Don't Mess With The Living God

30th Sunday in Course 2023

In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues His long-running controversy with the Jewish leadership, in this case the masters of case law, the Pharisees. They are trying to pin the Lord down with a question that was placed before all the major rabbis, “what is the greatest commandment” of the 613 laws given by Moses. Rabbi Hillel, “for example, summarized the law in a way that is much like the so-called golden rule of Jesus: What you hate for yourself, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole law; the rest is commentary. Go and learn’.” Jesus begins by quoting the much-loved (and memorized) Shema from Deuteronomy: love the Lord beyond everything. But He raises an admonition from Leviticus to equality with this greatest: “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Our verses from Exodus are similarly arranged, but in a more negative fashion. Worship any God but the true God, or with false worship, and run the risk of not just death but destruction. And then the rules about treating the neighbor get very specific. First, strangers (aliens) are your neighbor. Your ancestors were aliens down in Egypt. Don’t forget that, and treat aliens as you would want to be treated. (That does not, by the way, mean you admit everyone into your community just because they show up at the door.) Second, if you cheat and steal from the most vulnerable, widow and orphans whose livelihood has been taken away by the father’s death, they’ll cry to Me and I will hear them and your own wives and children will have the same problem. There’s a short way of saying that: Don’t mess with the Living God.

St. Paul, addressing one of his early churches in Thessalonika, was writing to a gathering that had learned those Jesus lessons fairly early in Paul’s ministry. They had put worship of the true God, in very much the way we now worship Him, ahead of every other concern. They joyfully obeyed the law of love, and were welcoming to an heroic extent. They had raised their members to spread the joyful word of God beyond their own parish.

So we hopefully hear this word today and go and do likewise. As the Roman synod ends, let’s take time to give thanks, prayerfully read the documents, and pay little attention to the mainstream media reports that reflect more a culture that hates the word of God than it does the Church who treasure that Word.