 |
"Nagasaki Martyrs"
artist and date are unknown |
Readings for Tuesday of the
Fifth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [2]
Readings and
Commentary: [3]
Reading I: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
Solomon stood before the
altar of the LORD
in the presence of the whole
community of Israel,
and stretching forth his
hands toward heaven,
he said, “LORD, God of
Israel,
there is no God like you in
heaven above or on earth below;
you keep your covenant of
mercy with your servants
who are faithful to you with
their whole heart.
“Can it indeed be that God
dwells on earth?
If the heavens and the
highest heavens cannot contain you,
how much less this temple
which I have built!
Look kindly on the prayer and
petition of your servant, O LORD, my God,
and listen to the cry of
supplication which I, your servant,
utter before you this day.
May your eyes watch night and
day over this temple,
the place where you have
decreed you shall be honored;
may you heed the prayer which
I, your servant, offer in this place.
Listen to the petitions of
your servant and of your people Israel
which they offer in this
place.
Listen from your heavenly
dwelling and grant pardon.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on 1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30
King Solomon concludes the dedication of the temple with
theological wisdom. He tells the priests and people who believed that God had
come to reside “completely and solely present” in the temple that this
was not so. Rather he says that God was omnipresent. “’Can it indeed
be that God dwells on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot
contain you, how much less this temple which I have built!’” He continues
his prayer of intercession asking that God hear the prayers of the people
offered there and grant them mercy as they repent and atone for their sins.
CCC: 1 Kgs 8:10-61 2580
-------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5 and 10, 11
R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord,
mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty
God!
Even the sparrow finds a
home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young—
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty
God!
Blessed they who dwell in
your house!
continually they praise you.
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of
your anointed.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty
God!
I had rather one day in your
courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the
threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of
the wicked.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty
God!
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps
84:3, 4, 5 and 10, 11
Psalm
84 is a hymn in praise of the temple, a song of Zion. The psalmist sings of the
joy felt by the faithful who can spend time with the Lord in his house. It is a
hymn for those who depend on God (Blessed they who dwell in your house!).
This selection captures the reverence for the temple that is part of the Hebrew
tradition, a tradition carried on in part by reverence to church structures
today.
CCC: Ps 84:3 1770
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Mark 7:1-13
When the Pharisees with some
scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of
his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is,
unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in
fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully
washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the
elders.
And on coming from the
marketplace
they do not eat without
purifying themselves.
And there are many other
things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and
jugs and kettles and beds.)
So the Pharisees and scribes
questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not
follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with
unclean hands?”
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy
about you hypocrites,
as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s
commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside
the commandment of God
in order to uphold your
tradition!
For Moses said,
Honor your father and your
mother,
and Whoever curses father or
mother shall die.
Yet you say,
‘If someone says to father or
mother,
“Any support you might have
had from me is qorban”’
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing
more for his father or mother.
You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition
that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mk
7:1-13
We begin the seventh chapter of Mark’s Gospel with an encounter
between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus’ disciples are not following strict Pharisaic
laws regarding ritual purification and the Lord, who is their teacher, is taken
to task for it. Jesus responds indignantly, asserting that it is the Pharisees
with their man-made laws who are sinning against God. He points out that not
only have they placed Pharisaic law above Mosaic Law (see also Galatians 1:14), but they
have violated the Law of Moses by doing so. He gives one example about children
who, under Mosaic Law, are to honor and support their parents. Instead of
supporting them directly, they satisfy their obligation by contributing it to
the temple and count that as support, even though it gives the parents no
comfort.
CCC: Mk 7:8-13 2196; Mk 7:8 581
-------------------------------------------
Reflection
Captured within Sacred
Scripture today is the tension that exists between formal worship and living
the faith in the world. In the reading
from the First Book of Kings, Solomon demonstrates the wisdom he was given by
God (1 Kings 3:9ff)
by dispelling a long-held belief. From
earliest times it was thought that God was present in smoke or fog and that his
presence was announced in earth tremors.
The belief the Levites had held was that, since the temple was to be the
permanent resting place for the Ark of the Covenant, God would dwell there, to
the exclusion of his omnipresent essence.
Solomon makes it clear that the temple he has built is a place where
God’s presence may be felt, but that God is greater than any man-made structure
can contain.
At a more esoteric level, the
encounter between the Pharisees and Jesus in St. Mark’s Gospel centers on a
tangential issue. The Pharisees are
complaining about Jesus’ disciples not following the strict rituals associated
with Pharisaic law. They complain to
Jesus because his disciples have not done the prescribed rituals of
purification and Jesus becomes indignant.
He points out that the Pharisees have missed an important element of
worship. They have focused so much on
ritual that they have missed God’s real message of love for his people.
There are a few lessons we
can take away from these attempts to discern how God wishes to be
worshiped. First, we must recognize that
while a church building is a sacred space, God’s presence is universal. At the same time we also recognize that
coming together to worship our Triune God in a house of worship, by way of his
promise that where two or three are gathered in his name he will be present (Matthew
18:20), assures us of his palpable
presence.
The Gospel message is also
clear. Jesus reminds us that the
objective of worship must be to fulfill God’s commandments. Most specifically, Christ commands us to love
God (which we do in formal liturgy), and love one another, which is something
we must do even as we walk in the world.
The two linked lessons we are
given today assure us that our obligation to God has two parts. First, we are called to come together as a
people of faith in a house of God to worship him. It is part of our discipline of faith. Second, we are tasked with taking our faith
into the world so that all people may benefit from God’s love, passed first to
us so it may be passed on to others.
Scripture challenges us today; may we be up to that challenge.
Pax
[1]
The picture is "Nagasaki Martyrs" artist and date are unknown.
[2]
S.S. Commemoratio[3]
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment