Monday
17th Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34
The Golden Calf is Destroyed
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[15] And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain with the two tables
of the testimony in his hands, tables that were written on both sides; on the one
side and on the other were they written. [16] And the tables were the work of
God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. [17] When
Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There
is noise of war in the camp." [18] But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for
victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear." [9]
And as soon as became near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses'
anger burned hot and he threw the tables out of his hands and broke them at the
foot of the mountain. [20] And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it
with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the
people of Israel drink it. [21] And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do
to you that you have brought a great sin upon them?" [22] And Aaron said, "Let
not the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are set on evil.
[23] For they said to me, 'Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Mo-
ses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what
has become of him.' [24] And I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off';
so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and there came out this calf."
Moses Intercedes Again
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[30] On the morrow Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And
now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." [31] So
Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin;
they have made for themselves gods of gold. [32] But now, if thou wilt forgive their
sin--and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." [33]
But the Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out
of my book. [34] But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken
to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I
visit, I will visit their sin upon them."
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Commentary:
32:15-24. The punishment described in these verses is full of significance. In
the first place, Moses breaks the tables on which God wrote the Law (vv. 16, 9),
thereby showing that sin has broken the Covenant, and that the main effect of
and punishment for sin is not to have the Law (cf. Amos 8:11-12), that is, what
today we would call loss of the sense of sin.
Moses destroys the calf because of itself it has no power. The tables were "the
work of God" (v. 16), whereas the calf was something made by men (v. 20). And
he gives the people the residue of the calf to drink (v. 20), in a gesture which is
reminiscent of trials by ordeal (cf Num 5:23-24), but the main point he is making
is that sin is personal: only those who have sinned are to be punished. And his
reproach to Aaron, which echoes that which God made to Adam (cf. Gen 3:11),
identifies the man who is truly to blame.
The mystery of sin affects even key figures chosen by God, and the Bible does
not disguise this fact. Elsewhere Moses is reminded of his own sin (cf. Num 20:
12; Deut 32:51). as is David (cf. 1 Sam 12:7-9); and in the New Testament Pe-
ter's denials are also recorded in detail (Mt 26:69-75). It is God who shapes the
history of salvation, and he does this despite our infidelities.
32:30-35. This new dialogue between Moses and God sums up the content of
the whole chapter. Once again Moses plays intercessor, and the Lord shows him-
self to be merciful and forgiving. "From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination
for his intercession (cf. Ex 34:6). He does not pray for himself but for the people
whom God made his own. Moses already intercedes for them during the battle
with the Amalekites (cf. Ex 17:8-13) and prays to obtain healing for Miriam (cf.
Num 12:13-14). But it is chiefly after their apostasy that Moses 'stands in the
breach' before God in order to save the people (Ps 106:23; cf. Ex 32:1-34:9). The
arguments of his prayer--for intercession is also a mysterious battle--will inspire
the boldness of the great intercessors among the Jewish people and in the
Church: God is love; he is therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict
himself; he must remember his marvellous deeds, since his glory is at stake,
and he cannot forsake this people that bears his name" ("Catechism of the Ca-
tholic Church", 2577).
But the people still has a penalty to pay for its offense (v. 34). Throughout the
course of its history Israel continues to be aware that it deserves severe punish-
ment for this and other sins that follow. The prophets say that Israel's debt is
paid for by the exile in Babylon.
The reference to the book in which God writes the names of those whom he has
chosen (in a kind of census, as it were: cf. Is 4:3; Rev 3:5, 12; 17:8), is a graphic
way of showing that God has special love for those who have a mission to fulfill
in the work of salvation.
(II) 1st Reading: Jeremiah 13:1-11
The linen waistcloth entirely spoiled
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[1] Thus said the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and put it on your
loins, and do not dip it in water.” [2] So I bought a waistcloth according to the
word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. [3] And the word of the Lord came to
me a second time, [4] ”Take the waistcloth which you have bought, which is upon
your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
[5] So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. [6] And
after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from
there the waistcloth which I commanded you to hide there.” [7] Then I went to
the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the waistcloth from the place where I had hid-
den it. And behold, the waistcloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
[8] Then the word of the Lord came to me: [9] ”Thus says the Lord: Even so will
I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. [10] This evil people,
who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have
gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this waist-
cloth, which is good for nothing. [11] For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of
a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling
to me, says the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and
a glory, but they would not listen.
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Commentary:
13:1-11. This is the first of Jeremiah’s symbolic actions reported in the book.
Actions of that sort, sometimes appearing to make sense, have the advantage
of catching the audience’s attention better than an oracle does. It is not easy
to imagine how Jeremiah, in the difficult circumstances of the time, could have
twice gone to the Euphrates (about 1000 km. or 570 miles away). Therefore,
scholars think that this symbolic action may have been something seen in a
vision, or else they interpret it as containing a play on the words Parah, the
name of a tor- rent near Anathoth (cf. Josh 18:23) and “Perath”, the word used
in Hebrew for the river Euphrates. Anyway, this symbolic action means that
Judah, the Lord’s decorative loincloth (of the sort worn by priests in the temple),
will be corrupted by Babylonian influences and thereby destroyed.
God asked Jeremiah to buy a loincloth and put it on, to symbolize that, just as
that garment fitted his waist exactly, God wanted the house of Israel and the
house of Judah to cling to him (v. 11). The Lord wanted his people to trust in him
completely: the word for “clinging” or adhesion often occurs in the book of Deu-
teronomy, too, to mean the fidelity due to God (cf. Deut 4:4; 10:20; 11:22; 13:5;
30:20). This “cleaving” to God comes about through faith. “Faith is first of all a
personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a
free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to
God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human
person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe abso-
lutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature
(cf. Jer 17:5-6; Ps 40:5; 146:3-4)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 150).
Jeremiah’s symbolic action may help us, then, to see that when someone
forsakes God and puts all his trust in created things, be they other people or
material things, it spoils that person’s heart entirely. The passage also reminds
us of what our Lord says in Matthew 5:13 about salt that has lost its taste being
“good for nothing” (v. 10).
Gospel Reading: Matthew 13:31-35
The Mustard Seed; The Leaven
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[31] Another parable He (Jesus) put before them saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven
is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; [32] it is
the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and
becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
[33] He told them another parable. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a leaven which
a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened."
[34] All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed He said nothing to
them without a parable. [35] This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the
foundation of the world."
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Commentary:
31-32. Here, the man is Jesus Christ and the field, the world. The grain of mus-
tard seed is the preaching of the Gospel and the Church, which from very small
beginnings will spread throughout the world.
The parable clearly refers to the universal scope and spread of the Kingdom of
God: the Church, which embraces all mankind of every kind and condition, in
every latitude and in all ages, is forever developing in spite of obstacles, thanks
to God's promise and aid.
33. This comparison is taken from everyday experience: just as leaven gradually
ferments all the dough, so the Church spreads to convert all nations.
The leaven is also a symbol of the individual Christian. Living in the middle of the
world and retaining his Christian quality, he wins souls for Christ by his word and
example: "Our calling to be children of God, in the midst of the world, requires us
not only to seek our own personal holiness, but also to go out onto all the ways
of the earth, to convert them into roadways that will carry souls over all obstacles
and lead them to the Lord. As we take part in all temporal activities as ordinary
citizens, we are to become leaven acting on the mass" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is
Passing By", 120).
34-35. Revelation, God's plans, are hidden (cf. Matthew 11:25) from those who
are disposed to accept them. The Evangelist wishes to emphasize the need for
simplicity and for docility to the Gospel. By recalling Psalm 78:2, he tells us
once more, under divine inspiration, that the Old Testament prophecies find their
fulfillment in our Lord's preaching.
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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].