{"id":1626,"date":"2017-10-25T14:22:14","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batkol.info\/?p=1626"},"modified":"2017-10-25T14:22:14","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T14:22:14","slug":"the-30th-sunday-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/2017\/10\/25\/the-30th-sunday-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"THE 30th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR"},"content":{"rendered":"
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REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR<\/p>\n

THE 30th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, 29th OCTOBER, 2017, CYCLE A<\/p>\n

Exodus 22:20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40<\/p>\n

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Download<\/a><\/p>\n

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Today our readings focus on the most important aspect of what it is to be fully human:\u00a0 love of God and love of neighbour, making a fitting prelude to the coming celebrations of All Saints and All souls, which remember and honour those who truly loved God and neighbour.\u00a0 In Matthew\u2019s Gospel, Jesus answers the scribe\u2019s question by saying that \u201cthe whole law and the prophets\u201d depend on the commands to love God \u201cwith all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind\u201d and \u201cyour neighbour as yourself\u201d.\u00a0 Jesus, Jewish teacher that he is, is quoting here from Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18. \u00a0He\u2019s not unique in summarizing God\u2019s law by these two central commands: his contemporary, the great rabbi Hillel, when challenged by a prospective convert to recite the whole Torah standing on one foot, replied, \u201cWhat you hate for yourself, do not do to your neighbour.\u00a0 This is the whole law.\u00a0 The rest is commentary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Our reading from Exodus speaks of how placing themselves in the situation of others should determine the Israelites\u2019 actions:\u00a0 \u201cYou must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.\u201d\u00a0 Significantly, the Hebrew word for \u201cstranger\u201d\u00a0 here is \u201cger\u201d , which is the term applied to the resident non-Israelite who could no longer count on the protection of his former tribe or community.\u00a0 The \u201cger\u201d, mentioned 33 times in the Torah, was to be given every consideration.\u00a0 Again and again, the Israelites were reminded that they themselves had been strangers in Egypt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Those whom Paul is addressing in his Letter to the Thessalonians, written less than twenty years after the death of Jesus, were probably all gentiles, coming from the poor, non-elite of their society.\u00a0 Their new faith in Christ meant that they had to abandon their traditional gods in favour of the one God, but that would have set them at odds against the rest of the society in which they lived, where kinship, politics, economics and religion were inextricably interrelated.\u00a0 This meant that they would have been ostracized, even stoned in the streets: \u201c\u2026in spite of the great opposition all round you \u2026.you broke with idolatry when you were converted to God and became servants of the real, living God\u201d. Paul encourages them to persevere and discover mutual strength in their new identity, at the same time calling them to treat outsiders well: \u201cMay the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race \u2026\u201d (1 Thess 3:12).<\/p>\n

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In the Bible, love of God is often expressed as gratitude and remembrance for what God has done rather than what we do for God.\u00a0 That is clearly the essence of Psalm 18, which begins, almost impetuously, with the words, \u201cI love you, Lord, my strength\u201d.\u00a0 The form of the Hebrew verb used for \u201clove\u201d – \u201craham\u201d, is an Aramaic usage that appears only here in the Hebrew Bible.\u00a0 It is, strikingly, better translated as \u201cI am impassioned of you, Lord, my strength!\u201d\u00a0 The passionate love of God \u2013 and neighbour – is key to our readings today and is our privileged calling.<\/p>\n

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This week\u2019s Sunday Gospel Commentary was prepared by<\/p>\n

Sr Margaret Shepherd, NDS, London, UK<\/p>\n

margaretashepherd@gmail.com<\/p>\n

[Copyright \u00a9 2017]<\/p>\n

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. \u00a0Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.<\/p>\n

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Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem<\/p>\n

1983-2017<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

gill@batkol.info Website: www.batkol.info<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR THE 30th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, 29th OCTOBER, 2017, CYCLE A Exodus 22:20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40 \u00a0 Download \u00a0 Today our readings focus on the most important aspect of what it is to be fully human:\u00a0 love of God and love of neighbour, making a fitting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":1621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}