Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

“Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law”
by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1659

 
Readings for Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary:[3]
 
Reading 1: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11
 
Brothers and sisters:
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit
for anything as coming from us;
rather, our qualification comes from God,
who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant,
not of letter but of spirit;
for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
 
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious
that the children of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses
because of its glory that was going to fade,
how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious?
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious,
the ministry of righteousness will abound much more in glory.
Indeed, what was endowed with glory
has come to have no glory in this respect
because of the glory that surpasses it.
For if what was going to fade was glorious,
how much more will what endures be glorious.
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Commentary on 2 Cor 3:4-11
 
In this passage from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, the apostle is defending the Christian “Way” against Jewish factions that are clearly either attacking or claiming superiority over the faithful.  In this part of his apologia, he first compares the covenant of Moses (which ends in death) with the new covenant (which ends in eternal life).  His concluding statements compare the relative glory of these two views with the view of eternal life outshining the fading glory of the covenant of Moses, which ends in death.
 
CCC: 2 Cor 3:6 859
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 99:5, 6, 7, 8, 9
 
R. (see 9c) Holy is the Lord our God.
 
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his footstool;
holy is he!
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
 
Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel, among those who called upon his name;
they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
 
From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they heard his decrees and the law he gave them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
 
O LORD, our God, you answered them;
a forgiving God you were to them,
though requiting their misdeeds.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
 
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for holy is the LORD, our God.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
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Commentary on Ps 99:5, 6, 7, 8, 9
 
This psalm of praise and thanksgiving holds up the traditions of Moses and Aaron. The psalmist recalls the great boon given to the children of Israel as God gave the law to Moses on the holy mountain.
 
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Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19
 
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."
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Commentary on Mt 5:17-19
 
Those who believed that Jesus came to destroy the Jewish faith and laws are refuted in this passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel. The Lord tells them that he did not come to destroy the law, even though he disagreed with the way some of those laws were being implemented. Rather he came to fulfill it, essentially giving the law a reinterpretation through his own divine revelation.
 
In this early encounter between Jesus’ mission and the Law of Moses, we are told that Jesus came to “fulfill” the law, to bring it to perfection as the Messiah. He supports the rabbinical teaching of the time, which separates the 613 individual precepts of the law found in the Pentateuch into “great and small,” based upon their seriousness, when he refers to breaking the least of the commandments. It is important to understand the Hebrew view of the law: "The law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations with God." [4]
 
The passage is concluded in almost Mosaic style by saying that those who follow the law will be great in heaven. This draws a distinction between those who would break the law being least in heaven in the previous sentence.
 
CCC: Mt 5:17-19 577, 592, 1967; Mt 5:17 2053
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Reflection:
 
A careful examination of St. Paul’s apologia in the Second Letter to the Corinthians above in which he says, “the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life,” seems to be at odds with what Jesus is saying in St. Matthew’s Gospel: “not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law.”  St. Paul is defending his Gospel which contends that Jesus is the long expected and long prophesied Messiah.  Jesus is defining his mission as Messiah, coming to fulfill the law and the prophets.
 
The Jews who did not accept Jesus are attacking the faith community in Corinth because of a couple of issues.  First, many of the Christians in Corinth were converts from pagan sects.  They had not come to Christianity through the Jewish traditions and had not necessarily gone through the rituals required by Mosaic Law.   As a consequence, St. Paul feels it is necessary to point out that Jesus, while he did not destroy the law, did provide a spirit to the law that had been missing.
 
Jesus brings a fundamental change to how “faithfully following the law” must be seen.   Before he came, the Pharisees especially had looked at the Books of the law, the Torah, and focused on scrupulously following all 613 of the individual rules.  In doing this, they thought that they were doing all that was asked by God, and therefore were assured salvation (although in today’s terms we are not sure what that meant since many of them did not believe in the resurrection).
 
Jesus never told these scrupulous followers of the law that what they were doing was wrong (“not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law”); rather his focus was on what those actions produced.  The Lord’s whole mission pointed to the Father, not to himself.  If following the law did not accomplish the Father’s will, then what was being done violated the spirit of the law.  Jesus made this criticism numerous times in his chastisement of the religious leaders, frequently calling them hypocrites.
 
When St. Paul defends the Christians of Corinth to those Jews who make the same arguments as the detractors of Jesus had done, he points to this new spirit that is the law fulfilled in Christ.  As the Lord told his disciples when challenged, loving God, and loving one another summarized the whole law and the prophets as well.
 
For us this contrast between letter and spirit of the law has a clear purpose and meaning.  We are called to follow the law of the Church with the spirit of Jesus.  Our spiritual eye must see where we are led to God’s greater glory and, within the framework of the law, seek to accomplish those tasks which lead to the Father’s will and glory.  It is a difficult path we walk but the Lord provides the teaching magisterium of the Church to help us to form our consciences and direct our steps.  We, for our part, must be diligent in understanding those teachings and applying them in our lives.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture is “Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law” by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1659.
[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, 43:34, p. 70.