Skip to main content

7th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2014

By
What does God want of us?  It’s a fairly common question for many people, especially during our most difficult times.  Yet amid the noise of our lives we usually forget that God has answered us, over and over again.  Let’s explore this week’s readings to hear what he says…
The Word for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

Our first reading comes from the book of Leviticus… that book that falls right after Exodus which is essentially the second retelling of the Mosaic Law, only this time through priestly (Levite) perspective .  In this rather short passage, we are given two powerful commands.  First, God commands us to be holy.  What does he mean?  While the intervening passages (verses 2-16) provide some clarity through their retelling of the 10 commandments, the real clarity comes from our reading’s second command, “… love your neighbor as yourself.”  And as if God can hear your “why” coming before it makes it out of your mouth, he says, “I am the Lord.”  the ancient equivalent of “because I said so” from a parent to a child.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Why is this phrase so familiar?  Because as Christians we know this to be part of Jesus’ Great Commandment… the “Golden Rule.”  As we’ve been learning during this year with Matthew’s Gospel, however, most of what Jesus is teaching is nothing new.  We, like the Apostles and rest of Jesus’ contemporaries are asking that same age old question… “What does God want?”.  Expecting that Jesus will have something new to say, he simply reminds us of what God has always said.  We don’t need to learn anything new… we only need to learn to apply what he's already told us and recommit ourselves to it:  To love God and l love our neighbor.  “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
So why do we keep asking the question?  Is it because we didn’t hear the answer?  Or rather is it because we don’t like the answer and keep hoping for something different?  Something easier?  I think our second reading might help add some perspective to this…
Continuing with our study of Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we ourselves are Temples of God.  We are his creation and he dwells in us.  Jesus said to “be perfect”… a pretty tall order for us mere mortals, but Paul is telling us that we too have the power within us.  Paul goes on to remind us that those of us who think we have the answers are just kidding ourselves.  God has passed down his wisdom consistently through the generations, and it is this wisdom that we should follow.  He closed by reminding us that we all belong to Christ… not to each other, not to him or Cephas or Apollos, or the other community leaders, but to Christ.  We need to aim for the higher purpose, and through that, we get that much closer to the perfection God knows is within us.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B

By
Who speaks for the Lord?  Do you have to be a prophet?  A priest?  A bishop?  The Pope?  What about you?  The answer, according to our readings this week, is “whomever God calls,” and that could be you. The Word for the 26tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Numbers 11:25-29 Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14 James 5:1-6 Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 Our first reading comes from the Book of Numbers.  This book is a continuation of the Exodus story, from the point where they leave the Sinai (after receiving the Law) to the point where they are ready to enter the Promised Land.  The book gives us some history of these years interspersed with sections of legal codes.  This Sunday’s passage deals with the commissioning the elders, those 70 individuals chosen by Moses to receive some of the Spirit so that they may prophesy (preach) among the people.  But during this time there were two men, Eldad and Medad, who were not with the group at the tent, but who also recei...
Post a Comment
Read more

3rd Sunday of Advent - Cycle C

By
“Shout for Joy!”  The opening lines of our first reading expresses the feelings we should be having during this third Sunday of Advent.  Also known as Gaudete Sunday (Latin for “rejoice”), we celebrate that we have now past the half-way point of our penitent reflection – the “hump day” of Advent, if you will.  What have we to be so joyful about?  Our readings provide the answer: The Word for the 3rd Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3:14-18a Psalm 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke3:10-18 Our first reading comes from the Book of the Prophet Zephaniah.  Though we don’t hear from Zephaniah very often in our Sunday Liturgies, and though the book itself isn’t that long (only 3 chapters), the importance of his message not only can be seen in his predecessors Jeremiah and Baruch, but may even have had a profound effect on the Judean monarchy itself by moving King Josiah to begin his campaign of religious reform.  Our passage this week, though similar to the passages...
Post a Comment
Read more

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B

By
What is truly valuable?  As a species humanity seems constantly preoccupied with this question, starting from our individual perspective and building up to our families, our parish, our community, all the way up to the entire world view.  Whole industries have grown around this idea of value, from the advertising industry that tries to convince you of the value of what they’re selling, to insurance companies that can set a monetary value on everything, including your own life.  Our faith tradition also has some thoughts on this question, as addressed by our readings this week: The Word for the 28tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Wisdom 7:7-11 Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Hebrews 4:12-13 Mark 10:17-30 Our first reading is from the Book of Wisdom.  You may recall that we had a passage from this book three weeks ago, but by way of reminder, the Book of Wisdom comes to us from the Jewish community in Alexandria some 50 years before Christ.  Typical of wisdom literature in...
Post a Comment
Read more