This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:
Anti-capitalists have chance to form government in Greece 
Leviticus 19:1-18
Ritual and Moral Holiness
19The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.3You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.4Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
5 When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it in such a way that it is acceptable in your behalf.6It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it, or on the next day; and anything left over until the third day shall be consumed in fire.7If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be acceptable.8All who eat it shall be subject to punishment, because they have profaned what is holy to the Lord; and any such person shall be cut off from the people.
9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.10You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
11 You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.12And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13 You shall not defraud your neighbour; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a labourer until morning.14You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling-block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
15 You shall not render an unjust judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour.16You shall not go around as a slanderer* among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood* of your neighbour: I am the Lord.
17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself.18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.”
It is sometimes carelessly asserted by Christian belivers that the command to love our neighbour originates with Jesus, whereas as we can see, it is part of the ancient “holiness code” by which the priestly tradition of Israel summed up the covenant between God and the people. The repeated assertion, “I am the Lord.” associates the name of God with the command but also with the areas of life affected by the command. In this way Israel can sanctify the name of the Lord by leaving food for strangers or making sure that labourers are paid in time. This is a profound theology which balances purely ritual means of honouring God’s holiness with behaviours characterised by justice and generosity. The fact that some of the precise commands are clearly of their time and place is no problem as it encourages the modern reader to seek out the inner intention of the command and to find an equivalent behaviour in his/her place and time., as indeed Matthew reports Jesus as doing in the sermon on the mount: “In old times they said….but I say now.” (Matthew 5)
When we pray, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer, “may your name be sanctified,” we are praying that through the justice and generosity of human beings, God’s holiness will be honoured ( see yesterday’s blog 731). The command to love the neighbour as ourselves reveals the inner principle of all the moral commands-and clearly these laws extend the word “neighbour” to include the poor and the foreigner. When we act out of a concern for others which is as strong as our concern for ourselves, we honour the holiness of God.
Matthew 6:19-24
treasure in heaven…
19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust* consume and where thieves break in and steal;20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust* consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light;23but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.*
How down to earth yet how profound are Jesus’ teachings! “Heaven” is wherever God’s will is done. That’s where the true wealth of life is to be found. The contrast is not between “secular” and “religious” wealth but between unreliable treasure in money, credits or possessions and the utterly reliable treasure of the shared humanity of people who obey God. Jesus knew that investments determine our priorities: if in shares, hedge funds, futures, bonuses or just plain old cash, these financial interests will rule our hearts; if in honest worship and honest dealing, our hearts will be swayed by them. Jesus compares the capacity to discern true values to the function of the eye in the body: it “lets in light” so that the body can find its way. In the same way what we can call the “soul’s eye” discerns true wealth from false and guides human choices. If this faculty has become atrophied, “how great is the darkness!”
Usually at this point in Jesus’ teaching, I think, well, I am kind of attracted to worldly wealth…but I’m also quite fond of faith and justice! That’s when Jesus cuts my legs off: “nobody can serve two masters…you can’t serve God and money.” Jesus’ teaching is radical but as he himself bore witness, it rests on an inspired interpretation of the ancient law of God.
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