12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C (다해 연중 제12주일)
1st Reading: Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1
Prophecies concerning Jerusalem, Judah and Israel
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[10] "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom
they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and
weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born. [11] On that day the mour-
ning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain
of Megiddo.
Cleaning of the land
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[1] "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness."
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Commentary:
12:10-14. The End time will be marked by profound repentance and penance in
Jerusalem induced by the spirit of God. The reason for this is the fact that a man,
much loved by the people, has been put to death. The meaning of the passage
is not very clear because it could be read in the sense that the one whom they
pierced is God (v. 10); however, it goes on immediately to say that the person
who has died is a man for whom the people will mourn. The mysterious death
of this person has effects similar to the death of the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah
52:13-53:12, given that an effect of that death will be to atone for Judah's and Je-
rusalem's sin, and to bring about their complete rejection of idolatry (cf. 13:1-2).
It is possible that there is an allusion here to the death of Zerubbabel, the last de-
scendant of David to be mentioned in the Old Testament -- a death that was to be
followed by the coming of peace. Or perhaps the sacred writer is speaking about
a king like Josiah who, though upright and devout, died violently at the hands of
his enemies (cf. 2 Kings 23:29). In any event, that much lamented person prefi-
gures Jesus Christ nailed on the cross on whom sinful man will look, as we read
in John 19:37. "It is in discovering the greatness of God's love that our heart is
shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin
and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon
him whom our sins have pierced (cf. Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10)" ("Catechism of the
Catholic Church", 1432).
13:1-6. Other features of the End time will be the cleansing of the people by
means of water from a special fountain set up by God, and the removal of every-
thing to do with false gods. This cleansing from sin and uncleanness is purifica-
tion of the heart; just as in Leviticus 14:8-9 leprosy was cured by means of wa-
ter, now the image of the fountain is used for the cleansing that follows on from
the New Covenant that God will make with his people (cf. Jer 31:34; Ezek 36:
25). Idols will not even be a memory, and the false prophets who ministered to
idols ("the unclean spirit") will disappear from the land, for their own parents will
kill them if they catch them prophesying (v. 3). And those who set themselves up
as prophets will be ashamed of their visions; they will cease to dress as prophets
(cf. 2 Kings 1:8, which describes how Elijah dressed), they will admit that they
are not prophets, and they will disguise the scars they obtained in ritual trances.
The idea that they should disappear suggests that, in the post-exilic times, there
were still false prophets around (cf. Neh 6:12-14); they could have posed a dan-
ger to the people by falsely claiming that they spoke on God's account. That is
why the prophet depicts the disappearance of the prophetical institution as a fea-
ture of the eschatological times.
In Christian tradition, the words of v. 6 have been applied in an allegorical sense
to Christ, wounded by our sins. St Josemaria Escrivá, meditating on the passion
of our Lord, quoted these words of the prophet and added: "Look at Jesus. Each
laceration is a reproach; each lash of the whip, a reason for sorrow for your
offences and mine" ("The Way of the Cross", 1, 5).
2nd Reading: Galatians 3:26-29
The Law and the Promise (Continuation)
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[26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many
of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abra-
ham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
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Commentary:
27. St John of Avila, commenting on this passage, says, "The Holy Spirit was
not content with saying that we are bathed and anointed: here he says that we
are clothed, and the clothing we are given is not just something beautiful and
costly: it is Jesus Christ himself, who is the sum total of all beauty, all value,
all richness, etc. What he means is that the beauty of Jesus Christ, his justice,
his grace, his riches, his splendor, shine out from us with the splendor of the
sun and is reflected as in the purest of mirrors" ("Lecciones Sobre Gal, ad loc.").
St Paul uses this metaphor of our being decked out in Christ in many other pas-
sages (cf. Rom 13:14; 1 Cor 15:43; Eph 4:24; 6:11; Col 3:10; etc.) to describe
the intimate union between the baptized person and Christ, a union so intense
that the Christian can be said to be "another Christ".
28. In the order of nature, it may be said, all men are radically equal: as descen-
dants of Adam, we are born in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27).
The different functions which people have in the life of society do not alter this ba-
sic, natural equality. From this point of view there is no real difference, nor should
there be, between one person and another, no difference even between man and
woman: both are made in the image and likeness of God.
In the order of grace, which the Redemption inaugurates, this essential, original
equality was restored by Christ, who became man and died on the Cross to save
all. John Paul II points out that this true meaning of the dignity of man is enhan-
ced by the Redemption: "In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly
'expressed' and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! 'There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus' (Gal 3:28). The man who wishes to understand
himself thoroughly--and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often su-
perficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being -- must with his
unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death,
draw near to Christ.He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he
must 'appropriate' and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and
Redemption in order to find himself" ("Redemptor Hominis", 10)
From this radical equality of all men is derived that universal fraternity which
should govern human relations: "Our Lord has come to bring peace, good news
and life to all. Not only to the rich, nor only to the poor. Not only to the wise, nor
only to the simple. To everyone. To the brethren, for brothers we are, children of
the same Father, God. So there is only one race, the race of the children of God.
There is only one color, the color of the children of God. And there is only one
language, the language which speaks to the heart and to the mind, without the
noise of words, making us know God and love one another" (St. J. Escriva,
"Christ Is Passing By", 106).
Gospel Reading: Luke 9:18-24
Peter's Confession of Faith
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[18] Now it happened that as [Jesus] was praying alone the disciples were
with Him; and He asked them, "Who do the people say that I am?" [19] And
they answered, "John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one
of the old prophets has risen." [20] And He said to them, "But who do you say
that I am?" And Peter answered, "The Christ of God."
First Prophecy of the Passion
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[21] But He charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, [22] saying,
"The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised."
The Need for Self-Denial
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[23] And He said to all, "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow Me. [24] For whoever would save his life
will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake, he will save it.
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Commentary:
20. "Christ" means "anointed" and is a name indicating honor and office. In the
Old Law "priests" were anointed (Exodus 29:7 and 40:13), as were "kings" (1
Samuel 9:16), because God laid down that they should receiving anointing in
view of their position; there was also a custom to anoint "prophets" (1 Samuel
16:13) because they were interpreters and intermediaries of God. "When Jesus
Christ our Savior came into the world, He assumed the position and obligations
of the three offices of priest, king and prophet and was therefore called Christ"
("St. Pius V Catechism", I, 3, 7).
22. Jesus prophesied His passion and death in order to help His disciples be-
lieve in Him. It also showed that He was freely accepting these sufferings He
would undergo. "Christ did not seek to be glorified: He chose to come without
glory in order to undergo suffering; and you, who have been born without glory,
do you wish to be glorified? The route you must take is the one Christ took.
This means recognizing Him and it means imitating Him both in His ignominy
and in His good repute; thus you will glory in the Cross, which was His path
to glory. That was what Paul did, and therefore he gloried in saying, 'Far be it
from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Galatians 6:14)"
(St. Ambrose, "Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc.").
23. "Christ is saying this again, to us, whispering it in our ears: the cross each
day. As St. Jerome puts it: 'Not only in time of persecution or when we have the
chance of martyrdom, but in all circumstances, in everything we do and think, in
everything we say, let us deny what we used to be and let us confess what we
now are, reborn as we have been in Christ' ("Epistola" 121, 3) [...]. Do you see?
The daily cross. No day without a cross; not a single day in which we are not to
carry the cross of the Lord, in which we are not to accept His yoke" (St. J. Es-
criva, "Christ Is Passing By", 58 and 176). "There is no doubt about it: a person
who loves pleasure, who seeks comfort, who flies from anything that might spell
suffering, who is over-anxious, who complains, who blames and who becomes
impatient at the least little thing which does not go his way--a person like that
is a Christian only in name; he is only a dishonor to his religion for Jesus Christ
has said so: Anyone who wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross every day of his life, and follow Me" (St. John Mary Vianney,
"Selected Sermons", Ash Wednesday).
The Cross should be present not only in the life of every Christian but also at
the crossroads of the world: "How beautiful are those crosses on the summits
of high mountains, and crowning great monuments, and on the pinnacles of ca-
thedrals...! But the Cross must also be inserted in the very heart of the world.
"Jesus wants to be raised on high, there in the noise of the factories and work-
shops, in the silence of libraries, in the loud clamor of the streets, in the still-
ness of the fields, in the intimacy of the family, in crowded gatherings, in sta-
diums.... Wherever there is a Christian striving to lead an honorable life, he
should, with his love, set up the Cross of Christ, who attracts all things to Him-
self" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way of the Cross", XI, 3).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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