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"Scene from the Life of St Thomas Aquinas” (detail)
by Filippino Lippi, 1489-91 |
Readings for Tuesday of the
Third Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Hebrews 10:1-10
Since
the law has only a shadow of the good things to come,
and
not the very image of them, it can never make perfect
those
who come to worship by the same sacrifices
that
they offer continually each year.
Otherwise,
would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered,
since
the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer
have
had any consciousness of sins?
But
in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins,
for
it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
take
away sins.
For
this reason, when he came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you
did not desire,
but a body you prepared for
me;
in burnt offerings and sin
offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written
of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your
will, O God.’”
First
he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,
burnt
offerings and sin offerings,
you
neither desired nor delighted in.”
These
are offered according to the law.
Then
he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.”
He
takes away the first to establish the second.
By
this “will,” we have been consecrated
through
the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Heb 10:1-10
The author (likely St. Paul) continues his apologia by comparing
the Law of Moses to the fulfillment of the law in Christ. In vv. 5-7, a passage
from Psalm 40:7-9 is placed in the mouth of the Son of God at his
incarnation. This statement refutes the need of Christians to follow the Hebrew
law of sin offerings (or guilt offerings, see Leviticus 5:14-19), since
the Lord offered his own body “once for all” as the sacrifice that
atones for sin and justifies (makes just as if no sin had been committed) the
faithful.
"'The New Law', St Thomas says, 'represents the good things
to come more clearly than does the Old. Firstly, because in the words of the
New Testament express mention is made of the good things to come and the
promise, whereas in the Old reference is made only to material good things.
Secondly, because the New Testament draws its strength from charity, which is
the fullness of the Law. And this charity, even if it be imperfect, is similar
to Christ's charity by virtue of the faith to which it is joined. That is why
the new law is called the 'law of love'. And that is also why it is called the
'true form', because it has imprinted on it the image of the good things to
come' ('Commentary on Heb, ad loc.')." [4]
CCC: Heb 10:1-4 1540; Heb
10:1 128; Heb
10:5-10 606; Heb
10:5-7 462, 516, 2568; Heb
10:5 488; Heb
10:7 2824; Heb
10:10 614, 2824
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11
R. (8a and 9a) Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
I
have waited, waited for the LORD,
and
he stooped toward me.
And
he put a new song into my mouth,
a
hymn to our God.
R. Here am I Lord; I come
to do your will.
Sacrifice
or oblation you wished not,
but
ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt
offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then
said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here am I Lord; I come
to do your will.
I
announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I
did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I Lord; I come
to do your will.
Your
justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your
faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I
have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in
the vast assembly.
R. Here am I Lord; I come
to do your will.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Ps 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10,
11
While Psalm 40 is a song of thanksgiving, it is also combined with
a lament. This Psalm is quoted in Hebrews 10:5-7 (although
the translation quoted in Hebrews is from the Septuagint translation). The
intent and action God wants from us is not burnt offerings but our own
faithfulness.
CCC: Ps 40:2 2657; Ps 40:7-9
LXX 462; Ps
40:7 2824
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Gospel: Mark 3:31-35
His
(Jesus’) mother and brothers arrived.
Standing
outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A
crowd seated around him told him,
“Your
mother and your brothers (and your sisters)
are
outside asking for you.”
But
he said to them in reply,
“Who
are my mother and (my) brothers?”
And
looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here
are my mother and my brothers.
(For)
whoever does the will of God
is
my brother and sister and mother.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Mk 3:31-35
This passage,
while affirming our own adoption as brothers and sisters in Christ, does cause
some confusion among those who take Scripture at face value without
understanding the culture of the time. The first part of this reading from St.
Mark’s Gospel is somewhat controversial in that many of the Protestant and
Evangelical apologists take the term “and his brothers” to mean his familial or
biological brothers. The Church teaches that Mary bore only one child – Jesus.
Responding to this Scripture, Catholic Scripture scholars teach that, “in
Semitic usage, the terms 'brother,' 'sister' are applied not only to children
of the same parents, but to nephews, nieces, cousins, half-brothers, and
half-sisters; cf Genesis
14:16; Genesis
29:15; Leviticus
10:4.” [5]
Another possible explanation, although it comes from an apocryphal
source from the 2nd or 3rd centuries A.D., is that the Lord’s foster father,
St. Joseph, had been previously married (and widowed). According to “The History of Joseph the Carpenter” from this
first marriage, “[2.] … he begot for himself sons and daughters, four sons,
namely, and two daughters. Now these are their names— Judas, Justus, James, and
Simon. The names of the two daughters were Assia and Lydia.” These would have
been the half-brothers and sisters of the Lord.
Because of this, when Mary comes looking for Jesus in this
selection, she is, as would be expected, joined by members of the extended
family. Jesus extends the family even further though his adoption of those “seated
in the circle” who listen to his word and believe, telling those gathered that,
“whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
CCC: Mk 3:31-35 500
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Today we can pause and thank God for his great gift that brought
us into a new relationship with him. If
Christ had not come as the perfect offering for our sins, we would still be
obliged to offer sacrifices as our Hebrew predecessors did. We would be one step removed from the
relationship we have in Christ who at once saved us and adopted us as children
of God: “For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”
The sense of adoption contrasted with the former relationship of
the Hebrew people can be analogized by examining the relationship between
ourselves and our family, and ourselves and a guest. While we treat a guest with courtesy and
respect, we do not have the same love for the guest as we would for our close
family member.
A guest would be welcomed to our home. A family member lives with us, sharing not
just our food, but all that we have. A
guest comes and stays a while and leaves, but a family member is with us and
shares our lives with us, the good and the bad.
A guest does not share our pain or our joy to the extent a member of our
own family does. The guest is held at
arm’s length, never quite achieving that place of familial intimacy that is
part of the family’s members.
Jesus changed that relationship for us. He came making his Father, God, our
Father. He did not bring a guest to the
table, but a bride. He himself, out of
his great love for us, provided the sacrificial meal. He did this so we would have intimate access
to him, and through that access find life eternal with the Father.
Because of this, we should take as our prayer today the family
prayer of the Church, the Lord’s Prayer.
As we say “Our Father,” let us embrace the Father who has adopted us,
and through his great mercy has given us life with him.
Pax.
[1]
The picture used is "Scene from the Life of St Thomas Aquinas” (detail) by
Filippino Lippi, 1489-91.
[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.
[4]
The Navarre Bible: “Revelation and Hebrews and Catholic Letters,” Scepter
Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 220.
[5]
From the reference note on Mark 6; 3 in the NAB.
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