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Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

For: Monday, August 8, 2011

19th Week in Ordinary Time

Memorial: St Dominic, Priest

From: Deuteronomy 10:12-22

A Further Call to Faithfulness

(Moses said to the people,) [12] “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God
require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him,
to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with your soul, [13] and to
keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I command you this
day for your good? [14] Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the
heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it; [15] yet the LORD set his heart
in love upon your fathers and chose their descendants after them, you above all
peoples, as at this day. [16] Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and
be no longer stubborn. [17] For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of
lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes
no bribe. [18] He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the
sojourner, giving him food and clothing. [19] Love the sojourner therefore; for you
were sojourners in the land of Egypt. [20] You shall fear the LORD your God; you
shall serve him and cleave to him, and by his name you shall swear. [21] He is
your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things
which your eyes have seen. [22] Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy per-
sons; and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven for
multitude.

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Commentary:

10:12-16. With divine teaching skill, the sacred writer emphasizes the special
love the Lord is showing Israel: the Lord of heaven and earth has “set his heart in
love” on them (v. 15; cf. 7:7). It would be difficult to express more tenderly God’s
love for his people (cf. the note on 7:7-16).

An uncircumcised heart (v. 16) is a hard heart, insensitive to God’s calls because
it is closed in on itself. This is an image often used in both Old and New Testa-
ments (cf. e.g., 30:6; Jer 4:4; Acts 7:51; Rom 2:29). Christian tradition sees cir-
cumcision of the heart as a figure of Baptism: “Now those whose hearts are cir-
cumcised live and are circumcised by the new Jordan, which is the baptism for-
giveness of sins. [...] Jesus our Savior worked this circumcision a second time
through circumcision of heart of all those who believe in Him and are cleansed in
baptism. [...] Joshua, the son of Nun, led the people into the promised land; Je-
sus, our Savior, promised the land of life to all those who were ready to cross the
true Jordan, who believed and who allowed the foreskin of their heart to be circum-
cised” (Aphraates, “Demonstrationes”, 11).

10:17-22. It is easy to appreciate the beauty and majesty of this passage; it is
filled with profound respect for the greatness of God and with tenderness towards
the needy. Deuteronomy makes many appeals (e.g., 14:29; 16:11, 14) on behalf
of orphans, widows and strangers (vv. 18-19). This concern for the weak is a re-
curring theme in Holy Scripture (cf., e.g., Mal 3:5; Jas 1:26-27).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

For: Monday, August 8, 2011

19th Week in Ordinary Time

Memorial: St Dominic, Priest

From: Matthew 17:22-27

Second Prophecy of the Passion; the Temple Tax

[22] As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is
to be delivered into the hands of men, [23] and they will kill Him, and He will be
raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

[24] When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel tax went
up to Peter and said, “Does not your Teacher pay the tax?” 25] He said, “Yes.”
And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think,
Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons
or from others?” [26] And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him,
“Then the sons are free. [27] However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea
and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its
mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give to them for Me and for yourself.”

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Commentary:

24-27. “Half-shekel”, or “didrachma”: a coin equal in value to the annual contribu-
tion every Jew had to make for the upkeep of the temple—a day’s wage of a labo-
rer. The shekel or stater which our Lord refers to in verse 27 was a Greek coin
worth two didrachmas.

Jesus uses things great and small to get His teaching across to His disciples.
Peter, who is to be the rock on which He will found His Church (Matthew 16:18-
19), He prepares by letting him see His dramatic Transfiguration (17:1-8); now
He gives Peter another inkling of His divinity through an apparently unimportant
miracle. We should take note of Jesus’ teaching method: after His second an-
nouncement of His passion, His disciples are downhearted (Matthew 17:22-23);
here He lifts Peter’s spirits with this friendly little miracle.

26. This shows how conscientiously our Lord fulfilled His civic duties. Although
the half-shekel tax had to do with religion, given the theocratic structure of Israel
at the time, payment of this tax also constituted a civic obligation.