Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Readings for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading I: Jeremiah 7:23-28
Thus says the LORD:
This is what I commanded my people:
Listen to my voice;
then I will be your God and you shall be my people.
Walk in all the ways that I command you,
so that you may prosper.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,
I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.
Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;
they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either;
when you call to them, they will not answer you.
Say to them:
This is the nation that does not listen
to the voice of the LORD, its God,
or take correction.
Faithfulness has disappeared;
the word itself is banished from their speech.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 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. The prophet’s plea echos that of Moses heard in Deuteronomy 4:1. In this passage Jeremiah is referring to man’s fallen nature as he points to “the hardness of their evil hearts”
In the final verse of this passage Jeremiah says “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: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm 95 is a song of thanksgiving. The opening verses invite the singer to give thanks to God who is the shepherd of the people and who created all things. In the final strophes the psalmist reminds the singer of God’s displeasure when the people do not listen to Gods voice or recall his saving works. The final strophe reiterates Jeremiah’s prophetic argument, reminding us how our fathers grew stubborn in the wilderness (Exodus 17:1-7) when at Meribah and Massah they challenged and provoked God.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
There is a sense of irony in scripture today. In the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, the prophet begins his discourse with almost the same words spoken by all of the major prophets “Thus says the LORD: This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice;”
We know that at sometime following these words the people to whom they were addressed will reject them. It is as if a child is being told “don’t touch that button”, we know the very next thing that child will do is touch the button. Or perhaps more appropriately it is like a parent telling a teenager they should not do something (teenagers are the reason reverse psychology was invented). If the injunction is strong enough and the consequences are either not apparent or far enough in the future, it’s almost like inviting them to do what we have forbidden or at least tried to dissuade them.
The point is, time and again, God sent prophets to his adopted children to try to get them to do the things that would lead them to happiness. But like unruly children they rejected the prophets. They said a various times that other religions were more fun. Baal had temple prostitutes for instance. That religion was much more alluring than one in which God’s rules said lust was sinful and that coveting what was not theirs was a bad thing.
It had been this way with all the prophets. So was it any wonder that in the Gospel we see the people rejecting Jesus’ invitation, even in the face of the miraculous works of healing he was performing? It was most probably the Scribes and Pharisees that were challenging him in this case. They would have been the ones who would have been made to look bad because they had not had similar authority to cast out unclean spirits.
In other cases and times the Lord would have used a parable to help them understand what had happened and how they needed to accept him as the Messiah or suffer dire consequences, but in this case he was very blunt. He tells them in no uncertain terms that if they cannot accept him they are against him and they will be cast down in the end.
What does this message mean for us? In addition to the obvious – that we must accept Christ as the Son of God, the Gospel calls our attention to our brothers and sisters who have chosen an easier path have gone the way of Baal (or hedonism or atheism, etc.). We must reach out to those who have gone in those directions; gently and lovingly inviting them back. And while we are doing that we must also look at where we are and make sure we have not inadvertently turned our back on the Lord seeking signs and wonders from some other false God (Technology, Mammon).
The Lord is pretty unequivocal. He tells us “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” As for us we must choose the Lord.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “The Jews as Jesus for a Sign” by an UNKNOWN; Illustrator of Jerome Nadal's 'Evangelicae Historiae Imagines', 1593
[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.
Readings for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading I: Jeremiah 7:23-28
Thus says the LORD:
This is what I commanded my people:
Listen to my voice;
then I will be your God and you shall be my people.
Walk in all the ways that I command you,
so that you may prosper.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,
I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.
Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;
they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either;
when you call to them, they will not answer you.
Say to them:
This is the nation that does not listen
to the voice of the LORD, its God,
or take correction.
Faithfulness has disappeared;
the word itself is banished from their speech.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 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. The prophet’s plea echos that of Moses heard in Deuteronomy 4:1. In this passage Jeremiah is referring to man’s fallen nature as he points to “the hardness of their evil hearts”
In the final verse of this passage Jeremiah says “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: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm 95 is a song of thanksgiving. The opening verses invite the singer to give thanks to God who is the shepherd of the people and who created all things. In the final strophes the psalmist reminds the singer of God’s displeasure when the people do not listen to Gods voice or recall his saving works. The final strophe reiterates Jeremiah’s prophetic argument, reminding us how our fathers grew stubborn in the wilderness (Exodus 17:1-7) when at Meribah and Massah they challenged and provoked God.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
There is a sense of irony in scripture today. In the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, the prophet begins his discourse with almost the same words spoken by all of the major prophets “Thus says the LORD: This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice;”
We know that at sometime following these words the people to whom they were addressed will reject them. It is as if a child is being told “don’t touch that button”, we know the very next thing that child will do is touch the button. Or perhaps more appropriately it is like a parent telling a teenager they should not do something (teenagers are the reason reverse psychology was invented). If the injunction is strong enough and the consequences are either not apparent or far enough in the future, it’s almost like inviting them to do what we have forbidden or at least tried to dissuade them.
The point is, time and again, God sent prophets to his adopted children to try to get them to do the things that would lead them to happiness. But like unruly children they rejected the prophets. They said a various times that other religions were more fun. Baal had temple prostitutes for instance. That religion was much more alluring than one in which God’s rules said lust was sinful and that coveting what was not theirs was a bad thing.
It had been this way with all the prophets. So was it any wonder that in the Gospel we see the people rejecting Jesus’ invitation, even in the face of the miraculous works of healing he was performing? It was most probably the Scribes and Pharisees that were challenging him in this case. They would have been the ones who would have been made to look bad because they had not had similar authority to cast out unclean spirits.
In other cases and times the Lord would have used a parable to help them understand what had happened and how they needed to accept him as the Messiah or suffer dire consequences, but in this case he was very blunt. He tells them in no uncertain terms that if they cannot accept him they are against him and they will be cast down in the end.
What does this message mean for us? In addition to the obvious – that we must accept Christ as the Son of God, the Gospel calls our attention to our brothers and sisters who have chosen an easier path have gone the way of Baal (or hedonism or atheism, etc.). We must reach out to those who have gone in those directions; gently and lovingly inviting them back. And while we are doing that we must also look at where we are and make sure we have not inadvertently turned our back on the Lord seeking signs and wonders from some other false God (Technology, Mammon).
The Lord is pretty unequivocal. He tells us “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” As for us we must choose the Lord.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “The Jews as Jesus for a Sign” by an UNKNOWN; Illustrator of Jerome Nadal's 'Evangelicae Historiae Imagines', 1593
[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.
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