This week's readings provide us with a profound sense of development in the thought of salvation from the time of the old covenant to the time of Jesus. Each of the readings presents us with this development, and reading them together provides us with the proper balance for understanding the issue of salvation.
In the first reading we are presented with the final decree from God at Mount Sinai. Here, God instructs his people to obey the commands that He has given to His people Israel. The Israelites, then, interpreted salvation to follow God's commands given to them in the covenant. The problem arose in the interpretation of those laws. Different rabbinic schools held various interpretations on the proper following of the law, as well as what was essential within the law for all to follow. Over time, the spirit of the covenant was lost - following God with all your heart, mind, soul, and being. It became reduced on the one hand to a slavish obedience to the letter of the law, or to a cavalier libertine attitude on the other.
St. Paul, himself a former Pharisee who had interpreted the law strictly, sees salvation in Christ from a unique perspective. He notes that obedience to the old law could not save, because external action devoid of faith have no power to save. Thus, St. Paul emphasizes the internal dimension of faith that is the necessary component to salvation. God has transcended the law by sending his son to die as an expiation for our sins because we have all sinned and are in need of salvation. If external works were enough to save, then the old law was sufficient, but Paul notes its inability to save. Faith saves apart from works of the law, and many within the Protestant tradition interpret this passage out of context, arguing that works are not necessary for salvation. That is not Paul's overall message, as is plain in reading all of his writings in context. Here, Paul wanted to emphasize faith because it had become lost in the Jewish tradition and was threatening to pose a problem in the early Christian community.
That fact is emphasized in the Gospel from Matthew, which is the very end of the Sermon on the Mount. Scholars agree that the Sermon on the Mount is the Christian fulfillment of the Sinai covenant, given on a mountain. Jesus sets forth the proper interpretation of the old law, then sets about to fulfill it in the actions of his life. We are given that same mission in these closing words from the Sermon on the Mount. Again, we see that works without faith in Christ has no power to save. Here, the proper balance is again emphasized: listening to the word of God is not enough. We must act on them, but action that is motivated by faith in Christ and patterned after His example of love.
Ultimately, our lives are akin to the apprentice/master builder relationship from the Middle Ages. We are forever apprentices, learning the moral and spiritual life from God, the master builder. Imagine yourself as a helper who goes about assisting the real builder in the task of salvation. Those of us with kids know this role all too well, as we have our kids help us with tasks all the time. They perform real work, though it could never be fully accomplished apart from our main work and oversight. The same is true in our lives. God continually does His work, and we help in whatever way we are able. Our efforts are not nothing - they are necessary, but they are not sufficient.
The responsorial psalm for this week provides us with the words of prayer we need in order to affect this balance in our lives. Lest we think that in building the house of faith on rock that it is our doing, the psalmist corrects us and leads us to the One who builds:
In you, O Lord, I take refuge:
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me,
make haste to deliver me.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress:
for your name's sake you will lead me and guide me.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
Take courage and be stouthearted,
all you who hope in the Lord.
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