable to exploitation; justice is not simply compensating someone for a loss, it also requires care for society’s defenseless. God promises the exploited special access: God “hears their cry.” The pericope also includes instructions on right treatment of the neighbor: honoring God and creating personal holiness require concrete actions. Torah, presented in a social context (the widow, orphan, the alien, the poor, the neighbor), inculcates a social ethic based on compassion.
The Lectionary editors chose this reading because Torah instructions about social responsibilities toward one’s neighbor correspond to the gospel’s greatest commandments.
Second reading (1 Thes 1:5c-10)
The second reading is the second part of a five-week, semi-continuous reading from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonica ekklesia. Paul wrote this letter, the earliest written document in Christian scripture, in 50-51 AD to encourage the Thessalonians’ faith and to answer questions about marriage, Jesus’ parousia, and believers’ resurrections.
In last week’s pericope, Paul said that the good news came to the Thessalonians not only through the missionaries’ words, but through God’s power, specifically through the Spirit, whose outpouring resulted in the Thessalonians’ full conviction in the words’ truth. In today’s pericope, Paul connects the results of those human words and God’s outpouring: the Thessalonians became “imitators” of the missionaries and “the Lord,” both in their afflictions and their joys. Even more, the Thessalonians and their “faith” stand as “a model” to their neighboring believers (“believers in Macedonia and in Achaia”). These other believers publicly witness (“openly declare”) the Thessalonians’ generous “reception” of Paul and his company, and how they “turned to God from idols.” Modern readers can hardly imagine the personal sacrifice and risks in “turning to God:” becoming a believer created social and family disruptions and sometimes brought persecution from local authorities and from the empire. Paul closes with a summary of belief: “awaiting God’s Son from heaven” and “the coming wrath (or judgement)” suggest early Christianity’s belief in Jesus’ imminent return; the God who “raised [Jesus] from the dead” suggests God’s promise of salvation to those who believe.
The Lectionary editors chose this reading to continue Ordinary time’s semi-continuous reading from Thessalonians.
Gospel (Mt 22:34-40)
This section of Matthew’s gospel is from Jesus’ teachings in Jerusalem as his opponents question and challenge him. In today’s pericope, Jesus skillfully answers another test question from the Pharisees about the greatest commandment.
- The question’s context. The scribe asks a question in the narrowest, legal sense of Torah. Torah contains 613 commands, and Torah scholars distinguished between the great and small, and even the very great and very small. The scribe is not asking “what commandments can we disregard?”, but rather is challenging Jesus to sum up Torah in a simple statement like rabbi Hillel (“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor”). Jesus’ answer will reveal how well he knows Torah.
- One answer, two commandments. Jesus joins two important commandments (“Love God” and “Love your neighbor”), and in joining them, suggest a new dimension in loving God. First, Jesus quotes the Shema prayer (Dt 6:5), which every devout Jew prayed twice a day. Jesus identifies the Shema as the “greatest commandment” because it spells out concretely that one loves God by keeping the covenant. Second, Jesus quotes from the Holiness Code (Lv 19:18). That is, to be holy as God is holy, one must love one’s neighbor as oneself. By joining these two commands, Jesus suggests that the two form one, inseparable law: one “loves God” by “loving one’s neighbor.”
Summary and reflection
This week’s readings ask us to think about love as an action. Exodus instructs the Israelites to care for and to protect society’s most vulnerable members: widows, orphans, resident aliens, and the poor among them, as well as those nearby (“neighbors”) who are not kin. Paul praises the Thessalonians for their faith, which has inspired their neighbors to become believers. Jesus expands the interpretation and understanding of Torah to show how serving and caring for one nearby (“neighbor”) also honors and glorifies God.
In the ancient world, “love” meant a concrete action (“I will care for this sick stranger”), not simply an abstract emotional feeling (“I love your shoes”). What are we doing to love God? What are we doing to love the nearby one, the neighbor, the stranger? What do our actions (or inactions) say about our commitment to God and our discipleship to Jesus?
—Terence Sherlock
The Lectionary In Context 