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“The Prophet Micah”
by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) |
Readings for Saturday of the
Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time [2]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary: [4]
Reading 1: Micah 2:1-5
Woe to those who plan iniquity,
and work out evil on their couches;
In the morning light they accomplish it
when it lies within their power.
They covet fields, and seize them;
houses, and they take them;
They cheat an owner of his house,
a man of his inheritance.
Therefore thus says the Lord:
Behold, I am planning against this race an evil
from which you shall not withdraw your necks;
Nor shall you walk with head high,
for it will be a time of evil.
On that day a satire shall be sung over you,
and there shall be a plaintive chant:
“Our ruin is complete,
our fields are portioned out among our captors,
The fields of my people are measured out,
and no one can get them back!”
Thus you shall have no one
to mark out boundaries by lot
in the assembly of the Lord.
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Commentary on Mi
2:1-5
The
second chapter of the book of the prophet Micah opens with a denouncement of
the evil rich who seek to steal the land of the poor. The practice, also
mentioned in Isaiah, was prevalent in Judah. A person’s inherited land was,
under Mosaic Law, supposed to be exempt from these schemes (1 Kings 21:1-4). However,
the greedy were violating this precept.
The
punishment the prophet mentions relates to the initial division of property
among the Israelites when they came into the land, led by Joshua. Boundaries
were established for each person and tribe (see Joshua 13-21). Those
who are found guilty of stealing land will have no place in the final reckoning
(e.g. the kingdom of Heaven).
CCC: Mi
2:2 2534
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Responsorial
Psalm: Psalm
10:1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14
R. (12b) Do not forget the poor,
O Lord!
Why, O Lord, do you stand aloof?
Why hide in times of distress?
Proudly the wicked harass the afflicted,
who are caught in the devices the wicked
have contrived.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
For the wicked man glories in his greed,
and the covetous blasphemes, sets the
LORD at nought.
The wicked man boasts, “He will not
avenge it”;
“There is no God,” sums up his thoughts.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
His mouth is full of cursing, guile and
deceit;
under his tongue are mischief and
iniquity.
He lurks in ambush near the villages;
in hiding he murders the innocent;
his eyes spy upon the unfortunate.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
You do see, for you behold misery and
sorrow,
taking them in your hands.
On you the unfortunate man depends;
of the fatherless you are the helper.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
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Commentary on Ps
10:1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14
Psalm 10
(generally linked with Psalm 9) is considered a thanksgiving hymn. The strophes
used in this selection, however, reflect a lament against the wicked that prey
upon the poor and faithful. By their actions, the wicked reject God and
consider him unable or unwilling to stop their actions. The concluding strophe
reflects the hope of the faithful, because of God’s mercy his salvation will
vindicate them.
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Gospel: Matthew 12:14-21
The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus
to put him to death.
When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place.
Many people followed him, and he cured them all,
but he warned them not to make him known.
This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the
prophet:
Behold, my
servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in
whom I delight;
I shall place
my Spirit upon him,
and he will
proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not
contend or cry out,
nor will anyone
hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed
he will not break,
a smoldering
wick he will not quench,
until he brings
justice to victory.
And in his name
the Gentiles will hope.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mt
12:14-21
After
the Lord challenged Pharisaic law and declared the “Son of Man is Lord of the
Sabbath” (Matthew
12:8), the Pharisees see Jesus as a threat to their hold over the
people. Jesus backs away from their intended violence. In doing so, he
fulfills the “Suffering Servant” role in the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-4). This
passage reemphasizes his meekness (see Matthew 11:28-30), and
extends his mission to the Gentiles.
“The
need to ‘take counsel’ together in secret, to make a laborious effort to
harmonize a variety of minds and wills (συµβούλιον) who are united only by a common
hatred, plainly manifests the complexities of the darkness in its frenzy to
snuff out the simplicity of the light. How straightforwardly easy and direct,
by comparison, Jesus' healing of the man! No, God does not have to ‘take
counsel’ in order to do good! God simply follows the innermost law of his own
nature:
Who
has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him?
Whom
did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice,
and
taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:13-14)” [5]
"Matthew
next shows how Jesus' withdrawal is not a setback, but a part of God's Plan as
foretold in the Old Testament prophecy. Matthew uses the formulaic
statement, 'what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet,' in order
to set up his longest fulfillment quotation from the Old Testament: a passage
from the Servant Song of Isaiah 42:1-4.
"The
opening line of this prophecy ̶ 'Behold, my servant
whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight' ̶ was
already alluded to by the heavenly voice at Jesus' baptism (Matthew 3:17) and will
be repeated at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:5)." [6]
CCC:
Mt 12:18-21 713
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Reflection:
One might think (and there
are many extreme liberal thinkers that do) that because a person has
accumulated wealth, they are viewed as the oppressor, or the enemy of the
poor. If we read the passage from Micah
and then interpret the Pharisaic class in the Gospel as being of that same
privileged class, the thought might even be supported. However, we must always remember that just
because a person has wealth or power, it does not automatically brand that
person as evil, or even as an enemy.
Let’s try a little example to
illustrate the point:
There are two very wealthy
men in a town. They have both become so
by hard work and wise decisions regarding their respective businesses. One man’s objective or goal is to accumulate
wealth to pass on to his heirs and to live comfortably in the process. He has made shrewd dealings with his
employees to maximize their productivity.
Realizing if he paid a bit more in wages he could get more capable
people, he increased his pay to the employees.
His motive was profit, not their well-being. Similarly he sought ways to decrease the cost
of his product so it would be bought by more people and increase his
wealth. He cared nothing for his
customers, only their money.
The other man was quite
different. His objective was to make a
product that would benefit people and to provide jobs to people in his
community. He kept his profits at a bare
minimum to insure more people could afford his product and be enriched by
it. As a consequence, he didn’t have the
money to pay his employees as much as his competitor (the other man). As time went on, he was not able to make any
profit. His product, although superior
in many ways to competing products, was more expensive and he could not reduce
the price and still keep paying his employees.
Eventually he went bankrupt and all of his employees lost their jobs.
Of these two men, who was the
more moral person? It was the second
man, the one who cared for his
employees, the customer, and the good his product did. But, looking at the good that came out of the
situation, it was the profit-focused man who (albeit inadvertently)
accomplished the goals of the other man.
His employees had jobs and a living wage. His products were affordable and enriched the
customer. The second man, for all his
good intentions, created unemployment and his products never again reached
people.
The moral here is that it is
not wealth in itself that is bad, but rather the attitudes and principles of
those who wield it. God can accomplish
good even when man’s intent is ignoble.
And bad outcomes may come from the best intentions. Our call is to use all of our gifts to God’s
greater glory. We are constantly amazed that God can use even our most ardent detractors
to accomplish his will.
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 today is “The Prophet Micah” by Gustave Doré (1832-1883).
[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]
Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume II, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius
Press, San Francisco, CA, © 2003 p. 79.
[6]
The Gospel of Matthew, © 2010 Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri, Baker Academic,
Grand Rapids, MI, p. 167.
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