Readings for Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20
This story of the succession of the kingship of Israel to King Joash begins with the fulfillment of the prophecy that the house of the sons of King Ahaziah would suffer God’s wrath. We see in the beginning of this story Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah learning of her son’s death. He was in fact a price of Judah (see 2 Chronicles 22:9ff) killed by Jehu. This action sets off the sequence of events that ends with the rightful king – Joash, installed and the return of Israel to faithful worship and another suppression of Baal worship (note: Baal was not a single god but had many guises depending upon the region. In Holy Writ the various forms are not usually distinguished.)
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 132:11, 12, 13-14, 17-18
R. The Lord has chosen Zion for his dwelling.
Psalm 132 is a song of thanksgiving song by the community as they remember the establishment of God’s salvation expressed in the Davidic dynasty. The promise of God is fulfilled in Jesus, the Messiah, who comes from the house of David to rule forever.
Gospel Matthew 6:19-23
Jesus concludes his sermon with a caution about placing importance on “treasures on earth.” In this context, St. Matthew’s Gospel also recalls the Lord’s analogy using the as a symbol of seeking one’s desires. Here we see that if what we seek is of darkness (material wealth) as contrasted with seeking the light (spiritual wealth) how dark will that spirit inside us be?
Reflection:
As we grow older, our view of time changes. We have heard many times how a brush with death causes a person to come to grips with his or her own mortality. Yet, for the most part, we go through our lives thinking in terms of tomorrow, next week, next month or on rare occasions, next year. It seems the furthest out we seem to go is when we are looking at retirement and what kind of stability we can provide for ourselves. With the current crop of “Baby-Boomers” coming to retirement age, we hear more and more about 401Ks and retirement planning – how we need to plan so we can enjoy the rewards of the “Golden Years”.
One would think that with all this attention paid to retirement planning that one might think in even longer terms. If we think about it, in the United States today a typical retirement expectation is that a person will retire at around 68 or 70 (some wealthier might even retire at 55). With current life expectations, that means that the “Golden Years” may last for 20-40 years at the longest. At the end of that time, another phase in our lives begins – eternity. Since once the body dies we do not have to worry about things like heath insurance and a fixed income, the planning we did for our financial health is now meaningless. What is important at that time is what we planned for with what we did with our lives.
That is what Jesus spoke about in the Gospel of St. Matthew. That is what the story from 2 Kings should have reminded us. Only the greatest figures in history are even remembered (who even remembers what was accomplished by some of the Kings of Israel?) so out of the six billion people on earth, who are we trying to impress with our wealth, our treasure, our power, our prosperity? Before someone says it; yes, we need to provide for our selves and our families. Yes, we should use the gifts God gave us to the fullest extent of our abilities. But where is the true treasure? What are we storing up and how do we see the “Golden Years”.
Jesus reminds us today that what we need to store up is “…treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal”. We need to come as close to the Lord as we possibly can in terms of our character. That means love of God, love of others, service to all. Our prayer today is that we see our response to the Lord, not just as our duty as Christians, but that it becomes our passion so that like the Lord says; “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Proclaiming Joash king” by Edward Bird, c. 1815
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20
This story of the succession of the kingship of Israel to King Joash begins with the fulfillment of the prophecy that the house of the sons of King Ahaziah would suffer God’s wrath. We see in the beginning of this story Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah learning of her son’s death. He was in fact a price of Judah (see 2 Chronicles 22:9ff) killed by Jehu. This action sets off the sequence of events that ends with the rightful king – Joash, installed and the return of Israel to faithful worship and another suppression of Baal worship (note: Baal was not a single god but had many guises depending upon the region. In Holy Writ the various forms are not usually distinguished.)
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 132:11, 12, 13-14, 17-18
R. The Lord has chosen Zion for his dwelling.
Psalm 132 is a song of thanksgiving song by the community as they remember the establishment of God’s salvation expressed in the Davidic dynasty. The promise of God is fulfilled in Jesus, the Messiah, who comes from the house of David to rule forever.
Gospel Matthew 6:19-23
Jesus concludes his sermon with a caution about placing importance on “treasures on earth.” In this context, St. Matthew’s Gospel also recalls the Lord’s analogy using the as a symbol of seeking one’s desires. Here we see that if what we seek is of darkness (material wealth) as contrasted with seeking the light (spiritual wealth) how dark will that spirit inside us be?
Reflection:
As we grow older, our view of time changes. We have heard many times how a brush with death causes a person to come to grips with his or her own mortality. Yet, for the most part, we go through our lives thinking in terms of tomorrow, next week, next month or on rare occasions, next year. It seems the furthest out we seem to go is when we are looking at retirement and what kind of stability we can provide for ourselves. With the current crop of “Baby-Boomers” coming to retirement age, we hear more and more about 401Ks and retirement planning – how we need to plan so we can enjoy the rewards of the “Golden Years”.
One would think that with all this attention paid to retirement planning that one might think in even longer terms. If we think about it, in the United States today a typical retirement expectation is that a person will retire at around 68 or 70 (some wealthier might even retire at 55). With current life expectations, that means that the “Golden Years” may last for 20-40 years at the longest. At the end of that time, another phase in our lives begins – eternity. Since once the body dies we do not have to worry about things like heath insurance and a fixed income, the planning we did for our financial health is now meaningless. What is important at that time is what we planned for with what we did with our lives.
That is what Jesus spoke about in the Gospel of St. Matthew. That is what the story from 2 Kings should have reminded us. Only the greatest figures in history are even remembered (who even remembers what was accomplished by some of the Kings of Israel?) so out of the six billion people on earth, who are we trying to impress with our wealth, our treasure, our power, our prosperity? Before someone says it; yes, we need to provide for our selves and our families. Yes, we should use the gifts God gave us to the fullest extent of our abilities. But where is the true treasure? What are we storing up and how do we see the “Golden Years”.
Jesus reminds us today that what we need to store up is “…treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal”. We need to come as close to the Lord as we possibly can in terms of our character. That means love of God, love of others, service to all. Our prayer today is that we see our response to the Lord, not just as our duty as Christians, but that it becomes our passion so that like the Lord says; “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Proclaiming Joash king” by Edward Bird, c. 1815
No comments:
Post a Comment