Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catechism Links [1]
 
CCC 852: The Spirit of Christ sustains the Christian mission
CCC 905: Evangelizing by the example of life
CCC 1808, 1816: Courageous witness of faith overcomes fear and death
CCC 2471-2474: Bear witness to the truth
CCC 359, 402-411, 615: Adam, Original Sin, Christ the New Adam

“Landscape with Christ and His Disciples”
by Francisque Millet, c. 1660

 
Readings for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time [2]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
 
Readings and Commentary: [4]
 
Reading 1: Jeremiah 20:10-13
 
I hear the whisperings of many:
"Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!"
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
"Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him."
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!
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Commentary on Jer 20:10-13
 
Jeremiah is near despair as the plots of his family and friends are fomented against him. We can clearly hear the fear in his voice (“All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine”). Yet, in spite of his dire situation, he trusts that God will support him. Indeed, he is hoping that God will not only save him but will punish those who plot against him.
 
This is a typical Old Testament understanding of the God of Justice, who visits his wrath on the enemies of the faithful. We see also an interesting observation about the path of the faithful: “O Lord of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart,” implying that the path of faithfulness is always difficult.
 
CCC: Jer 20:7-18 2584
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
 
R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
 
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my children,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
 
I pray to you, O Lord,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O Lord, for bounteous is your kindness;
in your great mercy turn toward me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
 
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the Lord hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!"
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
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Commentary on Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
 
Psalm 69 is an individual lament. The psalmist sings of great trials and perils, describing the singer’s dire situation. Faith and hope in the Lord, says the song, sustains those in need. It draws heavily on the image of the faithful servant who suffers but remains dedicated to God’s law and works. Even in the face of this intense social embarrassment, the psalmist must be faithful because “zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.” The imagery in this song forces us to look forward to the passion, as Christ’s punishment is prophetically envisioned.
 
CCC: Ps 69:10 584
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Reading 2: Romans 5:12-15
 
Brothers and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—
for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,
though sin is not accounted when there is no law.
But death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those who did not sin
after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,
who is the type of the one who was to come.
 
But the gift is not like the transgression.
For if by the transgression of the one the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.
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Commentary on Rom 5:12-15
 
St. Paul has just concluded a description of the sin of Adam, the “original sin.” Though this action, says St. Paul, sin entered the world; although before the Law of Moses, sin was not defined and therefore “sin is not accounted when there is no law.” Nevertheless, even though sin was not defined before Moses, “death reigned from Adam to Moses” (sin is sin even when unnamed).
 
St. Paul continues describing how through one man, Adam, sin entered the world. But the mercy of God was even greater in providing Jesus, his Son, the “New Adam,” through whom all sins were forgiven in his one heroic sacrifice of atonement.
 
"We believe that in Adam all have sinned. From this it follows that, on account of the original offense committed by him, human nature, which is common to all men, is reduced to that condition in which it must suffer the consequences of that Fall [...]. Consequently, fallen human nature is deprived of the economy of grace which it formerly enjoyed. It is wounded in its natural powers and subjected to the dominion of death which is transmitted to all men. It is in this sense that every man is born in sin. We hold, therefore, in accordance with the Council of Trent, that Original Sin is transmitted along with human nature, ‘not by imitation but by propagation,’ and is, therefore, incurred by each person individually." [5]
 
CCC: Rom 5:12-21 388; Rom 5:12 400, 402, 602, 612, 1008
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Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33
 
Jesus said to the Twelve:
“Fear no one.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
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Commentary on Mt 10:26-33
 
Jesus concludes his instructions to the apostles as he sends them out. Here he tells them that they go with his authority and his purpose which may be hidden from others but which they will proclaim from “the housetops.” He tells them not to fear the persecution he has told them they will face, because while the body may be killed, their souls are safe with him. He concludes this passage telling them that the Father is watching over them and they have nothing to fear.
 
“Jesus’ command to his disciples 'not to fear men' is not only a personal encouragement privately given by a teacher to his helping followers.  It is important to see this whole passage or election, instruction, and sending forth in the context of God’s choosing of prophets for himself, to do his work in the world. What might be called the 'subtext' of this passage is the divinity of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Word of the Father, active in history and performing sovereign actions that only God himself performed in the Old Testament.” [6]
 
CCC: Mt 10:28 363, 1034; Mt 10:29-31 305; Mt 10:32-33 1816; Mt 10:32 14, 2145
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Reflection:
 
How many times in movies have we heard the phrase: “Don’t look down!”  We picture the scene: A person is on a rickety ladder or an unstable scaffold spanning a deadly drop.  The novice is petrified and cannot move, staring down to almost certain death.  And behind them, the calm hero or heroine says: “Don’t look down.”  “Look up,” or “look ahead.” The Lord is telling his disciples that they will face resistance and persecution when they go out on the mission to which they are being sent.
 
The Gospel tells of the Lord’s calm assurance as he sends his friends out upon the mission upon which he was also sent.  We suspect that, while his disciples were not fully trained rabbis, they had a good background in Mosaic Law and the prophets.  They would have been familiar with the stories of how the great prophetic figures (like Jeremiah in the first reading) had been attacked and persecuted.  They would have known that in many cases this persecution led even to death. 
 
In the Gospel the Lord tells them that they are correct.  The mission upon which he is sending them will be difficult.  There will be persecution and attacks, even from the people he is sending them to help. Then Jesus tells them: “Don’t look down.”  In a very real sense, he tells them to look up.  Look up in faith to God the Father.  Your spirit is safe in his loving hands.
 
Paul defines the difference between the soul before Christ’s sacrifice and after.  He reminds us that these disciples, who are being sent into harm’s way, may be in physical danger, but because Jesus opens the gates of heaven, slammed shut in Adam’s “Original Sin,” they are safe from death in the eternal life promised by God and guaranteed by the sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son.
 
Because the Lord has not yet fulfilled that part of his mission, the disciples must accept on faith that what the Lord is promising, he will fulfill.
 
The message for us in Scripture is very clear.  First, through our baptism in which we had the sin of the first Adam washed away, we received the blessing of the New Adam, Jesus, who provides us with what we could call “eternal life insurance.”  It is our safety net.  Like those first friends of his, we are sent into a world that does not want to hear the message of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Like those first disciples we will face persecution for our beliefs and likely even attacks as the secular world becomes ever more unaccepting of the truth Christianity offers.
 
If we hear this message to boldly go out and proclaim the Good News with our words and actions and become afraid, the Lord whispers in our ear: “Don’t be afraid.  Don’t look down.  Look up.”  That is how we are encouraged today.  We are sent, and we are given food for the journey that allows us to go out knowing the Lord is with us.
 
Pax
 

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[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture used is “Landscape with Christ and His Disciples” by Francisque Millet, c. 1660.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio
[4] 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.
[5] "Creed of the People of God", 16, St. Paul VI, Pope.
[6] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 577.