Trinity XVIII- Matthew 22:34-46

The traditional Gospel for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity is from St. Matthew 22: 34-46, This selection consists of two brief dialogues between Jesus and the Pharisees. In the first part, Jesus shows affirms His continuity with the Old Testament. With many other teachers, He asserts the primacy of two great commandments: to love God above all and to love one's neighbor. These two commandments summarize the principles of the Hebrew Scriptures, and Jesus' public ministry is about applying these principles in different situations. 

In the second part of today's Gospel selection, Jesus points to His unique identity. Applying rabbinic methods of interpretation to Psalm 110, Jesus implies that He is the Messiah (or the Christ). He points out that the Christ is far greater than His ancestor David. Indeed, the implication is that Christ shares divine majesty. This powerful claim will continue to be developed in the rest of Christ's earthly ministry and throughout the New Testament. Jesus is both a great teacher and King David's greatest descendent, but He is much more. He is God the Son incarnate, the unique mediator and redeemer!

Trinity XIII- Faith and Love

 On the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, the Epistle from Galatians 3:16-22 and the Gospel from Luke 10:23-37 seem to be talking about very different aspects of religious teaching and experience. The Epistle highlights the importance of faith over the value of specific commands of the Law. The Gospel emphasizes the great commandments of the Law and the importance of loving actions toward God and neighbor. For many believers, the difficulty has been how to fit the two emphases together. Do we start with faith or with love?

In abstraction, love is paramount. God is love, and His dealings with human beings begin with His love. Human beings are called to respond to divine love. Because God first loves us, we are to love Him and our neighbors. This is beautiful, and it sounds simple, but in reality, loving God and our neighbors is not easy. It is complicated by the fact that human nature is fallen and corrupt. On our own, we are sinners who have lost the capacity to love as we should. 

This human condition means that love is not our first step. Our response to divine love must begin with repenting our lack of love followed by faith in God's love revealed in Jesus Christ. Without such faith, we are not really open to love. God's loving grace must first begin to transform us by creating faith in Him. Christian Faith then opens our hearts to love God in return. And as we begin to love God, we also begin to love our neighbors created by God. As Galatians 5:6 indicates, the core of the Christian life is "faith which worketh by love."

Trinity XVIII- The Great Commandments- Matthew 22: 34-46

The Gospel for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity is from St. Matthew 22:34-46. These verses contain what seem to be two very distinctive interactions between Jesus Christ and the Pharisees. Yet, upon closer consideration, one can easily see why these two encounters belong together. The question and answer about the Great Commandments show the common heritage between Pharisaic Judaism and Jesus and His followers. Loving the Lord God comes first, immediately followed by loving one's neighbor. That is a significant agreement. 

However, such a general agreement is only part of the story There are still very important differences between Jesus and other religious leaders. There are underlying questions about who God is and who the neighbor is. In the second part of today's Gospel, Jesus raises the question about the nature of God and His work by speaking of the Messiah or Christ. Jesus refers to Psalm 110 to suggest to the Pharisees that the Messiah shares the divine nature, and they are at a loss for words. He uses principles of interpretation that they accept, but they cannot affirm what He implies.

In fact, Jesus highlights the great difference between all humanistic religions and the true Christian understanding of faith. The key issue is about the unique person and nature of Jesus the Christ. In other words, is Jesus Christ the divine Son of God, the eternal Word incarnate? If one follows Christ, the answer is yes, and that answer changes the underlying meaning of the two Great Commandments. If Jesus is who He says He is throughout the Gospels, loving the Lord God also means loving Jesus Christ and following Him. In addition, Christian faith changes the meaning of loving the neighbor. It means loving all people created in God's image, especially those who believe in Jesus Christ.

So let us avoid bland modernistic interpretations of the two Great Commandments. They are not merely broad encouragements to be nice or respectable. The Gospel gives the Commandments a Christian context. They are meant to be applied in light of Jesus' teachings and in light of Jesus' unique identity as the Son of God.