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“St John Reproaching Herod”
by Mattia Preti, 1662-66 |
Readings
for Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time [2]
Readings
from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary:[4]
Jeremiah
26:11-16, 24
The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the
people,
“This man deserves death;
he has prophesied against this city,
as you have heard with your own ears.”
Jeremiah gave this answer to the princes and all the people:
“It was the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and
city
all that you have heard.
Now, therefore, reform your ways and your deeds;
listen to the voice of the Lord your God,
so that the Lord will repent of the evil with which he threatens
you.
As for me, I am in your hands;
do with me what you think good and right.
But mark well: if you put me to death,
it is innocent blood you bring on yourselves,
on this city and its citizens.
For in truth it was the Lord who sent me to you,
to speak all these things for you to hear.”
Thereupon the princes and all the people
said to the priests and the prophets,
“This man does not deserve death;
it is in the name of the Lord, our God, that he speaks to us.”
So Ahikam, son of Shaphan, protected Jeremiah,
so that he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.
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Commentary on Jer
26:11-16, 24
The
story of Jeremiah’s persecution is continued after he first prophesied in the
temple that if the people did not turn away from their sinful practices, God
would destroy the kingdom of Judah, including the temple. Here the leaders of
the community try to have him put to death.
In
the face of this angry mob, the prophet repeats the essence of the prophecy
(repent so the Lord will not punish them), and then reminds them that it was
not on his own that he came to them, but as a servant, a prophet of God, who
commanded him. If they put him to death, they were committing an offense
against the law. They were finally convinced (in the omitted verses, 17-23, the
example of the prophet Micah, who also predicted dire consequences, was used)
and we are told Ahikam came to his defense. “Ahikam, son of Shaphan: one of
Josiah's officials (2
Kings 22:12) and father of Gedaliah, Jeremiah's friend, who was governor of
Judah after Zedekiah's deportation (cf Jeremiah 39:14; 40:5-7).” [5]
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Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31,
33-34
R. (14c) Lord, in your great
love, answer me.
Rescue me out of the mire; may I not
sink!
may I be rescued from my foes,
and from the watery depths.
Let not the flood-waters overwhelm me,
nor the abyss swallow me up,
nor the pit close its mouth over me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with
thanksgiving.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts
revive!
For the Lord hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns
not.”
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Ps
69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34
Psalm 69 is a lament in which the psalmist sings of being unjustly
persecuted, and calls on God’s saving help. The faith in God’s mercy is
reflected in the confidence of the psalmist as in the final strophe the poor
are reassured of the Lord's kindness.
-------------------------------------------
Matthew 14:1-12
Herod
the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus
and
said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist.
He
has been raised from the dead;
that
is why mighty powers are at work in him.”
Now
Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison
on
account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,
for
John had said to him,
“It
is not lawful for you to have her.”
Although
he wanted to kill him, he feared the people,
for
they regarded him as a prophet.
But
at a birthday celebration for Herod,
the
daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests
and
delighted Herod so much
that
he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.
Prompted
by her mother, she said,
“Give
me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
The
king was distressed,
but
because of his oaths and the guests who were present,
he
ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.
His
head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,
who
took it to her mother.
His
disciples came and took away the corpse
and
buried him; and they went and told Jesus.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Mt
14:1-12
In
this passage, recalling the manner of the death of John the Baptist, Herod
unwittingly predicts Jesus' future glory as he assumes that the Lord is John
the Baptist, raised from the dead. His guilt over the murder of John weighs
heavily on him.
In
St. Matthew’s flashback of the murder of John the Baptist, we note that there
is a much more detailed explanation than that found in the Gospel of St. Mark (Mark 6:14ff). We also
see that, according to St. Matthew, the murder of St. John was the intent of
Herod from the beginning, where St. Mark’s Gospel infers it was Herodias that manipulated
him into the act. Matthew portrays this event as, what has been called, a
satanic eucharist, an exhibition of hedonism and lust diametrically opposed to
the selfless love of John the Baptist and Jesus.
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
It
is a tense day in Scripture. First, we
hear Jeremiah who has been really haranguing the leadership for a couple of
weeks. He is, at this point, about ready to be put to death. His response: “Don’t blame me, God is the one
who sent me, and it is God who wants you to change.” He dodged a proverbial bullet. Then in the Gospel, just when it seems like
King Herod is getting very concerned about Jesus (thinking he is the
re-incarnation of John the Baptist), we get a flashback to the execution of
John.
As
we watch the lives of the servants of God unfold, we come to one inescapable
conclusion: working for God can be hazardous to your health. Granted, special honor was accorded to the
great prophet Jeremiah, and similar honor was given to the precursor of the
Lord, his cousin, John the Baptist.
Still, when the message of God is placed against the backdrop of
society’s norms, it is not what most people want to hear. And when those people are of a far distant
time, a time when human life was less revered, the common outcome was pain,
frequently resulting in death.
What
message does that bring to us today?
First, we must understand that if we take our faith into the secular
world, we will not win any popularity contests.
Those that don’t avoid us will probably do what they can to make us
figures of ridicule or contempt. They
will make jokes at our expense, and the names they use for us such as Jesus
freak, fanatic, or hater are not meant to be badges of honor (although some of
them [not hater – that’s just a lie put out by those who would pervert sexual
morality] we should be proud to earn).
In
other parts of the world, especially those parts where radical Islam seems to
be taking hold, being labeled Christian can be a death sentence. In the predominantly Islamic states around
the holy land (Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, not to mention
the ISIS terror state containing parts of Iraq and Syria where there is
currently a pogrom taking place), professing Christianity is actually a civil
crime punishable by death. In China,
Christianity is tolerated but subordinate to the state. We in the “Christian West” are actually quite
lucky.
We
have an obligation to be faithful to our creed, and to proclaim our Lord Jesus
Christ, and him crucified. We are
required to live a life of faith at home (the domestic church), at school and
at work. We need to show the face the
face of Christ to our families, our friends, neighbors, and especially the
stranger we meet. But as we do what we are
obligated to do in the name of our faith, let us remember Jeremiah, John the
Baptist, and above all Jesus. They gave
us an example of what the faith is worth to us and the world.
Pax
[1]
General
Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar Miscellaneous Notes no. 5:
“Outside Advent, Christmas Time, Lent, and Easter Time, on Saturdays which have
no commemoration having the rank of Obligatory Memorial or higher, a Mass in
honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary may be celebrated. This is indicated in the
calendar by ‘BVM.’ The readings and prayers may be selected from the
Collection of Masses of
the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
[2]
The picture used is “St John Reproaching Herod” by Mattia Preti, 1662-66.
[3]
S.S. Commemoratio[4]
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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[5]
NAB footnote on Jeremiah 26:24.
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