Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

In the United State, Labor Day: readings may be taken from For the Blessing of Human Labor #907-911 (Sacramentary #26).

“St. Paul at his Writing-Desk “
by Rembrandt  Harmenszoon van Rijn 1629-30

Readings for Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 5:1-8
 
Brothers and sisters:
It is widely reported that there is immorality among you,
and immorality of a kind not found even among pagans–
a man living with his father's wife.
And you are inflated with pride.
Should you not rather have been sorrowful?
The one who did this deed should be expelled from your midst.
I, for my part, although absent in body but present in spirit,
have already, as if present,
pronounced judgment on the one who has committed this deed,
in the name of our Lord Jesus:
when you have gathered together and I am with you in spirit
with the power of the Lord Jesus,
you are to deliver this man to Satan
for the destruction of his flesh,
so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
 
Your boasting is not appropriate.
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?
Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough,
inasmuch as you are unleavened.
For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate the feast,
not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 5:1-8
 
St. Paul begins this passage with the strongest possible chastisement of a member of the Christian community who has entered into an incestuous relationship with his stepmother. Probably the pretext for the community to tolerate such behavior was that, in New Testament times, some rabbinical writings indicate permission being given to a Jewish proselyte to marry his father’s widow on the grounds that all previous family ties had been wiped out at the Gentile’s conversion to Judaism. The practice, however, was condemned by Jewish law (Leviticus 18:8) and Roman law. According to orations by Athenian philosophers of the time, the practice was also considered immoral by the Greeks (pagans) as well. [4]
 
The community’s acceptance of this relationship demonstrates how more liberal interpretation of Christ’s law of love could be perverted. St. Paul pronounces sentence on this man with full apostolic authority (even though he is, at the time, in Ephesus: “although absent in body but present in spirit”), demanding the offender’s excommunication from the community. Not only is the man to be excommunicated but the community is to “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh” (see also 1 Timothy 1:20).
 
The Apostle uses this formula as prescribed by the Mosaic Code (exile and death, see Deuteronomy 17:7; 19:19; 22:24). His body is enslaved by sin and suffers. However, the suffering is medicinal since his spirit (pneuma), God’s breath of life into him (Genesis 1:27), is saved at the day of Judgment. [5]
 
CCC: 1 Cor 5:1 2388; 1Cor 5:4-5 2388; 1 Cor 5:6-8 129; 1 Cor 5:7 608, 610, 613
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 5:5-6, 7, 12
 
R. (9) Lead me in your justice, Lord.
 
For you, O God, delight not in wickedness;
no evil man remains with you;
the arrogant may not stand in your sight.
You hate all evildoers.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
 
You destroy all who speak falsehood;
The bloodthirsty and the deceitful
the LORD abhors.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
 
But let all who take refuge in you
be glad and exult forever.
Protect them, that you may be the joy
of those who love your name.
R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 5:5-6, 7, 12
 
Psalm 5 is an individual lament contrasting the saving power of God with the lies of evil people. In these strophes the psalmist asks that, while the wicked should be cast down, the just should receive his mercy and salvation.
 
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Gospel: Luke 6:6-11
 
On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught,
and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.
But he realized their intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
"Come up and stand before us."
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
"I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?"
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
"Stretch out your hand."
He did so and his hand was restored.
But they became enraged
and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
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Commentary on Lk 6:6-11
 
In this passage from St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is challenging the strict interpretation of Mosaic Law that says the sabbath must be a day of complete rest and no work may be done. In front of the most scrupulous of these, the Pharisees, Jesus cures the man with a withered hand, exactly what they were waiting for, but asks them before he does so if they understand the difference between good and evil. The deeper question probably made them more upset than the actual action of curing the man.
 
CCC: Lk 6:6-9 581
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Reflection:
 
Jesus continues to heal all those sick or suffering who are brought to him and have faith.  Today he encounters the man with the withered hand.  In spite of the clear trap set by his enemies, Jesus performs the cure in apparent violation of the Mosaic Laws about doing anything that could be construed as work on the sabbath.  At least in the eyes of the scribes and Pharisees present, healing the sick fell into this category.  Why else would Scripture say, after he performed this miraculous work, “they became enraged?”  Perhaps, it was because Jesus first interpreted their laws somewhat differently than they had intended.
 
Let’s look at the logic from their side:
 
Healing must be work.
Work is prohibited by Mosaic Law on the sabbath.
Healing is, therefore, prohibited on the sabbath.
 
It was simple.  The Pharisees were scrupulous about Mosaic Law and its observance.  They had already encountered this man before, and knew he had different views about the law. (His disciples picked grain and ate it on the sabbath!)  Here, they were on very solid ground, in the synagogue, on the sabbath.  What does Jesus do?  He uses different irrefutable logic:
 
“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?” 
 
Those who had set the trap were trapped themselves.  Jesus had reinterpreted the act of healing from “work” to “good,” and they could not contradict him.  But they didn’t have to like it.
 
In addition to what we see in the Gospel relative to legal issues, Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, is dealing with a problem that may actually be related. It seems that the members of the church of Corinth have a situation where they have been taking the Lord’s law of love in a direction distinctly different from what Jesus intended. They were tolerating, even boasting about, laxity of some moral virtue, "immorality of a kind not found even among pagans." Today we see Paul reining them in and correcting them. "The one who did this deed should be expelled from your midst (excommunicated!).”
 
It is this combination of points that is important to us.  Jesus has the authority to interpret the Law of Moses because he is the Only Son of God who gave Moses the law in the first place, and knows the original intent.  That does not mean that anyone can simply interpret what Jesus says any way they like.  What happened in Corinth all those years ago is a perfect example.  Someone in Corinth, who was part of the Christian community there, apparently took a real shine to his stepmother and started carrying on a physical relationship with her.  They justified it using as support the love and compassion the Lord taught.  Left uncorrected, that group would have found a very easy road to the land of the dead.
 
We have seen, and are seeing, examples of that same practice today.  Without allegiance to a central authority, small Christian communities can interpret Holy Scripture any way they want.  They can take the smallest fragment and claim that they are “following what the bible teaches.”  Without standards and safeguards, the permutations are endless.  It is a very dangerous situation for all of Christianity, and it is just a miracle that more situations like Waco, Texas, and the Mormons’ former standards of polygamy have not occurred. (The good news in the case of the Mormons is at least they do not claim to be Christian.)
 
We are not saying that all those who do not give allegiance to the Catholic Church are immoral, or that they do not accomplish good things. We simply see the huge danger in operating outside a central authority, which has checks and balances to ensure that a prayerful response is given to interpretation and implementation of Christ’s teaching.  Let us pray today that the unity of all Christians may once more be achieved.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture is “St. Paul at his Writing-Desk “ by Rembrandt  Harmenszoon van Rijn 1629-30.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 51:27, p. 260.
[5] Ibid.