October 29, 2017
30TH SUNDAY A
HAVE COMPASSION FOR THE WEAK
We give thanks to God the giver of life and breath for the gift of this new day. May the Lord who has called us to himself this day grant us his blessings in abundance. Amen. I met a young woman some years ago who had come for counselling because she was so bitter and couldn't bring herself together to forgive those who had offended her. Her story was that she had been married for about 8 years and there was no child from the marriage. Suddenly the man took ill and died. The man’s family invited her to return to the village to accompany the man’s remains. When she got to the village, she was treated as if she killed the man. She was made to sit on the bare floor for the entire period she was in the village. She was given a mourning gown which she was mandated to wear for a year as different from what is done normally in the same town of 3-6 months. The older widows shaved her head and didn't care what injuries they inflicted on her using razor blades. By the time she eventually returned to Lagos after three weeks in the village, she met their rented house swept clean of every property including her own things in the house. The family of her late husband had come to take everything away, from cars to carpets and kitchen utensils. She had to begin afresh. I wonder how you would feel in her situation or if she were your daughter or sister? many widows and orphans in our society face the same situation and sometimes worse. No wonder God called on the people to deal kindly with this vulnerable group.
FIRST READING (EXODUS 22:21-27)
The experience of suffering and deprivation sometimes affects a person negatively and hardens the heart towards others. In situations like that, a person loses a part of the human touch and only remembers his/her own situation and is at every opportunity willing to repay in like manner other people, even when they are not the offenders. Sometimes in boarding schools, you find older pupils who bully the younger ones because they have passed through it themselves. In fact freshers discuss what they will do to the next set of freshers because of their own experiences in the hands of their seniors.
The experience of the people of Israel in Egypt was that of slavery and oppression. Being strangers in Egypt, they went through untold hardships and it took the intervention of God through his servant Moses to bring them out of Egypt. Now in the wilderness, after God had given the ten commandments in chapter 10 of Exodus, the explanations and detailing of how to obey the commandments followed. In this passage, God forbade the Israelites from treating the strangers in their midst the way they were treated in Egypt. “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in Egypt.” We sometimes do what we see and condemn in others. Because your seniors at home or in the office did it to you, you feel you must do it to your juniors even when you know it is wrong.
In this passage, God also shows his compassion for those on the other-side of history—the poor, afflicted, those without protection, particularly, widows and orphans. This generation is trying by means of laws and advocacy to set women and children free from many of the challenges different cultures place on their path. This social concern is deeply rooted in the Divine regard for those in need. God says that to neglect these people or oppress them will merit divine punishment. Their slavery in Egypt and the wonders of the Exodus must remind them always of God’s care for those who cannot set themselves free. Yet thousands of years after, many widows are left to themselves without help. Sometimes when it seems help is coming, it comes with strings attached. Many widows are forced to give up their dignity and bow to the demands of their in-laws to survive. It does not have to be that way.
SECOND READING (1 THESSALONIANS 1:5-10)
Thessalonika was a city founded by the Greeks with a harbour and was therefore a commercial city which attracted people from all everywhere. Paul in his missionary journey had preached in the Synagogue in Thessalonika (Acts 17:1), where some Jews were converted but others created trouble for him. This letter is perhaps the earliest of Paul’s letters in the early years following his own conversion. It was written at a time when the people were looking forward to God’s liberation considering the fact that they were at the time under the oppressive Roman rule. Paul made the doctrine of the ‘Last Things’ the theme of this letter—death and judgement. In today’s passage, which is following the introduction to the letter, Paul commended the faith of the people which he said the report has gone out to other people who talk about their acceptance of the Gospel and how they have turned away from the worship of idols, they now wait for the appearance of Jesus who has risen from the dead, the one who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Paul’s reference to his own life while he was with the people is something today’s preachers of the gospel must emulate. He remarked, “You know the kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord…” Paul imitates the Lord and the people imitates Paul. Every preacher must live out what he preaches. The world needs more witnesses than preachers. If we witness to the truth of the Gospel, we will have less to worry about in the proclamation of the good news because our way of life will in itself attract many others to follow.
GOSPEL (MATTHEW 22:34-40)
For anyone who lived in the time of Jesus, the question in the Gospel of today will not come as a surprise. Many people had been burdened by the laws. Even Paul— the convert and Apostle, complained about the laws which Saul—the faithful Jew, had done everything possible to defend and make others obey. Even the explanations of the law, had become laws. It was said that the rabbis counted 613 commands from the books of the Law, broken down, there are 248 positive commands, corresponding to the number of the parts of the human body, as it was known then, and 365 negative commands corresponding to the number of days in a year. This taken together means that the law was for the entire person and applies to everyday of the year. One question that often caused division among the people was on the equality or otherwise of the laws. Do the laws carry the same weight? For some, all laws were equal and important. If they have been given by God, one has no right to rank them. No wonder this lawyer decided to bring Jesus into the controversy.
The prophet Micah had asked the people of his time, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly before God. That for the prophet was the total sum of the demands of the law. Love of God and love of neighbour though are no new commands, sum up the whole of the commands. While the first three of the ten commandments deal with man’s relationship with God, the remaining seven deal with the relationship with fellow human beings. What is however new here is that Jesus placed the two side by side and made them of equal importance. You cannot claim therefore to love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbour. These two commands are no rejection of the commandments but a true reflection of the ends which the laws are meant to achieve. Love of God and love of neighbour are the fundamental basis and inspiration for the laws of God.
Today’s liturgy, my dear friends teaches that we can only love because we have been loved first by God who created us in love, sustains us in love and saves us in love. We in response are called to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” But the only way this love of God can fully bear fruit is, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Our hearts are made for love, made for God. God is the supreme object of our love and longing and it’s only in his love we truly discover the rightful place of all the other loves in our lives.
When we truly love God we will not shy away from those who are crying out to us for justice and for help. We could easily look out and notice others around us who are crying out in their pains and difficulties. When we truly appreciate the love of God for us, we are moved to love in return and while we seek to love God, our hearts open to others who are in need of love—the widows, the orphans, the strangers, those in debt and all those on the margins of history. Think of those like Lazarus at the gate of the rich man of the gospel parable who await patiently help from the most unlikely of places. Think of those in your community, family, parish or town that you are called to help because you have what they need to survive.
Let us pray: O God teach us to love you with all our hearts and to love our neighbours because you have loved us first. Amen. May the Lord grant your requests and grant you the grace to respond to the needs of others. Amen
Have a pleasant week.