| Reading 1 | Response | Reading 2 | Gospel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gn 3:9-15 | Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 | 2 Cor 4:13-5:1 | Mk 3:20-35 |
| RCL: Gn 3:8-15 |
Discipleship: healing broken relationships, creating new families
During Ordinary time the Lectionary presents stories and teachings from Jesus’ everyday ministry. This week’s readings focus on choices and consequences, from ruptured relationships to choosing to create and to live in new relationships.
First reading (Gn 3:9-15)
The first reading is from Genesis, the first book of Torah. Genesis tells the stories of the world’s creation, Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark and the flood, the Tower of Babel, and the lives of the patriarchs. Genesis introduces Hebrew and Christian scriptures’ key themes: God causes everything; there is only one God; God has a personal relationship with humans; the divine/human relationship is essential, applying not only to God’s relationship with people, but also to the peoples’ relationships with each other.
In today’s pericope, the Genesis author tells the story of human overreach and its consequences. God’s question (“Where are you?”) echoes the broken divine/human relationship. The human desire to “be like gods” and the human choice to violate God’s boundary (“I had forbidden you to eat”) destroys the relationship. God judges the snake, the woman, and the man. God’s sentences are etiologies (stories that give the causes or origins of things): why snakes crawl on the ground, why humans are afraid of snakes, why humans act the way they do. Although the humans break their relationship with God and God judges and sentences them, God does not abandon them. God compassionately arranges for the humans’ needs, a pattern God repeats throughout Hebrew scripture. Whenever humans break the divine/human relationship, God finds a way to restore balance.
The Lectionary editors pair this reading with today’s gospel because later Jewish and Christian thought associates the snake with the devil.
Second reading (2 Cor 4:13-5:1)
The second reading is the fourth part of an eight-week, semi-continuous reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinth ekklesia. Paul writes this letter (or a series of letters) to continue the Corinthians’ instruction, sharing his own apostolic work as an example. Written throughout 57 AD, Paul’s letter describes how a believer’s life reveals God’s power and authority, which shines through and empowers a believer’s own human weaknesses and trials.
In today’s pericope, Paul tells the Corinthians that he “believes and speaks” (preaches) that the God “who raised Jesus” from death “will also raise” those who believe. All that Paul does and encounters (traveling, preaching, apostolic work, personal afflictions) is for the Corinthians’ benefit (“everything indeed is for you”), so that they, too, experience God’s “abundant grace” as Paul has. Even though his missionary work is physically demanding (“our outer self is wasting away”), his work revitalizes and recharges Paul’s spiritual life (“our inner self is being renewed day by day”). He contrasts his present challenges (“momentary light affliction”) with a future glory with God that is “beyond all comparison;” the now’s visible and transitory with the future’s unseen eternal. What awaits Paul and all believers beyond a physical body (“earthly dwelling, a tent”) is an eternal, resurrected body (“a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands”). This certain faith stands behind all Paul’s words and actions.
The Lectionary editors chose this reading to continue Ordinary time’s semi-continuous reading from Second Corinthians.
Gospel (Mk 3:20-35)
Mark’s pericope is a classic “Marcan sandwich.” Mark begins a story about Jesus’ relatives traveling to save him, interrupts the story with a controversy about possession, evil spirits, and God’s spirit, then finishes the story teaching about new families and discipleship.
- Saving Jesus from himself. Concerned for his well-being, Jesus’ family decides to go from Nazareth to Capernaum where Jesus is preaching. They think Jesus is “out of his mind” (in Greek, literally “standing outside himself”) and want to care for him.
- Jesus conspires with demons? Meanwhile in Capernaum, Jerusalem scribes pronounce that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul (Hebrew for “lord of flies” or “lord of dung,” another name for the devil). They argue that if Jesus were a good person, he would avoid evil persons; but because he seeks out the possessed, he must be possessed.
In response, Jesus asks simply, “How can Satan drive out Satan?” He then points out that if an intruder (“robber”) plans to rob a “strong man,” the intruder needs to restrain the strong man first. In this case, the intruder (Satan), who plans to rob the strong man (Jesus, see Mk 1:7), is failing to subdue the strong man; Jesus’ successful exorcisms prove that.
Although Jesus’ opponents attack his exorcisms (“he drives out [lesser] demons by the prince of demons”), Jesus speaks about forgiveness (“all sins and all blasphemies will be forgiven”). Jesus teaches that the only “unforgivable” sin is refusing to see God’s spirit present in all humans (see Ps 51:11). Mark criticizes Jesus’ opponents who say Jesus does not have God’s spirit of holiness, but an “unclean spirit.” - Jesus redefines families through discipleship. When Jesus’ mother and brothers reach Capernaum, Mark contrasts the crowd seated around and staying with Jesus with his family standing outside. That is, the crowd in the house listening to Jesus has taken the place of a conventional family. Jesus then redefines his family as “whoever does God’s will,” his definition of discipleship. In Mark’s gospel, people define themselves by their words and actions, not by external labels (“family,” “scribe,” “unclean”).
Summary and reflection
This week’s readings ask us to think about covenantal relationships. The Genesis author describes how humans selfishly chose to break God’s covenant relationship, and how God judged and sentenced the snake. Paul describes his certain faith that sustains his work, and invites the Corinthians to experience God’s abundant grace. Jesus confronts his opponents’ refusal to see God’s spirit in his saving works, and invites disciples into a new covenantal family that does God’s will.
The readings suggest that refusing to recognize and to accept God’s always-present and reconciling spirit lies at the heart of human unhappiness. God continuously offers covenantal love, but humans seem to prefer to go it alone. How do we respond when God asks us, “Where are you?” What sustains our work and relationships? Why do we find it hard to believe that God wants every person to be part of the divine family?
—Terence Sherlock
The Lectionary In Context 