Friday
19th Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: Joshua 24:1-13
Joshua and the renewal of the Covenant
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[1] Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and summoned the
elders, the heads, the judges and the officers of Israel; and they presented them-
selves before God. [2] Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the
God of Israel. ‘Your fathers lived of old beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father
of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. [3] Then I took your father
Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and
made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac; [4] and to Isaac I gave Jacob and E-
sau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir in which to possess, but Jacob and
his children went down to Egypt. [5] And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued
Egypt with what I did in the midst of it; and afterwards I brought you out. [6] Then
I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians
pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. [7] And when
they cried to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and
made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did
to Egypt; and you lived in the wilderness a long time.
[8] Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side
of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took
possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. [9] Then Balak the son
of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel; and he sent and invited
Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, [10] but I would not listen to Balaam; there-
fore he blessed you; so I delivered you out of his hand. [11] And you went the Jor-
dan and came to Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, and also the
Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites
and the Jebusites; and I gave them into your hand. [12] And I sent the hornet be-
fore you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was
not by your sword or by your bow. [13] I gave you a land on which you had not
laboured, and cities which you had not built, and you dwell therein; you eat the
fruit of the vineyards and oliveyards which you did not plant.'
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Commentary:
24:1-28 The book of Joshua is not so much a report about a military campaign
as a vivid lesson in theology about how faithfully God keeps his promises, and
a call to respond to that faithfulness. This is borne out by the fact that the book
ends with a ratification of the Covenant: the nation that has taken possession of
the promised land renews the undertakings given by their fathers at Sinai. This
ceremony takes place at Shechem. After an historical introduction recalling what
God has done for the Israelites (vv. 2-13), Joshua asks the people about their de-
termination to stay faithful to the Lord (vv. 14-24). Once they have all made a com-
mitment to serve the Lord and obey him in everything, the Covenant is ceremon-
ially ratified (vv. 25-27). Elements of this rite are to be found in Hittite rites of vas-
salage of the second millennium BC. So, the Covenant is not only a religious act;
it also has the force of secular law.
The Covenant lies at the basis of Christian morality, because it implies the con-
viction that God directs the course of history and he chooses people who are to
make a specific commitment of fidelity: "There is no doubt that Christian moral
teaching, even in its Biblical roots, acknowledges the specific importance of a
fundamental choice which qualifies the moral life and engages freedom on a ra-
dical level before God. It is a question of the decision of faith, of the obedience
of faith (cf. Rom 16:26) ‘by which man makes a total and free self-commitment
to God, offering "the full submission of intellect and will to God as he reveals”
(Dei Verbum, 5). […] In the Decalogue one finds, as an introduction to the vari-
ous commandments, the basic clause: 'I am the Lord your God . . . ' (Ex 20:2),
which, by impressing upon the numerous and varied particular prescriptions their
primordial meaning, gives the morality of the Covenant its aspect of complete-
ness, unity and profundity. Israel's fundamental decision, then, is about the fun-
damental commandment (cf. Jos 24:14-25; Ex 19:3-8; Mic 6:8)” (John Paul II,
Veritatis splendor, 66).
(II) 1st Reading: Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63
Jerusalem, the unfaithful wife
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[1] Again the word of the LORD came to me: [2] "Son of man, make known to
Jerusalem her abominations, [3] and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem:
Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an
Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. [4] And as for your birth, on the day you were
born your navel string was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse
you, nor rubbed with salt, nor swathed with bands. [5] No eye pitied you, to do
any of these things to you out of compassion for you; but you were cast out on
the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.
[6] "And when I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you
in your blood, 'Live, [7] and grow up like a plant of the field.' And you grew up and
became tall and arrived at full maidenhood; your breasts were formed, and your
hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
[8] "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, behold, you were at the
age for love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I
plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD,
and you became mine. [9] Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood
from you, and anointed you with oil. [10] I clothed you also with embroidered cloth
and shod you with leather, I swathed you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
[11] And I decked you with ornaments, and put bracelets on your arms, and a
chain on your neck. [12] And I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears,
and a beautiful crown upon your head. [13] Thus you were decked with gold and
silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered cloth; you ate
fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful, and came to regal
estate. [14] And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beau-
ty, for it was perfect through the splendor which I had bestowed upon you, says
the Lord GOD.
[15] "But you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your re-
nown, and lavished your harlotries on any passer-by. [60] yet I will remember my
covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an ever-
lasting covenant. [63] that you may remember and be confounded, and never
open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you
have done, says the Lord GOD."
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Commentary:
16:1-19:14. In these chapters Ezekiel announces the sentence passed on Israel
and Judah on account of the transgressions and sins they have been piling up.
He does this by imagining a formal trial (rib) in which the charges are described
by a series of allegories. First there is the story of the unfaithful and evil wife, who
stands for Israel (chap. 16); then comes the allegory of the eagles, symbolizing
the deportation: Nebuchadnezzar seems to destroy everything before him, but
the Lord comes on the scene and sets about reassembling the broken pieces
(chap. 17); thirdly, the metaphor of the father and son is used to reiterate tea-
ching about personal responsibility (chap. 18); thirdly, the metaphor of the father
and son is used to reiterate teaching about personal responsibility (chap. 18);
and finally, comes the allegory of the lioness and her cubs -- a lament over the
plight of the Exiles in Babylon (chap. 19).
16:1-43. The prophet Hosea was the first to use the metaphor of the wanton wife
to charge Israel with her infidelity (Hos 1-3); Jeremiah uses the imagery of mar-
riage to describe the Covenant and how Israel came to break it (Jer 2:2). Ezekiel,
here and in chapters 20 and 23, is the one who develops the metaphor most. The
wife is Jerusalem, depicted with negative features from her birth onwards (vv. 1-5)
and then completely transformed into the most beautiful of princesses (vv. 6-14).
However, she proved unfaithful and committed the most vile sins of adultery with
the empires round about (vv. 15-34). All this, a mixture of fact and metaphor,
paves the way for the sentence that must be passed: "I will judge you as women
who break wedlock" (v. 38); she will become the prey of the nations that she adu-
lated (vv. 35-41). But the end is not destruction (vv. 42-43), as one would have ex-
pected; it is the start of a new phase (cf. 16:59-63). Ezekiel, who is addressing
the exiles, once again opens the door to hope in an ultimate restoration (vv. 42-
43).
16:1-5. "Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite" (v. 3). Jerusalem
had, in fact, belonged to the Canaanites until David conquered it; these would
have included the Amorites, a Semitic people (cf. Num 21:13), and the Hittites,
who had come from Asia Minor (cf. Gen 23:16). Ezekiel is not so much con-
cerned about historical accuracy (cf. Deut 7:1 and par.) as in pointing out the pa-
gan origins of the holy city, to make it clear that all its qualities and all its dignity
derive solely from the Lord. The practices mentioned in v. 4 were ancient customs
to do with the care of newborn babies. The point being made is that in addition to
having an obscure origin, Jerusalem began life utterly alone.
16:6-34. The charge of infidelity against Jerusalem lies in the endowments it re-
ceived from God (vv. 6-14) and its history of wickedness -- evidence of the fact
that it has persistently abused God's gifts (vv. 15-34). Although the charge has
historical basis, the passage is not meant to be a detailed catalogue; the point
being made is that the city had a history of sin and infidelity.
"I passed by you" (v. 6): when God passes by, he brings salvation; here he turns
an abandoned child into the most beautiful of women, the envy of all her peers.
St John of the Cross will apply this to what happens when the Lord passes by
the soul ("Spiritual Canticle", 23, 6) and the things said here help us to see the
relationship between the soul and God as a love story. St Thérèse of Lisieux men-
tions Ezekiel in this connexion: "I was at the most troubling age for girls. But the
Lord passed by, and did for me as he said he would do, in the words of the pro-
phet Ezekiel: 'When he passed by me, Jesus saw that I was at the age for love.
He pledged his troth to me, and I became his … He wrapped his cloak about
me, and anointed me with perfume; he dressed me in embroidered cloth and silk,
and gave me gold and silver and precious jewels to wear ... He gave me fine flour
and honey and oil to eat ... and I grew more and more beautiful, until I was like
a queen ...' (cf. Ezek 16:6-13). Jesus did all these things for me. I could repeat,
again, all the words that I have just written, and show how he has fulfilled each,
one by one, in me. But all the graces that I have referred to elsewhere are proof
enough" ("Autobiographical Writings", 5, 47, r).
"You trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot" (v. 15): breaking away from
God, particularly the sin of idolatry, was called prostitution by the prophets who
used marriage as a metaphor for the Covenant (cf. Hos 2:18-25; Jer 2:2-3). Ezek-
iel accentuates the features of this sin by pointing out that, instead of being paid
for her harlotry, Jerusalem took the initiative: she gave herself over to her lovers,
that is, other gods, and, worse still, presented to them the finery that the Lord
had bestowed on her (v. 33): that was how Jerusalem behaved towards Egypt (v.
26), Assyria (v. 28) and Babylon (v. 29). The prophet shows that, since Jerusa-
lem's history could not have been worse, it would be difficult to devise a punish-
ment fitted to such a crime. However, while spelling out the whole charge, Eze-
kiel is able to see the wonderful rehabilitation that will take place once her pu-
nishment is over.
Some of the things he says have been read as a prophecy about Christ: "The
Daughter of Sion did not repay the Lord for the gifts she received from his bounty.
The Father washed her clean with his blood; she covered his son with spittle. He
dressed her in the purple robes of kings; she wrapped him in a rag woven from
jibes and jeers. He crowned her with glory; she crowned him with thorns. He gave
her milk and honey to eat; she gave him gall to drink. He poured out pure wine for
her; she handed him a sponge dipped in vinegar. He made her welcome in his ci-
ties; she cast him out into the wilderness. He clothed her feet in sandals; she
made him limp barefoot to Golgotha. He gave her a sapphire brooch to wear on
her breast; she pierced his side with a spear. When she committed outrages a-
gainst the servants of God and killed the prophets, and endured exile in Babylon
as a punishment, he led her home to freedom when the day of her chastisement
was ended" (St Ephraem of Nisibi, "Commentarii in Diatessaron", 18, 1).
Pseudo-Macanus, for his part, applies this text of Ezekiel to every Christian soul
that has been unfaithful to divine grace. After quoting and making a précis of 16:
6-15, he exclaims: "Thus does the Spirit reprove the soul who, by his grace, had
come to know God; the soul who had been forgiven all his past sins, and adorned
with the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit, and given divine and heavenly food to eat;
the soul who, in spite of his knowledge of the Lord, turned his back on righteous
living, and was cast out of the life in which he had once rejoiced because his
deeds were not just, and he was judged lacking in love for Christ, his heavenly
spouse" ("Homiliae spirituals", 15, 4).
Gospel Reading: Matthew 19:3-12
Marriage and Virginity
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[3] And Pharisees came up to Him (Jesus) and tested Him by asking, "Is it
lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" [4] He answered, "Have you not read
that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female, [5] and
said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his
wife, and the two shall become one'? [6] So they are no longer two but one. What
therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." [7] They said to Him,
"Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her
away?" [8] He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to
divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. [9] And I say to you: who-
ever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adul-
tery; and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
[10] The disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is
not expedient to marry." [11] But He said to them, "Not all men can receive this
precept, but only those to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs who have
been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men,
and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the
Kingdom of Heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."
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Commentary:
4-5. "Marriage and married love are by nature ordered to the procreation and
education of children. Indeed children are the supreme gift of marriage and great-
ly contribute to the good of the parents themselves. God Himself said: 'It is not
good that man should be alone' (Genesis 2:18), and 'from the beginning (He)
made them male and female' (Matthew 19:4); wishing to associate them in a
special way with his own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the
words: 'Be fruitful and multiply' (Genesis 1:28). Without intending to underesti-
mate the other ends of marriage, it must be said that true married life and the
whole structure of family life which results from it is directed to disposing the
spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who
through them will increase and enrich His family from day to day" (Vatican II,
"Gaudium Et Spes", 50).
9. Our Lord's teaching on the unity and indissolubility of marriage is the main
theme of this passage, apropos of which St. John Chrysostom comments that
marriage is a lifelong union of man and woman (cf. "Hom. on St. Matthew", 62).
On the meaning of "except for unchastity", see the note on Matthew 5:31-32).
11. "Not all men can receive this precept": our Lord is fully aware that the de-
mands involved in His teaching on marriage and His recommendation of celibacy
practised out of love of God run counter to human selfishness. That is why He
says that acceptance of this teaching is a gift from God.
12. Our Lord speaks figuratively here, referring to those who, out of love for Him,
renounce marriage and offer their lives completely to Him. Virginity embraced for
the love of God is one of the Church's most precious charisms (cf. 1 Corinthians
7); the lives of those who practise virginity evoke the state of the blessed in Hea-
ven, who are like the angels (cf. Matthew 22:30). This is why the Church's Magis-
terium teaches that the state of virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven is
higher than the married state (cf. Council of Trent, "De Sacram. Matr.", can. 10;
cf. also Pius XII, "Sacra Virginitas"). On virginity and celibacy the Second Vati-
can Council teaches: "The Church's holiness is also fostered in a special way by
the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to His disciples in the Gospel for
them to observe. Towering among these counsels is that precious gift of divine
grace given to some by the Father (cf. Matthew 19:11; 1 Corinthians 7:7) to de-
vote themselves to God alone more easily in virginity or celibacy [...]. This per-
fect continence for love of the Kingdom of Heaven has always been held in high
esteem by the Church as a sign and stimulus of love, and as a singular source
of spiritual fertility in the world" ("Lumen Gentium", 42; cf. "Perfectae Caritatis",
12). And, on celibacy specifically, see Vatican II's "Presbyterorum Ordinis", 16
and "Optatam Totius", 10.
However, both virginity and marriage are necessary for the growth of the Church,
and both imply a specific calling from God: "Celibacy is precisely a gift of the
Spirit. A similar though different gift is contained in the vocation to true and faith-
ful married love, directed towards procreation according to the flesh, in the very
lofty context of the sacrament of Matrimony. It is obvious that this gift is funda-
mental for the building up of the great community of the Church, the people of
God. But if this community wishes to respond fully to its vocation in Jesus Christ,
there will also have to be realized in it, in the correct proportion, that other gift,
the gift of celibacy 'for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven'" (John Paul II, "Letter
To All Priests", 1979).
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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].