Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

“The Disciples are Sent, Two by Two”
by James Tissont, 1886-96

 
Readings for Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: Baruch 1:15-22
 
During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed:
“Justice is with the Lord, our God;
and we today are flushed with shame,
we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,
that we, with our kings and rulers
and priests and prophets, and with our ancestors,
have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.
We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,
nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.
From the time the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt
until the present day,
we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God,
and only too ready to disregard his voice.
And the evils and the curse that the Lord enjoined upon Moses, his servant,
at the time he led our ancestors forth from the land of Egypt
to give us the land flowing with milk and honey,
cling to us even today.
For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God,
in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,
but each one of us went off
after the devices of his own wicked heart,
served other gods,
and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.”
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Commentary on Bar 1:15-22
 
The author of the Book of Baruch is thought to be a secretary of the prophet Jeremiah. As such, the book was written after the Babylonian exile. So, what we hear today, rather than being a prayer written during that exile, is actually a reflective prayer (of penitence and atonement) used leading up to the feast of Booths according to scholars. (Note, the first line in today’s reading is not scriptural but rather inserted in the Missal as a “sense line” – a summary of the introduction.)
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9
 
R. (9) For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
 
O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
They have given the corpses of your servants
as food to the birds of heaven,
the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
 
They have poured out their blood like water
round about Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
We have become the reproach of our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
O LORD, how long? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
 
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
 
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
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Commentary on Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9
 
Psalm 79 provides a penitential note similar to what is found in Baruch 1:15. It is a communal lament in which the assembly reflects upon the punishment endured because they have sinned against God and disregarded his law. This lament is thought to reflect upon the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 587 BC. The singer asks God how long his anger at them will last and pleads for pardon and deliverance. There is a plea for mercy and a promise of atonement following this admission.
 
CCC: Ps 79:9  431
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Gospel: Luke 10:13-16
 
Jesus said to them,
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented,
sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
at the judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the netherworld.’
Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me.
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
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Commentary on Lk 10:13-16
 
This selection is a continuation of the instructions being given to the seventy (two) who are being sent out. The Lord instructs them to issue a call to repentance to those who reject the proclamation of the kingdom of God. The punishment of these unbelieving communities will be severe, as their rejection of the call to holiness is a rejection of Christ himself: “And whoever rejects me [Jesus] rejects the one who sent me."
 
“[Verses] 13–15 have a slightly awkward fit in the mission charge, but these verses are here because their presence underlines the equivalence between response to Jesus’ own ministry and response to that of his messengers. We have here a prophetic lamentation like those spoken in the OT in connection with pagan nations. There are in fact some against Tyre and Sidon (e.g., Isa 23; Ezek 28:2–19). These function in much the same way that the OT judgment on Sodom functioned in v 12. But here it is suggested that Tyre and Sidon would have repented given the same advantages. Again the exceptional nature of what has now happened is stressed (as in vv 23–24 to come).” [4]
 
CCC: Lk 10:16 87,858
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Reflection:
 
The common thread through all of the selections from Holy Scripture given today is one of repentance.  Baruch offers a prayer of repentance from the Jews in exile.  Having been enslaved and exiled, they believed, was a result of their disobedience to God’s law and their sin in his eyes.  That same “cause and effect,” or “sin and punishment” view of God is shown in the song from Psalm 79: “O Lord, how long? Will you be angry forever?”
 
The Gospel, which is actually a continuation of the Lord’s instructions to the seventy (two), captures that angry judgment by God when his children go astray.  In this case, however, the judgment is earned, not because the people of the communities identified did not follow God’s law, but rather because they rejected God in the person of his Son, and the salvific mission upon which he was sent.  Summarized, the selection of the Gospel we heard today says: “God sent you salvation and you turned your back. Now you must suffer the consequences.”
 
Note the subtle difference in understanding how God works.  The Jews before the coming of Jesus believed that the ill fortune that befell them was a direct punishment from God.  They believed that God actually caused bad things to happen because they had sinned.  The Lord, our Savior, changes that concept.  He shows us that it is not God the loving Father who causes bad things to happen, rather it is the choices we make that lead us down dark paths.
 
God, who sent his only Son into the world that we might have eternal life, is not likely to visit the punishments of the world on the children he loved so much.  But in creating us in his own image, he gave us free will, the ability to choose the bad and the good.  When we turn our backs on the saving hand of God, we must accept what is “behind door number two.”
 
Today our prayer is that we will make the right choices and accept the loving help he provides.  We also pray for our brothers and sisters. Since we all live together, their choices affect us.  We are called to love one another and whoever is injured because they make a wrong choice, injures us as well.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture is “The Disciples are Sent, Two by Two” by James Tissont, 1886-96.
[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] John Nolland, Luke 9:21–18:34, vol. 35B, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1993), 560.