Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Barbara GreenJuly 10, 2007
The Deuteronomy reading and the Psalm (if the Ps. 19 option is selected) offers an opportunity to preach well about Torah, both biblical and as observed by Jews today. As Christians look from the outside, the particulars of "the law" can seem burdensome, pointless, or worse, as we may be tempted to think when trying to account for the priest and Levite in the parable. Various passages from St. Paul and the gospels make Torah dispreferred in discussion between Jesus’ followers and other Jews. But those passages were composed in particular circumstances, aimed at specific situations. Surely Paul sometimes experiences writer’s remorse as he sees to what use some of his language is put! If we know Jews who kvetch dramatically about cupboard-cleaning at Seder time, we probably also know how deep a part of their lives Passover ritual is. In these readings we are shown that law, or instruction, starts close to us. But we must bring it into our lives, explore and befriend it, offer it hospitality until it becomes family. And then we respond as Jesus suggests: A situation of need becomes motivated, grounded, though rarely easy. But easy was never part of the promise! Barbara Green, OP
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV greets religious sisters during a meeting with officials and employees of the Roman Curia, Vatican City State and the Diocese of Rome in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican May 24, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Describing the Curia as the institution that preserves “the historical memory of the church,” Pope Leo called on these Vatican employees to “work together” with him “in the great cause of unity and love.”
Gerard O’ConnellMay 24, 2025
Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025