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“Le Christ Guerissant un Malade”
[Christ Healing the Sick]
by Mathieu Ignace van Bree (1773-1839) |
Readings
for Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from
the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings
and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13
Thus
says the Lord:
They
made kings in Israel,
but not by my authority;
they
established princes, but without my approval
.
With their silver and gold they made
idols
for themselves, to their own destruction.
Cast
away your calf, O Samaria!
my
wrath is kindled against them;
How
long will they be unable to attain
innocence
in Israel?
The
work of an artisan,
no
god at all,
Destined
for the flames—
such
is the calf of Samaria!
When
they sow the wind,
they
shall reap the whirlwind;
The
stalk of grain that forms no ear
can
yield no flour;
Even
if it could,
strangers
would swallow it.
When
Ephraim made many altars to expiate sin,
his
altars became occasions of sin.
Though
I write for him my many ordinances,
they
are considered as a stranger’s.
Though
they offer sacrifice,
immolate
flesh and eat it,
the
Lord is not pleased with them.
He
shall still remember their guilt
and
punish their sins;
they
shall return to Egypt.
-------------------------------------------Commentary on Hos 8:4-7, 11-13
The
Prophet Hosea, speaking with the voice of God, condemns the people of Israel,
Samaria, and Ephraim for falling away from the Law of Moses, and taking up the
worship of Baal and other false practices (probably those of the local majority
population). The prophet is eloquent in describing how these practices not only
displease God, but will not bring the result hoped for. (“When they sow the
wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.”) He beckons them back to “innocence”
in the precepts of the Lord.
-------------------------------------------Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 115:3-4,
5-6, 7ab-8, 9-10
R. (9a) The house of Israel trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Our God is in heaven;
whatever he wills, he does.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
R. The house of Israel
trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They have mouths but speak not;
they have eyes but see not;
They have ears but hear not;
they have noses but smell not.
R. The house of Israel
trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
They have hands but feel not;
they have feet but walk not.
Their makers shall be like them,
everyone that trusts in them.
R. The house of Israel
trusts in the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
-------------------------------------------Commentary on Ps 115:3-4, 5-6, 7ab-8, 9-10
Psalm 115 is a
hymn of praise to our God who is above all things and creator of all. While he
is not seen, all creation is evidence of his power and salvation. The singer
attacks those who worship false gods and idols, promoting the first of the Ten
Commandments: "You shall not have other gods beside me. You shall not make
for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the
earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before
them or serve them." (Exodus 20:4-5)
CCC: Ps
115:3 268, 303; Ps 115:4-5 2112; Ps 115:8 2112
-------------------------------------------Gospel: Matthew 9:32-38
A
demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
and
when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
The
crowds were amazed and said,
“Nothing
like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But
the Pharisees said,
“He
drives out demons by the prince of demons.”
Jesus
went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching
in their synagogues,
proclaiming
the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and
curing every disease and illness.
At
the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because
they were troubled and abandoned,
like
sheep without a shepherd.
Then
he said to his disciples,
“The
harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so
ask the master of the harvest
to
send out laborers for his harvest.”
-------------------------------------------Commentary on Mt 9:32-38
In this
selection Jesus continues his healing practice as he travels from town to town.
We see growing opposition from the Pharisees as he does so. Almost ironically,
Jesus looks with compassion upon the people ("his heart was moved with
pity for them") as he sees that the religious leaders, the scribes and
Pharisees, have not led them to God but abandoned them, seeking instead their
own selfish ends. The Lord recalls the prophecy of Ezekiel, predicting someone
from the line of David as a new shepherd. This prophetic statement was
fulfilled in himself (Ezekiel 34:23). And, using the same language we heard
in Luke 10:1-9, Jesus prepares to send out the disciples to proclaim the Good
News, the disciples are to become laborers.
CCC: Mt
9:38 2611
-------------------------------------------Reflection:
Do you
recall having your parents tell you that, before you could go out and play, you
had to clean your room (or some other equally difficult chore)? If it was something that you should have been
doing right along, and now it had become a huge task, you might get an idea of
what Jesus must have been feeling as he went from town to town trying to get
people to understand what he meant by “the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Just as
when we were children, and wanted to do something important, like go and play
with our friends, and Saturday had only so many hours, Jesus was anxious to get
his task accomplished, but there was so much to do. He says (and we can almost hear the
exasperation in him) “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” In other words,
there is much good to be gained in announcing the Kingdom of God, but too few
will take up the call, and too many are resisting.
While
the call has been taken up by others over the two thousand years since Christ
walked among us, there is still much to be done and too few to do it. Each of us is enlisted in the battle, and it
is a battle. In Jesus’ day, the Gospel
tells us that there were many who resisted his message, and many denied his
identity. Today the resistance is, if
anything, stronger, and the message of the enemy more seductive.
Everyone
is called, baptized into this mighty work.
So how do we serve? God has given
each of us gifts. Those gifts vary from
person to person, and each is valuable.
Some have the gift of persuasion, others the gift of a pious
spirit. St. Augustine put it well when he said at his
consecration as Bishop:
“The turbulent have to be corrected, the faint-hearted
cheered up, the weak supported; the Gospel's opponents need to be refuted, its
insidious enemies guarded against; the unlearned need to be taught, the
indolent stirred up, the argumentative checked; the proud must be put in their
place, the desperate set on their feet, those engaged in quarrels reconciled;
the needy have to be helped, the oppressed to be liberated, the good to be
encouraged, the bad to be tolerated; all must be loved.
“The Gospel terrifies me.” – St. Augustine
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are
few.” Today we are called again to
pick up the standard of Christ and carry it into the world. Today we pray for the strength of character
to labor in God’s harvest.
Pax
[1]
The picture used today is “Le Christ Guerissant un Malade” [Christ Healing the
Sick] by Mathieu Ignace van Bree (1773-1839).
[2]
S.S. Commemoratio[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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
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