Thursday
12th Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16
The Birth of Ishmael
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[1] Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian maid
whose name was Hagar; [2] and Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the Lord
has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my maid; it may be that I
shall obtain children by her." And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. [3]
So, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife,
took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as a
wife. [4] And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that
she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. [5] And Sarai
said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid to your
embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with
contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!" [6] But Abram said to
Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please." Then
Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
[7] The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the
spring on the way to Shur. [8] And he said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have
you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my
mistress Sarai." [9] The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your
mistress, and submit to her." [10] The angel of the Lord also said to her,
"I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered
for multitude." "And the angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are
with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because
the Lord has given heed to your affliction. [12] He shall be a wild ass of a
man, his hand against every man everyman's hand against him; and he shall
dwell over against all his kinsmen."
[15] And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom
Hagar bore, Ishmael. [16] Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore
Ishmael to Abram.
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Commentary:
16:1-6. Sarah, too, seems to be impatient about the delay in the fulfillment
of the divine promise to give Abraham descendants. Therefore, she resorts to
a custom of the time designed to increase the number of children. It was not
strictly speaking polygamy but rather a means the lawful wife used in order
to give her husband children. From what we know of Babylonian laws of the
time, if the slave-girl became pregnant and then began to look down on her
mistress, she could be punished and revert to being treated as a slave. That
is what Hagar fears will happen, so she runs away.
The patriarchs follow the customs of their time; some of which (as in this
case) were morally defective. In the light of the teaching of the Bible taken
as a whole, we can see that behavior of this sort was a consequence of
man's original sin, and we can also see that God gradually led man back
to a morality that was fully in keeping with human dignity as reflected in the
Creation accounts. Consider, for example, what Jesus has to say on the
subject of marriage (Mt 5:31-32). However, prior to that, God educates
mankind bit by bit and to do so he tolerates imperfect customs and types
of behavior "in order" to lead mankind towards those higher goals. "The books
of the Old Testament provide an understanding of God and man and make
clear to all men how a just and merciful God deals with mankind. These books,
even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional, nevertheless show
us authentic divine teaching" ("De Verbum", 15).
16:7-16. This is the first appearance in the Bible of the "angel of the Lord";
here it means God himself coming out to meet man by making himself
visible in some way. Also, the passage includes a tradition which explains
the name of a place in the Negeb desert linked to stories about the patriarchs.
According to 25:11 Beer-Iahai-roi was where Isaac was based. Both this
place-name (Lahai-roi in Hebrew sounds like "the living one who sees me")
and Ishmael's name ("God heard") are given an etymological explanation.
Ishmael is the ancestor of the desert Arabs who live on the fringes of
cultivated lands. By stressing the link between Abraham and lshmael the
text wants to show the connections (sometimes tense, yet always familial)
between the Jews and these Arabs. The main thing the biblical account
shows us is that God loves and protects this people too and he has
compassion towards anyone who suffers-in this case, the Egyptian slave.
(II) 1st Reading: 2 Kings 24:8-17
Jehoiakim, king of Judah (608-598)
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[8] Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned
three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of
Elnathan of Jerusalem. [9] And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,
according to all that his father had done.
[10] At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to
Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. [11] And Nebuchadnezzar king of Baby-
lon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; [12] and Jehoiachin
the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, and his mo-
ther, and his servants, and his princes, and his palace officials. The king of
Babylon took his prisoner in the eighth year of his reign, [13] and carried off all
the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house,
and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solo-
mon king of Israel had made, as the Lord had foretold. [14] He carried away
all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, ten thou-
sand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except
the poorest people of the land. [15] And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon;
the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land,
he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. [16] And the king of Babylon
brought captive to Babylon all the men of valour, seven thousand, and the crafts-
men and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war. [17] And
the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his stead, and
changed his name to Zedekiah.
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Commentary:
24:8-17. Although repelled by Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar controls the entire region
north of the “Brook of Egypt” (v. 7), and in 597 BC his army lays siege to Jerusa-
lem. The death of King Jehoiakim and the succession of his son Jehoiachin do
not change the situation. Within three months the new king surrenders and is
led captive to Babylon (vv. 12-16) in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar reign.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 7:21-29
Doing the Will of God
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [21] "Not every one who says to Me,
`Lord, Lord,' shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the
will of My Father who is in Heaven. [22] On that day many will say to
Me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons
in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?' [23] And then I
will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you
evildoers.'
Building on Rock
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[24] "Every one then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be
like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; [25] and the rain
fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house,
but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. [26] And
every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be
like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; [27] and the rain
fell, and the floods came, and winds blew and beat against that house,
and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
[28] And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished
at His teaching, [29] for He taught them as one who had authority, and
not as their scribes.
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Commentary:
21-23. To be genuine, prayer must be accompanied by a persevering effort
to do God's will. Similarly, in order to do His will it is not enough to speak
about the things of God: there must consistency between what one
preaches--what one says--and what one does: "The Kingdom of God does
not consist in talk but in power" (1 Corinthians 4:20); "Be doers of the
word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22).
Christians, "holding loyally to the Gospel, enriched by its resources,
and joining forces with all who love and practice justice, have
shouldered a weighty task on earth and they must render an account of
it to Him who will judge all men on the last day. Not every one who
says, `Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who do
the will of the Father, and who manfully put their hands to the work"
(Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 93).
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, to be holy, it is not enough, then, to
speak eloquently about holiness. One has to practice what one
preaches, to produce fruit which accords with one's words. Fray Luis
de Leon puts it very graphically: "Notice that to be a good Christian
it is not enough just to pray and fast and hear Mass; God must find you
faithful, like another Job or Abraham, in times of tribulation" ("Guide
for Sinners", Book 1, Part 2, Chapter 21).
Even if a person exercises an ecclesiastical ministry that does not
assure his holiness; he needs to practice the virtues he preaches.
Besides, we know from experience that any Christian (clerical,
religious or lay) who does not strive to act in accordance with the
demands of the faith he professes, begins to weaken in his faith and
eventually parts company also with the teaching of the Church. Anyone
who does not live in accordance with what he says, ends up saying
things which are contrary to faith.
The authority with which Jesus speaks in these verses reveals Him as
sovereign Judge of the living and the dead. No Old Testament prophet
ever spoke with His authority.
22. "That day": a technical formula in biblical language meaning the
day of the Judgment of the Lord or the Last Judgment.
23. This passage refers to the Judgment where Jesus will be the Judge.
The sacred text uses a verb which means the public proclamation of a
truth. Since in this case Jesus Christ is the Judge who makes the
declaration, it takes the form of a judicial sentence.
24-27. These verses constitute the positive side of the previous
passage. A person who tries to put Christ's teaching into practice,
even if he experiences personal difficulties or lives during times of
upheaval in the life of the Church or is surrounded by error, will stay
firm in the faith, like the wise man who builds his house on rock.
Also, if we are to stay strong in times of difficulty, we need, when
things are calm and peaceful, to accept little contradictions with a
good grace, to be very refined in our relationship with God and with
others, and to perform the duties of our state in life in a spirit of
loyalty and abnegation. By acting in this way we are laying down a
good foundation, maintaining the edifice of our spiritual life and
repairing any cracks which make their appearance.
28-29. Jesus' listeners could clearly see the radical difference
between the style of teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, and the
conviction and confidence with which Jesus spoke. There is nothing
tentative about His words; they leave no room for doubt.
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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.
[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].