Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

“Christ with His Disciples”
by Jorgan Roed c. 1880

 
Readings for Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: Genesis 9:1-13
 
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them:
“Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.
Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth
and all the birds of the air,
upon all the creatures that move about on the ground
and all the fishes of the sea;
into your power they are delivered.
Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat;
I give them all to you as I did the green plants.
Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.
For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting:
from every animal I will demand it,
and from one man in regard to his fellow man
I will demand an accounting for human life.
 
If anyone sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
For in the image of God
has man been made.
 
Be fertile, then, and multiply;
abound on earth and subdue it.”
 
God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.”
God added:
“This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.”
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Commentary on Gn 9:1-13
 
The first section of this reading provides God’s blessing and instructions to Noah and his sons who are to repopulate the earth. They first receive dominion over all life, as man did at the creation, with no dietary restrictions save one: don’t eat raw meat or living flesh. “Because a living being dies when it loses most of its blood, the ancients regarded blood as the seat of life, and therefore as sacred. Although in itself the prohibition against eating meat with blood in it is comparable to the ritual laws of the Mosaic code, the Jews considered it binding on all men, because it was given by God to Noah, the new ancestor of all mankind; therefore the early Christian Church retained it for a time (Acts 15:20, 29)” [4] There follows a short statement that prefigures the Ten Commandments – thou shall not kill.
 
The Lord then goes on to establish and seal his covenant with the earth in the person of Noah, using the rainbow as an eternal symbol. In this covenant, God promises not to destroy the earth using a great flood ever again.
 
CCC: Gen 8:20-9:17 2569; Gen 9:1-4 2417; Gen 9:5-6 2260; Gen 9:8-16 2569; Gen 9:9 56
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 and 22-23
 
R. (20b) From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
 
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
 
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
"The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die."
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
 
The children of your servants shall abide,
and their posterity shall continue in your presence,
That the name of the LORD may be declared in Zion,
and his praise, in Jerusalem,
When the peoples gather together,
and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
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Commentary on Ps 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 and 22-23
 
Psalm 102 is an individual lament. In these strophes, we find the cry of the people in the desert once more being directed to the Lord. The psalmist, expressing trust in the mercy of God, asks for a release from suffering and bondage for the people (“The Lord looked down from his holy height, from heaven he beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die”). The singer gives us a prayer of thanksgiving for the restoration of the people to Israel after the Diaspora. God brought them back from their captivity and reestablished them in Zion. The prayer prefigures God’s salvation offered in the New Jerusalem – God’s heavenly kingdom.
 
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Gospel: Mark 8:27-33
 
Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
 
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
 
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
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Commentary on Mk 8:27-33
 
This selection from St. Mark’s Gospel is pivotal for the original audience. Up to this point in Jesus' public ministry he has been thought of by those who meet him as a prophet and teacher – a Holy Man. That view changes as St. Peter identifies him as “Christ,” the Messiah. Because the popular expectations about the Messiah differed greatly from the image and demeanor of Jesus, the Lord instructs them not to broadcast his true identity. After silencing them (his closest friends), Jesus uses the title “Son of Man” (see Daniel 7:13-14). He goes on to explain that “the Son of Man” (see NAB note on Mark 8:31), using his true humanity as a title, must go through suffering and humiliation before his final victory.
 
This frightens the disciples, and probably confuses many of the entourage (remember, there were more than just the 12 following Jesus around).  Peter confronts Jesus asking him to take a different approach to what he tells his students. Seeing this request as an invitation or temptation to take a different path, Jesus rebukes Peter and lashes out; “Get behind me Satan.”
 
CCC: Mk 8:27 472; Mk 8:31-33 557; Mk 8:31 474, 572, 649
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Reflection:
 
“Who do you say that I am?”  That question is one that is asked of us each day.  It is so easy to answer with the “right” answer. Like Peter, our lips announce that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, the Savior of the world predicted by the prophets.  The actions that flow from that profession of faith, however, say what we really think.
 
I was listening to a motivational speech by Jerry Linenger recently as he described his mission to the Mir Space Station.  He was saying that, after he came back to earth after being in space for 5 months, he had difficulty adjusting to the presence of gravity.  On the space station when he had finished writing he would simply set his pen in the air beside him. Upon his return he caught himself doing the same, expecting it to just float there as it did in space.  He was always surprised to hear it dropping.  He joked that he broke a bunch of glasses at home that way, and his wife ended up making him drink out of one of his toddler son’s sippy cups.
 
The point of this anecdote is that if he were asked, “Is there gravity?”, his answer would be, “Of course there is gravity.”  However, his reactions were not consistent with his words.  His subconscious memory of the lack of gravity caused him to behave as if things were weightless.
 
“Who do people say that I am?”   We must look at our reactions, our instinctive behavior and understand our answer from the heart.  Our goal must be to subconsciously act as Christ would have us act.  When that happens, we know that we have succeeded in putting on the mind of Christ.
 
It is difficult, we know.  It may be impossible (like lifting your right foot and moving it in a clock wise direction and trying to write the number six with your right hand – your foot will reverse directions against your conscious will. – Don’t waste too much time trying to prove me wrong).  We continue to strive for that goal.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture used is “Christ with His Disciples” by Jorgan Roed c. 1880.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] NAB footnote on Genesis 9:4.