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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2010 /  Jesus speaks a Law we already know

by Fr. Richard C. Macey special to The Michigan Catholic
Published July 2, 2010

First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14
This passage is part of the closing section of the instruction of Moses, before he prophecies his death to the Israelites in the wilderness. It ends the agreement between God and His people. Moses refers to the Book of Deuteronomy, which will continue in the presence of the people, even after the voice of Moses and the prophets will be silenced by death.

The sky and the sea are separated from the domain of mankind from the time of creation, the fertile soil. God set limits between them. Moses assures the people that the command of God “is not too mysterious and remote for you.” It is “very near to you.”

The word “heed” echoes Deuteronomy 6:4, the same root word (shema) that begins the daily prayer of the devout Jew: “Hear, O Israel!” It is a word that requires obedience to the law of God.

Knowledge of the Torah, the Law of Israel, was passed along orally. Rabbis are still trained in this way in the yeshivahs, the Torah schools. Students learn to apply the Law to new situations by learning the arguments and reasoning of earlier rabbis and teachers of the law. You don’t need to rewrite the code. The Law stays fresh and can be applied to circumstances, which were not foreseen at the time that the Law was formulated. In the Church, we refer to this unfolding of the Law of God as Tradition.

When I was the older uncle watching over my younger nephews and nieces, I had to correct them at times. I usually asked them whether they knew that they did something wrong. Almost always, they admitted that they knew that they did something that they should not have done. Often, I have asked that same question of penitents, young and old. Generally, they know what they should have done … and what they should not have done! I also ask them: “What can you do to be better?” I don’t remember someone not being able to answer that question. I have found that God’s laws are not too hard to understand. We “have only to carry it out,” just as Moses directed the people for ages to come.

Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-20
The Scriptures contain earlier material that has been incorporated into a larger work. It can often be identified by using language and themes, which stand out from the rest of the work. Paul probably has taken an early Christian hymn and inserted it into the Letter to the Colossians, a people of western Asia Minor.

An image is more than just an outward appearance. The Greek word is the source for our word, icon. An icon is not a work of art. It is a devotional object. It is a portal that brings us into communion with the Holy One. Thus, it is a manifestation of what it presents visually.

The thrones, dominions, principalities and powers are probably not four of the nine choirs of angels in Christian tradition. They can refer to earthly might, or even to attributes of God. Everything that was not God was created by God. “All things” and “heaven and Earth” are Hebrew ways of including all of creation in the Old Testament.

Christ Jesus is “firstborn of all creation … firstborn from the dead.” There is a new beginning, a transition, rooted in the presence of Christ Jesus. Being “preeminent” is also connected with the role of the firstborn. There is a connection to the past, an inheritance, as well as the one who takes the lead over what follows.

“Fullness” and the verb “to dwell” were used in the Greek Old Testament to describe the presence of God. Christ Jesus is the agent through whom reconciliation comes about for all creation. The peace brought about by reconciliation is expanded in the verses that follow this hymn.

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
The one who called upon Jesus as “teacher” is identified as a “scholar of the Law/Torah.” Jesus answers the question with a question. So the scholar answers by referring to two passages from the Bible: Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. The first part comes from the daily prayer of devout Jews, the shema. It is said several times a day. It is included on a scroll in the phylacteries bound to the head and arm, while praying. “Heart, being, strength, mind” emphasize the completeness of the commitment. Love is a decision, not just a feeling. The second part of the answer, “your neighbor as yourself,” needed clarification. That is why the scholar wished to “justify himself.”

Just what does “as yourself” mean? I served on jury duty not long ago. The judge instructed the jury. She told us that we should be the kind of juror that we would want if we were sitting in the defendant’s chair. I think that is the kind of reciprocity Jesus intended for us.

Jesus answered this second question of the scholar with a story. He changed the meaning of the consequence of loving God by reinterpreting who was “your neighbor.” That was something new. “Neighbor” usually referred to a fellow countryman in the Old Testament. Others were called “the nations” or “gentiles.” Different laws applied to them.

The Samaritan then and now is not favored in Israel (see John 4:9). They were considered an impure race. They were banned from entering the Temple area in Jerusalem, and their own temple on Mount Gerizim was torn down in 128 B.C. by a Jewish army led by John Hyrcanus, a relative of the leaders of the Maccabean revolt. The Samaritans have a different profile in the Gospel.

The priest and Levite passed the unidentified injured man by. They were people who were instructed in the Torah and its requirements. These cultic leaders brought about no assistance to the man. The reader is not told whether the injured man was Jewish or not. The spilled blood of the man would make the priest and Levite unclean for offering sacrifice, although it appears that they may have been walking away from Jerusalem, rather than toward it. The Samaritan was “moved with compassion.” This is the word that describes God, when He had mercy on Israel and relieved them from their suffering, especially after they had turned away from Him. The scholar of the law could not even name the man. He described him more generically as “the one who treated him (the injured man) with mercy,” not as the Samaritan.

God gives us opportunities everyday to “do likewise,” in the journey of life.

Fr. Richard C. Macey is pastor of Our Lady of the Woods Parish, Woodhaven.