Tuesday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14

Today we come to the fourth of the five discourses which are the distinctive characteristic of Matthew’s Gospel. This one focuses on the Church (and is called the “Discourse on the Church”), the Christian community, and in particular the relationships among its members.

The reading begins with Jesus asking the question:

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

By implication, this question is asking about the greatest in the Christian community—a sign of the Kingdom.

Jesus answers the question very simply by putting a child in front of his disciples. To become the greatest is to become a small child.

Why? Children have many precious qualities. They are born free of prejudice and they are totally open to learning. It is these qualities, which we tend to lose as we grow up, that we need to enter the Reign of God. We need to be totally open and free of prejudice when it comes to listening to God, and to allow ourselves to be fully teachable, malleable and flexible. Then we will be ready to receive everything that God wants us to have, and to become everything God wants us to become. Furthermore, to welcome a person who has these qualities in Jesus’ name is to welcome Christ himself.

From that the Gospel moves on to another related consideration. It skips a passage which deals with those who cause others to fall into sin and the kind of punishment such people deserve. Instead, it moves from children to the “little ones”. The “little ones” are not just children, but the weaker ones in the community, and they may be adults. But they are the ones who can very easily be led astray by the bad example which others give. And there are severe penalties for doing this (which are mentioned in the omitted passage).

This is emphasised by the parable of the lost sheep. God is compared to a shepherd who has lost just one sheep out of a hundred. When he finds it again he is happier than over the other ninety-nine which have not strayed. As such, the Gospel concludes:

So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

How terrible, then, if one of us is responsible for someone’s being separated from God forever! Sadly, sometimes it feels like that happens quite a lot in our society and in our Church.

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Tuesday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:1-8

We come to the last part of Deuteronomy which tells of the last days of Moses. Today’s reading deals with handing on the baton of leadership to Joshua.

Moses knows that his end is near. He tells the people that he is already 120 years old (probably not to be taken too literally) and no longer capable of being their leader. This is not a reference to any physical disability. The reason is that God has forbidden him (and Aaron) to lead the people into the Promised Land:

…the Lord has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ (Num 20:12)

We read about this in last Thursday’s First Reading (Num 20:1-13).

The people need not fear because Yahweh will be with them as they conquer the land:

The Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them.

And he gives his encouragement to Joshua who will take his place as their leader:

Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised.

Yahweh will treat the resident peoples as he treated Sihon and Og the Amorite kings and their country—he wiped them out. He will put the resident peoples at the Israelites’ mercy and will deal with them exactly as laid down by the commandments he gave.

Moses passes on Yahweh’s message to the people:

Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.

The Lord’s exhortation is often given through his servants to the people of Israel. So also to Joshua, to Solomon and to Hezekiah’s military officers. By trusting in the Lord and obeying him, his followers will be victorious in spite of great obstacles.

Then Moses summoned Joshua in the presence of all the people and told him also to “be strong and bold”. He would have the privilege of leading the people into the land which Yahweh long ago had sworn to his ancestors he would give to his people. And he has no need to worry because Yahweh will show the way, will be together with his people and not let them down. Moses tells them:

Do not fear or be dismayed.

Reading this account, it is difficult sometimes not to feel that we have here, to some extent, a rationalisation of their entering someone else’s territory and taking it by force from its legitimate inhabitants, pagans though they may have been. The same questions arise in the establishment of the State of Israel in the last century and even more so in the establishment of Israel’s settlements beyond its internationally recognised borders.

The history of the Church also is not without examples of ‘God’s will’ being used to justify behaviour that later seems altogether unacceptable.

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