Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

 

During the Third Week of Lent (especially in cycles B and C when the Gospel of the Samaritan Woman is not read on the Third Sunday of Lent) optional Mass Texts are offered.

“Get Behind Me, Satan”
by Ilya Repin,1895

Readings for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading I: Jeremiah 7:23-28
 
Thus says the LORD:
This is what I commanded my people:
Listen to my voice;
then I will be your God and you shall be my people.
Walk in all the ways that I command you,
so that you may prosper.
 
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,
I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.
Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;
they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either;
when you call to them, they will not answer you.
Say to them:
This is the nation that does not listen
to the voice of the LORD, its God,
or take correction.
Faithfulness has disappeared;
the word itself is banished from their speech.
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Commentary on Jer 7:23-28
 
In this oracle, the Prophet Jeremiah, speaking with the voice of God, reminds the people that the Lord desires fidelity from them and they are not listening. The prophet’s plea echoes what Moses heard in Deuteronomy 4:1, asking the people to turn away from sin and be faithful. In this passage Jeremiah is referring to man’s fallen nature as he points to “the hardness of their evil hearts.”
 
In the final verse of this passage Jeremiah says: “Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.” The people rejecting the “word” predict rejection of the Messiah, the Word made flesh.
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
 
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
 
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R.  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
 
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R.  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
 
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R.  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
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Commentary on Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
 
This part of Psalm 95, commonly used as the invitatory psalm for the Liturgy of the Hours, is a song of thanksgiving. In these strophes the incident at Meribah is remembered (Exodus 17:3-7), and God’s undeserved mercy proclaimed. The community is rejoicing that the Lord is God and that he has brought us salvation in spite of our forebears' obstinacy. We are encouraged to listen to the Lord, even if what we are asked to do is difficult.
 
CCC: Ps 95:1-6 2628; Ps 95:7-8 2659; Ps 95:7 1165; Ps 95:9 2119
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Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
 
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
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Commentary on Lk 11:14-23
 
In the Gospel from St. Luke we find Jesus, even in the face of his miraculous cure of the mute, being rejected by the people. They accuse him of representing a false god – Baal (the Jewish people nicknamed Baal – Beelzebul, “Lord of the Flies”).
 
In response to the crowd asking for a “sign,” Jesus (equating belief in the false god Baal with Satan) forcefully rejects that notion. He sees in their request for a sign the desire to see a different kind of sign, a sign that would validate their view of what the Messiah should be, kingly and powerful in secular rule.
 
Jesus attacks their logic by saying that no kingdom could stand if its servants attacked each other. He makes it clear that by attacking evil he demonstrates that he comes from God. He goes on using analogy to say that God will always conquer evil (God is stronger than the strongest evil), and further, rejecting God’s Son amounts to standing on the side of evil.
 
CCC: Lk 11:20 700; Lk 11:21-22 385
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Reflection:
 
Today we are given some of God's insight into the mind of mankind.  In Jeremiah, we are reminded of how the Hebrews, God's chosen ones, had, time and time again, turned away from God and been seduced by a secular society that provided more hedonistic pleasures.  We hear the prophet, in what sounds like a forlorn entreaty, imploring them to turn once more to faithfulness. 
 
The prophet's call is followed by the psalmist who remembers Meribah: literally, "contention," the place where the Israelites quarreled with God, and Massah: "testing," the place where they put God to the trial. As we know, there is within it a prayer for us, that we not grow stubborn like our fathers did.
 
Finally, in the Gospel from Luke, we see Jesus sparring with disbelievers of his own place and time.  They wanted a royal messiah, one who would come in glory, openly challenging the Roman domination.  When they asked him for a sign, that's what they wanted: a sign of power.  Jesus must have been exasperated with them.   But, if we had been there, could we have accepted this humble (but charismatic) carpenter from Galilee as the one predicted?
 
The theme that unifies our Scripture today is a call, yet again, for repentance.  On Ash Wednesday a little over three weeks ago we were told to "repent and believe in the Gospel."  We hear that message again today.  We cannot afford to be seduced by what secular society calls success and what Beelzebul calls good.  We are called to a higher standard and offered a greater reward.
 
Pax
 
Stations of the Cross
 

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[1] The picture is “Get Behind Me, Satan” by Ilya Repin,1895.
[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.