This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12

1 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonica which is in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We must always thank God for you, brothers; quite rightly, because your faith is growing so wonderfully and the mutual love that each one of you has for all never stops increasing. 4 Among the churches of God we take special pride in you for your perseverance and faith under all the persecutions and hardships you have to bear. 5 It all shows that God’s judgement is just, so that you may be found worthy of the kingdom of God; it is for the sake of this that you are suffering now.

11 In view of this we also pray continually that our God will make you worthy of his call, and by his power fulfil all your desires for goodness, and complete all that you have been doing through faith; 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today’s lectionary readings both illustrate the difficulties of interpreting the scripture. Most scholars are agreed that 2^nd Thessalonians is not a genuine letter of St. Paul, but a pseudonymous letter, which is written much later, in the spirit of Paul. We may think such a device is deceptive but examples of it abound in ancient literature.

Wren's design for St. Paul's cathedral. Paul, a continuing inspiration.

My assumption is that the scholars are right and that 2^nd Thessalonians is not Paul writing to Thessalonians, but a later Christian writer using Paul’s authority to write a letter for general consumption on the topic of the return of Jesus in glory. It’s interesting to see how the author not only borrows phrases from Paul’s genuine letters, but also enters wholeheartedly into his spirit of encouragement to the church.  Just as Paul continues the ministry of Jesus, in different circumstances, so this author, and others using Paul’s name (as in the letters to Timothy and Titus), continue his ministry. This inspiration of ministry by those who have gone before, is characteristic of the Christian church.

Gospel, Matthew 23:13-22

13 ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut up the kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go who want to. 15 ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are. 16 ‘Alas for you, blind guides! You say, “If anyone swears by the Temple, it has no force; but anyone who swears by the gold of the Temple is bound.” 17 Fools and blind! For which is of greater value, the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred?18 Again, “If anyone swears by the altar it has no force; but anyone who swears by the offering on the altar, is bound.” 19 You blind men! For which is of greater worth, the offering or the altar that makes the offering sacred?

20 Therefore, someone who swears by the altar is swearing by that and by everything on it.21 And someone who swears by the Temple is swearing by that and by the One who dwells in it. 22 And someone who swears by heaven is swearing by the throne of God and by the One who is seated there.

This passage forms part of the great denunciation of Pharisaic religion attributed to Jesus by Matthew. Just as the historian must reckon with the united witness of the Gospels that there was fierce disagreement between some Pharisees and Jesus, so also he must take into account the growing enmity between the Judaean Church and the dominant pharisaic Judaism after the destruction of the temple in 70CE. It’s probable that some persecution of the Christian Jews took place, which may in turn have influenced the gospel tradition.

The denunciation here is indiscriminate, which seems counter to Jesus’ practice and his explicit command not to judge. Also the arguments by which Jesus is reported as refuting the Pharisees are as petty as the opinions they refute. Did Jesus really think the altar made anything sacred?.

Jesus real target-self-righteous killers?

Too much reliance on this passage, together with Paul’s distinction between Torah and Gospel, has led interpreters to ignore how much of Jesus’ gospel is communicated by commands. I was taught in Sunday School that Pharisees taught rules and Jesus brought love, and was subsequently startled to find how many rules were given by Jesus.

Pharisaism was a reforming current in Judaism, which did much to enable its survival as the religion of the Jewish diaspora, after the destruction of the temple.

Perhaps it’s best to treat this material as indicating the gulf between arrogant legalism and the gospel of Jesus without imagining that all Pharisees, or worse, all Jewish religion, can be so described. Arrogant legalism is a permanent temptation for all religion.