DEUTERONOMY 04, 01-02. 06-08
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
Now, Israel, listen to the commandments and statutes that I am commanding you to follow. By doing so, you will live and enter to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Do not add anything to what I command you, nor take anything away; thus you will keep the precepts of the Lord, our God, which I command you today. Guard them and fulfill them because they are your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who, when they hear of all these statutes, will say: Surely this great nation is a wise and intelligent people.
And indeed, is there any nation so great that has gods so near as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him? And which is the great nation whose statutes and ordinances are as righteous as this entire law that I set before you today?
The first three chapters of Deuteronomy are a historical introduction in which Moses summarizes the history of the people from Horeb to the moment they find themselves at the entrance to Canaan. They serve to show the importance of remaining faithful to the law of the Lord, which is going to be promulgated anew starting from the 4th chapter. The verses we read today are the beginning of that 4th chapter: before promulgating the Law, an exhortation is made to its fulfillment and “to not change anything” of it. The basic argument developed in this 4th chapter consists in showing the great wonders that the Lord has done for His people, the terrible danger of disappearance that results from infidelity to God, and it ends thus:
“Keep the commandments and statutes which I give you today; so it will be well with you and with your descendants after you, and you will prolong your days in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you forever.”
All these texts show the enormous importance that the people gave to The Law. Its fulfillment, by “the saints” of the people, the Pharisees, was, therefore, extremely strict, although not infrequently it focused on a meticulous observance of detail, forgetting the profound spirit of the Law (justice, mercy, faithfulness, as Jesus reminded them).
But in the text there are quite a few things that make one think.
1.- an author says that Moses says that God says… And then others say that all this is the Word of God. Let’s be serious, before swallowing without more that it is the Word of God. The origin of all fundamentalisms is in this chain. If you hear someone say, “God told me,” get ready to run.
2.- fulfill my law and I will give you a land, a land that is of others. An author says that God says that He gives them the land. Our god in favor of us against others.
Terrible message of all the Old Testament. God kills Egyptians for us, God exterminates Canaanites for us, God commands us to exterminate… And serving God has a reward in this world, a reward of possession and power against others. If this is anything like what Jesus did, let someone explain it to me.
3.- do not change anything. But Jesus is news, novelty, conversion. Being open to the Word, which will always ask for change, to people and to the Institution. Being willing to change, an unfinished task of a Church installed in the usual, because it suits its status, its security, and the tranquility of “its” promised land. Against whom?
4.- and the pride of the people. God makes us great. The Church is like a great nation privileged by a partial God, in favor of it and against its enemies.
Does all this have anything to do with the gospel? Will we ever read this whole string of atrocities and demand that the people recognize it as “the Word of God”? Will we have to rummage through the Bible again for some text that does not contradict Jesus?
JAMES 01,17-18. 21b, 22-27
Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of the Stars, in whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
By His own will, with the Word of Truth, He begot us, so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Accept with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
For five Sundays, we will read this letter continuously, which was once dated as the earliest of the New Testament writings (around 49 AD) and is now estimated to have been written towards the end of the century. Its authorship was also attributed to James “the brother of the Lord,” an important figure in the Jerusalem community, although today it is more commonly considered to be a pseudonym. Its literary genre, rather than a letter, seems to be wisdom literature, in line with the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament, lacking overall unity or plan, like a series of maxims that develop various aspects of Christian religiosity (faith/works, regeneration through the word, the law of freedom…)
In connection with the other texts of this Sunday, it is striking how this text follows Jesus’ line regarding putting the word into practice and conceiving religion as service to those in need. And we find at the end a definitive recipe, connected with the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Final Judgment,
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Which needs no comment
José Enrique Galarreta