Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014
Temple code sacrifices in Leviticus. (Woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 Die Bibel in Bildern.)
Torah, the ancestral stories of God’s chosen people, is best translated as “teaching.” Torah tells of God’s covenant with the people, given at Mount Sinai. It teaches in detail how we are to practice righteousness and justice as we try to walk in God’s ways. Today’s reading commands us to deal justly with our neighbors. Surely this is the Torah that Jesus taught when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan: Everyone is our neighbor. We are to share our bounty with all who are poor and hungry; the foreigner, those who labor and those who struggle with disability.
Psalm: Psalm 119:33-40
We return to Psalm 119, the longest of the Psalms, for another excerpt that celebrates love for God’s teaching. Listen as the Psalmist lifts up humility and generosity, calling us to turn from selfish gain and avoid “vanities” as we follow God’s ways through life-giving righteousness. This is what Torah teaches; it is the way that Jesus urges us to live.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11,16-23
Continuing his pastoral advice to the church at Corinth, Paul uses metaphors to make his point. In last week’s reading he first likened the Corinthians to children who need milk before they are ready for solid food, then as a field to be planted and watered. He now describes the church as a building set on the strong foundation that is Jesus: We are God’s temple, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Repeating key themes from earlier verses, he reminds us that we accept that the world calls us “fools” when we accept the scandal of the Cross, and that we all belong to God, not to factions led by mere humans.
Gospel: Matthew 5:38-48
Our Gospel reading again comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus urges us to go beyond the old teaching to a new way, hearing God’s commandments not only as rules to live by but as new ways to understand our relationship with God and our neighbors. “An eye for an eye” was a humane practice in ancient times when “death for an eye” was the usual response. Jesus now calls us not merely to equity in justice but to radical forgiveness. Love all our neighbors, no matter what, Jesus insists, calling us to the lofty if impossible goal of emulating God’s perfection.