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| “The Crucified Christ” by Pieter Pauwel Rubens, 1610-11 |
Reading I: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Moses said to the people:
“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD,
your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
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Commentary on Dt 30:15-20
Moses is presenting the Law of the
Lord to the Hebrew people whom he has lead out of bondage in Egypt . He makes it clear that by following the Law,
the Ten Commandments, they will find favor in God’s eyes and they will
prosper. If they disregard the law, they
will find disfavor with God and will die out. He completes the ritualistic
covenant phrasing by inviting them to choose life by following God’s law and
statues.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they
who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they
who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they
who hope in the Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Psalm 1 serves as a preface to the
whole book of the psalms. The psalmist here exalts those who follow the Lord’s
commands and reflects upon the blessings they will receive. As is usual, this
selection emphasizes the contrast between the salvation of the just and the
punishment of the wicked, an echo of Moses instruction to the people above.
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Gospel: Luke 9:22-25
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”
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Commentary on Lk 9:22-25
The Gospel takes up the theme of
life and death as Jesus first informs his disciples that he will undergo the
“Passion” at the hands of the Jewish hierarchy and be raised. He then provides an invitation to life by
contrasting, as Moses did in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, the (spiritual) salvation brought about through faith and
the (eternal) death that awaits the faithless.
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Reflection:
The initial lines from the reading from Deuteronomy feel
like the Old Testament covenant formula.
If you follow the Lord faithfully you will have life and all that God
hopes for you. If you don’t you will be
cursed and your life will be short and miserable. This is an excellent example of the
relationship of Israel
with the “God of Justice” in the Old Testament.
This sentiment is clearly echoed in the Psalm (appropriately
it is Psalm 1). Again you hear the
covenant formula; blessed is the one who follows the Lord and cursed the one
who does not.
Contrast the OT relationship with God to the New Covenant
announced by Christ in the Gospel from Luke.
He is the sacrifice that seals the covenant in absolute obedience to God
the Father.
“The
Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be
raised.”
On day 39 of our Lenten countdown to Easter, we are given a
reminder of our goal for the season. It
is given bluntly and without ambiguity.
We must, as our savior says; “…deny
himself [ourselves] and take up his [our]
cross daily and follow me [him].”
What is denying one’s self?
It is rejecting the animal instinct in ourselves that directs us to do
only those things that feel good. It is
that feeling we all have that drives us to ignore the good, wellbeing or safety
of others and do only what we feel is right for us. If we can do that, if we can put others first
as Christ did when he “picked up his cross” then we are on the right track.
If we do not, if we do, as secular society seems to think is
right, what is good for us, then we may have achieved secular success, but at what cost? “What
profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture is “The Crucified Christ” by Pieter Pauwel Rubens, 1610-11
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
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