Scripture Study for

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Understanding the Word

By Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.

The most significant prayer of Israel’s religion is found in Deuteronomy. It is a  profession of faith in the one God to whom Israel owes exclusive and undivided  commitment and worship. This is the God who drew the people out of Egyptian  bondage, led them through the perils of the wilderness, and brought them into  the land of promise. This is also the God within whom all the attributes of deity  can be found. It is not a divided deity whose various characteristics are worshiped at various shrines. This profession of faith is found within a summons to  obedience. 

The tradition that surrounded the enigmatic Melchizedek has been reinterpreted in order to typify particular aspects of Jesus’ divine nature. First, his  priesthood is permanent, enabling him to intercede without interruption, while  the Levitical priests were all subject to death. Jesus’ holiness is the second  characteristic that distinguishes his priesthood from the other. He did not have  to atone for his own sins, as the Levitical priests did. Finally, his priesthood is  not traced back to the religious institution founded on Aaron. Rather, Jesus is  identified with Melchizedek, whose priesthood was grounded in eternity and  established by a divine oath. 

By the time of Jesus, there were 613 commandments surrounding the official  biblical law. Although all laws were considered binding, some were regarded  more important than others. When questioned about the “first” law, Jesus  endorses the summons that constitutes the Shema, the most significant prayer of  Israel’s faith. To the injunction to love God with all one’s heart, soul, and strength  (Deuteronomy 6:4–5), he adds the injunction to “love your neighbor as yourself”  (cf. Leviticus 19:18). He insists that the second is like the first. The scribe, who is  schooled in the religious tradition, recognizes Jesus’ response as both accurate  and profound. He calls him Teacher, a title that has special significance coming  from one who was himself an official interpreter of the law. 

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