Working with the Word
Keying in to words and phrases from the gospel:
love God
all... all... all
love neighbor
Keying in to a focus: God's love for us is the source and strength of our love (see psalm). The command to love God with our whole heart requires us to love our neighbor with our whole heart (gospel and first reading). One without the other does not fulfill the whole Law and prophets.
Connecting to last Sunday's readings: Last Sunday the first reading brought into sharp focus the sovereignty of God and the centrality of God and the kingdom. This Sunday the first reading brings into sharp focus our responsibility to our neighbor.
Connecting to our experience: Sometimes we compartmentalize our lives in such a way that we express our love of God only in terms of religious practices, e.g., Sunday Mass, saying prayers, etc. Genuine love of God must also be expressed in care for widows, the orphan, the poor—indeed, all our neighbors.
Connecting to widows, orphans, and aliens: Last Sunday's gospel ended with Jesus admonishing, "give to God what belongs to God." In this Sunday's gospel the greatest commandment spells this out: "all your heart all your soul... all your mind." The second commandment, "love your neighbor as yourself," is spelled out in the reading from Exodus.
Four classes of people appear in this reading from Exodus: "widows and orphans, aliens and the poor." In the Bible and throughout the ancient Near East these terms stand for all those in need or in desperate circumstances.
First, "aliens" were non-citizens residing in the midst of the Israelites. As "outsiders" they were particularly vulnerable. It was difficult for them to own land because the Law forbade Israelites to sell their land to foreigners. Without land, aliens could not grow crops or graze their livestock. They were thus vulnerable both to poverty and to exploitation—not unlike migrant workers and undocumented aliens working in sweat shops today. Yahweh invoked the memory of the Israelites: remember, you were once aliens in Egypt and you were oppressed and enslaved. Don't do to others what you yourselves hated!
Widows and orphans were also vulnerable. In a "man's world" the loss of a husband left a widow with limited resources, few rights, and no power. Children who had lost their parents were in a similar situation. With no governmental social services available, the community as a whole was to care for them. God threatens that Israelites who abused widows and orphans would themselves be killed, leaving their wives as widows and their children as orphans.
The fourth group of people was the poor. Israelites were not to take advantage of the misfortune of the poor for their own profit. God is their personal protector.
These laws—among the oldest in the Bible—drew Israelites beyond the natural orbits of family, clan, and tribe. The care of the vulnerable and oppressed, however defined and whoever they may be, was a religious concern. Why? Because God is compassionate. The credibility of God is at stake: "God's people" had better act towards others as God acts towards them!
**From Saint Louis University