THE WORD
FIRST READING: Jer 38,4-6.8-10
Then the princes said to the king, “This man ought to be put to death. He is weakening the resolve of the soldiers left in this city and of all the people, by saying such things to them; he is not seeking the welfare of our people, but their ruin.” King Zedekiah answered:
“He is in your hands,” for the king could do nothing with them. And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, in the court of the guard, letting him down by rope. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
The king happened to be sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, and Ebed-melech went there from the house of the king and said to him, “My lord king, these men have done wrong in all their treatment of Jeremiah the prophet, throwing him into the cistern. He will starve to death on the spot, for there is no more bread in the city.” Then the king ordered Ebedmelech the Ethiopian: “Take three men with you, and get Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
SECOND READING: Heb 12,1-4
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
GOSPEL: Lk 12,49-53
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!
‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three, the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
IN OTHER WORDS
Did Jesus, the God-man, also forget certain things or get inconsistent sometimes? One with some knowledge of what Jesus said and did in the gospels may well raise that question. For instance,at the Last Supper he said to his disciples,
“Peace I bequeath to you,
my own peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot give,
this is my gift to you.” (Jn14:27)
At that moment, did Jesus forget what he had said earlier on?
“Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Doesn’t the earlier statement contradict the later one?
To be sure, Jesus would not say NO to peace now, and YES to peace later. He is truth in person (Jn 14:6) and he is immutable. He would consistently be for bestowing the gift of peace to the world.
The very reason in fact why the Word of God became flesh was precisely so that Man may be reconciled to God and so bring about peace. Jesus is truly our peace and reconciliation. And how did he bring about this reconciliation? By plunging himself into the immense river of suffering and death on the cross! This was the baptism that he was to receive.
What then is this division that Jesus said he came to bring? This must be the division resulting from taking a stand in loyalty to Jesus and to his friendship and his peace.
A case that would readily come to mind, among others, would be the one of St. Thomas More, the patron of lawyers. He became Lord Chancellor of England serving King Henry VIII who demanded that his marriage to Katherine of Aragon be declared null and void so that he could marry another woman, Anne Boleyn. Thomas More would not accede to the demand of the king. The inviolability of the sacrament of marriage was at stake! Nor would he take an oath which involved the repudiation of papal religious authority. His choice was clear and rm: to be on the side of Jesus and the true peace of his enduring friendship, rather than to give in to the whims of a vicious king and so continue to enjoy his favors in the false peace of compromise. He was then thrown out of the royal circle into the infamous Tower of London. After 15 months of imprisonment in the Tower, he was found guilty of denying the king’s supreme headship on earth of the church in England. But he would rather have his head chopped off than go against his conscience. And so Thomas More was beheaded, the “king’s good servant – but God’s first”, 6 July 1535.
And so, on and on… faith in Christ, love of him and his name, and zeal for his Kingdom and his cause must continue to spread like re, blazing upon the earth!
- Dong Alpuerto, SVD | USC-Talamban, Cebu City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
