Readings for Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 1 Peter 1:18-25
Following St. Peter’s call to holiness, he reminds the five churches that they were saved from their sin by the perfect sacrificed of Christ (the Blood of the Lamb) who was raised from the dead so they might have hope in the resurrection to eternal life.
The passage concludes, again with a call to actions that reflect the grace they are given in Baptism (“…You have been born anew”). This rebirth is not just through water but the Word (Logos) which is eternal and is food for the soul (“…from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God”).
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Psalm 147 is a hymn of praise. In this second section of the song, the Lord is praised for sending food that sustains the people. The final strophe also rejoices that the Law was handed on to them through Jacob.
Gospel Mark 10:32-45
This Gospel passage starts with the third prediction of the Passion in St. Mark’s Gospel. The sons of Zebedee take this opportunity (thinking the time for Christ to come into glory) to ask for places of honor when he assumes his place. The Lord responds with the metaphors of “drinking the cup he will drink” and “being baptized with the baptism with which he will be baptized” symbolic of his passion and death. When the brothers respond in the affirmative, Jesus predicts that they will follow him in martyrdom but that only God can give them the places of honor they request.
When the disciples become upset at James and John, Jesus uses the opportunity to explain “servant leadership”. Unlike secular leaders who autocratically order their subjects about, the servant leader comes to lead by example and service to those being lead. He concludes by describing his own role “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Reflection:
The theme today is a familiar one, a comforting one. It has been stated simply “Love one another as I have loved you.” It is explicit in St. Peter’s letter as he speaks to those early Christians. He reminds them that their salvation, their path to eternal life was made possible only through the perfect sacrifice offered by Jesus. We are freed from our failure to love by the perfect love of Christ who offered himself up as the Passover Lamb whose blood consecrates those who believe in him.
In the Gospel we first are reminded (actually for the third time in St. Mark’s Gospel) that Jesus, when he finally arrives in Jerusalem, will be handed over to the Chief Priests who will take him to the gentiles where he will be undergo his passion and death. This demonstration of love is completely missed by his disciples who insist on continuing to think of leadership and their own gain from associating with Jesus a popular holy man.
Others may have thought it, but James and John, the brothers, were the ones who asked for places honor when Jesus came into his kingdom (not their mother as in Matthew 20; 20ff). Jesus loved them and it was probably with profound tenderness that he asked them; “Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And when they answered and said they could, again in love, the Lord, seeing how their own lives would end said “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”. They would also be put to death for the sake of the truth – God loves us.
This message of love is so basic for us, so central to who Jesus is and was, that we sometimes look past that motive to its impact on the world. It is that transformative power of love that he uses to direct his disciples. It is with love they are to lead and from love that they will offer their lives, confident that they too will share in the ultimate gift of that love, eternal life.
Like the blanket we could not part with as children the fundamental message of Jesus comes to us once more. We pray today that we can live up to that call and promise, loving all we meet as Christ loves us.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Christ Predicts His Passion” by Hesdin of Amiens, 1450-55
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 1 Peter 1:18-25
Following St. Peter’s call to holiness, he reminds the five churches that they were saved from their sin by the perfect sacrificed of Christ (the Blood of the Lamb) who was raised from the dead so they might have hope in the resurrection to eternal life.
The passage concludes, again with a call to actions that reflect the grace they are given in Baptism (“…You have been born anew”). This rebirth is not just through water but the Word (Logos) which is eternal and is food for the soul (“…from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God”).
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Psalm 147 is a hymn of praise. In this second section of the song, the Lord is praised for sending food that sustains the people. The final strophe also rejoices that the Law was handed on to them through Jacob.
Gospel Mark 10:32-45
This Gospel passage starts with the third prediction of the Passion in St. Mark’s Gospel. The sons of Zebedee take this opportunity (thinking the time for Christ to come into glory) to ask for places of honor when he assumes his place. The Lord responds with the metaphors of “drinking the cup he will drink” and “being baptized with the baptism with which he will be baptized” symbolic of his passion and death. When the brothers respond in the affirmative, Jesus predicts that they will follow him in martyrdom but that only God can give them the places of honor they request.
When the disciples become upset at James and John, Jesus uses the opportunity to explain “servant leadership”. Unlike secular leaders who autocratically order their subjects about, the servant leader comes to lead by example and service to those being lead. He concludes by describing his own role “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Reflection:
The theme today is a familiar one, a comforting one. It has been stated simply “Love one another as I have loved you.” It is explicit in St. Peter’s letter as he speaks to those early Christians. He reminds them that their salvation, their path to eternal life was made possible only through the perfect sacrifice offered by Jesus. We are freed from our failure to love by the perfect love of Christ who offered himself up as the Passover Lamb whose blood consecrates those who believe in him.
In the Gospel we first are reminded (actually for the third time in St. Mark’s Gospel) that Jesus, when he finally arrives in Jerusalem, will be handed over to the Chief Priests who will take him to the gentiles where he will be undergo his passion and death. This demonstration of love is completely missed by his disciples who insist on continuing to think of leadership and their own gain from associating with Jesus a popular holy man.
Others may have thought it, but James and John, the brothers, were the ones who asked for places honor when Jesus came into his kingdom (not their mother as in Matthew 20; 20ff). Jesus loved them and it was probably with profound tenderness that he asked them; “Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And when they answered and said they could, again in love, the Lord, seeing how their own lives would end said “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”. They would also be put to death for the sake of the truth – God loves us.
This message of love is so basic for us, so central to who Jesus is and was, that we sometimes look past that motive to its impact on the world. It is that transformative power of love that he uses to direct his disciples. It is with love they are to lead and from love that they will offer their lives, confident that they too will share in the ultimate gift of that love, eternal life.
Like the blanket we could not part with as children the fundamental message of Jesus comes to us once more. We pray today that we can live up to that call and promise, loving all we meet as Christ loves us.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Christ Predicts His Passion” by Hesdin of Amiens, 1450-55
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