Readings for Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Bar 1:15-22
The author of the Book of Baruch is thought to be a secretary of the Prophet Jeremiah. As such the book was written after the Babylonian exile so what we hear today, rather than being a prayer written during that exile is actually a reflective prayer (of penitence and atonement) used, according to scholars, leading up to the feast of Booths. (Note, the first line in today’s reading is not scriptural but rather inserted in the Missal as a summary of the introduction.)
Responsorial Psalm Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Psalm 79 picks up the penitential note from Baruch. It is a communal lament in which the assembly reflects upon the punishment endured because they have sinned against God and disregarded his law. Following this admission, there is a plea for mercy and a promise of atonement.
Gospel Lk 10:13-16
Like the reading from Baruch, the fist line is a “sense line” allowing the reading to stand alone. The passage is in fact a continuation of the instructions being given to the seventy (two) who are being sent out. The Lord instructs them to issue a call to repentance to those who reject the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The punishment of these unbelieving communities will be severe as their rejection of the call to holiness is a rejection of Christ himself “And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
Reflection:
The common thread through all of the selections from Holy Scripture given today is one of repentance. Baruch offers a prayer of repentance from the Jews in exile. That event, they believed, was a result of their disobedience to God’s law and their sin in his eyes. That same “cause and effect” or “sin and punishment” view of God is shown in the song from Psalm 79; “O Lord, how long? Will you be angry forever?”
The Gospel, which is actually a continuation of the Lord’s instructions to the Seventy (Two), captures that angry judgment by God when his children go astray. In this case, however, the judgment is earned, not because the people of the communities identified did not follow God’s law, but rather because they rejected God in the person of his Son and the salvific mission upon which he was sent. Summarized, the selection of the Gospel we heard today says – God sent you salvation and you turned your back, now you must suffer the consequences.
Note the subtle difference in understanding how God works. The Jews before the coming of Jesus believed that the ill fortune that befell them was a direct punishment from God. They believed that God actually caused bad things to happen because they had sinned. The Lord, our Savior, changes that concept. He shows us that it is not God the loving Father who causes bad things to happen, rather it is the choices we make that lead us down dark paths.
God, who sent his only Son into the world that we might have eternal life, is not likely to visit the punishments of the world on the children he loved so much. But in creating us in His own image, he gave us free will; the ability to choose the bad and the good. When we turn our backs on the saving hand of God, we must accept what is “behind door number two.”
Today our prayer is that we will make the right choices and to accept the loving help he provides. We also pray for our brothers and sisters, since we all live together, their choices affect us. We are called to love one another and whoever is injured because they make a wrong choice, injures us as well.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture is “Seventy Disciples are Sent, Two by Two” by James Tissont, 1886-96
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Bar 1:15-22
The author of the Book of Baruch is thought to be a secretary of the Prophet Jeremiah. As such the book was written after the Babylonian exile so what we hear today, rather than being a prayer written during that exile is actually a reflective prayer (of penitence and atonement) used, according to scholars, leading up to the feast of Booths. (Note, the first line in today’s reading is not scriptural but rather inserted in the Missal as a summary of the introduction.)
Responsorial Psalm Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Psalm 79 picks up the penitential note from Baruch. It is a communal lament in which the assembly reflects upon the punishment endured because they have sinned against God and disregarded his law. Following this admission, there is a plea for mercy and a promise of atonement.
Gospel Lk 10:13-16
Like the reading from Baruch, the fist line is a “sense line” allowing the reading to stand alone. The passage is in fact a continuation of the instructions being given to the seventy (two) who are being sent out. The Lord instructs them to issue a call to repentance to those who reject the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The punishment of these unbelieving communities will be severe as their rejection of the call to holiness is a rejection of Christ himself “And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
Reflection:
The common thread through all of the selections from Holy Scripture given today is one of repentance. Baruch offers a prayer of repentance from the Jews in exile. That event, they believed, was a result of their disobedience to God’s law and their sin in his eyes. That same “cause and effect” or “sin and punishment” view of God is shown in the song from Psalm 79; “O Lord, how long? Will you be angry forever?”
The Gospel, which is actually a continuation of the Lord’s instructions to the Seventy (Two), captures that angry judgment by God when his children go astray. In this case, however, the judgment is earned, not because the people of the communities identified did not follow God’s law, but rather because they rejected God in the person of his Son and the salvific mission upon which he was sent. Summarized, the selection of the Gospel we heard today says – God sent you salvation and you turned your back, now you must suffer the consequences.
Note the subtle difference in understanding how God works. The Jews before the coming of Jesus believed that the ill fortune that befell them was a direct punishment from God. They believed that God actually caused bad things to happen because they had sinned. The Lord, our Savior, changes that concept. He shows us that it is not God the loving Father who causes bad things to happen, rather it is the choices we make that lead us down dark paths.
God, who sent his only Son into the world that we might have eternal life, is not likely to visit the punishments of the world on the children he loved so much. But in creating us in His own image, he gave us free will; the ability to choose the bad and the good. When we turn our backs on the saving hand of God, we must accept what is “behind door number two.”
Today our prayer is that we will make the right choices and to accept the loving help he provides. We also pray for our brothers and sisters, since we all live together, their choices affect us. We are called to love one another and whoever is injured because they make a wrong choice, injures us as well.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture is “Seventy Disciples are Sent, Two by Two” by James Tissont, 1886-96
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