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If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. – words from our first reading.
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Today the parallel between the Old and New Testament is clear. First, we hear that beautiful and compelling story that surrounds the birth of Moses. I always loved that story as it has been read at my daughters’ baptism. My daughter was adopted as well and that story is very appropriate to read at the baptism of a adopted child. This story is about adoption but also about the future of the child. It shows that Moses is destined for an important task. And in the Gospel of Matthew we hear Peter declaring that Jesus is the Christ. Another proclamation of Gods grace to mankind. It also shows us the tale of two kings. The unrighteous Pharaoh and on the other hand King Jesus.
Today Jesus is teaching the lesson of the faith of the heart. It is not about outer things but the inner things that matter. What is coming from the inside can defile us or make us holy. Jesus is not telling us that hygiene is not important but he is telling us about that what is unclean from the inside. That is what is important. Matthew’s Gospel is addressed to a community of pious and observant Jews, converted to faith in Jesus. With the example of Jesus, they lived according to the Jewish Law and try to live according to the traditions. After Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, the pharisees started to reorganize Judaism and there was no space for Christianity in their view. They wanted to stop the spread of this “dangerous sect”. There came a point that they were blocked from the synagogue.
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AuthorFather Ronald Geilen Archives
February 2021
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