Hymnody and Chant

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

Malachi 1:14-2: 2, 8-10

Psalm 131

I Thessalonians 2:  7-9, 13

Matthew 23: 1-12

Today’s readings converge on the difficulties caused by false teaching.  In the book of the prophet Malachi, the message is that, despite having all the one Father in heaven, we break faith with each other, and thus violate the covenant God made with our fathers.  The Gospel has Jesus saying to the crowds and to His disciples, “The scribes and Pharisees have succeeded Moses…do everything they tell you, but do not follow their example.”  This is a difficult Gospel for Christians since the time of the Holocaust, because it seems to have such a “Jews are bad/Christians are good” kind of feel to it.  It is important to contextualize this pericope.  As best as scholars can tell, Jesus had more in common with the Pharasee movement in the Judaism of His day than with any of the others.  When reading (for example) the Gospel according to Luke, we have seen exchanges between Jesus and scribes and Pharisees that were very positive.  But in the case of the audience of the Gospel according to Matthew, scholars have come to the conclusion that it was mostly populated by Jewish Christians who had been expelled from the synagogue.  There was, after the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, a battle going on for the Jewish identity, and the two going concerns were the Pharisees and the followers of Jesus.  Some of this needs to be chalked up to this sort of situation.  On the other hand, we still need to hear this Gospel, so that we—the religious people of our day—can be aware of the dangers of saying one thing and doing another, or of making strict rules that oppress people and then can’t be bothered to assist them.  Rather than use this Gospel to point the finger somewhere else, we ought best use it as a mirror to assess our own spiritual life. 

In much the same vein, Paschasius Radbertus says, “This was said, not only for the instruction of His disciples, but also of those who are teachers in the Church.  None of them must seek positions of honor; whoever wishes to be greater than the rest must fist become the servant of all, as Christ Himself did…Christ gave this rule! Anyone who wants to be Christ’s disciple will be like His master.  Otherwise, if he refuses to learn the master’s lesson, far from being a master himself, he will not even be a disciple.”  (Commentary on St. Matthew’s Gospel)

The in-course reading of First Thessalonians continues today.  Paul reminds the church that he dealt with them “as a nursing mother fondling her little ones.”  Paul shared not only the good news, but his own life, with his converts.  Since they received his teaching as the Word of God, they understood the blessing that God had given them in their first teacher in the faith. 

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