Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Title

Torah means Justice

Outline

We all have different reactions to the word “law”

Some of us may think of “law and order” - keeping society in check - which is good

Some of use may think of laws which make life difficult or which may even be immoral

Some of us may contrast law with grace, thinking that we are not under law but under the grace of God

In the biblical context we must read law as Torah or as justice, giving each, including God, their due

Look at our texts today

God created the earth and the plants that produce our food, so it is all his. In the case of Israel he gave allotments of land to families in perpetuity. The family could “sell” the land, but in reality all they could sell was up to a generation’s use of the land, the produce of the land for that period, 49 years. And in that 49th year it is “on the Day of Atonement” that the land reverts to the family God gave it to. And to show that it is sacred justice the land must lie fallow that year.

That would also be one of the years that all Hebrew slaves would be freed (which happened in every 7th year), for they too belonged to God.

In both of these we see mercy or grace: (1) in the original freeing of Israel from bondage, (2) in the original granting of the land, and (3) in the provision of God in wild plants.

But if land and people belong to God and justice means returning them to their original grantees when and how he determines, marriage is also under his control, for he created it, doing so on the natural level for the propagation of the race and thus of the family. To do this successfully requires permanence.

Now Herod Agrippa, probably at Herodias’ instigation, had divorced and married his brother Philip’s wife (who had divorced her husband, as a woman could under Roman law). John the Baptist, interested in the purity of Israel, calls out not the natural law but the Torah law that one could not marry close relatives. He calls for justice under Torah law, for the Herod’s in general presented themselves as Torah-obedient Jews (you could then as now always find a Torah-teacher who would argue that your actions were just). John had justice on his side, but Herodias had power and it is clear that it was at her instigation that John lost his head. She did not totally lose her sense of justice for we never hear of her allegiance to Torah or Judaism, even if she certainly does not understand natural law. Later, when Herod Agrippa at her instigation applied for an upgrade of his authority from tetrach to a higher level and was exiled for his boldness, Herodias did have enough sense of justice to go into exile with him.

Notice that in this marriage law stability is for our good, it is grace. It is good for the family; it is good for the spouses, although they may have to grow in other virtues - such as temperance with respect to the passions - in order to actualize the good.

Sisters, we live in a society with no sense of natural, let alone divine law.

Many church-communities proclaim grace as opposed to law and condemn restrictions to freedom as a lack of grace. Thus divorce and remarriage are not issues in much of the protestant world - and to a degree in the orthodox world

Our land spent generations not realizing that people belong to God - and it still has corners in which various types of slavery are cultivated.

And our country sees land as a commodity like any other to be bought and sold, to be amassed by the rich or disposed of if something seems more enticing. It is not the basis of familial stability as G. K Chesteron observed it should be. We do not even ask if there should be some type of jubilee for the Native Americans whom we displaced. Instead, we live like nomads will little sense of place, let alone that God owns the land.

In this type of a world we are called to live knowing that God established natural law and gave grace through Torah-law, strengthening it through Jesus’ law. And that could make us live as strangers in our land although not in the land of the One whose land it is and remains through creation.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 8-5-2023: Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

FIRST READING

Leviticus 25:1, 8–17

1 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai:

8 You shall count seven weeks of years—seven times seven years—such that the seven weeks of years amount to forty-nine years. 9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month let the ram’s horn resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the ram’s horn blast shall resound throughout your land. 10 You shall treat this fiftieth year as sacred. You shall proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to your own property, each of you to your own family. 11 This fiftieth year is your year of jubilee; you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the untrimmed vines, 12 since this is the jubilee. It shall be sacred for you. You may only eat what the field yields of itself.

13 In this year of jubilee, then, each of you shall return to your own property. 14 Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any from your neighbor, do not deal unfairly with one another. 15 On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee you shall purchase the land from your neighbor; and so also, on the basis of the number of years of harvest, that person shall sell it to you. 16 When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of harvests that the person sells you. 17 Do not deal unfairly with one another, then; but stand in fear of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.

Catholic Daily Readings 8-5-2023: Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

RESPONSE

Psalm 67:4

4 May the peoples praise you, God;

may all the peoples praise you!

PSALM

Psalm 67:2–3, 5, 7–8

2 May God be gracious to us and bless us;

may his face shine upon us.

Selah

3 So shall your way be known upon the earth,

your victory among all the nations.

5 May the nations be glad and rejoice;

for you judge the peoples with fairness,

you guide the nations upon the earth.

Selah

7 The earth has yielded its harvest;

God, our God, blesses us.

8 May God bless us still;

that the ends of the earth may revere him.

Catholic Daily Readings 8-5-2023: Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Matthew 5:10

10 Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

GOSPEL

Matthew 14:1–12

1  At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.”

3 Now Herod had arrested John, bound [him], and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, 4 for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. 6 But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod 7 so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, 10 and he had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 8-5-2023: Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023 | ORDINARY TIME

SATURDAY OF THE SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

YEAR 1 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

On the same date: Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome

First Reading Leviticus 25:1, 8–17

Response Psalm 67:4

Psalm Psalm 67:2–3, 5, 7–8

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:10

Gospel Matthew 14:1–12

Green or White for Dedication of Basilica