 |
“Expulsion of the Moneychangers from the Temple”
by Luca Giordano, c. 1675 |
Readings for Saturday
of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time [2]
Readings from the
Jerusalem Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary:[4]
Reading 1: Jude 17, 20b-25
Beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand
by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy
Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
that leads to eternal life.
On those who waver, have mercy;
save others by snatching them out of the fire;
on others have mercy with fear,
abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.
To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you unblemished and exultant,
in the presence of his glory,
to the only God, our savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord
be glory, majesty, power, and authority
from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen.
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Commentary
on Jude
17, 20b-25
This passage from the Letter of Jude has the flavor of St. Peter’s
epistles. It encourages the Christian community to continue to build itself in
holiness through prayer and faith in the Holy Spirit. It goes on to enjoin them
to encourage others to remain faithful. The reference to the those who deport
themselves out of character with the community's conservative norms: “Outer
garment stained by the flesh: the imagery may come from Zechariah 3:3-5, just as
that of snatching . . . out of the fire comes from Zechariah 3:2; the very
garments of the godless are to be abhorred because of their contagion.”[5]
CCC: Jude 24-25 2641
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O
Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
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Commentary
on Ps
63:2, 3-4, 5-6
Psalm 63 is an individual lament. In this selection we see the
emotion of one who longs to be reunited with God, from whom separation is like
being cast into a desert without water. The singer professes faith in God’s salvation
and expresses faith that the prayers offered will be answered.
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Gospel: Mark 11:27-33
Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these
things.
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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Commentary
on Mk
11:27-33
This section of St. Mark’s Gospel begins a
series of five “pronouncement stories.” This first story deals with a challenge
to Jesus’ authority as Messiah and teacher. The chief priests (including
Caiaphas, who was chief priest at that time) challenge the Lord, seeking to
dissuade the people of his authenticity as teacher, and making it clear that
they, the priestly aristocracy, have not supported his triumphant entry into
Jerusalem.
Jesus responds to them by using John the
Baptist, a popular figure and considered to be a prophet by the people, to
deflect their challenge. We hear, in their internal dialogue, the difficult
options they see. If they say that St. John was sent by God, they would be
forced to accept his proclamation, including his pronouncement that Jesus was
the Son of God, the Messiah. If they rejected John, they would be attacked by
the crowd.
The group of Hebrew leaders could find only one
solution. They confessed they did not know if John’s baptism was holy or not.
This ambiguous response allows the Lord to let the implication of his own
holiness remain unchallenged.
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Reflection:
The Gospel passage reminds us that there will always be those
whose faith will not allow them to accept the identity of Jesus. They may even
think themselves to be deeply spiritual people (the priests of the temple
surely thought of themselves as such). But there is something fairly common
that prevents them from accepting that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God.
As with the chief priests in the Gospel, faith is always
challenged by a personal agenda. That agenda may be to find acceptance with
some social group, or it may be to justify actions of the individual that
violate the difficult precepts of faith required of the Christian. If we examine
the motives of individuals who reject the faith, we generally find one of these
driving factors. We exclude, of course, some of those who have never been
exposed to Jesus, but instead were indoctrinated into another faith system
(e.g. Buddhists, Muslims, and others who seek the truth with sincerity).
In the case of most members of western cultures, Jesus is rejected
for personal reasons because what he asks is just too difficult, or too
restrictive. As an example, there was a recent article about a noted Catholic
evangelist who confronted a young man who immediately began to tell him all the
things wrong with the Church, past sins of the hierarchy, hypocrisy among the
faithful, and the superstition of the ignorant. The list went on. At the end of
his tirade, the evangelist simply asked: “You’re sleeping with your girlfriend,
aren’t you?”
The point the Lord makes in the Gospel is not that we should
reject those who will not see, but accept that they exist and will always be
there to challenge us. The letter of Jude gives us solid advice on what to do
when we encounter such as these. We pray for the wisdom to act as the Lord
would, constantly reaching out with love to those who stumble and fall.
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
is “Expulsion of the Moneychangers from the Temple” by Luca Giordano, c. 1675.[3]
S.S. Commemoratio[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible except for 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 Jude 23.
