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Serving God and Sharing Good News |
Weekly Bible Notes
Ordinary 30 Year A (Trinity 22)
Introduction
Opening Verses of Scripture
Psalm 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice
and be glad all our days.
Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray
Eternal God, giver of love and peace, you call your children to live
together as one family. Give us grace to learn your ways and do your will,
that we may bring justice and peace to all people; in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen
First Bible Reading Deut 34: 1-12
Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah,
across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead to
Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of
Judah as far as the western sea, the Negev and the whole region from the
Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to
him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I
said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your
eyes, but you will not cross over into it." And Moses the servant of the
LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the
valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not
weak nor his strength gone. The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains
of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over. Now
Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had
laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the
LORD had commanded Moses. Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like
Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs
and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his
officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power
or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
(This is the word of the Lord -- Thanks be to God)
Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had
previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the
help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong
opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure
motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men
approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please
men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did
we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking
for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we
could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother
caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted
to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because
you had become so dear to us. (This is the word of the Lord -- Thanks be to
God)
Third Reading - Mathew 22: 15-22
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these
two commandments."
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, "What do you
think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied.
He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls
him 'Lord'? For he says, " 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet." If then David calls him 'Lord,'
how can he be his son?" No one could say a word in reply, and from that day
on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (This is the word of the
Lord.—Thanks be to God)
Gospel Reading Matthew Chapter 22:34-36
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got
together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is
like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang
on these two commandments."
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, "What do you
think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied.
He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls
him 'Lord'? For he says, " 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet." If then David calls him 'Lord,'
how can he be his son?" No one could say a word in reply, and from that day
on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (This is the word of the
Lord.—Thanks be to God)
Post Communion Sentence
God of all grace, your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry with
the bread of his life and the word of his kingdom: renew your people with
your heavenly grace, and in all our weakness sustain us by your true and
living bread; who is alive and reigns, now and for ever. Amen
Commentary
A lawyer asks Jesus: "Teacher, which is the great
commandment in the Law?" (It may be better translated: "What sort of
commandment is great in the Law?" That is, what is the quality shared by the
most important commandments?) Nobody would have been surprised by the first
part of Jesus’s answer: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22.36-7).
Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6.4. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one
Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul and with all your might." This is the opening of the Shema‘
("Hear, O Israel"), which every adult male Jew was and is expected to recite
morning and evening every day.
Jesus, answering the lawyer in this week’s gospel, has evoked the Shema‘;
and so has summarised the first five of the Ten Commandments, ordering
Israel’s right relation to God. But what of the second five, on the
Israelites’ right relations with each other? For a summary, Jesus quotes
Leviticus 19.18: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself."
He is applying a technique associated with his contemporary, the great
teacher Hillel: two commandments having a term in common were linked by
analogy and allowed to complete each other. The command in the Shema‘ to
love God and in Leviticus to love one’s neighbour illumined each other and
made a single proposition.
Hillel became famous for his own summary of the Law. He was
asked to teach the Law while standing on one foot — and did so. "What you
hate for yourself," he said, "do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole
Law. The rest is commentary."
How is the command to love God like the command to love our neighbour?
Matthew’s Jesus will shortly tell the Parable of the Sheep and Goats: its
king will declare that what we have done (or not done) for the least of
these his brothers, we have done (or not done) for him (Matthew 25.40, 45).
Our neighbours bear the image of God; to love those neighbours is to love
God’s image, to neglect them is to neglect that image. Clement of Alexandria
(second century) preserves a saying of Jesus not recorded in the Gospels:
"You have seen your brother; you have seen God."
We are clearly commanded to love, as our neighbours or brothers, those to
whom we are linked by faith or Church. But who else? Jesus brings us up
sharply: "You have heard it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and
hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies" (Matthew 5.43-4). For
those enemies, too — however hard it is for us to see it — bear as we do the
image of God himself.
Neil Bramble-Chapman (From an article By Robin Griffith-Jones (Church Times)
Meditation
Mark Twain is supposed to have said,
"It's not what I don't understand about the bible that bothers me, but what
I do understand."
The teachings of Jesus are remarkable for their simplicity and perhaps no
more so than when Jesus tells us that to love God with all of our heart soul
and mind is the greatest and first commandment. Jesus' teaching today is
straight forward and we require reminding rather than explanation of what he
means. God should be the goal of our deepest love and this should not
deprive our other loves of intimacy or importance.
Rather since we define ourselves by who and what we love, our souls are
enriched or diminished by the objects of our affection. To love God and
concern ourselves with loving God above all things keeps our lives in
perspective, it also enriches us above all things. We become more in the
image of God, the more we love God. It is therefore true that our devotion
to God brings quality to the other loves in our life, which are inevitably
deepened as we learn more of what it is to love and be loved by God.
Hymns
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Ye servants of God 278
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Give me joy 492
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Love divine 267
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Come let us sing 691
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The Servant Song. (On Partnership News)
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
Let me prefer your presence, O God, to all other company. Let me exalt your name, O Lord, above all other names and let me love your will, O God, beyond all other desires; for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. Therese of Lisieux, 1873-1897
Love has brought us here today. Not our love for God but God’s steadfast love for us:
The love of the Holy for that which is full of flaws.
The love of the Seeker for the that which is lost.
The love of the Healer for that which is diseased.
The love of the Reconciler for that which is alienated.
Love has brought us here today. We love because God first loved us.
Additional Material
In the episode today from Matthew a religious expert, a Pharisee, continues the series of antagonistic challenges to Jesus' authority. There may be one questioner, but there is a group of them "gathered together." Just like the PM, Jesus is in a hostile setting; this is not a religious inquiry seeking enlightenment, but rather a trap.
The religious question asked of Jesus today is simple "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Matthew says that the lawyer's intent is to test (Greek: peirazo) Jesus (v. 35). We saw this word peirazo in the temptation story (4:1-11), where it is translated tempt (4:1), tempter (4:3), and test (4:7). In this Gospel, only the devil and the Pharisees peirazo Jesus. The difference between an honest test and a temptation is that the tester hopes for the person being tested to succeed, but the tempter hopes for the person being tempted to fail. Here the lawyer clearly hopes for Jesus to fail.
There were 613 commandments in the Pentateuch, the Pharisee asks Jesus which rule is the best. Which rule would Jesus pick? There were a lot of possibilities for Jesus, but he chose to put together two of the ancient teachings. The first is the basic statement of faith recited by pious Jews each day, morning and evening, the Shema from Deut. 6:5.
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."
Jewish children memorize these verses, and Jewish people repeat them every day of their lives as part of their daily worship. The Shema builds on the first of the Ten Commandments, "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exod 20:3), but adds the love requirement. The words of the Shema, recited daily in worship, are graven on Jewish hearts. No faithful Jew can argue with the primacy of this commandment.
Jesus has answered the lawyer's question, and has not given the lawyer much of an opening for an attack. If Jesus had stopped now that would have been a good and safe response. But Jesus appears not to be intimidated or frightened, he seems ready to rise to the challenge, he continues, "And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself." This comes from Lev. 19:18, a verse which is quoted three times in this Gospel (see also 5:43 and 19:19).
When Jesus says that the second commandment is like the first, he means that they are related and have similar weight. Love of God naturally leads to love of neighbour. 1 John 4:20 makes the linkage explicit:
"Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen."
This second commandment shows that Jesus considered the first commandment to be directly involved in the social obligations of the law, Lev. 9:18. Love of God can only be present if it is evidenced or demonstrated in love of neighbor.
How do you love God with all your heart, and soul, and mind and strength and your neighbour as yourself? In the comic strip Peanuts, Charles Schultz has Charlie Brown say to one of the other kids - "I love mankind! Its people I can't stand" It is much easier to love everybody than it is to love somebody.
By calling us to love our neighbour, Jesus makes love hard, he does not call us to love the whole world, which we might prefer. It is easier to love the abstract rather than the particular -- to love Asians or Africans whom we have never met instead of the neighbour who is just too much. It is easier to give a pound for flood relief in a distant land than to tend to a real sick neighbour’s needs. Jesus is asked about rules, but he responds by calling for a way of life.
Jesus then goes further by saying "On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets" (v. 40).
When Jesus says that the law and prophets hang on these two commandments (to love God and neighbor), he is saying that these two commandments summarize the greatest wisdom to be found in Hebrew scripture. Rules were not given because they were necessary, but rather to try and make people live lives properly towards each other and God. They sought to make people live like Jesus is now encouraging. If we do this we are cutting through the red tape and the rules are no longer necessary. Jesus tells that these two commandments are as important as a pair of hinges on which a door is hung. As long as both hinges remain secure the door functions reliably, moving as its creator intended. Charles Royden
The Law of Moses is the heart of the Old Testament; Jesus’ teaching is its New Testament equivalent. To love others means allowing ourselves to be loved. We need to be able to love ourselves. Are we open to God’s love? Opening ourselves to the love of God gives us courage and strength. When we see the extra confidence given to children when they are secure in the knowledge of being loved, this helps us to understand something of God’s transforming love. Mark Davenport
Hymns (Mission Praise)
All people that on earth do dwell 20.
(After Confession, first and last verse only) Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 239
Jesus put this song into our hearts. 376
Come let us sing of a wonderful love 94
All praise to our redeeming Lord 19
All hail the power 13 (Tune Miles Lane)
Almighty God, maker of all things, thou hast placed thy creatures necessary for our use in diverse lands: grant that all peoples and nations, needing one another, may be knit together in one bond of mutual service, to share their diverse riches; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Anon 16th Century