Word to the Wise
Friday, October 31, 2025 - Friday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 9:1-5 and Luke 14:1-6]For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are children of Israel; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. [Romans] Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, "Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?" [Luke]
For Jews, the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament, is the written will of God, the covenant given on Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments [Decalogue] were the primary expression of God's will. It says that the Sabbath is intended for rest and worship, not for labor. Healing was considered work and therefore forbidden. In the gospel scripture for today, Jesus confronts the "scholars of the law [scribes]" and Pharisees with their lack of concern for the man Jesus heals on a sabbath as contrasted with their concern for a farm animal!! This kind of confrontation took place constantly during Jesus' ministry.
When St. Paul, a Pharisee, encountered the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he came to understand, as a result, that there would be a new law - a new covenant - that was established in Christ through his death and resurrection. But this discovery caused Paul to be separated from his Jewish faith and that separation is behind the anguish expressed in today's first scripture from his Letter to the Romans. Chapters 9-11 are dedicated to his teaching on how Christ fulfilled the purpose of the law. Righteousness did not come from observance of the law but from a relationship - adoption - through faith signified by baptism into Christ's death and resurrection.
One thing that does remain from the passage today is an outline of the roots and heritage that Christianity has received from Judaism. St. Paul points out a bit later that the Jews still maintain their status as "chosen" but still separated from the fulfillment of the law in Christ. The Church, for that reason, discourages efforts to "evangelize" Jews. Anti-semitism, despite centuries of hostility, is not acceptable. The Second Vatican Council dedicated one of its documents to the special status of Judaism - Nostra aetate - in which anti-semitism is rejected. Today's passage from Romans tells us why! AMEN
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