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"Scene from the Life of St Thomas Aquinas” (detail)
by Filippino Lippi, 1489-91 |
Readings for Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Hebrews 10:1-10
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come,
and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect
those who come to worship by the same sacrifices
that they offer continually each year.
Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered,
since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer
have had any consciousness of sins?
But in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins,
for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
take away sins.
For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”
First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,
burnt offerings and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.”
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this “will,” we have been consecrated
through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
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Commentary on Heb 10:1-10
The author (likely St. Paul) continues his apologia by comparing the Law of Moses to the fulfillment of the law in Christ. In vv. 5-7, a passage from Psalm 40:7-9 is placed in the mouth of the Son of God at his incarnation. This statement refutes the need of Christians to follow the Hebrew law of sin offerings (or guilt offerings, see Leviticus 5:14-19), since the Lord offered his own body “once for all” as the sacrifice that atones for sin and justifies (makes just as if no sin had been committed) the faithful.
"'The New Law', St Thomas says, 'represents the good things to come more clearly than does the Old. Firstly, because in the words of the New Testament express mention is made of the good things to come and the promise, whereas in the Old reference is made only to material good things. Secondly, because the New Testament draws its strength from charity, which is the fullness of the Law. And this charity, even if it be imperfect, is similar to Christ's charity by virtue of the faith to which it is joined. That is why the new law is called the 'law of love'. And that is also why it is called the 'true form', because it has imprinted on it the image of the good things to come' ('Commentary on Heb, ad loc.')." [4]
CCC: Heb 10:1-4 1540; Heb 10:1 128; Heb 10:5-10 606; Heb 10:5-7 462, 516, 2568; Heb 10:5 488; Heb 10:7 2824; Heb 10:10 614, 2824
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11
R. (8a and 9a) Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
R. Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.
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Commentary on Ps 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11
While Psalm 40 is a song of thanksgiving, it is also combined with a lament. This Psalm is quoted in Hebrews 10:5-7 (although the translation quoted in Hebrews is from the Septuagint translation). The intent and action God wants from us is not burnt offerings but our own faithfulness.
CCC: Ps 40:2 2657; Ps 40:7-9 LXX 462; Ps 40:7 2824
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Gospel: Mark 3:31-35
His (Jesus’) mother and brothers arrived.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers (and your sisters)
are outside asking for you.”
But he said to them in reply,
“Who are my mother and (my) brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
(For) whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”
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Commentary on Mk 3:31-35
This passage, while affirming our own adoption as brothers and sisters in Christ, does cause some confusion among those who take Scripture at face value without understanding the culture of the time. The first part of this reading from St. Mark’s Gospel is somewhat controversial in that many of the Protestant and Evangelical apologists take the term “and his brothers” to mean his familial or biological brothers. The Church teaches that Mary bore only one child – Jesus. Responding to this Scripture, Catholic Scripture scholars teach that, “in Semitic usage, the terms 'brother,' 'sister' are applied not only to children of the same parents, but to nephews, nieces, cousins, half-brothers, and half-sisters; cf Genesis 14:16; Genesis 29:15; Leviticus 10:4.” [5]
Another possible explanation, although it comes from an apocryphal source from the 2nd or 3rd centuries A.D., is that the Lord’s foster father, St. Joseph, had been previously married (and widowed). According to “The History of Joseph the Carpenter” from this first marriage, “[2.] … he begot for himself sons and daughters, four sons, namely, and two daughters. Now these are their names— Judas, Justus, James, and Simon. The names of the two daughters were Assia and Lydia.” These would have been the half-brothers and sisters of the Lord.
Because of this, when Mary comes looking for Jesus in this selection, she is, as would be expected, joined by members of the extended family. Jesus extends the family even further though his adoption of those “seated in the circle” who listen to his word and believe, telling those gathered that, “whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
CCC: Mk 3:31-35 500
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Reflection:
Today we can pause and thank God for his great gift that brought us into a new relationship with him. If Christ had not come as the perfect offering for our sins, we would still be obliged to offer sacrifices as our Hebrew predecessors did. We would be one step removed from the relationship we have in Christ who at once saved us and adopted us as children of God: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
The sense of adoption contrasted with the former relationship of the Hebrew people can be analogized by examining the relationship between ourselves and our family, and ourselves and a guest. While we treat a guest with courtesy and respect, we do not have the same love for the guest as we would for our close family member.
A guest would be welcomed to our home. A family member lives with us, sharing not just our food, but all that we have. A guest comes and stays a while and leaves, but a family member is with us and shares our lives with us, the good and the bad. A guest does not share our pain or our joy to the extent a member of our own family does. The guest is held at arm’s length, never quite achieving that place of familial intimacy that is part of the family’s members.
Jesus changed that relationship for us. He came making his Father, God, our Father. He did not bring a guest to the table, but a bride. He himself, out of his great love for us, provided the sacrificial meal. He did this so we would have intimate access to him, and through that access find life eternal with the Father.
Because of this, we should take as our prayer today the family prayer of the Church, the Lord’s Prayer. As we say “Our Father,” let us embrace the Father who has adopted us, and through his great mercy has given us life with him.
Pax.
[1] The picture used is "Scene from the Life of St Thomas Aquinas” (detail) by Filippino Lippi, 1489-91.
[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] The Navarre Bible: “Revelation and Hebrews and Catholic Letters,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 220.
[5] From the reference note on Mark 6; 3 in the NAB.
