Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Gn 27:1-5, 15-29
We fast-forward two chapters from yesterday to Isaac’s deathbed. In this selection we hear the plot of Rebecca and Jacob to trick Isaac into giving his final blessing to Jacob, cheating his twin brother Esau out of it. This action is condemned in other parts of scripture (see Hosea (Hosea 12:3) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 9:3) and is punished by God by separating Jacob and his mother. This action shows how God takes even the weak and undeserving and uses them to His greater glory.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 135:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
Psalm 135 is a song of praise and thanksgiving. The reference in the second strophe is to God choosing Jacob which he did at the birth of the twins telling his mother “the older shall serve the younger”.
Gospel Mt 9:14-17
In this story we find two distinct responses to the question by John the Baptist’s disciples about why Jesus’ disciples do not fast in accordance with Pharisaic Law. In the first response the Lord makes reference to the reason for fasting, which is primarily mourning. How can the disciple mourn when the Good News is being proclaimed? The second response goes to the heart of the new covenant. Mosaic and Pharisaic Law cannot contain the new message of the Gospel.
Reflection:
We are again given a fairly long passage from the lives of the founders of the faith of Israel. The story today fulfills what was told to Rebecca when she became pregnant with the twin boys Esau and Jacob. Esau, though he was Isaac’s favorite because he was a hunter and outdoorsman, was to serve Jacob. Even in the womb they fought and at one point, Esau did officially (by swearing an oath) give up his birth right to Jacob. The story comes to us as one more example of how the early Hebrew people saw God’s involvement with them and theirs with him. It is a very human thing we see today as a mother puts forward her favorite to receive the inheritance that, by law, would go to her older son Esau.
If we were there, would we have asked “Why didn’t God step in?” We had seen the Lord’s active involvement with this family from the beginning. “Why didn’t God permit Esau to receive his father’s dying blessing?” Here we find ourselves getting caught up in the author’s story. We remember that this story was passed on by oral tradition for some two thousand years before it was written down and that, as faithfully as it has been preserved for us, the story was part of a tapestry of encounters with God and man’s response to him. We are shown, again and again that man can twist and turn, he can scheme and manipulate for his own purposes but in the end, God uses those machinations for his own purpose and often with surprising results.
This is a good reminder today. Haven’t each of us been at some point treated unjustly or manipulated in such a way that we were denied a just outcome. Rather than holding bitterness or even hatred for those who have “apparently” been successful in reaping their unjust rewards, let us remember that God has a way of accomplishing good out of bad and those whom He uses do not always enjoy their rewards.
The Lord bids us to pray for those who hate us and love those who declare themselves our enemies. As we remember times in our lives were we have been taken down or treated poorly, let us give thanks for our faith and that God will ultimately accomplish His glorious ends in spite of the evil we encounter.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Isaac Blessing Jacob” by Govert Teunisz Flinck, 1639
Readings for Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Gn 27:1-5, 15-29
We fast-forward two chapters from yesterday to Isaac’s deathbed. In this selection we hear the plot of Rebecca and Jacob to trick Isaac into giving his final blessing to Jacob, cheating his twin brother Esau out of it. This action is condemned in other parts of scripture (see Hosea (Hosea 12:3) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 9:3) and is punished by God by separating Jacob and his mother. This action shows how God takes even the weak and undeserving and uses them to His greater glory.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 135:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
Psalm 135 is a song of praise and thanksgiving. The reference in the second strophe is to God choosing Jacob which he did at the birth of the twins telling his mother “the older shall serve the younger”.
Gospel Mt 9:14-17
In this story we find two distinct responses to the question by John the Baptist’s disciples about why Jesus’ disciples do not fast in accordance with Pharisaic Law. In the first response the Lord makes reference to the reason for fasting, which is primarily mourning. How can the disciple mourn when the Good News is being proclaimed? The second response goes to the heart of the new covenant. Mosaic and Pharisaic Law cannot contain the new message of the Gospel.
Reflection:
We are again given a fairly long passage from the lives of the founders of the faith of Israel. The story today fulfills what was told to Rebecca when she became pregnant with the twin boys Esau and Jacob. Esau, though he was Isaac’s favorite because he was a hunter and outdoorsman, was to serve Jacob. Even in the womb they fought and at one point, Esau did officially (by swearing an oath) give up his birth right to Jacob. The story comes to us as one more example of how the early Hebrew people saw God’s involvement with them and theirs with him. It is a very human thing we see today as a mother puts forward her favorite to receive the inheritance that, by law, would go to her older son Esau.
If we were there, would we have asked “Why didn’t God step in?” We had seen the Lord’s active involvement with this family from the beginning. “Why didn’t God permit Esau to receive his father’s dying blessing?” Here we find ourselves getting caught up in the author’s story. We remember that this story was passed on by oral tradition for some two thousand years before it was written down and that, as faithfully as it has been preserved for us, the story was part of a tapestry of encounters with God and man’s response to him. We are shown, again and again that man can twist and turn, he can scheme and manipulate for his own purposes but in the end, God uses those machinations for his own purpose and often with surprising results.
This is a good reminder today. Haven’t each of us been at some point treated unjustly or manipulated in such a way that we were denied a just outcome. Rather than holding bitterness or even hatred for those who have “apparently” been successful in reaping their unjust rewards, let us remember that God has a way of accomplishing good out of bad and those whom He uses do not always enjoy their rewards.
The Lord bids us to pray for those who hate us and love those who declare themselves our enemies. As we remember times in our lives were we have been taken down or treated poorly, let us give thanks for our faith and that God will ultimately accomplish His glorious ends in spite of the evil we encounter.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Isaac Blessing Jacob” by Govert Teunisz Flinck, 1639
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