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Readings for Sunday October 23 2011                                          

Love and Rules

               Ever wonder what it took the religious leaders to get so worked up that they wanted to kill Jesus, the only Son of God?  It was obviously more than just a couple of ‘bad days’.  This Sunday’s Gospel shows us the persistence of the Pharisees, a group of those leaders, in trying to trap Jesus.  Not only do they fail in their attempts, but ironically they gave rise to some of the greatest teachings of the Lord.  This time the Pharisees get one of their ‘prized fighters’, a scholar of the law, to trap Jesus.  They are obviously thinking, ‘let’s bring in the big guns’ by having one of their most educated men test Jesus.  (Incidentally, St. Paul, then known as Saul, was one of the best educated and brightest of all Pharisees.  Would that not have been ironic if it was Saul who was asking Jesus this question?)  Jesus is asked which commandment is the greatest.  The Ten Commandments are the ‘commandments’ to which this scholar refers.  Our Faith teaches us today that all Ten are important, each essential for living a proper Christian life.  The trap that the scholars are laying for Jesus is to get Him to imply that there are some commandments that are not important.  Of course, if He says that the First commandment is the greatest, the Pharisees could say that Jesus is ignoring the Fifth Commandment (or any of the other commandments).  So how does Jesus respond?  He quotes the Old Testament’s own language about the heart of the commandments.  He goes right past the question of the Pharisees and does what He does best, getting to the heart of the matter.  The purpose of the Ten Commandments is to help learn how to love God and love each other.  This is the heart of what they are talking about, and therefore each commandment is equally important.  While Jesus’ answer is essential for us to realize, and while it is always necessary to understand why we are to obey the commandments (as well as know what those commandments are), the primary point of this Gospel is not the content of Christ’s teaching: St. Matthew is getting across to us the insidious plan of the Pharisees to trap Jesus and eventually condemned Him to death.  While they continually focus on ways to snare Him, Jesus always comes through with the Truth.  The Pharisees show that they are against the Truth: If they were really for it, then they would stop questioning Him and would start living His teachings.  You and I are called to be disciples of the Truth, not letting the attacks of the world get us down, but calmly relying on God’s help, even when we are tested in our faith.  Let us ask God in prayer for the grace to respond to the Truth with conviction, without fear or apologies.    Summary  by YM Central

Reading 1                   Exodus 22:20-26

Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."

Reading 2                   1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10

Brothers and sisters: You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

Gospel             Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Discussion Questions

1. Describe the evil that motivated the Pharisees to constantly try to trap Jesus.  Why were they so persistent in trying to trap and eventually kill Jesus?  Of what are they afraid?

2. Scripture Search: Find the Old Testament reference to Jesus’ answer (‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all you mind’).  Use a concordance or a Bible software program if you have one.  (Hint: Moses was traditionally understood as the author of this verse’s book.)

3. Can I see Christ by the way that I behave?

4.  How do I live out the commandments in my daily life? Give examples.