Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Readings for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1 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. In this passage we see Jeremiah referring to man’s fallen nature (not quite Original Sin) as he points to “the hardness of their evil hearts”
In the final verse of this passage we hear something echoed in the Gospel today; “Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.” The people rejecting the “word” would seem to predict rejection of the Messiah, the Word made Flesh.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Psalm 95 is a song of thanksgiving familiar to all of those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours. It is used as the Invitatory (the invitation to prayer) each morning. In the final strophes we see it relate to Jeremiah’s prophetic argument, reminding us how our fathers grew stubborn in the wilderness (of the Exodus) when at Meribah and Massah they challenged and provoked God.
Gospel Lk 11:14-23
In the Gospel from St. Luke we find Jesus, in spite of his miraculous cure of the mute, being rejected by the people. The accuse him of representing a false God – Baal (the Jewish people nicknamed Baal – Beelzebul “Lord of Flies”).
In response to the crowd asking for a “sign”, Jesus (basically equating that false belief in 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.
Homily:
We are given two pieces of scripture today that speak to the battle that rages between light and darkness. The path we walk has many branchings and we have to make daily decisions about which way to turn. How often the way that seems easiest, most pleasant, most rewarding is the wrong way.
We see in scripture that we are being called to decide – who do our actions say we follow? We profess that we follow the one Lord with our mouths, just as the people of Jeremiah’s day. But God asks more than “lip service”. He calls us; Christ calls us to stand up and be counted through our actions.
When we hear in the Gospel how he is challenged, we understand that it is easy for us to stand with those ancient Jews and ask God to be what we want him to be. We ask him to show us a sign that the easy course is best; we rationalize that, since God loves us, He must want us to accept the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We must ask ourselves who offers us that apple.
Today the message is clear, the Gospel even summed it up for us; “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” I hate to be cliché but; “What’s in your wallet?”
Pax
[1] After 04/07
[2] The image presented today is “St Michael and the Satan” by Raffaello Sanzio, 1518
Readings for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1 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. In this passage we see Jeremiah referring to man’s fallen nature (not quite Original Sin) as he points to “the hardness of their evil hearts”
In the final verse of this passage we hear something echoed in the Gospel today; “Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.” The people rejecting the “word” would seem to predict rejection of the Messiah, the Word made Flesh.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Psalm 95 is a song of thanksgiving familiar to all of those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours. It is used as the Invitatory (the invitation to prayer) each morning. In the final strophes we see it relate to Jeremiah’s prophetic argument, reminding us how our fathers grew stubborn in the wilderness (of the Exodus) when at Meribah and Massah they challenged and provoked God.
Gospel Lk 11:14-23
In the Gospel from St. Luke we find Jesus, in spite of his miraculous cure of the mute, being rejected by the people. The accuse him of representing a false God – Baal (the Jewish people nicknamed Baal – Beelzebul “Lord of Flies”).
In response to the crowd asking for a “sign”, Jesus (basically equating that false belief in 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.
Homily:
We are given two pieces of scripture today that speak to the battle that rages between light and darkness. The path we walk has many branchings and we have to make daily decisions about which way to turn. How often the way that seems easiest, most pleasant, most rewarding is the wrong way.
We see in scripture that we are being called to decide – who do our actions say we follow? We profess that we follow the one Lord with our mouths, just as the people of Jeremiah’s day. But God asks more than “lip service”. He calls us; Christ calls us to stand up and be counted through our actions.
When we hear in the Gospel how he is challenged, we understand that it is easy for us to stand with those ancient Jews and ask God to be what we want him to be. We ask him to show us a sign that the easy course is best; we rationalize that, since God loves us, He must want us to accept the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We must ask ourselves who offers us that apple.
Today the message is clear, the Gospel even summed it up for us; “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” I hate to be cliché but; “What’s in your wallet?”
Pax
[1] After 04/07
[2] The image presented today is “St Michael and the Satan” by Raffaello Sanzio, 1518
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