Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Readings for Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Readings and Commentary:[3]

Reading I: 1 Kings12:26-32; 13:33-34

Jeroboam thought to himself:
“The kingdom will return to David’s house.
If now this people go up to offer sacrifices
in the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem,
the hearts of this people will return to their master,
Rehoboam, king of Judah,
and they will kill me.”
After taking counsel, the king made two calves of gold
and said to the people:
“You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough.
Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan.
This led to sin, because the people frequented those calves
in Bethel and in Dan.
He also built temples on the high places
and made priests from among the people who were not Levites.
Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month
on the fifteenth day of the month
to duplicate in Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah,
with sacrifices to the calves he had made;
and he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places he had built.

Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this,
but again made priests for the high places
from among the common people.
Whoever desired it was consecrated
and became a priest of the high places.
This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam
for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.
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Commentary on 1 Kgs12:26-32; 13:33-34

Following the break up of the Davidic Kingdom under Solomon’s rule, Jeroboam tries to insure that the kingdom will not be reunited because of Mosaic Law and creates graven images and temples other than the temple in Jerusalem. He violates Mosaic Law on numerous points and, because he is unrepentant and has led many to sin against God, he and his line are doomed to be wiped out.

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 106:6-7ab, 19-20, 21-22

R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

We have sinned, we and our fathers;
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

They made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
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Commentary on Ps 106:6-7ab, 19-20, 21-22

Psalm 106 is a national lament. The psalmist recalls the times the chosen people failed to follow the Law of Moses, being seduced by foreign religions and barbaric practices. The flight from Egypt is remembered and how the people sinned – creating graven images even thought they had been rescued by God’s mighty hand at the Red Sea.

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Gospel: Mark 8:1-10

In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,
Jesus summoned the disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
because they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
If I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will collapse on the way,
and some of them have come a great distance.”
His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
to satisfy them here in this deserted place?”
Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?”
They replied, “Seven.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
and they distributed them to the crowd.
They also had a few fish.
He said the blessing over them
and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.
There were about four thousand people.
He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples
and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
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Commentary on Mk 8:1-10

Today we have one of the major miracles, the multiplication of loaves and fishes. There are actually two accounts; (Mark 8:1-10; above and Mark 6:31-44). It is proposed by some scholars that this is actually the same event told from two different traditions, but regardless, the implication is Eucharistic.

Much can be speculated about this event. The number of the loaves being 7 would seem to indicate, through Hebrew numerology, the fullness of loaves was present. The fact that they all ate until they were satisfied (spiritually?) would indicate that the meal was complete. The fragments left over filled 7 baskets; again that perfect number is used.

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Reflection

It is said that those who ignore the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. This is a wise saying and one we take to heart as we examine the fall of Solomon and the subsequent machinations of Jeroboam. We step back today because we have been watching this saga unfold for the past weeks. We saw the rise of King David and how God anointed him. With the exception of the one big mistake with Bathsheba, he was faithful to what God asked of him and even in sin he was repentant. The people saw this and followed him.

Next came his son Solomon, a good and wise young man, filled with dedication to the people. His prayer brought him wisdom and wealth, power over the whole domain and even as the power of leadership came to him, he abused it, married foreign women and adopted pagan religious practices and fell. He fell not just because of his excesses but because he failed to provide an example of faith to those who looked to him.

Jeroboam seized upon this weakness and, because there was no credible central leader, Solomon having betrayed the Law of Moses, he was able to widen the gulf between the people and God’s Law. He committed the sin of Aaron, building not one but two golden calves. He told the people they did not have to go to Jerusalem (that was a difficult journey and he offered an easier alternative). Because it was easier and because it was more in line with their baser instincts the people followed Jeroboam into sin.

Does this sound familiar? Do the elements ring of more recent failures? When civic leaders offer more comfortable alternatives, when they tell us our God is not a Just God, but his rules are too harsh and they offer us more pleasant alternatives, are we not on the same path? When our leaders tell us that God would not want us to have children we did not plan for; or when they tell us the potential for human life should be sacrificed in the name of science so others might live more pleasant lives, are we not walking the same path as those who followed Jeroboam so eagerly?

Moral leadership is something we need at all levels, not just in the federal government. We need it locally and we need it in our schools, our workplaces, and in our homes. Ultimately it is our responsibility to lead based upon Christ’s law of love. It is our responsibility to challenge those who offer an easier way that leads to death. The life of the Christian may never be an easy one, but if we are faithful, it will last an eternity.

Pax

[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Jeroboam Offering Sacrifice for the Idol” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1752
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.