DEUTERONOMY 30:10-14
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
– Hear the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his precepts and commandments, what is written in the code of this law; turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
For the commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, so that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
This is the final part of Deuteronomy and is probably an addition to the original text. It is concluding the book and the ideas are a compilation of the message.
The first paragraph presents the fundamental idea of all the Law: turn to the Lord and keep his commandments. It sounds very harmonious with the formulation of the gospel: “Do this and you will live.”
The second paragraph is more original: the Law is not something difficult to understand, accessible only to scholars. It is in the heart. It is not about understanding, it is about doing.
The whole text finds a splendid culmination in today’s gospel.
COLOSSIANS 1:15-20
Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
It is very likely that this is a great liturgical Christological hymn collected by the author. There is a cosmic section, offering a Christological reading of the sapiential texts dedicated to Wisdom. It is followed by an ecclesiological section, gathering the theme of Christ as firstborn and Christ as head of the Church. It ends with the interpretation of Christ as redemption.
In short, a synthesis of Pauline Christology, in its most sublime expressions (and perhaps furthest from our preferences).
José Enrique Galarreta