13 - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings and Gospel

Lectionary for this day - This has all the readings and Gospel

Paul now asserts paradoxically what he has previously been denying. To the Greeks who “are looking for wisdom” (1 Cor 1:22), he does indeed bring a wisdom, but of a higher order and an entirely different quality, the only wisdom really worthy of the name. The Corinthians would be able to grasp Paul’s preaching as wisdom and enter into a wisdom-conversation with him if they were more open to the Spirit and receptive to the new insight and language that the Spirit teaches.

Matthew 5:17-37 - Teaching About the Law, Anger, Adultery, Divorce, Oaths

Sirach

Information on who is Sirach
Here Ben Sira links freedom of the will with human responsibility. God, who sees everything, is neither the cause nor the occasion of sin. We have the power to choose our behavior and we are responsible for both the good and the evil we do.
Deceivers: those who hold the Lord responsible for their sins.

Corinthians

People who lived in Corinth, located in south-central Greece.
Paul’s first letter to the church of Corinth provides us with a fuller insight into the life of an early Christian community of the first generation than any other book of the New Testament. More information.

Paul

A Jew and a pharisee. He was educated by Gamaliel, a notable teacher of Jewish law.
A Roman citizen.
He first persecuted Christians. After Jesus appeared to him, he became a Christian and was responsible for the conversion of many Gentiles. More information.

Matthew

He was a tax collector. He was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.
- - 12 Apostles - the first 12 people that Jesus called to follow Him.

Scribes

The Jewish scribes make copies of the Torah and eventually other books in the Hebrew Bible.
The scribal instruction was a faithful handing down of the traditions of earlier teachers.

"Pharisee" is derived from Ancient Greek Pharisaios (Φαρισαῖος), from Aramaic Pərīšā (פְּרִישָׁא), plural Pərīšayyā (פְּרִישַׁיָּא), meaning "set apart, separated". (Source: Wikipedia)
The Pharisees (/ˈfærəsiːz/; Hebrew: פְּרוּשִׁים, romanized: Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism. (Source: Wikipedia)
Pharisees are marked by devotion to the law, written and oral, and the Scribes, experts in the law, belonged predominantly to this group.

An Aramaic word rēqā’ or rēqâ probably meaning “imbecile,” “blockhead,” a term of abuse.

Sanhedrin

In Hebrew gê-hinnōm, “Valley of Hinnom,” or gê ben-hinnōm, “Valley of the son of Hinnom,” southwest of Jerusalem, the center of an idolatrous cult during the monarchy in which children were offered in sacrifice (see 2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31). In Joshua 18:16 (Septuagint, Codex Vaticanus), the Hebrew is transliterated into Greek as gaienna, which appears in the New Testament as geenna. The name geenna is first given to the place of punishment in the New Testament.