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“St. Agnes”
by Domenichino, c. 1620 |
Readings for Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and
Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Hebrews 9:2-3,
11-14
A tabernacle was constructed, the
outer one,
in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering;
this is called the Holy Place.
Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies.
But when Christ came as high
priest of the good things that have come to be,
passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands,
that is, not belonging to this creation,
he entered once for all into the sanctuary,
not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own Blood,
thus obtaining eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes
can sanctify those who are defiled
so that their flesh is cleansed,
how much more will the Blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.
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Commentary on Heb
9:2-3, 11-14
The Letter to the Hebrews contrasts the tradition of Jewish
animal sacrifice or sin offering with what Jesus has done for us. The author
describes, in detail, how Christ becomes the sacrifice of atonement and seals
the new covenant. Using this specific Mosaic Law and imagery, he explains how
the Lord came as the ultimate offering for our salvation.
CCC: Heb 9:11-28 1476,
1564; Heb 9:11 586,
662; Heb 9:12 1085; Heb 9:13-14 2100; Heb 9:14 614
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 47:2-3,
6-7, 8-9
R. (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of
trumpets for the Lord.
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
God mounts his throne amid shouts
of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
For king of all the earth is God:
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
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Commentary on Ps
47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm 47 is a
hymn of praise celebrating God’s enthronement and kingship over the people. The
imagery in the second strophe (v. 6) strongly suggests the movement of the ark
of the covenant being processed and installed as part of this celebration. The
song concludes with a proclamation of the universal claim of God – King of all
the earth.
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Gospel: Mark 3:20-21
Jesus came with his disciples into
the house.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
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Commentary on Mk
3:20-21
Jesus
returns to his home and is greeted with disbelief by some his own relatives.
They likely believe, because of his excessive focus on his mission and the
claims made about his actions, that he has become delusional.
This
short passage provides a sense of the challenges Jesus faced in his mission to
proclaim the Kingdom of God. His fame had clearly spread as a consequence of
his teaching, his natural charisma, and his miraculous healing power. The
disbelief by even his relatives is a barrier to be overcome.
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Reflection:
The Gospel begs a question of us today. If we took the Gospel completely to heart,
and lived it so diligently that every suggestion the Jesus made about how life
was to be lived was followed completely, would our families think we had lost
our minds? The answer that may have popped
into our minds may have been: “No, I try to do that now and no one thinks I am
insane.”
We are invited to consider more closely the circumstances
surrounding Jesus that would have caused that kind of reaction from those with
whom he had grown up. We can only
suppose that he had been apprenticed to his father (foster father), Joseph,
during his adolescent and early years, before we encounter him at the Jordan
with the Baptist.
He was no doubt thought to be a bit strange by his peers –
probably too good. The adults would have
loved him because he seemed to be mature beyond his years. Perhaps suddenly, or with little discussion
with his mother (after his foster father’s death), he decides that he is called
to begin something important, and goes out to see John, baptizing at the Jordan
River. Even if he had been accompanied
by some of his relatives, what happened at the Jordan must have stunned
everyone. But Jesus did not stay there
to be questioned. He was led or driven
into the desert, by himself. He remained
there, alone, for an extended period of time.
His family and friends would have wondered what had happened to him.
Upon his return, the first person to recognize that event
was St. John the Baptist, who sees him and tells his disciples: “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). What a strange title to use. Yet some of John’s disciples follow him. This leads to the call of the first four of
Jesus’ own disciples, and quickly that number grows to twelve (symbolic of the
number of tribes of Israel perhaps).
Some of these “disciples” were of questionable character,
and there would have been news of him having developed a power to heal. There would also be some rather disturbing
news about confrontations with the religious leadership. His cousins would have heard that he had been
challenging the Pharisees and scribes – not a good thing and highly
uncharacteristic of the good and gentle young man they had known growing up.
This would have been the prelude to Jesus coming home. His excessive preoccupation with the
proclamation of the kingdom of God, and the crowds that were following him
around would have caused them to think that perhaps his sojourn in the desert
had caused him to go mad. His unbending
idealism would have been at odds with the person they thought they knew.
It’s fairly clear how these two short verses came
about. Have we not seen similar
situations in our own lives? Have we not
known people who went off on a retreat or perhaps made a Cursillo weekend, and
had come back changed, significantly changed, not the same person? Did we think of them as fanatics or religious
zealots? We now come back to our
original question. If we took the Gospel
completely to heart, and lived it so diligently that every suggestion the Jesus
made about how life was to be lived was followed completely, would our families
think we had lost our minds? The answer
might be yes. And if we did, would that
be such a bad thing?
Conversion comes in stages to most people. It is a process rather than an event. What is clear is that even a gradual change
will be met with resistance. The
attitudes and values of Christ are not welcome in many parts of our society,
and attempts will be made to silence those who shout too loudly.
Today our prayer is that we too might be thought of as being
a bit mad, if it is Christ’s madness we proclaim.
Pax
[1]
The picture used today is “St. Agnes” by Domenichino, c. 1620.
[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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