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Thirtieth Sunday – Year A – Ordinary Time
Readings: Exo 22:20-26; I Thes 1:5-10; Mt 22:34-40.
1/ First Reading: RSV Exodus 22:20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god, save to the LORD only, shall be utterly destroyed.
21 “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
22 You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.
23 If you do afflict them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry; 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him.
26 If ever you take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, it is his mantle for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
2/ Second Reading: RSV 1 Thessalonians 1:5 for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
9 For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
3/ Gospel: RSV Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.
35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”
I. THEME: Love God and love people.
When we have so many choices or laws, we are easily puzzled and confused. We don’t know what to choose, cannot differentiate what is the principle and what is the supplement. It is useful when we have someone who helps us to choose or shows us what is the principle and how to practice that principle.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus abbreviated all the law to two important commandments, and simplified in these four words “Love God and people.”
In the first reading, the author of Exodus taught us the practical lessons how to express love for foreigners, widows, orphans, and poor people.
In the second reading, St. Paul showed us how to efficiently teach people these two commandments.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: God has compassion to those who suffer.
Why does God command people to love the sufferers? The simple answer is because they are God’s children; and the Father’s duties are to take care and to protect His children. Moreover, all of us are God’s chidren, and thus, we are brothers and sisters in the family of God. The authors presented three kinds of people whom we must pay a special attention to them.
(1) Foreigners: are those who came from other countries, not native people. For example, the Vietnamese who live in Canada or the United States. Foreigners must suffer a lot because of language barrier, lack of rights, and discrimination. God commanded people: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
We were Vietnamese refugees before, we knew how hard it was for us when we had to start again with empty hands in foreign countries. Therefore, we cannot discriminate those who come after us or other foreigners. We have a duty to help them to settle down because we were also helped to settle by others.
(2) Widows and orphans are those who have no spouse and children who have no father, or mother, or both. Those people must suffer a lot. For example, a widow must fulfill two duties of a father and a mother; she must work hard for living and take care of children. An orphan is also suffered because his mother must spend time to work and have less time to educate him. This is the reason why God commanded us: “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you do afflict them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.”
(3) Poor people: are those who have not enough money to live, no home to dwell, or no food to eat. We should never condemn them that they are poor because they are lazy and not willing to work. We should not question what they are going to do with the money we give to them. We must understand that a normal and healthy person would not like to beg or to be homeless; but life has so many unpredicted things that caused them to be in that situation. Therefore, our duty is to help them what we can; what they will do with our money is none of our business. The Book of Exodus taught us two practical things we must do for them.
– “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him.” When the poor must borrow money, that means they ran out of money to live. If we exact interest based on the amount we loaned to them, from where they can find money to pay us? If they can pay the principle, they tried their best.
– “If ever you take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, it is his mantle for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.” Pawn one’s precious things to borrow money is popular way in ancient and also modern time. If someone pawn things that don’t use daily, the creditor has a right to hold them; but if they are things the debtor must use daily as coats, used as blankets to keep warm during sleep, the creditor must return them to the debtor before the sunset.
2/ Readings II: The love for God and others of the Thessalonians.
2.1/ St. Paul had taught and set good examples for the Thessalonians.
No one can give what he does not have. Before St. Paul came to Thessalonica, he was imbued in Christ’s love and teachings to the point that he desired all people to be also imbued in Christ’s love and teachings as him. He said to the Thessalonians: “for our Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”
To convince people, St. Paul was not only used his words, but also the power of the Word, the Holy Spirit presented inside them, and his deeply conviction expressed in his life. All of these had caused a deep impression on his audience and helped them to repent and to believe in the Good News: “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
2.2/ The Thessalonians, imitated St. Paul, set good examples for others by their life.
St. Paul’s preachings and witnessing had helped the Thessalonians to believe in Christ and formed them to be the living witnesses for others. St. Paul was very pleased when he wrote to them in these words: “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.”
Preaching the Good News is not only to give people knowledge about God, but also to show the preacher’s faith and love for God and others. The preacher must try his best so that what had worked for him, will also work in his audience. He must form them to become future preachers and living witnesses of the Good News. We could see this way of preaching in Paul and the Thessalonians, as he said to them: “For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, the wrath to come.”
3/ Gospel: Love God and love people are the two most important commandments.
3.1/ What is the most important commandment? When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus answered them:
(1) Love God (Dt 6:5): “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
The Jews are not surprised by Jesus’ answer because it is the first thing which their parents taught them, and they see this commandment posted everywhere: upon their heads, around their arms, on doors of their houses, on gate to their cities. Jesus’ intention was not to teach them something new because they already knew, but to make them to think how they have kept and expressed this commandment in their life.
(2) Love others (Lv 19:18): He continued, “And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
This second commandment was also recorded in Leviticus 19:18. The original of Jesus is that he took the two commandments at two different Books, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, put them together in one place, and declared they are the two most important commandments. Like the first commandment, Jesus’ intention was not so much in knowing the commandment, but how they have practiced and expressed it in their life.
And Jesus concluded: “On these two commandments depend on all the law and the prophets.” We can add this and don’t fear of wrongdoing: “All New Testament Books are also depended on these two commandments.” The two commandments cannot be separated: If people love God, they must also love others; they cannot love all others without having God’s love. Once people are imbued in God’s love through all what He has done for them, they will preach about this love to others by proclaiming the Good news and by their life of witness for God. When they accomplish this, they are no longer in need of anything.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– Love God and love people must be our compass in the forest of the world, with so many bad temptations and false teachings which make us confused.
– Love God and love people are not purely words but must be expressed by deeds through preaching and witnessing. While we proclaim the Good News, we must do in a way that what has worked in us, also work in others.
– Love God and love people must be put in practice to help those in need: foreigners, widows, orphans, and poor people.