May 29, 2013

USCCB »  Bible »  Daily Readings

« May 28  |  May 30 »

Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time 
Lectionary: 349

Reading 1SIR 36:1, 4-5A, 10-17

Come to our aid, O God of the universe,
look upon us, show us the light of your mercies,
and put all the nations in dread of you!
Thus they will know, as we know,
that there is no God but you, O Lord.

Sirach is praying to God that He will defend the people of Israel against their foes.  The people of Israel had felt estranged from God from the time that they began to disobey God and follow the customs of the surrounding nations and abandoning God's laws.

Give new signs and work new wonders.

This is what God did when Jesus came in the flesh to save His people.

Gather all the tribes of Jacob,
that they may inherit the land as of old,
Show mercy to the people called by your name;
Israel, whom you named your firstborn.
Take pity on your holy city,
Jerusalem, your dwelling place.
Fill Zion with your majesty,
your temple with your glory.

It is in the Catholic Church, the New Israel, that the people of God are gathered.

Give evidence of your deeds of old;
fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name,
Reward those who have hoped in you,
and let your prophets be proved true.
Hear the prayer of your servants,
for you are ever gracious to your people;
and lead us in the way of justice.
Thus it will be known to the very ends of the earth
that you are the eternal God.

And it is by Jesus Christ that the people of Israel who proved their faith in suffering, were taken into heaven when He died for the sins of all mankind, upon the Cross.

Responsorial PsalmPS 79:8, 9, 11 AND 13

R. (Sirach 36:1b) Show us, O Lord, the light of your kindness.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.
R. Show us, O Lord, the light of your kindness.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.
R. Show us, O Lord, the light of your kindness.
Let the prisoners’ sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.
R. Show us, O Lord, the light of your kindness.

Jesus Christ is the glory of God and the light of His Kindness and Mercy.  Jesus Christ is our salvation.

GospelMK10:32-45

The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem,
and Jesus went ahead of them.
They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.
Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them
what was going to happen to him.
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man
will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death
and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him,
spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death,
but after three days he will rise.”

Jesus began to prepare the Apostles for what would befall them in Jerusalem when He would be crucified and they would desert Him.

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
came to Jesus and said to him,
‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
He replied, ‘What do you wish me to do for you?”
They answered him,
“Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”

It is very incongruent and gives evidence that the Apostles were completely unaware of what Jesus was saying.  Sts. James and John, two of the pillars of the Apostles, were more concerned about their status in God's Kingdom than about the fact that Jesus had just revealed to them the Passion He would suffer.

Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

Baptism literally means to wash or bathe.  It is supposed that things are washed in water. Baptism in this sense which Jesus is using it, is a bath of suffering or a bath of blood.  Jesus is asking them if they can withstand the ordeal that He is about to suffer.

They said to him, ‘We can.”

They are clueless.  They say they can, but they think that they are simply going to receive crowns, rewards and sit upon thrones.

Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Jesus admits that this will be true, when they are fortified with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  But even so, it is the Father who decides who is where in the heavenly Kingdom.  

When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.

The other Apostles were not aware that the sons of Zebedee were trying to get a leg up on them in the Kingdom of God.  But when they learned about it, they were indignant, because, they were still far from understanding the message of love and service which Jesus was teaching them.

Jesus summoned them and said to them,
“You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So, Jesus brought together and explained that greatness in the Kingdom of God is measured not by wealth and power, but by love and charity.  And He offers Himself as the example.  Explaining that He will give His life for the service of mankind.