Ordinary Time

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

The woman in the first reading is in a perilous situation. As a widow in a patriarchal society, she has no male protector and very few resources to call upon. She is in such dire straits because God withheld the rain, and her reserve of water and flour and oil is depleted. The prophet’s request is not selfishly insensitive. Rather, it becomes the avenue through which God provides for the woman and her son. She follows the word of the prophet, and God’s word spoken through the prophet comes to pass. Her miraculous supply of flour and oil lasts for a year.

The second reading contrasts the temple in Jerusalem with the heavenly temple. While the high priests performed their sacrificial duties in the earthly temple, the exalted Jesus entered the true sanctuary. The former cultic system enabled the people to participate in cosmic events by reenacting them. However, it was only able to actualize these events for a short period of time. This explains why the Day of Atonement ritual was reenacted year after year. In contrast to this, Jesus offered himself once for all. His sacrifice, like all cosmic acts, was unrepeatable. Earthly ritual may reenact his sacrifice, but there is no need for Jesus himself to repeat it.

Jesus condemned the ostentatious piety of the scribes. He further accused them of exploiting widows. This condemnation was called down on them because they had deprived the widows in the name of religion. Sitting in the temple, Jesus then contrasted donations of the wealthy with that of a poor woman. The wealthy loudly donated from their surplus; they gave what they did not need. The woman quietly donated the little that she had; she gave what she needed. Her wholehearted generosity demonstrated her absolute trust in God. The passage that opened with a condemnation of the false piety of the unscrupulous closes with praise of the genuine piety of the simple.

Jan 30 2025

Hear the Law of the Lord

As a boy I learned the Ten Commandments, the six precepts of the Church, the seven sacraments, the seven gifts and twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit. Having memorized these, I felt a sense of accomplishment. But can you imagine having to memorize the 613 laws found in the Torah? The Torah was the foundation of the covenant God made with the people of Israel.

If you go on line and do a search for “613 commandments,” you will find them listed, along with a reference to the particular biblical book where each can be found. Some listings place the laws under various categories, such as God, Prayers and Blessings, Love and Brotherhood, the Poor and Unfortunate. The largest list relates to Sacrifices and Offerings—over one hundred of them.

When the scribe asked Jesus what was the first of all the commandments, he was asking a question most important to any devout Jew. Jesus looked within his own heart before giving his answer: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4–5) and love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18).

His answer came from his heart, recognized in the Jewish tradition as the center of the human person, the seat of all thought, choice, value, and feeling. Moses’ words to the people in today’s first reading still stand: “Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today” (Deuteronomy 6:1).

Consider/Discuss

What is the value of having a law to live by?
Take time to read the 613 commandments, and consider how love is at the heart of the law of the first covenant. Then, read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) for the same lesson.

Responding to the Word

Loving God, we thank you for the gift of your law that has been revealed in the teachings of Moses and of Jesus Christ. It offers us guidance and light for our lives. Your Holy Spirit continues to enlighten our way. May we be attentive to the direction that is offered.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

The most significant prayer of Israel’s religion is found in Deuteronomy. It is a profession of faith in the one God to whom Israel owes exclusive and undivided commitment and worship. This is the God who drew the people out of Egyptian bondage, led them through the perils of the wilderness, and brought them into the land of promise. This is also the God within whom all the attributes of deity can be found. It is not a divided deity whose various characteristics are worshiped at various shrines. This profession of faith is found within a summons to obedience.

The tradition that surrounded the enigmatic Melchizedek has been reinterpreted in order to typify particular aspects of Jesus’ divine nature. First, his priesthood is permanent, enabling him to intercede without interruption, while the Levitical priests were all subject to death. Jesus’ holiness is the second characteristic that distinguishes his priesthood from the other. He did not have to atone for his own sins, as the Levitical priests did. Finally, his priesthood is not traced back to the religious institution founded on Aaron. Rather, Jesus is identified with Melchizedek, whose priesthood was grounded in eternity and established by a divine oath.

By the time of Jesus, there were 613 commandments surrounding the official biblical law. Although all laws were considered binding, some were regarded more important than others. When questioned about the “first” law, Jesus endorses the summons that constitutes the Shema, the most significant prayer of Israel’s faith. To the injunction to love God with all one’s heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4–5), he adds the injunction to “love your neighbor as yourself” (cf. Leviticus 19:18). He insists that the second is like the first. The scribe, who is schooled in the religious tradition, recognizes Jesus’ response as both accurate and profound. He calls him Teacher, a title that has special significance coming from one who was himself an official interpreter of the law.

Jan 30 2025

Saving Faith

A saving faith is one that knows it needs a savior. Bartimaeus must have been told that Jesus was going by, so he begins to cry out, a true cry from the heart: “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” The crowd rebukes him at first. Why are they telling him to be silent? Do they want him to save face, preserve his dignity? Or does he embarrass them, annoy them?

Bartimaeus is not interested in saving face, his or theirs. He has a saving faith that keeps him shouting. Though blind, he sees what he has to do to get a response from Jesus. An unambiguous cry for mercy, along with a special name, “Jesus, son of David.” It carries his prayer right into Jesus’ heart. He stops and calls the blind man over. The crowd now encourages Bartimaeus: “Take courage. Get up, Jesus is calling you.” A saving faith trumps saving face.

Then, in a gesture that speaks Bartimaeus’ faith as much as his words, he throws aside his cloak. This cloak is his greatest possession; he sits on it, begging all day, and wraps himself in it to sleep at night. He now leaves it and his past behind, going to Jesus.

“What do you want me to do?” Jesus asks. “Master, I want to see,” he says, already acknowledging himself a disciple of the “Master.” Jesus speaks: “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Then, Mark’s perfect ending: “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.”

Consider/Discuss

What does your faith allow you to see?
What do you still need to see in order to “follow Jesus on the way”?

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, you heard the cry of a blind man and answered his plea, giving him a new life with you. In our blindness, we sometimes fail to remember how near you always are. Remove any obstacles that prevent us from calling out, trusting in your mercy and love.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

The procession of returnees seems to be retracing the very path taken when the people were exiled to the land in the north. They had left their cherished homeland in tears, but they would return amid shouts of joy. Jeremiah states that only a remnant will return, and this remnant will consist of the most vulnerable of the people. It will include those who are blind or lame, who are mothers or who are pregnant, all people who are utterly dependent upon God. It will be through them that the nation will be restored. Restoration is a work of God, not of human endeavor.

Patterned after the model of Aaron, the prospective high priest must be able to empathize with the frailty of the people, and he must have been called by God. Jesus did not trace his ancestry to a priestly family, and there was no need for him to make sin offerings for himself. Therefore, his right to function as high priest had to be explained. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews does this by referring to him as Christ, and then reinterpreting two very familiar biblical passages that have messianic significance. Since both kings and priests were anoint ed, the title Christ, or “anointed one,” carries both royal and priestly connotations. To call Jesus by this title is to make a claim about his messianic identity.

The faith of the blind man in the Gospel is both demonstrated by his actions and explicitly recognized by Jesus. When he hears that it is Jesus of Nazareth who is passing by him, he cries out to him using a title that has strong messianic connotations. Son of David identifies Jesus not only as a descendant of this royal figure, but also as the long-awaited one who was to fulfill both the religious and the political expectations of the people. The man who was blind already had eyes of faith and he acted on this faith, publicly proclaiming it.