Reflection on the Sunday Readings
In our first reading from Exodus, we hear what scholars sometimes refer to as God’s Covenant Code (Ex. 21 -23). This was a second body of laws that followed the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20. These laws essentially made Israel unique, setting God’s covenant people apart from their neighbors.
This second body of laws had a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension. The vertical dimension included the exclusive worship of God. There were not many gods, but only one God who made the heavens and the earth. God’s people were to observe the weekly Sabbath. They were also to reject idolatry.
The Book of Deuteronomy later famously said, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!” Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.”
Israel’s monotheism set it apart from neighboring nations. Neighboring cultures (Canaanites, Egyptians, Mesopotamians) practiced polytheism – the worship of many gods. Israel rejected the multi-god pantheons of their neighbors. Again, this made Israel unique.
God’s Covenant Code in our first reading also had a horizontal dimension. These laws governed Israel’s social life. Because God’s covenant people were once slaves and mistreated, they were to have empathy on vulnerable groups and take special care of them.
For example, they were not to mistreat or oppress a foreigner. Other cultures such as in Egypt often mistreated outsiders by exploiting them as cheap labor.
Additionally, Israel was to care for those in difficult situations, such as widows or orphans. Again, other cultures left the protection of such groups to charity and marginalized them. For Israel, however, this wasn’t an option. God commanded them to watch over the defenseless, and if they did not, they would experience God’s judgment on them.
The goal of the Covenant Code was to raise up God’s people – making them unique among all the nations. They were to be like an older brother, teaching the nations around them the truth about God and His love for human beings. The Covenant Code was unprecedented in that it provided ancient human rights protections. The laws were not meant just for the king, but for everyone. And to break them was understood as sin against God.
As Christians, we can see how God’s Covenant Code with Israel served as a background for Jesus Christ and His preferential love for the vulnerable. Throughout the gospels, our Lord turns His attention toward the poor and vulnerable and has a heart for them.
For example, He welcomes children. In ancient culture, children had virtually no social standing and little protection. Jesus welcomes them and says the kingdom of God belongs to them.
Jesus was often reaching out to outcasts and the poor. We see him touching lepers, inviting tax collectors for a meal and forgiving sinners. He sees their need for love and mercy, and invites them to conversion and communion with Him.
We see Him engaging with marginalized women such as the woman at the well in John 4. Again, He extends an invitation to communion with Him.
Our Lord identifies Himself so much with the vulnerable that He says whatever you do for the least of these brothers and sisters, you did it for me. In fact, He loves the poor and vulnerable so much that He Himself becomes poor and vulnerable – a little baby born of poor parents and offers His entire life for the salvation of the world.
As always, Christ is the model for Christians. God’s Covenant Code in the Book of Exodus is adopted and raised by Jesus Christ. It became a commandment for Christians. We are not only to love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul, but to have a special love and care for those made in God’s image and likeness.
Our Catholic faith has an entire body of teaching called Catholic Social Teaching that helps govern our social life. In some sense, it is our Covenant Code found in the Book of Exodus. Our Catholic Social Teaching has a strong emphasis on the dignity of the human person, given that we are made in God’s image and likeness. Each person is not something, but someone.
This dignity is permanent and present from conception until natural death, regardless of a person’s age, health, race, social status, or moral actions. Of course, wherever there is an eclipse of God, we start to see attacks on innocent human life – abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. The powerful begin to exploit the weak. Christians, following Christ, must step in and raise their voice that these are grave injustices that cry out to heaven for vengeance.
A respect for human dignity also includes the basic goods needed to live a decent human life – food, shelter, health care, education, employment. It also includes what we sometimes call a preferential option for the poor. God has a special love for vulnerable groups – those in spiritual poverty, widows, orphans, immigrants, people with disabilities, etc. Our Lord identifies Himself with these groups – the hungry, sick, imprisoned – so much so that when you care for them, you care for Christ Himself.
There is a basic principle that you can measure a person’s love for God by how well he or she loves his or her neighbor. You love by God who you cannot see by loving the people that you see everyday. This includes providing practical help for those struggling and sticking up for the weak and vulnerable. It also means loving difficult people – how you extend grace, patience, and prayer toward those who disagree, oppose, or mistreat you. Naturally, we beg for God’s grace to help us love Christ and express our love for Him by loving the neighbors in our lives.
~St. Thérèse, pray for us!