The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down
Mar 4: Saturday of the First Week of Lent
We are once again reading an excerpt from a longer Gospel passage we read recently, so I hope I don’t repeat myself.
The first reading and psalm are new (to us), at least. Instead of talking about the negative consequences of disobeying the law, we get to hear about the positives that come from following it.
Also, we just re-watch Winnie the Pooh, so the phrase “causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” made me think of this—
It’s not relevant, just kinda funny.
Reading 1
Dt 26:16-19
Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."
At this point in Deuteronomy, Moses is wrapping up the list of laws.1 He tells the Israelites their job is to follow God law, and God will keep them as His Chosen People.
This isn’t a contract, though. It’s not a deal where, if one party fails to fulfill their obligations, the other is released from theirs. The Jews are and will always be peculiarly His own. If they fail to keep the commandments, He won’t raise them high in praise, etc, but He is still their God. He won’t abandon them entirely.
This has obvious parallels to the Church. We belong to the Body of Christ; even if we fall away, He will welcome us back.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
This is less a deal than a prediction. God doesn’t create arbitrary laws, then reward us if we follow the random instructions. The commandments are there for our own good, and the good of others around us. Being “blessed” is just the logical conclusion of following the law.
Verse Before the Gospel
2 Cor 6:2b
Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
Paul is citing Isaiah: “In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you.”2 In other words, this is what we've been waiting for, for 700 years.
Gospel
Mt 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
God has both the right and the capacity to judge everyone, and yet, He “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”
So it feels strange to say, to be more like the Judge of the Universe, we shouldn’t judge. We should love3 everyone. It can be very hard, and it seems very unfair.
But God is the omniscient one, not you or me. So if He says that’s the way things ought to be, that’s the way things ought to be.
In the book, Moses gives the whole law as a big, long speech, which is unlikely, since we know he had a speech impediment. (That’s why he needed Aaron’s help.) It was probably all written down, but retold as a monologue for dramatic effect.
In the sense of “will the good of the other, as other.”