Moses recognized the tendency of some people to forget their own origins and to protect their newly gained prosperity. He reminds the people that they were a refugee people themselves and slaves in Egypt. As God had responded to their cries of distress, so God will continue to hear the cry of those who are poor and punish those who oppress them. The prophets remind the people again and again of the demands of the Law: that the love of God and neighbor are at the heart of all their religious observances, and that God has chosen Israel to be a light to the nations, so that the witness of their lives would help the whole of humanity to come to the knowledge of God’s saving love. St. Paul commands the Thessalonian community for the way in which they have faithfully followed the Gospel life he had taught them. They have done this so well that they have become an example for everyone, not only the neighboring communities. This, surely, is the way that evangelisation is meant to work, by the witness of transformed lives. The secret lies in the greatest commandment of the Law as spelt out by Jesus: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”; and “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”
When the Christian community responds with prayer and practical help to the crises of our times, then it will truly be a light for all nations to see. We will be teaching the Gospel by the example of our lives and building the new creation.