Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.”
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.”
July 23, 2011
Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
Ex 24:3-8When Moses came to the people
and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD,
they all answered with one voice,
“We will do everything that the LORD has told us.”
Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and,
rising early the next day,
he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar
and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
Then, having sent certain young men of the children of Israel
to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice young bulls
as peace offerings to the LORD,
Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls;
the other half he splashed on the altar.
Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people,
who answered, “All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do.”
Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying,
“This is the blood of the covenant
that the LORD has made with you
in accordance with all these words of his.”
Here is the blood of the Covenant… According
to the custom of the time, both parties
to the contract were sprinkled with the
blood of the victims. Since the altar represented
Yahweh, it received this sprinkled blood
on his behalf. These details should be remembered
when we read what Jesus declares at the
Last Supper, “This is the blood of the Covenant which will be shed for the multitude”
(Christian Community Bible)
Responsorial Psalm
R. (14a) Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
Gospel
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’
His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.”
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’
His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.”
When God made the world he saw that it was very good. The Church too is the Bride of Christ. This is the seed. It is perfect and capable of producing a perfect crop. But when we look at the world and see the Church we observe something different. Why? There is an enemy. He tried to destroy the Seed itself when the Word walked this earth. Jesus was too much for him and do what he could he never lured Jesus away from God’s love. Having failed with the Seed, he attacks the field. Darnel, imitation wheat, is everywhere. We don’t know who’s who? We don’t even know ourselves. Today we are so faithful but tomorrow? Who can guarantee that? Jesus is a patient farmer. He doesn’t want to lose any of us. Fortunately in real life ‘darnel’ can become wheat before the final harvest. What are you?
Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene
Reading 1
Ex 20:1-17In those days:
God delivered all these commandments:
“I, the LORD, am your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not carve idols for yourselves
in the shape of anything in the sky above
or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
you shall not bow down before them or worship them.
For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God,
inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness
on the children of those who hate me,
down to the third and fourth generation;
but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation
on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
For the LORD will not leave unpunished
him who takes his name in vain.
“Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
Six days you may labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God.
No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter,
or your male or female slave, or your beast,
or by the alien who lives with you.
In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
but on the seventh day he rested.
That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother,
that you may have a long life in the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you.
“You shall not kill.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,
nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass,
nor anything else that belongs to him.”
20.1 I am Yahweh your God. Important as the
Ten Commandments or Decalogue are, what
is still more important is the manner of presenting
them. These two precepts: do not kill,
do not steal, are taught in any civilized society.
But here, Yahweh, the living and only God,
speaks with the authority of one who has liberated
Israel from its slavery and now wants to
put it at his own service. And because he wants
to make them free citizens of a free country,
he imposes fundamental laws without which
they will revert to slavery.
To begin with, God must be recognized as
One, Holy, and Jealous: verses 3-11.
Do not have other gods before me. Yahweh
is a jealous God, different from the gods
of other people who allow rival divinities to set
up shops side by side with them and answer
petitions which they themselves cannot oblige.
As people say, “If God does not listen to me in
this church, I will go to ask in another.” Then
we have one god for war, another for rain, another
for mothers with child. All these are gods
for people who see in religion the means of
obtaining healings and benefits. In this we see
a kind of faith which hopes to obtain the maximum
from God. Yahweh, however, is not “at
the service of Israel,” and not at our service;
rather, it is we who are to serve God.
I punish the sons, the grandsons. The opposition
between “children and grandchildren”
and “a thousand generations” is a colorful way
of saying that God, of course, does not leave
sin unpunished, that he corrects the sinner, but
even so, his mercy is measureless. This phrase
clarifies the meaning of jealous God, which is
frequently used in the Bible. It means that God
does not close his eyes, that he will always restore
justice, that he will not accept those who
belong to him, betray their vocation.
See commentary on Deuteronomy 6:15.
Do not make yourself a carved image or
any likeness of anything in heaven, or on
the earth. Here are prohibited any images of
creatures which might become gods and compete
with the only One—and which require a
worship (expressed in deeds and lifestyle)
which was prohibited by God’s Law. In that
time the Cananean gods were honored with
sacred prostitution; idolatry and immorality
went together. The prohibition of images is
linked to the former: do not have other gods
before me.
Notwithstanding the prohibition against images,
the Bible arranges that the Ark of God
will rest among images: two cherubim or angels
that covered it with their wings (1 K 6:23-
28). How do you explain this contradiction?
The answer is very simple: The cherubim were
not considered gods and did not demand a
separate worship; they were spirit servants of
God. In the same manner, the Church today
approves statues of Mary and of the saints,
who are not gods but servants of the One God.
We do not ask them for something that God
does not want to give. Only He is Good (Lk
18:19) and from him proceeds all good (James
1:17). To give an example, we serve Mary only
by living in imitation of Christ. We do not expect
from her anything but what the Father
himself decides to give us through her mediation.
But it is also prohibited to make images of
Yahweh. That is because God surpasses everything
we can imagine or think about him. In
that sense, the Bible prohibits us also from
forming God to our own way of thinking. We
are inclined to imagine God according to our
own concepts, and so the faith of many vanishes
when God does not direct events in the
way they thought he should.
Why, then, do we paint pictures of Jesus?
Simply because centuries after these first
teachings of God to Moses, God came to us in
the person of his son. Paul himself does not
hesitate to use the word “image” in the Letter
to the Colossians, Christ is the image of the
unseen God (Col 1:15). In him, the apostles
saw God-made-man (1 Jn 1:1). The ferocious
ban on any image was a necessary stage in the
formation of Israel’s faith. But Moses knew
nothing concerning the coming of Christ: he
was therefore unable to say anything about the
mystery of Son and Father, even still less on
the images of Jesus. (Christian Community Bible)
Responsorial Psalm
R. (John 6:68c) Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
Gospel
On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her,
“Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he told her.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her,
“Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he told her.
Mary’s focus is Jesus. She goes to the tomb looking for Jesus. The tomb is empty and she runs to tell the apostles. She returns to the tomb. Where else to go? That was the last place she had seen Jesus. There was no point in going home. At a loss she stays there weeping. She looks into the tomb. There are two angels. She doesn’t notice them so focussed is she on Jesus. She talks to them as if they are ordinary people and had been there all the time. Her interest is Jesus. Then she sees Jesus but does not recognise him until he speaks to her. He calls her by name and she recognizes him. “I know my sheep and they know me”. She falls at his feet. But Jesus sends her on a mission. She goes at once and says to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”. Is this not the story of everyone who loves Jesus? Is it yours today?
July 20, 2011
Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
Ex 16:1-5, 9-15The children of Israel set out from Elim,
and came into the desert of Sin,
which is between Elim and Sinai,
on the fifteenth day of the second month
after their departure from the land of Egypt.
Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel
grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The children of Israel said to them,
“Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt,
as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!
But you had to lead us into this desert
to make the whole community die of famine!”
Then the LORD said to Moses,
“I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.
Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;
thus will I test them,
to see whether they follow my instructions or not.
On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in,
let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation
of the children of Israel:
Present yourselves before the LORD,
for he has heard your grumbling.”
When Aaron announced this to the whole assembly of the children of Israel,
they turned toward the desert, and lo,
the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud!
The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
“I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel.
Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,
and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,
so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.”
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.
In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,
and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert
were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.
On seeing it, the children of Israel asked one another, “What is this?”
for they did not know what it was.
But Moses told them,
“This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”
16.1 The whole community of Israel
grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Later on
we shall again meet the grumblers who are
afraid to grumble too publicly. They are not
satisfied but have no suggestions to make.
They criticize the believers but in fact they just
do not want problems.
Yahweh will give you meat… God provided
food for his people just when they lacked
everything. Numerous flocks of birds, tired
from a long flight, fell at the side of the encampment.
Other unexpected food, the manna, was also found.
This manna was probably
the resin that at times seeps out abundantly
from the brambles of the desert. In a most desperate
moment, this help was, for Israel, the
proof that God had not abandoned them. This
event is also related in Numbers 11:4.
By this, we understand that our daily bread
is a gift of God. When he invites us to take a
difficult path, he is committed to helping us
and to first giving us the bread we need.
With time, the narration of this event was
amplified. Some biblical texts seem to mean
that God sent the manna daily during 40 years:
Exodus 16:35; Joshua 5:12; Psalm 78:24;
Wisdom 16:20.
This gift of the bread which came from
heaven is mentioned in two different commentaries
in later pages of the Bible. In Deute -
ronomy 8:3: “I gave you manna to eat, to
show you that man does not live on bread
alone but that every word that comes from the
mouth of God is life for man.” See commentary
on Mark 6:35. [Mark6:35. The Bible says that from the mouth
of God comes bread, and the Word that we
need (Dt 8:3). By the act of giving bread, Jesus
demonstrates that his words are God’s words.
God gives bread to his people (Ex 16)]
Later, in the Gospel, the
manna is an image of the true bread from
heaven, Christ, which is given as food of life in
the Eucharist (Christian Community Bible)
Responsorial Psalm
R. (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
They tempted God in their hearts
by demanding the food they craved.
Yes, they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the desert?”
They tempted God in their hearts
by demanding the food they craved.
Yes, they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the desert?”
Gospel
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Jesus teaches the crowds in parables. On the surface parables are interesting stories but there is a deeper message for those who think. Jesus begins his teaching with the sower. The remarkable thing is the seed. It can produce a hundredfold. That is an unbelievable crop. A hundred bags for every bag sown. Some seed falls here and there. It is to be expected. But the seed that falls on the land prepared for it produces a great harvest. Even thirty grains to one is very good. The Word of Jesus can produce in us unbelievable results if we accept it. The sower doesn’t just sow once. Sowing time comes round again and again. We can always open ourselves to his Word. Are you ready to allow it to fall in your heart? Are you ready to receive it with all your heart? Do you want a hundredfold crop?
July 19, 2011 Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week
in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
Ex 14:21-15:1Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and the LORD swept the sea
with a strong east wind throughout the night
and so turned it into dry land.
When the water was thus divided,
the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land,
with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
The Egyptians followed in pursuit;
all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers went after them
right into the midst of the sea.
In the night watch just before dawn
the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud
upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic;
and he so clogged their chariot wheels
that they could hardly drive.
With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel,
because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians.
Then the LORD told Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea,
that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians,
upon their chariots and their charioteers.”
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth.
The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea,
when the LORD hurled them into its midst.
As the water flowed back,
it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh’s whole army
that had followed the children of Israel into the sea.
Not a single one of them escaped.
But
the children of Israel had marched on dry land
through the midst of the sea,
with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day
from the power of the Egyptians.
When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore
and beheld the great power that the LORD
had shown against the Egyptians,
they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD:
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
The liberation of Israel remains a model for
Christian history. Here we find other victories,
great and small, that have made possible the
progress of God’s Kingdom and Justice. In
these cases, too, there were groups committed
to a liberating task, who, without arms,
faced Pharaoh and his chariots, his officers,
politicians and bureaucrats.
Those who cross to the other shore are not
the same as before: the existence of the People
of God has begun. Paul would write about
it later: “All underwent the baptism of the land
and of the sea” (1 Cor 10:2), that is to say,
they safely crossed the deadly waters, thanks
to God now present in the Cloud. The Cloud
Gen in the midst of his own, leading the “baptized”
people.
We ought also to cross the sea. Christian
communities, recent converts, let us leave behind
an existence in which we lived alienated
lives, and let us discover a new meaning in life.
We cannot do this alone, but together with the
community as it matures.
Crossing of the sea. Baptism and liberation.
See Hebrews 11:23-40; 1 Peter 1:13-15;
Revelation 7:13-17; 12:10-12.
Is 30:15 15.1 The first canticle of Moses is a shout
of joyful thanksgiving. It is, at the same time, a
profession of faith. The psalmist says: “Happy
are the people who know how to praise.”
The liberated people had no reason to glory
in themselves at this victory which belonged to
God and to Moses, the man of faith. It is prop -
er for them only to give thanks to God. (Christian Community Bible)
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1b) Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
At the breath of your anger the waters piled up,
the flowing waters stood like a mound,
the flood waters congealed in the midst of the sea.
The enemy boasted, “I will pursue and overtake them;
I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them;
I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!”
At the breath of your anger the waters piled up,
the flowing waters stood like a mound,
the flood waters congealed in the midst of the sea.
The enemy boasted, “I will pursue and overtake them;
I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them;
I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!”
Gospel
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds,
his mother and his brothers appeared outside,
wishing to speak with him.
Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
asking to speak with you.”
But he said in reply to the one who told him,
“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
his mother and his brothers appeared outside,
wishing to speak with him.
Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
asking to speak with you.”
But he said in reply to the one who told him,
“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Jesus has been rejected by the towns where he preached and worked so many miracles, then by the scribes and the Pharisees who even want to kill him. He has chosen his disciples. They too will be rejected. Now his mother and brothers are standing outside – they are not part of the crowd listening to his Word. They are anxious to speak to him. Jesus doesn’t reject them but his position is clear. He is from above. He doesn’t belong to this world. His family is his Father’s. Those who accept him and do the will of his Father are members of his family. His earthly family is outside. They come in if they do his Father’s will. Luke tells us his mother is first: “I am the handmaid of the Lord”. Where does your loyalty rest? Are you a member of his family? How close are you to Jesus?
July 18, 2011
Monday of the Sixteenth Week
in Ordinary Time
in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
Ex 14:5-18
When it was reported to the king of Egypt
that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.
They exclaimed, “What have we done!
Why, we have released Israel from our service!”
So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers
six hundred first-class chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.
So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh
that he pursued the children of Israel
even while they were marching away in triumph.
The Egyptians, then, pursued them;
Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers,
caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea,
at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
When it was reported to the king of Egypt
that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.
They exclaimed, “What have we done!
Why, we have released Israel from our service!”
So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers
six hundred first-class chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.
So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh
that he pursued the children of Israel
even while they were marching away in triumph.
The Egyptians, then, pursued them;
Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers,
caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea,
at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up
and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them.
In great fright they cried out to the LORD.
And they complained to Moses,
“Were there no burial places in Egypt
that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?
Why did you do this to us?
Why did you bring us out of Egypt?
Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said,
‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’?
Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians
than to die in the desert.”
But Moses answered the people,
“Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.
These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.
The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”
and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them.
In great fright they cried out to the LORD.
And they complained to Moses,
“Were there no burial places in Egypt
that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?
Why did you do this to us?
Why did you bring us out of Egypt?
Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said,
‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’?
Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians
than to die in the desert.”
But Moses answered the people,
“Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.
These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.
The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.
But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.
Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers.”
Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.
But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.
Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers.”
14.5 On the very night on which they
have sacrificed the Passover Lamb, the Hebrews
depart. The Egyptians pursue and overtake
them when they reach the marshes along
the Red Sea (13:17).
Have no fear. God will not abandon those
who set forth on the way to freedom. Moses
answers as if he has seen the invisible (Heb
11:27), and his faith puts into motion God’s
intervention.
Yahweh made a strong east wind blow. In
fact, the oldest biblical story about this is very
imprecise. It does not say that the Israelites
crossed the sea but that they saw their pursuers
dead on the seashore (14:30).
God’s intervention was perhaps very moderate:
a landslide, a sudden rising of the waters?
It was sufficient to save the pursued. But
this intervention by Providence, as with so
many others in history, would not have
changed anything had not God’s prophet
Moses been there to tell the meaning of this
event: Yahweh liberates Israel to make them
his own people. (Christian Community Bible)
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1b) Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
Gospel
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here.”
“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here.”
Jesus calls his generation an ‘adulterous generation’. Like an unfaithful spouse who pretends to be loyal, yet at the same time has another lover so Jesus’ opponents appear so religious. They go through the externals of religion scrupulously. Yet their heart is far from God and they have another love, their own egos. Jesus sees through their hypocrisy. The only sign will be his resurrection brought about by their murdering of him. Even that sign will be rejected. How do we stand? Is our religion sincere and from the heart? Have you opened yourself to Jesus? Do you accept him not just as founder, and great person but as Saviour and friend who is here and close to you. Jesus calls you too, just as he appealed to the scribes and Pharisees. He is as here today as he was then. What is your response to him? What is your stand?
