Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr A
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr A
29 Oct 2017
Homily
Today’s Readings go to the heart of our Faith. We must be careful though, that we do not create a perception of Christian “freedom” in opposition to a supposed “rigid” legalism of Judaism, which can easily be done here.
All through Matthew we have the conflict between Jesus and the group Matthew calls “the Pharisees”. We need to remember that Matthew is writing several decades later and, to a degree, is projecting back the situation of his own time.
As you can hear from the first Reading, Jesus’ bringing the two commandments together is very much in the spirit of what God asks of the Jewish people through their history – and of us today.
Laws, or doctrine, can be both constraining and liberating. Which of those options it is depends very much on how one interprets or uses them. It is very easy to make “the rules” a burden – especially if we are making them a burden for others! Such an attitude entrenches oneself in a position of power – at the expense of those same others. Never mind the situation in Jesus’ time, just reflect on what can happen in our own society and church!
That is not what Jesus is calling us to. Jesus calls us to see the freedom that “the rules” can give us. When we love others as ourselves, we are treating them as we would wish to be. We are making the effort to find out what they want and need, rather than imposing our own views.
How do you love others as yourself?