Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
The first reading taken from the book of Exodus is an instruction on the kind of society that God would want the Israelites to build. First of all, God reminds the Israelites of their own slavery in Egypt. Because they know what it means to be poor, weak, powerless and oppressed, they are now asked to conduct themselves with compassion. Just as God had compassion on them when they were weak so must they have compassion on those who are weak among them. In society of that time, the weakest people were the foreigners, the widows, the orphans and the materially poor. In Christian theology, this special concern that God has for the poor and the weak is called “God’s preferential option for the poor.” In other words, God loves all people, but he has special concern for the ones who are vulnerable. If you had two kids and one of them was a special need child, quite naturally you would make allowances for the child.
However, we must put the first reading in the context of the Gospel reading. The pious Jew at the time of Jesus was expected to follow 613 laws. These laws related to every aspect of human life - from worship to leisure. The Pharisees were experts in the law and prided themselves in the meticulous following of these laws. So when they come and ask Jesus the question “Which commandment is the greatest?” they are asking him to choose between 613 commandments. Jesus’ first answer is what any Pharisee would expect “ You shall love the Lord your God…” But in the second answer Jesus begins to get creative. In fact, there was no law that said, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” And he goes further: “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Thus in his ministry Jesus practiced the “preferential option for the poor.” He directed his ministry toward them.
This week let us allow Christ to help us refocus on the two core aspects of the Law – love of God and love of neighbor. We can live the first principle by making sure that each day we take the time to be with God. Let us bring God into the centre of the centre of our heart, our soul and our mind. Second, not from our abundance, but from our struggles, from our needs, not from our guilt, not from our fears, but from our poverty let us take time to focus on one weak person in our family, our neighbourhood or society.
- Fr. Satish Joseph