Sept. 21. Lectionary #450...also feast of St. Matthew, Lectionary # 643

Scripture: Lectionary # 450. Proverbs 21:1-6. 10-13. Psalm
119:1,27,30,34,35.44. Luke 8:19-21:

St. Luke has Mark 3:31-35 as the source for the small pericope chosen for
today's liturgy. Mary and the "brethren" are wanting to see Jesus. Don't we
all want to see Jesus? Luke succinctly narrates the scene in fewer words
than Mark, his source, and Matthew his synoptic companion. There is no
tone of negativity or rejection of the "brethren" and certainly not of Mary
for Luke has a great reverence and respect for her and gives her the most
lines in his Gospel. He often has her speak for herself as we see in the
Annunciation and the Magnificat. These friends and family of Jesus wanted
to see and experience his presence and probably to be with him for a meal
at home or nearby. He has already shared a good part of his life with them
more than the crowds surrounding him will ever do and more than all of his
apostles and disciples. We want not only to see Jesus but to experience
him in our lives. We know he is present to us for he tells us wherever two
or three of you are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you.
How do we experience Jesus as a believing community and as disciples of the
Lord? By doing what he tells us. Mary told others to "do whatever he
tells you." Now it is our turn to just do it in our active response to the
call of today's scripture passage. Jesus, at the end of the narrative
says, "those are my family, brothers, sisters, and mother who hear the word
of God and put it into action." In these short pericopes the challenge
usually comes in the last verse and that is the case today.

Jesus was engaged with first bringing the word of God to the crowds who
were surrounding him. He knows that his family is searching for him to see
him, but his first concern is the mission of speaking the Good News to the
neighboring towns besides his own and to the crowds that came from these
neighborhoods. How much more would he speak and share with his own family
especially his mother if the opportunity were there. Their time will come
and then they will not only hear his word but will bring it to others.

We can be sure that he knew what is being said in the first reading from
the Book of Proverbs. He used similar speech, imagery, and humor in his
own teaching through parables and through giving the crowds the direct
words of God his Father. He lived out the beautiful wisdom of Psalm 119,
the longest psalm in the Bible. There one is easily aware of what it means
to hear the word of God and do something about it. Judaism today lives in
the spirit of all of its 176 verses which are given in an alphabetical
sequence of stanzas connected with the words and works of God--Torah
(teaching, instruction, laws of God), testimonies or rules of conduct
conforming us to the will of God; precepts and personal ethical rules;
statutes; laws lived out in good deeds or mizvot; principles and politeness
in respecting others; and word of God as expressed in the Torah and the
Prophets, and Writings. Jesus as Wisdom personified lived and taught this
psalm by his behavior, his words, and his marvelous deeds. Amen.

Feast of Saint Matthew, Evangelist
Scripture for the day: Lectionary # 643. Ephesians 4:1-7.11-13. Psalm
19:2-3,4-5, Matthew9:9-13.

The Gospel pericope is taken from the call of Matthew and his name has
always been associated with the Gospel of Matthew. His name in Hebrew
means the Gift of God and that is what his gospel is for the people of God.
We celebrate his call and our own through his precious handing on of the
words and deeds of Jesus.

Our reading from Ephesians is perfect for celebrating the call of Matthew.
He fulfills most of the words that Paul gives us in this section of the
epistle meant for the churches at large. It is the encyclical letter of
the epistles and is most encouraging for unity in the Church and unity
through marriage, a sign of the Church. Matthew labored to put into effect
the joining of Jew and Gentile in his community of believers who wanted to
follow Jesus as he did. His community may have had divisions and
differences but his efforts through his pastoral care and his inspired
words kept them together in the image of the people of God, Israel. We
know that this is a Jewish Gospel and that today it is the one that bests
suits dialogue between Jews and Christians.

Why is it listed first among the Gospels? It was used so much in the
Churches of Syria and Israel that it became the favored Gospel in the
liturgy. The placing of it first is called the Western order and is not
the chronological order of this Gospel which happens to be probably second
to Mark in 70 A.D. whereas, Matthew wrote a decade or more later. We see
the spirit of Matthew in Paul's words in Ephesisans: "There is but one body
and Spirit, just as there is one hope given all of you by your call. There
is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over
all, and works through all and is in all."

Matthew reflected both upon the Torah and the Gospel of Mark which was
abundantly used as a source. He reconstructs from the Torah and the
traditions known to him of Jesus, his origins, his ministry, and his
suffering, death, and resurrection. And in a community or church which
struggled with staying together as Jewish Christian and Gentile Christian,
Matthew helped them to be faithful to the teachings of Jesus. He succeeded
both theologically and pastorally in keeping the community together and
helped it grow to a deeper commitment to Jesus and his words of life.
Amen.