25 November 2018: Solemnity of Christ the King

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
Dn 7:13-14	Ps 93:1, 1-2, 5	Rv 1:5-8	Jn 18:33b-37

The king who serves his kingdom’s subjects

 On this final Sunday of the liturgical year, the Lectionary asks RCIA participants and the believing community to think about different kinds of kings and kingdoms, and Jesus’ invitation to God’s kingdom.

The first reading from Daniel uses apocalyptic symbols and language to describe how God (“the Ancient One”) invests the son of man with “rule, honor, and kingdom.” Jewish hearers understand the “son of man” as a symbol of Israel, God’s people, whom God chooses to lead “all peoples, nations, and languages” to worship God together. Christian hearers interpret the “Son of Man” as Jesus, whom God sends to save and to call “all peoples, nations, and languages” into God’s eternal kingdom. That is, God’s kingdom is a community.

The second reading is from the opening of the book of Revelation, a Christian apocalypse. John the Seer uses symbolic language and titles to describe Jesus’ role in God’s saving plan: faithful witness refers to Jesus’ obedience to God’s plan in his passion and transformative death; firstborn of the dead refers to God’s raising Jesus, vindicating his life and work; and ruler of the kings of the earth refers to God’s glorification of Jesus at God’s right hand. Using baptismal language, John also reminds his believing community that they are also “kings, priests for God.”

John’s gospel recounts Jesus’ encounter with Pilate. Pilate interrogates Jesus about being a king, while Jesus invites Pilate to be part of God’s kingdom.

• What is a king? Pilate, the Roman ruler in Judea, asks Jesus if he is “the king of the Jews.” In Pilate’s mind, a king rules people with absolute authority. Pilate’s concern is that Jesus is a political threat to Roman order in Judea (Pilate’s office) or to the emperor. Pilate misses the point that “king of the Jews” is a messianic title. Inviting Pilate to faith, Jesus asks, “Do you believe I am the messiah, or did someone tell you I am the messiah?” Pilate disassociates himself from his Jewish subjects and rejects their messianic king. Concluding Jesus isn’t really a king, Pilate questions, “What did you do to be sent to me?” Jesus’ answer shifts the discussion from kings to kingdoms.

• What is a kingdom? Jesus tells Pilate that his kingdom isn’t geographically located in this world. That is, unlike a bounded territory commanded by a king, Jesus’ kingdom is a community of believers everywhere: it’s not a “here,” it’s a “who.” Pilate, his thinking stuck in a king’s role and kingdom’s geography, concludes, “So you are a king.” Hearing Pilate’s continuing confusion, Jesus reveals the kind of “king” he is.

• What is Jesus’ kingship? Jesus defines his kingship through his identity and his mission: he is the incarnate Son whose mission is to witness to the truth. In John’s gospel, “the truth” is the revelation of God to humans. Jesus makes God present in his physical person, in his words, and in his actions. Everyone who encounters God listens to Jesus’ words and is invited into God’s kingdom. This is Jesus’ kingship: revelation, invitation, service. Ironically, Pilate, who encounters the Truth in person, dismisses Jesus’ revelation and invitation, cynically snapping: “What is truth?”

Today’s readings overturn the symbols and language of kings and kingdoms. God’s kingdom is not a limited, earthly kingdom; it is a universal community of believers who serve their king by inviting and serving others. What king do we choose to follow? To what kingdom do we pledge allegiance? Whom do we invite? Whom do we serve?

—Terence Sherlock

18 November 2018: Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary time

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
Dn 12:1-3	Ps 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11	Heb 10:11-14, 18	Mk 13:24-32

Continuous conversion and watchfulness

 On the last Sunday of Ordinary time, the Lectionary readings present apocalyptic visions and teachings. These readings are an appropriate close to the liturgical year, encouraging us to find our places in the final age of salvation history.

The first reading from the book of Daniel is written in an apocalyptic style. A writer uses this literary style to give hope and comfort to an oppressed community. Apocalypses follow a specific format. First, the author lists historical and present events that oppress his community. Next, the author describes future events vaguely in symbolic language, showing how the oppression will worsen (tribulation or testing). Finally, the author describes end-time events in which God overthrows the oppressors and vindicates the faithful community. In today’s reading, Daniel describes only the end-time events. The author’s message is optimistic and comforting: the just who “lead many to justice” will be spared from the end-time distress and live forever. The Lectionary editors chose this reading to match the “little apocalypse” of today’s gospel.

The second reading is the final continuous reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. Today’s reading again contrasts the Jewish high priests with Jesus. The Temple priests’ daily sacrifices could not forgive sin (Heb 10:11); Jesus offered a single sacrifice that forgave all sins and that gave him a permanent place at God’s right hand. Jesus remains with God, waiting the final outcome of his work (Heb 10:12-13; cf. Ps 110:1). Through his transformative death Jesus brought about the new covenant that Jeremiah foretold (Jer 31:33-34). Jesus’ sacrifice renders meaningless all other offerings for sin (Heb 10:14-18). Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist, we participate in Jesus’ transformative sacrifice.

Mark’s gospel places Jesus in Jerusalem, at the end of his public ministry. Mark’s “little apocalypse” links all Jesus’ preceding teachings (Mk 1-12) with his passion, death and resurrection (Mk 14-16). Jesus’ teachings about the end times, the Son of Man’s return (parousia), and the fulfillment of God’s kingdom interpret both his life and ministry as well as the meaning of his death and resurrection. Today’s reading has two parts:

• The Son of Man’s coming. Like Daniel in the first reading, Jesus uses an apocalyptic style to describe the end times. First, cosmic signs in the heavens indicate the end of this age. Then, the Son of Man (a figure Jesus borrows from Daniel) appears in great power and glory to gather all the elect (the ones tested by tribulations and who remained faithful to Jesus’ teachings) into God’s kingdom. For Mark’s community in Rome who had recently suffered persecutions under Nero, Jesus’ message offers both hope and vindication.

• Parable of the fig tree. Fig trees are one of the most common trees found throughout the Middle East. After hearing this parable, every time a disciple saw a fig tree, he or she would remember Jesus’ warning to pay attention. By placing this parable at the end of Jesus’ ministry, Mark connects Jesus’ first teaching of metanoia (“change your mind/heart”) in Mk 1:15 with his final teachings in Mk 13 on the need for watchfulness. That is, metanoia means continuous conversion; the believing community must be always ready for the Son of Man’s return.

Apocalyptic writing can confuse modern readers. Because God’s kingdom exists beyond the limits of human thought and speech, scripture uses imaginative language and paradoxes to describe it. Although we live in the age of tribulations and testing, we are surrounded by the kingdom’s signs, as common as a fig tree’s bud and bloom. Are we paying attention? Is our metanoia as continuous as the changing seasons? Are we always ready to meet the Son of Man?

—Terence Sherlock

11 November 2018: Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary time

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
1 Kgs 17:10-16	Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10	Heb 9:24-28	Mk 12:38-44 or Mk 12:41-44

Lessons in giving service

 During Ordinary time the Lectionary readings present stories and teachings from Jesus’ everyday ministry. This week’s readings present RCIA participants and the believing community with contrasting stories of greed and generosity.

The first reading from the first Book of Kings tells the story of Elijah and a widow. At God’s command, Elijah proclaims a drought against Israel, the northern kingdom. God sends Elijah to the town of Zarephath. God commanded a widow there to feed Elijah. The widow has only a handful of flour and a little oil to feed herself and her son. Trusting Elijah as a prophet, the widow feeds him; she is then able to feed herself and her son for a year from the jar of flour and jug of oil. The story’s primary focus is the power of God’s word spoken through the prophet. The Lectionary editors chose this reading for its secondary focus: the widow’s generosity in giving the prophet all she had.

The second reading continues the continuous reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. Today’s reading again contrasts the Jewish high priests with Jesus. First, while the high priests offer sacrifices in an earthly, material sanctuary (“a copy”), Jesus completes his sacrifice in the presence of God in heaven. Next, the high priests repeated their atoning sacrifices yearly (on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement), Jesus made his offering only once (on the cross). Finally, the high priests sacrificed animals and offered animal blood as atonement; Jesus offered himself and his own blood as his saving act.

Mark’s gospel places Jesus in Jerusalem, teaching in the temple area. Mark presents two teachings, connected by the word “widow.” In the first teaching (Mk 12:38-40), Jesus’ criticizes some scribes’ attitudes and actions (especially in their treatment of widows); in the second teaching (Mk 12:41-44), Jesus comments on a widow’s Temple donation.

• The scribe’s place in society. A scribe was someone who could read and write: an educated man. Because they were knowledgeable in the Torah, the basis of Jewish law, scribes acted as both lawyers and theologians. That is, they both interpreted Mosaic law and wrote contracts and administrative documents based on the law. Their expertise positioned them for leading roles in Jewish society. The Torah forbade scribes from taking payment for their rabbinical teaching. To compensate, scribes developed other ways to make a living off others–charging legal fees, managing estates (“devouring the households of widows”), or sponging off benefactors.
  
  Jesus accuses the scribes of abusing their religious positions to make a profit on society’s most defenseless members. 

 

• The widow’s place in society. According to Jewish law, a woman whose husband had died had no inheritance rights. Widows relied on sons or male relatives for legal and financial support; a widow without sons turned to scribes for legal help in managing their personal money (“households”). (A greedy scribe could quickly eat up a widow’s meager holdings.) When such a widow’s savings were gone, she was reduced to depending on charity.
  
  Jesus comments to his disciples that the widow “gave all she had, her life.” Read in isolation, this teaching can be interpreted as praise for her generosity. But, coming immediately after his condemnation of greedy scribes, Jesus’ words can also be understood as a lament for the religious authorities’ exploitation of the poor. That is, the scribes teach the need for alms and sacrificial giving, and those contributing believe the temple authorities will redistribute the collections to the needy. Instead they spend the funds on long robes and banquets.

Today’s readings ask us to look deeply into our responsibilities to others and to ourselves. Jesus calls his followers to serve God and to serve others selflessly. When we lose sight of the purpose of our service, we destroy its good. If we use service to take advantage of others, or if we give service only as an obligation, we serve neither God nor others. Do we serve God and others responsibly? Are we doing God’s work, or our own?

—Terence Sherlock

4 November 2018: Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary time

Reading 1	Response	Reading 2	Gospel
Dt 6:2-6	Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51	Heb 7:23-28	Mk 12:28b-34

Actively loving God and neighbor

 During Ordinary time the Lectionary readings present stories and teachings from Jesus’ everyday ministry. This week’s readings give RCIA participants and the believing community a teaching about the greatest commandment.

In the first reading from the book of Deuteronomy, Moses makes his second address to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. He stresses the people’s responsibility to keep the Sinai covenant. The “great commandment” sums up the basic principle of the entire Mosaic law: because the Lord alone is God, Israel must love God with an undivided heart. The Lectionary editors chose this reading because Jesus cites these words as “the greatest and the first commandment” in today’s gospel.

The second reading continues the continuous reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. Today’s reading again contrasts the Jewish high priests with Jesus. The author argues Jesus’ superiority as follows: Jesus is holy and sinless (Heb 7:26); rather than needing to offer sacrifice every day, he instead makes a once-for-all offering of himself (Heb 7:27); and he fulfills Melchizedek’s permanent priesthood as sworn by God (see Ps 110:4) (Heb 7:28).

Mark’s gospel finds Jesus in Jerusalem, teaching in the temple area. After handling a few trick questions from the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees, Jesus is addressed by a sincere scribe who asks about “the first of all the commandments.” Jewish teachers often debated what commandment was “first” or most important (out of the Torah’s 613). Jesus’ answer includes two commandments (Dt 6:5 and Lv 19:18), suggesting that a single commandment cannot answer the scribe completely. The two love commandments together constitute the one great commandment.

• How Jesus’ culture understood “love.” In our modern, introspective, individualistic world, “love” describes an internal, psychological state that always includes affection, emotion, and feelings. However in the ancient, non-introspective, group-centered world, “love” involved external, concrete expressions that may or may not have included affection, emotion, or feelings. That is, we understand love as an emotional feeling, but Jesus’ hearers knew love as visible actions and behaviors within a family or tribal group.

• Love God. In Jesus’ time “to love God” meant to be attached exclusively to YHWH, excluding all other gods. It also meant attaching oneself to the group that associated itself with YHWH. The kinship group, the village, or the tribe mattered above all.

• Love your neighbor as yourself. In Jesus’ time, “to love the neighbor” meant to honor and to protect family, village, and tribal relationships. Honor and protection did not extend to those outside the people of Israel (see Ln 19:18). Jesus extends the limited Semitic meaning of “neighbor” when he teaches the good Samaritan parable (Lk 10:29-37). Maybe Jesus tells the scribe he is “not far from” the kingdom because the scribe needs to expand his neighborhood.

Today’s readings challenge us to examine our own understanding of the greatest commandment. We need to reflect deeply about the command to love. The Father and the Son call us to love actively, not simply “think nice things” about God and neighbor. The Father and the Son show us how to love in their words and actions; they are the models for our own lives. How do we love actively? How are we attached to God? How are we actively honoring and protecting those outside our family and tribe?

—Terence Sherlock