31st Sunday B

31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: Deuteronomy 6:2-6  Hebrews 7:23-28  Mark 12:28-34

Today’s pop psychology speaks of “ordering one’s priorities.”  In this Sunday’s readings both Moses and Jesus offer a simple, but profound, wisdom to guide us in a complex age when we may be confused by the myriad of options for “ordering our lives.”  Jesus’ teaching, rooted in the Torah given by God to Israel, summarizes the whole of our obligations in two commandments: complete love of God and love of neighbor as self.  In gratitude for the clarity of this teaching, we pray in the words of the refrain for today’s responsorial psalm: “I love you, Lord, my strength” (Ps 18:2).

In the Deuteronomy reading Moses, addressing the twelve tribes as they are about to enter the promised land, exhorts them to keep God’s statutes and commandments so that they may grow and prosper in “the land flowing with milk and honey” which God is giving them.  Following the exhortation, Moses gives Israel the Shema`, the principal Jewish confession of faith. “Hear, O Israel!  The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” In this command, love is not romantic or erotic attraction, but fidelity to the obligations of the law. Deuteronomy does not make a false distinction between an ethic of law and love.  Moses commands Israel to internalize his instructions for obeying the law. “Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children.  Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.  Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

The second reading from Hebrews reminds us that in Jesus we have a heavenly high priest who “is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he forever lives to make intercession for them.”  This assurance is based on a contrast between the ritual of the old covenant order and that of the new, accomplished by Jesus’ sacrifice.  According to Hebrews, the old covenant’s ritual was impermanent and inferior; its “many priests were prevented by death from remaining in office,” and the high priest had “to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people.”  In contrast, the permanent new covenant sealed by Jesus’ death has a high priest who “remains forever.”  He is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,” and he offers only one sacrifice, “once for all when he offered himself.”           

Mark’s account of the dialogue between Jesus and a scribe is set in the Temple precincts during Jesus’ last days in Jerusalem when he is in bitter controversy with the chief priests, scribes, and elders (see Mark chs 11-12).  In the next chapter, Jesus will announce to his disciples that the Temple, defiled by a sacrificial system rooted in money (see Mk 11:15-19; 12:38-44), is destined for destruction.  In the midst of these hostilities, a scribe, impressed by Jesus’ answers to his opponents, sincerely approaches him to learn “Which is the first of all the commandments?”  This was a question commonly proposed to Jewish teachers.

Significantly, Jesus’ answer has nothing to do with the sacrificial ritual of the Temple.  He quotes two commandments from the Torah which are not to be equated, but are joined by the word “love” and stress inner, basic attitudes.  The first is the Shema`, taken from the Deuteronomy passage read in our first reading.  The second, from Leviticus 19:18, summarizes the ethical obligations to the neighbor under the single command: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In joyful recognition of the truth of Jesus’ teaching, the scribe exclaims that to observe these two commands “is worth more than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”  Jesus, who will shortly announce the destruction of the Temple with its sacrifices (Mk 13:1-2), approves the scribe’s insight saying: “You are not far from the reign of God.”

30the Sunday B

30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: Jeremiah 31:7-9   Hebrews 5:1-6    Mark 10:46-52

As Jesus completes his journey to Jerusalem in Mark, we are called to join with the blind beggar Bartimaeus in following Jesus in faith.  Each of us has only to ask, with Bartimaeus, “Rabboni, I want to see,” and the master will give us the healing gift of faith, and then we can joyfully thank the Lord in the lyrics of the responsorial psalm. “The Lord has done great things for us;/ we are filled with joy,/ we are filled with joy!  (Ps 126)

Jeremiah sets the tone for this Sunday’s celebration with an oracle promising salvation for the remnant of Israel left after Assyria’s invasion over a century earlier.  As God’s messenger, he calls upon the nations to thank the Lord in anticipation of his deliverance. “Shout with joy for Jacob,/ exult at the head of the nations;/ proclaim your praise and say:/ ‘The Lord has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.’” The following promise prepares us for the healing of the blind Bartimaeus in the gospel story. “Behold I will bring them back from the land of the north;/ I will gather them from the ends of the world/ with the blind and the lame in their midst . . .” Although “they departed in tears,” the Lord promises to “lead them to brooks of water,/ on a level road, so that none shall stumble.”  The basis for this second Exodus is the Lord’s covenant bond with this people: “For I am a father to Israel,/ Ephraim is my first-born.”

The second reading continues the selections from Hebrews by reminding its readers, and us, that in Jesus we have a compassionate high priest who “is able to deal patiently with erring sinners.”  Although Jesus did not sin like the high priests did, he was tempted and faced death with fear as we do (see Heb 2:14-18).  He earned his call to the heavenly high priesthood “according to the order of Melchizedek” through being perfected by suffering (see 2:17-18). “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, be became the source of salvation for all who obey him, declared by God high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

The Gospel completes Mark’s account of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem with the joyful and highly symbolic healing of the blind Bartimaeus.  Throughout Mark’s journey section Jesus’ disciples have been blind both to his destiny to suffer, die and rise in Jerusalem and to the demands of following him (see Mk 9:31-38; 9:30-37; 10:32-45).  The journey began with Jesus healing a blind man at Bethsaida who was brought to him by others and gradually came to his sight.  Now it concludes with Jesus giving sight to blind Bartimaeus who himself repeatedly begs, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”

Because of his persistent and faith-filled request, Jesus “calls” him, not simply to be physically healed from blindness, but to become a believing disciple who will follow him on the road to his suffering and resurrection in Jerusalem.  Notice how frequently variations of the word “call” occur in the story.  When Jesus hears Bartimaeus’ cry, he says, “Call him over.”  We are told, “they called the blind man over” with the words, “You have nothing whatever to fear from him!  Get up!  He is calling you!”  With that the blind man throws aside his cloak, jumps up, comes to Jesus and begs: ‘Rabboni, I want to see.’  The account does not end simply with Jesus restoring Bartimaeus’ sight, but with his invitation to follow him in a life of faith as a disciple. “Jesus said in reply, ‘Be on your way.  Your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and started to follow him up the road.”

29th Sunday B

29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: Isaiah 53:10-11     Hebrews 4:14-16       Mark 10:35-45

Today’s readings challenge us with the cost of Christian discipleship, modeled on Jesus, who identifies his mission with the suffering servant of Second Isaiah.  For the followers of Jesus greatness consists, not in lording it over others, but in selfless service in imitation of “the Son of Man,” who “has not come to be served but to serve and to give his life in ransom for the many” (Mk 10:45).

The first reading is taken from the fourth so-called Servant Song of Second Isaiah. It begins with the confession of a group that has witnessed the ignominious life and death of the servant but now realizes that his sufferings were borne, not for his own sins, but for theirs.  In the verses before our reading they confess: “We had all gone astray like sheep,/ each following his own way;/ but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all.”  This new understanding of God’s servant was undoubtedly influenced by the suffering of prophets like Moses, Jeremiah and possibly Second Isaiah himself.  In retrospect, they now realize: “The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.”  But the servant’s suffering and death are not the last words here.   They have come to realize that “If he (the servant) gives his life as an offering for sin/ he shall see his descendants in a long life,/ and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him.”   By voluntarily offering his suffering and prophetic mission as a sacrifice to atone for the nation’s sin, the servant brings salvation for others.  Clearly Jesus, who “has not come to be served but to serve and to give his life in ransom for the many,” has modeled himself on this servant.  In the last lines, the Lord himself speaks of his servant’s triumph and the salvation his innocent suffering will bring.  “Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days;/ through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,/ and their guilt he shall bear.”

The Epistle continues the selections from Hebrews with an exhortation to the community to hold fast to its original profession of faith because it has in Jesus a sympathetic high priest who knows weakness and temptation.  Although Hebrews presents the resurrected Jesus as the great high priest who has passed through the heavens, it also stresses that in his earthly existence he was perfected through suffering, obedience, and testing (see 2:10-18).  Therefore, he is able to sympathize and offer mercy and favor to the readers who have also endured great suffering because of the faith (see 10:32-34) and may now be tempted to apathy or apostasy (see 3:7-4:13; 5:11-6:12; 10:35-39).

The gospel reading follows Jesus’ third and most explicit passion and resurrection prediction in Mark, as he deliberately completes his journey to Jerusalem to fulfill his destiny (Mk 10:32-34; see 8:31; 9:30-31).  For the third time, the obtuse disciples fail to grasp the harsh reality and significance of Jesus’ passion for his Messianic destiny, and he must teach them that discipleship means a life of self-sacrificing service modeled on his own life (see Mk 8:32-38; 9:32-37). 

Despite the fact that Zebedee’s sons, James and John, have been a part of the inner circle of disciples from the beginning (see Mk 1:19-20; 5:35-43; 9:2-13), they ignore their master’s words and impertinently request positions of honor at his right and left when he comes into glory in his Messianic kingdom (10:35-37).  In exasperation, Jesus exclaims, “You do not know what you are asking!”  He then asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”  With complete misunderstanding, they confidently respond, “We can.”  This answer is bitterly ironic in light of their cowardice in Gethsemane, where they will sleep in Jesus’ hour of agony and then desert when he is arrested (Mk 14:32-50).

The other disciples are not spared in this selection.  They had previously argued about greatness after the second passion prediction (9:33-37), and now are indignant at James and John’s request.  Jesus has to teach them all about the revolutionary nature of God’s kingdom.  Just as they had learned that worldly riches are a hindrance for entrance into the kingdom (10:17-31), now Jesus proclaims that greatness in the kingdom is not based on a powerful exercise of authority, making its “importance felt,” but on humble service (diakonia), like that of a servant (doulos) who serves the needs of all.  This service is rooted in Jesus’ own mission as the servant spoken of in Second Isaiah, who give his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45; Isa 53:11-12). “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you.  Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be slave of all.  For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

28th Sunday B

28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: Wisdom 7:7-11      Hebrews 4:12-13         Mark 10:17-30

“My sons, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” As Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem in Mark’s Gospel, he challenges us to abandon whatever may hinder complete devotion to the kingdom.  He offers the call of discipleship “with love” and assures us that the reward is a full community life “in this present age” and everlasting life “in the age to come.”

In the first reading the author of the Book of Wisdom takes on the persona of Solomon and prays for the gift of wisdom, rather than power, riches or health (see 1 Kings 3:6-9).  The Book of Wisdom personifies God’s wisdom as a woman who is God’s eternal spirit, creating and directing the universe and history according to a loving plan.  She is the only reality which lasts; “scepter and throne,” “gold” and “silver,” “health and comeliness” are ephemeral in comparison with her.  “Yet,” Solomon assures us, “all good things together came to me in her company.”

The Epistle reading from Hebrews is a warning to a lapsing community that it is called to union with God whose word is both “living and effective” and “sharper than any two-edged sword.”  Faced with the awesome prospect of being judged by this word that “penetrates and divides soul and spirit,” we should remain steadfast in our fidelity to our original calling.

The Gospel is divided into three sections: Jesus’ encounter with the rich man, his teaching to the disciples on the danger of riches for those who would enter the kingdom of God, and his assurance to Peter that those who have sacrificed for the kingdom will be blessed in this life and the next. In his dialogue with the rich man, Jesus lovingly offers him “treasure in heaven,” the kind of lasting wisdom that Solomon prayed for in the Wisdom reading.  When the man claims to want a “share in everlasting life” and insists that he has observed the commandments of the law for that purpose, Jesus challenges him to sell his merely temporal goods and give them to the poor.  But sadly he cannot part with his “many possessions.”  After the man has gone away “sad,’ Jesus warns his disciples that earthly riches are a hindrance for entrance into the kingdom.  To illustrate the folly of trying to enter “the kingdom of God” with earthly possessions Jesus pictures a camel, loaded with baggage, trying to squeeze through a needle’s eye. But then he concludes the dialogue on a hopeful note.  When the disciples express their doubt that anyone can be saved under such demanding conditions, Jesus assures them: “For man it is impossible but not for God.  With God all things are possible.” At this point, Peter reminds Jesus that the disciples, in sharp contrast to the rich man, “have put aside everything to follow you!”  Jesus then assures him that, although a life of discipleship will involve persecution, it will be blessed with rich community fellowship in this world and the everlasting life of the kingdom in the next. “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

27th Sunday B

27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: Genesis 2:18-24   Hebrews 2:9-11  Mark 10:2-16

“May you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!” (Ps 128:6).  This joyful blessing from the responsorial psalm expresses the spirit of today’s readings, celebrating the God-given gift of sexuality and the dignity of marriage and family.

The Genesis story recounts the creation of woman from the rib of man and thereby affirms her equality with man, the goodness of the sexual attraction between man and woman, and the importance of the marital bond as the basis for family life.  In a charmingly innocent manner, the Lord God reflects: “It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a suitable partner for him.” None of the various animals created from the earth “proved to be the suitable partner for man,” and so the Lord God creates the woman from one of the man’s ribs, the bones closest to his heart. When she is presented like a precious gift to the man, he exclaims with recognition and joy: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones/ and flesh of my flesh . . .”   The narrator then tells us that this God-given attraction between the sexes is the basis for marriage and family life. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh” (Gen 2:24).

This Sunday is the first of several weeks when the Epistle will be from Hebrews, an anonymous treatise arguing that Jesus has brought to completion the sacrificial traditions of Judaism.  Today’s selection celebrates Jesus our “leader  to . . . salvation,” who shared our human nature to the point of being perfected “through suffering.”  According to Hebrews, Jesus entered the human condition so that “he might taste death for everyone” and then lead them “to glory.”  The oneness of Jesus and the Father with our humanity is beautifully affirmed in the closing verse of the reading. “He (Jesus) who consecrates and those who are being consecrated.  All have one origin.  Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

In the gospel Jesus, on the basis of the dignity of marriage, protects women from mistreatment by not allowing divorce for arbitrary reasons and offers to his disciples the receptivity of “a child” as the model for entrance into the kingdom of God.  Our selection continues Mark’s account of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem in which he both prepares his disciples for his impending death and resurrection and instructs them in the demands of discipleship.  When the Pharisees attempt to test Jesus on the question of divorce, he has the opportunity to teach about God’s intentions in the creation of man and woman and to overturn Moses’ command which allowed a man (not a woman) to simply divorce his spouse by writing “a bill of divorce” (see Deut 24:1-4).

According to Jesus, Moses’ commandment was a concession to human “hardness of heart” and did not represent God’s original intention expressed in the Genesis creation story.  God’s will is that husband and wife should “become one flesh,” and so Jesus concludes by commanding: “Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”  When Jesus is alone with his disciples, he explains that a person (man or woman) who divorces and remarries is committing adultery against the rejected partner.  Notice that Jesus’ teaching is aimed at protecting marriage and the rights of the rejected partner.  Other New Testament writings do allow certain exceptions to the ideal articulated in Mark (see Matt 5:32; 19:9; 1 Cor 7:10-16).

The episode involving Jesus and the “little children” concludes Jesus’ teaching about marriage and family.  When the disciples scold parents for bringing their children to be touched by Jesus, he commands that they be allowed to come to him and uses them as the model for the open receptivity that is necessary for entrance into God’s kingdom.  “Let the children come to me . . .for the kingdom belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”