19 Pentecost: First Lesson – Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18
In Exodus, when the Lord entered into a covenant relationship with Israel, he told his people to be “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.” Leviticus is God’s instruction book on just how to be holy.
… A reading from the Book of Leviticus …
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to all the congregation of the people ofIsraeland say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
… Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people!
19 Pentecost: Second Lesson – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Paul’s second missionary journey was marked by brutal disputation with jealous Jewish religious leaders. Even after his departure from Thessalonica, a slander campaign ensued. Paul assures the Thessalonians that his motives were inspired by God and not by impurity.
… A reading from 1 Thessalonians …
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.
… Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people!
19 Pentecost: Gospel – Matthew 22:34-46
Jesus has been engaged in a running debate, first with the Pharisees and then with the Sadducees. Today the Pharisees return to try again to entrap him. Jesus silences them with a riddle.
… The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew …
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
`The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”‘?
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
… The Gospel of Christ!