NKCC

Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I – Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32

Reading II -  Romans 3:21-25, 28

Gospel – Matthew 7:21-27

The first reading and Gospel cast light on the importance of hearing the word of God, being faithful to it and putting it into practice. In the reading from Deuteronomy, the people are commanded to bind the words of the law on their wrists and forehead. To this day, Jewish people who strictly follow the Torah, wear phylacteries on wrist and forehead during the daily times of prayer. By carrying God’s word always with them, the people would be internalizing the words of God’s law.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he emphasizes that a person is justified by faith, apart from mere works of the law. Paul reflects on the importance of faith in Jesus that will save the person who dies and rises with him in baptism and grows in faith.

In Matthew’s Gospel, crafted for a Christian community of Jewish descent, Jesus further developed the concept of God’s word and law for the people. Everyone who “listens to these words of mine and acts on them” has built a house on solid rock. In the first century, observant followers of Jesus may have been tempted to follow the example of observant Jews without respect for acting on the word of God that they had heard and probably carried on their bodies with phylacteries. The evangelist “ups the ante” and challenges the superficial follower of Jesus. Putting the word of God into action is the key to attaining the prize of the kingdom of heaven.

By Dale J. Sieverding
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