猶太人的希望 The Hope of the Jews

【失望/希望系列（五）】
猶太人的希望（谷12:28b-34）

亞巴郎是天主的朋友（達3:35），天主曾應許亞巴郎，他的子孫有如天上的繁星，多得不可勝數（創15:5）；而且天主為他的子孫，預留了安居樂業的土地，客納罕（15:18-21; 17:8）；最重要的，是天下萬民要因他和他的後裔，蒙受祝福（12:3b）。天主是全能的，言出必行，祂必會兌現所有的承諾。但人類存在於時間和空間之中，所以天主的承諾，不會即時兌現。例如，亞巴郎的曾孫若瑟，先被賣到埃及當奴隸，後來當了埃及宰相，幫助埃及和四周的民族，渡過七年的大旱，並安排了父親雅各伯（以色列）一家七十口，遷居埃及，免受大旱之苦（46:27）。定居四百三十年後（出12:40-41），成了一個60萬人的族群（12:37），在埃及當奴隸。以色列人是一個聰明務實的百姓，有食有住，並不以奴役為苦！但奴役始終不是祝福埃及國，所以天主召選了梅瑟解放他們。離開埃及，過了紅海，擺脫了法朗的追捕後，下一步要面對的，就是如何前往客納罕的問題了。60萬人一齊前行，包括婦孺老弱在內，可能要用幾個月的時間。姑且不考慮軍事上如何與沿途的民族交戰，也要思考如何應付60萬人飲食上的需要！的確，在起初，擺脫埃及人的奴役是相當吸引和理想的，不用周詳的計劃，祇憑一鼓作氣，足以成事；但面對一望無際的曠野，何來食物和飲用水呢？難怪群眾抱怨梅瑟，要求返回埃及，甚至死在埃及（14:11-12; 16:1-3）！

雖然猶太人是一個「執拗的百姓」（出32:9; 申9:6），經常背叛天主、試探天主，但不要忘記，第一代基督徒，全部都是猶太人！所以天主對猶太人，仍然懷有希望，不斷給他們回頭悔改的機會。因為猶太人務實，與天主的關係中，「愛」的元素不足，我們可以從經文中找到一些線索。在《梅瑟五書》，「愛」字祇出現過58次，一半集中在《申命紀》； 而在《四福音》，「愛」字出現過109次，幾乎是《梅瑟五書》的兩倍！可見猶太人不是不知道「愛」的重要，但在教義上，猶太教認為全燔祭和犧牲，是與天主來往最重要的事務。所以在今天福音中，耶穌讚賞這位挑戰祂的經師，回答得明智（谷12:34a），明白到遵守「愛」的誡命，遠超過一切教義上最重要的事務（12:33）。

親愛的讀者，這位被耶穌基督讚賞的經師和所有猶太人是有希望的，因為他們離天主的國不遠。至於他們能否進入天國，在於他們能否知行合一！朋友，你和他們一樣是知道愛主愛人的重要，你進入了天主的國沒有？ 天主保祐！

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生命恩泉
圖片鳴謝： ideogram.ai

Disappointment & Hope Series (V)
The Hope of the Jews (Mark 12:28B-34)

Abraham was God’s friend (Daniel 3:35). God had promised him that his off-springs would be innumerable like the stars in heavens (Genesis 15:5). Furthermore, God had prepared a piece of land, Canaan, for his descendants (15:18-21; 17:8). Most important of all, peoples on earth shall be blessed through him and his descendants (12:3b). God is almighty. He has spoken and it shall be done. He shall honour all His pledges. But humanity exist in space and time. Thus God’s pledges would not be realized instantly. For example, Joseph, the grandson of Abraham was firstly sold into Egypt as a slave and later became the Vizier of Egypt, helping Egypt and surround peoples to survive a seven-year drought and helped arrange the household of his father, Jacob/Israel, a total of 70 people migrate to Egypt to weather through the drought (46:27). After settling in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41), they became a huge ethnic group of 600,000 slaves. The Israelites were a smart and pragmatic people. Where there was food and lodging, it did not bother them to be slaves! But slavery was not a blessing to Egypt either. So God called Moses to liberate them. After crossing the Red Sea and freed from Pharaoh’s chase, moving towards Canaan was the next issue to handle. 600,000 people, including women, children and the aged, might take several months to reach Canaan. Even if they did not have to consider military conflicts with peoples along the way, they still needed to meet the hunger and thirst of 600,000 people! Indeed, in the beginning, freedom from slavery was very attractive and idealistic. There was no need of detailed planning. Guts and hot blood sufficed their success. But looking across the vase wilderness without ends, where came water and food? We should not blame the crowd for demanding a return to Egypt and even died there (14:11-12; 16:1-3)!

Although the Jews are a stiff-necked people (Exodus 32:9; Deuteronomy 9:6), always rebellious and put the LORD God to the test, don’t forget, the first generation Christians were all Jews! Therefore, God still hopes on the Jews and always gives them opportunities to repent and to return. Since they are pragmatic, there is insufficient amount of love in their relationship with God. We are able to find clues in their Scriptures. In the Pentateuch, the word “love” appears 58 times only. Half of them are found in Deuteronomy. Whereas in the canonical gospels, the word “love” appears 109 times, nearly double that in the Pentateuch! Thus, the Jews know the importance of “love” but in their doctrines, offering holocausts and sacrifices are the most important things to do in dealing with God. In today’s gospel passage, Jesus praised the scribe who challenged him for answering with understanding (Mark 12:34a), knowing that observing the commandments of love “is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (12:33).

Beloved readers, this scribe whom Jesus Christ praises and all the Jews are still hopeful because they are not far from the Kingdom of God. Whether they are able to enter depends on whether they can put their knowledge into practice. Friends, both you and they know the importance of loving God and loving neighbour. Have you entered the Kingdom of God?
God bless!