Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - Wednesday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 3:4-11 and Matt 5:17-19]"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." [Matthew] "For if what was going to fade was glorious, how much more will what endures be glorious." [2 Corinthians]
Each of the evangelists created a different portrait of Jesus, using the various "traditions" that were at hand. In the meantime, there were preachers who were creating their own portraits of Jesus and interpretations of his life and death. The ministry of St. Paul was completed with his martyrdom around 64 AD and the Gospel of Matthew is dated by scripture scholars as sometime after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. When we read the New Testament, it is like wandering through an art exhibit that is focused on one person, Jesus Christ, and his life, death and resurrection and its meaning for us. Today's scripture passages reflect this.
Matthew wrote for a community composed mostly of converts from Judaism. For them, the Law of Moses was still the standard for living. They did not consider themselves "former" Jews! Nevertheless, Matthew paints a portrait of Jesus as a "new Moses," bringing a new life to an old way of life. St. Paul, who, as one raised in the tradition of the Pharisees, knew the importance of the Law of Moses, still rejected it as the principal guide for understanding Jesus' life, at least for those who had never known the Mosaic law, the Gentiles.
We see some of this same dynamic at work in our own time when we witness Catholics who are convinced that the Catholicism shaped by the Council of Trent and subsequent legislation are the only way to intepret our faith. They accept the Second Vatican Council and its interpretation reluctantly. Pope Benedict XVI tried to reach out to them by restoring the use of older liturgical expressions on an "extraordinary" basis. This is all part of the broad canvas of faith in which we find ourselves. As we reflect on the various portraits of Jesus we find in the New Testament and the history of the Church, we will find ourselves closer to this or that one. The dominant interpretation now is from the Second Vatican Council. The future ones are in the mind of God. AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
83 ms
4
