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“Saint Justin, Martyr”
iconifer and date unknown |
Readings for Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Jude 17, 20b-25
Beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand
by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
that leads to eternal life.
On those who waver, have mercy;
save others by snatching them out of the fire;
on others have mercy with fear,
abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.
To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you unblemished and exultant,
in the presence of his glory,
to the only God, our savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord
be glory, majesty, power, and authority
from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen.
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Commentary on Jude 17, 20b-25
This passage from the Letter of Jude has the flavor of St. Peter’s epistles. It encourages the Christian community to continue to build itself in holiness through prayer and faith in the Holy Spirit. It goes on to enjoin them to encourage others to remain faithful. The reference to the those who deport themselves out of character with the community's conservative norms: “Outer garment stained by the flesh: the imagery may come from Zechariah 3:3-5, just as that of snatching . . . out of the fire comes from Zechariah 3:2; the very garments of the godless are to be abhorred because of their contagion.”[4]
CCC: Jude 24-25 2641
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
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Commentary on Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6
Psalm 63 is an individual lament. In this selection we see the emotion of one who longs to be reunited with God, from whom separation is like being cast into a desert without water. The singer professes faith in God’s salvation and expresses faith that the prayers offered will be answered.
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Gospel: Mark 11:27-33
Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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Commentary on Mk 11:27-33
This section of St. Mark’s Gospel begins a series of five “pronouncement stories.” This first story deals with a challenge to Jesus’ authority as Messiah and teacher. The chief priests (including Caiaphas, who was chief priest at that time) challenge the Lord, seeking to dissuade the people of his authenticity as teacher, and making it clear that they, the priestly aristocracy, have not supported his triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
Jesus responds to them by using John the Baptist, a popular figure and considered to be a prophet by the people, to deflect their challenge. We hear, in their internal dialogue, the difficult options they see. If they say that St. John was sent by God, they would be forced to accept his proclamation, including his pronouncement that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. If they rejected John, they would be attacked by the crowd.
The group of Hebrew leaders could find only one solution. They confessed they did not know if John’s baptism was holy or not. This ambiguous response allows the Lord to let the implication of his own holiness remain unchallenged.
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Reflection:
The Gospel passage reminds us that there will always be those whose faith will not allow them to accept the identity of Jesus. They may even think themselves to be deeply spiritual people (the priests of the temple surely thought of themselves as such). But there is something fairly common that prevents them from accepting that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God.
As with the chief priests in the Gospel, faith is always challenged by a personal agenda. That agenda may be to find acceptance with some social group, or it may be to justify actions of the individual that violate the difficult precepts of faith required of the Christian. If we examine the motives of individuals who reject the faith, we generally find one of these driving factors. We exclude, of course, some of those who have never been exposed to Jesus, but instead were indoctrinated into another faith system (e.g. Buddhists, Muslims, and others who seek the truth with sincerity).
In the case of most members of western cultures, Jesus is rejected for personal reasons because what he asks is just too difficult, or too restrictive. As an example, there was a recent article about a noted Catholic evangelist who confronted a young man who immediately began to tell him all the things wrong with the Church, past sins of the hierarchy, hypocrisy among the faithful, and the superstition of the ignorant. The list went on. At the end of his tirade, the evangelist simply asked: “You’re sleeping with your girlfriend, aren’t you?”
The point the Lord makes in the Gospel is not that we should reject those who will not see, but accept that they exist and will always be there to challenge us. The letter of Jude gives us solid advice on what to do when we encounter such as these. We pray for the wisdom to act as the Lord would, constantly reaching out with love to those who stumble and fall.
Pax
[1] The picture is “Saint Justin, Martyr” iconifer and date unknown.[2] S.S. Commemoratio[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible except for 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 Jude 23.
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