Please read the passage before the commentary.
This is the fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. There is a unity in the Bible. There is continuity. We may divide the bible into the Hebrew and the Greek sections, namely the Old and New Testaments, but there is still continuity.
For instance, Genesis begins in the Garden of Eden and God created Eve from the side of Adam. Christ rose from the dead in a garden and from the sleeping side of Jesús the Church was born.
It is true with the prophets like Isaiah and Zephaniah. Their works were often studied and restudied for decades and centuries after them. Their thoughts were picked up by others along the way. New Testaments writers picked up thoughts and recollections of the Old Testament writers. Jesús was well-versed in the Old Testament.
We think of the eight beatitudes. How beautifully and masterfully Jesús outlined the meaning of his existence. Yet he echoed the sayings of the prophets: “seek justice; seek humility”.
We hear similar sayings from the mouth of our prophets, people such as Popes Francis and Leo XIV.
Peoples of ancient civilizations looked suspiciously at things new. Truth was in the old, in things that had stood the test of time. The new’s only claim to truth lie in its connection to the past. We are like our ancient ancestors. This is why we need the Old Testament, in order to understand Jesús. The New Testament writers proved Jesús by showing him related to the Old Testament writers. Matthew, for example, looked at Jesús as a New Moses. John started his gospel by relating it to the first chapter of Genesis.
We are like them. Esther Price is good; she has been around for a hundred years. Quaker Oats has been around for almost 150 years. Many businesses advertise themselves as the fourth or fifth generation of ownership.
The eight beatitudes have references to the books of Genesis, Zephaniah, Isaiah, Amos, Sirach, Exodus, Proverbs, and Psalms.
God only has one set of words; God did not have one set for the Old Testament and another through Jesús. The Bible is the one Word of God. We can only understand the New Testament if we know the Old and we can only understand the Old by knowing the New.
The Bible is true because the same God gave us both sections. “Be humble and seek justice and mercy. Blessed are the humble, the poor, the merciful, and those who seek justice and righteousness.”