The new law of our Lord

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time our church invites us to reflect on a passage from the beginning of the book of the prophet Amos (1:1---2:3) entitled “The Lord’s judgement on the nations”. Our treasure, which follows, is from the beginning of a letter attributed to Barnabas.

The Book of Amos is the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. According to the Bible, Amos was an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, and was active c. 750 BC during the reign of Jeroboam II (788–747 BC) of Samaria (Northern Israel), while Uzziah was King of Judah. Amos is said to have lived in the kingdom of Judah but preached in the northern Kingdom of Israel with themes of social justice, God's omnipotence, and divine judgment became staples of prophecy. The book opens with a historical note about the prophet, then a short oracle announcing Yahweh's judgment (repeated in the Book of Joel). The prophet denounces the crimes committed by the gentile (non-Jewish) nations, and tells Israel that even they have sinned and are guilty of the same crimes, and reports five symbolic visions prophesying the destruction of Israel.

Born in Cyprus, Barnabas is numbered among the first of the faithful at Jerusalem. He preached the Gospel at Antioch and, as a companion of Saint Paul, accompanied him on his first journey. He was also present at the Council of Jerusalem. Upon returning to his own country, he continued to spread the Gospel and eventually died there.

The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek epistle written between AD 70 and 132. The main message of the epistle is that the Hebrew scriptures — what would become the Old Testament in Christianity — were actually Christian documents from the beginning. According to the epistle, the Jews had misinterpreted their own law by applying it literally; the true meaning was to be found in its symbolic prophecies foreshadowing the coming of Jesus. The Jews broke their covenant from the very beginning, and are misled by an evil angel. After explaining its Christian interpretations of the Jewish scriptures, the epistle concludes by discussing "The Two Ways", also seen in the Didache: a Way of Light and a Way of Darkness.