Week of Proper 26: Wednesday, Year 1

Above:  Dead Judas Confronts Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

(The image is a screen capture from the DVD.)

Love, the Fulfillment of the Law of God

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

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Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada.  I invite you to follow it with me.

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Romans 13:8-10 (Revised English Bible):

Leave no debt outstanding, but remember the debt of love you owe one another.  He who loves this neighbour  has met every requirement of the law.  The commandments,

You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,

and any other commandment there may be, are all summed up by the one rule,

Love your neighbour as yourself.

Love cannot wrong a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.

Psalm 112 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Hallelujah!

Happy are they who fear the Lord

and have great delight in his commandments!

2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land;

the generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches will be in their house,

and their righteousness will last for ever.

4 Light shines in the darkness for the upright;

the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.

5 It is good for them to be generous in lending

and to manage their affairs with justice.

6 For they will never be shaken;

the righteous will be kept in everlasting remembrance.

7 They will not be afraid of any evil rumors;

their heart is right;

they put their trust in the Lord.

8 Their heart is established and will not shrink,

until they see that desire upon their enemies.

9 They have given freely to the poor,

and their righteousness stands fast for ever;

they will hold up their head with honor.

10 The wicked will see it and be angry;

they will gnash their teeth and pine away;

the desires of the wicked will perish.

Luke 14:25-33 (Revised English Bible):

Once when great crowds were accompanying Jesus, he turned to them and said:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine.  No one who does not carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine.  Would any of you think of building a tower without first sitting down and calculating the cost, to see whether he could afford to finish it?  Otherwise, if he has laid its foundation and then is unable to complete it, everyone who sees it will laugh at him.  “There goes the man,” they will say, “who started to build and could not finish.”  Or what king will march to battle against another king, without first sitting down to consider whether with ten thousand men he can face an enemy coming to meet him with twenty thousand?  If he cannot, then, long before the enemy approaches, he sends envoys and asks for terms.  So also, if you are not prepared to leave all your possessions behind, you cannot be my disciples.

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The Collect:

Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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The traditional English use of “hate” in this day’s reading from Luke 14 is unfortunate, for it does not convey the actual meaning of the text.  No, the translation should be “loves less than.”

If anyone comes to me and does not love his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, less than me, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

That is how the text ought to read.

Paul tells us that love fulfills all the commandments.

He who loves his neighbour has met very requirement of the law.

And who is my neighbor?  Who is your neighbor?  According to Jesus, everybody is everybody else’s neighbor.  He died for you, me, and all our neighbors.  And how do we treat our neighbors?  Over time, we human beings have murdered many of them, imprisoned many falsely, despised, looked down upon, enslaved, tortured, maimed, and discriminated against a great many of them, or otherwise consented to some of these actions.  And we are still committing these sins.  These terrible deeds do not indicate love of one’s neighbors.  We would not act this way if we loved Jesus and each other, but mainly Jesus, whom members of a previous generation tortured and executed unjustly.

May God have more mercy on us than we do on each other.

KRT

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/love-the-fulfillment-of-the-law-of-god/