2nd Reading for Sunday, 2nd Week of Advent

From: Romans 15:4-9

The Example of Christ (Continuation)

[4] For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. [5] May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, [6] that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[7] Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. [8] For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, [9] and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name".
______________________

Commentary:

4. The excellence of Scripture and its sacred character derive from the fact that God is its author. This means that there is a consistency and unity running right through Sacred Scripture, a coherence which integrates both Testaments, Old and New: the Old Testament contains--prophetically and by way of prefigurement--what happens in the New; and in the New the prophecy and prefigurement of the Old are fulfilled. Since Scripture is the word of God, it is of the highest order: "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16). This strength and authority of Scripture is useful not only for instruction in the faith but also for enlivening our hope and consoling us in every kind of trial, interior and exterior: the examples which we find in Scripture encourage us to be patient and also spur us on to fight. By reflecting on those examples we become convinced that if God asks sacrifice of "his own", he does so because he has a greater reward in store for them.

These truths led the Second Vatican Council to teach that in "the sacred books the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them. And such is the force and power of the word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life" ("Dei Verbum", 21).

8-13. "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us" (Acts 13:46-47): this is what Paul and Barnabas said to Jews who opposed their preaching. Christ himself said that he had been sent only to seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and that was the scope of the Apostles' first mission (cf. Mt 15:24; 10:5). However, God's plans never discriminated in favor of the Jews: they, once converted, were to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. After the Resurrection, Jesus sent his disciples to all nations (cf. Mt 28:18ff). Those who proclaimed the Gospel were Jews who had accepted Christ, and they addressed their preaching first to Jews and then to Gentiles.

This present passage refers to the fulfillment of God's designs through Christ. By becoming man God made good his promises to the Jews, kept faith with them. By the entry of the Gentiles into the Church his mercy towards all men is revealed, for his blessings are thereby extended to those who do not belong to Israel according to the flesh. Our Lord explained this very graphically in the parable of the two sons (Mt 21 :28- 32). He first calls the older son (the Gentiles), who refuses to obey him and afterwards repents and accepts his father's invitation and goes to work in the vineyard. The younger son (most of the Jewish people), on the other hand, seems to be ready to do his father's bidding but in fact does not. Many Jews were so hard of heart that not even the repentance and conversion of the Gentiles moved them to repent.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.