Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
12th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle A)
Readings
Jeremiah 20:10-13
Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
Romans 5:12-15
Matthew 10:26-33
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, which is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Overcoming Fear in Proclaiming
Christ
When we follow Christ's call to take up our crosses and
follow Him, we commit ourselves to be His witnesses to carry His Gospel message
of salvation to the world despite any hardships we might endure. We can only
fulfill our mission if we remember to trust God as our protector and deliverer
from every obstacle we face. It isn't the temporal deliverance that should be
our concern, but the eternal deliverance Jesus has promised those who are His faithful
witnesses.
In the First Reading, the 6th century BC prophet Jeremiah confessed his fears in his mission as God's emissary to the nation of Judah. He was faithful in delivering God's messages of repentance and judgment to the covenant people; however, his countrymen opposed and rejected him, and even his friends ridiculed him. Despite his hardships and sorrows, Jeremiah continued praising God, his mighty champion, and trusting in His justice.
In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist was greatly distressed and appealed to God for his deliverance. He wrote that the cause of his suffering was his zeal for God's holy Temple and the defense of His Holy Name. He mourned that this was the cause of his estrangement from his fellow citizens and his children. In this psalm, the Fathers of the Church saw the distress Jesus experienced during His earthly ministry. Many of His countrymen rejected Him and His message. He became an outcast and a prisoner when they delivered Him to the Romans to be condemned and suffer death by crucifixion like a common criminal. Like the psalmist, God heard Jesus's prayer and delivered Him from the bonds of death.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul addressed the origin of sin and death and the effect the first man's (Adam) sin had on all humanity. Adam was our human father; as a consequence of his rebellion against God, we have inherited physical death and a ruptured relationship with our Divine Father, just as we inherit our other genes and traits of human inheritance. Through our first parents, we are born physically alive but spiritually separated from God. We inherited the tendency to sin, which causes the life-long struggle to resist Satan and the temptation to yield to wrongdoing. Jesus is the second Adam; He frees us from bondage to sin in the Sacrament of Baptism, when we are spiritually reborn as children in the family of God.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus commands His disciples, "Do not be afraid," three times. Fear is part of the curse of original sin and can separate us from God. When we are afraid, we cling to the isolated island of "self," as we forget our identity rooted in the image and likeness of God, who perpetually "fathers" us while sustaining us on our journey to eternal salvation. When we understand this, we realize that we are not alone. Feeling safe, we can overcome our fear and move forward on our mission as Christ's emissaries.
Jesus urged the disciples not to keep His teachings about His Kingdom to themselves. The message of the good news of the Kingdom of the Messiah must be a public proclamation and not the valued secret of a few. Jesus warned that salvation is only through Him, and acknowledging Him as Savior and Lord by proclaiming our belief in Him to others is a condition of our discipleship.
If you acknowledge your belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior, He solemnly promises that He will stand as your Advocate before God the Father's throne of judgment when your earthly life on earth ends. Then you will receive Divine Judgment according to your faith demonstrated by your good deeds in His name. You can risk being fearless in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ because what is at stake is your place in eternity.
The First Reading Jeremiah 20:10-13 ~ The Lord is Our
Deliverer in Times of Trial
Jeremiah said: 10 "I hear the whisperings
of many: 'Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him!' All those who
were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. 'Perhaps he will be
trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.' 11 But the LORD
is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not
triumph. In their failure, they will be put to utter shame, to lasting,
unforgettable confusion. 12 O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe
mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have
entrusted my cause. 13 Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, for he has rescued
the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!"
This passage contains Jeremiah's fifth confession in verses 7-18 and divides into two parts:
The poetry of Jeremiah's psalm in verses 7-13 is comparable to a toda/todah psalm. Toda is a Hebrew word meaning "thanksgiving." Like other Toda psalms, it begins with Jeremiah recounting his suffering at the hands of his enemies, and it ends with a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for Yahweh's protection and salvation in times of distress. Some of the most beautiful of the Toda psalms are Davidic psalms; the most famous is Psalm 22, the first verse of which Jesus quoted from the cross when He cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Jesus's quote from Psalm 22:1 (Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34) is often misinterpreted as a cry of despair when it is instead a reference to David's hymn of faith and belief in the power of God to overcome evil. Jeremiah's psalm ends with the same profession of praise and thanksgiving. God's prophet described himself as being seduced and overpowered by the Lord to take up his prophetic mission (20:7), and he confessed that he could not resist submitting to the will of God. There were three kinds of sufferings Jeremiah described in association with his mission in verse 10:
Then in verses 11-13, Jeremiah's focus shifted to the LORD, his protector. Jeremiah ended his psalm with the invitation to join him in singing praise to God, who has delivered his soul from the hands of his enemies. Notice that Jeremiah's trust and faith in God to keep His promise of divine protection (first promised in his call to a prophetic ministry in Jeremiah 1:17-19) is so confident that he used the past tense in thanking the LORD in advance for his deliverance in verse 13.
Jeremiah's faith in God and the courage he demonstrated amid ridicule and rejection is an example for all Christians. God also calls us to remain faithful to our commissioning as apostles of Jesus Christ that we received in the Sacrament of Confirmation. We, like Jeremiah, must have faith and trust in God the Holy Spirit to guide and protect us when we profess our belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior to members of our family, neighbors, in the workplace, and the world. We must take courage in knowing that God will protect us, and the reward for our faith and confidence in Him is eternal!
Responsorial Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35 ~ The Lord
Answers the Cry Those Who Suffer
The response is: "Lord, in your great love* [hesed],
answer me."
*IBHE, Vol. III, page 1459, # 2617.
8 For your sake, I bear insult, and shame
covers my face. 9 I have become an outcast to my brothers, a stranger to my
children, 10 because zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those
who blaspheme you fall upon me.
Response:
14 I pray to you, O LORD, for the time of your favor, O God! In your great
kindness, answer me with your constant help. [...] 17 Answer me, O LORD, for
bounteous is your kindness; in your great mercy turn toward me.
Response:
33 "See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts
revive! 34 For the LORD hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns
not. 35 Let the heavens and the earth praise him, the seas and whatever moves
in them!'"
Response:
The superscription of this psalm attributes it to David, the shepherd boy God anointed to be King of Israel and the ancestor of Jesus the Messiah (1 Sam 16; Mt 1:1). Our response is from verse 14, which in the Hebrew text uses the word hesed, which means love in the context of Yahweh's covenant relationship and not the general feeling or emotion of human love.
The psalmist is in great distress and appeals to God for his deliverance. The cause of his suffering is his zeal for God's Temple ("house") and the defense of God's Holy Name. He mourns that this is the cause of his estrangement from his fellow citizens and his children and that the same words used to speak ill of the Lord fall upon him (verse 9). His response to persecution is to humble himself in prayer, seeking the Lord's mercy and deliverance (verses 14 and 17). Then in verses 33-35, the psalmist addresses others like himself who are suffering and seek the intervention of the Lord, encouraging them that God hears their prayers. Finally, he calls on every part of Creation to praise the God of mercy and justice (verse 35).
The Gospel of John quoted from this psalm when Jesus cleansed the Jerusalem Temple of profane merchants selling animals and exchanging coinage (Jn 2:13-17). Jesus's disciples recalled the verse from the Greek translation of Psalm 60:10, zeal for your house will consume me in John 2:17. In Romans 15:3, St. Paul quoted the last words of verse 9 and attributed them to Jesus's suffering in His Passion that Christians should unite to their sufferings: For Christ did not please himself; but as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you will fall upon me."
Like St. John and St. Paul, the Fathers of the Church interpreted Psalm 69 as a prophetic prayer related to the suffering Jesus endured in His humanity. The suffering Jesus experienced during His ministry also resulted from His "zeal for the Lord," causing many of His countrymen to reject Him and make Him an outcast. In their commentaries, the Church Fathers linked Jesus's suffering as a condemned prisoner on the cross in His humanity to Psalm 69. St. Athanasius wrote that God heard Jesus's prayer and quoted Psalm 69:34, the Lord hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not, applying the verse to Christ >(St. Athanasius, Expositiones in Psalmos, 68).
The Lord God is attentive to our cries for deliverance from our sufferings when we unite our sufferings to those of the crucified Christ. Our sufferings joined to Christ have value and count toward our eternal salvation because, on "the last day," God will raise us from death just as He raised His Son.
The Second Reading Romans 5:12-15 ~ Jesus Christ the
Second Adam:
12 "Well then; it was through one man that sin came into
the world, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole
human race because everyone has sinned. 13 Sin already existed in the world
before there was any law, even though sin is not reckoned when there is no law.
14 Nonetheless, death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even over those
whose sin was not the breaking of a commandment, as Adam's was. He prefigured
the One who was to come. 15 There is no comparison between the free gift and
the offense. If death came to many through the offense of one man, how much greater
an effect the grace of God has had, coming to so many and so plentifully as a
free gift through the one man Jesus Christ
Paul's "well then" or "therefore" in verse 12 is a summing up of what he discussed in Romans 1:1-5:11. In Romans 5:12-21, Paul addressed the origin of sin and death and how the first man's (Adam) sin affected all humanity. Adam is our human father, and because of his sin of rebellion against God, we inherited from him both physical and spiritual death, just as we inherit our other genes and traits of human inheritance. Through our first parents, we are born physically alive but spiritually dead. Spiritual death infects us with sin and causes the life-long struggle to resist Satan and the temptation to sin.
The issue of humanity's fall from grace (Gen 3) raises the question: "Why did Satan set out to destroy humankind?" In Wisdom 2:24, the inspired writer of the Book of Wisdom wrote, Death came into the world only through the Devil's envy, as those who belong to him find to their cost. Envy/jealousy motivated Cain to murder his brother, Abel (Gen 4:3-8). Satan used the same sin to bring the "brothers/countrymen" of Jesus, who were under his power, to condemn Jesus to death: For Pilate knew it was out of jealousy that they handed him over (Mt 27:18; also see Mk 15:10; 1 Jn 3:11-12; Heb 11:4).
The inspired writer of the Book of Wisdom interpreted the fall of Adam and its consequences for humanity in Genesis Chapter 3. He wrote that the death introduced by the devil is spiritual death, with physical death as its consequence: For God did not make Death, he takes no pleasure in destroying the living. To exist—for this he created all things; the creatures of the world have health in them, in them is no fatal poison, and Hades has no power over the world: for uprightness is immortal (Wis 1:13-15). As a result of Adam and Eve's sin in usurping God's power and authority through their desire to judge good and evil for themselves (Gen 3:5), they "died" to sin, and sin came to "live" in humanity with the consequence that spiritual and physical death became the "reward" of sin.
That sin first entered the world through the actions of our first parents is the doctrine of "original sin." The Church calls the temptation to sin, which is a result of original sin, "concupiscence." In turning to the doctrine of original sin, St. Paul contrasted the temptation and fall from grace, or the "work" of the "first Adam," with the One he prefigured, Jesus of Nazareth, the "second Adam" and His "work" of redemption. Jesus became the Savior of all the children of Adam through the Sacrament of Baptism. All those baptized in the name of the Trinity become freed from the inheritance of sin and are reborn as children of God. Because of the stain of original sin, humankind needs a Redeemer (CCC 389, 396, 404-05, and 421).
13 Sin already existed in the world before there was any
law, even though sin is not reckoned when there is no law. 14 Nonetheless, death reigned over all from
Adam to Moses, even over those whose sin was not the breaking of a commandment,
as Adam's was, He prefigured the One who was to come.
Returning to his theme in Romans 2:12, Paul insisted that
the presence or absence of the Law did not make a fundamental difference since
sin and its by-product, "death," comes to everyone through the legacy of sin inherited
from our original parents. Whether we are Gentiles who live outside the Law of
Moses or Jews who live within the Law, original sin is our inheritance. For
this reason that Paul wrote: Nonetheless, death reigned over all from Adam
to Moses, even over those whose sin was not the breaking of a commandment, as
Adam's was. He prefigured the One who was to come.
So, how did Adam prefigure Jesus of Nazareth? In 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, St. Paul wrote that Jesus is the "second Adam" whose obedience and sacrificial death on the cross undid Adam's disobedience. Jesus, the Second Adam, triumphed over the same temptations to which the first Adam fell into sin. St. John identified these temptations as the lusts of the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life in 1 John 2:16 (see CCC# 411 & 504).
TEMPTATION: The first and second Adams contrasted:
| 1 John 2:15b-16 | Genesis 3:1-6 | Luke 4:1-13 |
| If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a precious life is not from the Father but is from the world. | The First Adam: "Did God really say, 'You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden?'" Gen 3:1b | Second Adam = Jesus of Nazareth: The devil said to Him ... Lk 4:3a |
| The lust of the flesh: | The woman saw that the tree was good for food and ... Gen 3:6a | "... command this stone to become bread." Lk 4:3 |
| The lust of the eyes: | pleasing to the eyes, and ... Gen 3:6a | Then he took him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. Lk 4:5 |
| The pride of life: | The tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. Gen 3:6a | "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here ... he will command his angels concerning you...." Lk 4:9-10 |
Romans 5:15 ~ There is no comparison between the free gift
and the offense. If death came to many through the offense of one man, how much
greater an effect the grace of God has had, coming to so many and so
plentifully as a free gift through the one man Jesus Christ!
In Romans 5:15, Paul contrasted Adam and Christ as "alike"
but "unalike":
| ADAM AND CHRIST ALIKE | ADAM AND CHRIST UNALIKE |
| Both Adam and Christ affected the whole human race. | Sin and death came from Adam, while righteousness and life came from Christ. |
| Both endured the temptation of Satan. | Adam failed, and Christ was victorious. |
| Through both Adam and Christ, humanity receives an "inheritance." | Through Adam's failure, humanity inherits death, original sin, and personal sin becomes a plague on humanity. Through Christ's victory, humanity inherits adoption into God's family and the promise of eternal life. |
| Both were human men. | Jesus was both human and divine. |
| Both the acts of Adam and Jesus invoke a divine verdict. | Satan stood behind the act of Adam while the grace of God stood behind Christ; the verdict behind Adam's act is judgment, while the verdict behind Jesus' is acquittal. |
| Both Adam and Jesus exercised their free will. | Adam willingly fell from grace, and Jesus willingly laid down His life in sacrifice for all humanity. |
| Both were born into the world as sinless and immortal beings. | Adam lost his immortality when he fell from grace. Jesus remained pure and sinless, and through His sacrifice and Resurrection, He has made God's gift of immortality again available to humanity. |
Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2017, www.AgapeBibleStudy.com
The Sacrament of Baptism elevates Christians from being a fallen child of Adam to being supernaturally infused with the life of the Most Holy Trinity in a spiritual rebirth as a child in the family of God!
The Gospel Reading Matthew 10:26-33 ~ Jesus Urges His
Disciples to Have Courage When Faced with Persecution
26 "Therefore, do not be afraid of them. Nothing is
concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. 27 What
I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered,
proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both
soul and body in Gehenna. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet
not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. 30 Even
all the hairs of your head are counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are worth
more than many sparrows. 32 Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge
before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny
before my heavenly Father."
The third part of Jesus's Missionary Discourse is a collection of sayings connected to the theme of the Gospel mission and suffering. Notice that Jesus's command to not be afraid in verse 26 becomes a theme repeated three times in verses 26, 28, and 31. In verses 26-27, Jesus urged the disciples not to keep His teachings about His Kingdom to themselves. The message of the good news of the Kingdom must be a public proclamation and not the valued secret of a few.
28 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul
and body in Gehenna.
immortal is one's authentic self. Other human beings can destroy one's
impermanent body, but only God has eternal power over life and death. Do not
fear other men and don't even fear Satan, but have the reverent fear of God
that leads to a righteous life and the fear of offending Him. Satan's home is
the fiery pit, or as Jesus calls Satan's abode, Gehenna. However, it is also
the place of final punishment for the lost souls who reject God's sovereignty
and over which God exercises ultimate power and authority.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not
one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. 30 Even all
the hairs of your head are counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are worth more
than many sparrows.
Sparrows were the cheapest meat one could buy at the market
and were eaten by the poor. They are worth hardly anything in material terms, yet
even a sparrow's death is God's concern. The point of Jesus's comparison between
a person and a sparrow is that if God cares for the sparrows that He created, He
will care even more about men and women who are His masterpiece of Creation
made in His image.
32 Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will
acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I
will deny before my heavenly Father.
Jesus's warning is that salvation is only through the Redeemer-Messiah,
Jesus Christ, God the Son. For us to acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord to
others is a condition of discipleship. If we proclaim Him before others, Jesus
solemnly promises that He will stand as our divine Advocate before the judgment
throne of God the Father. When our life on earth ends, and we receive divine judgment
according to our faith and works, Jesus will give evidence on our behalf. It is
a promise you cannot afford to ignore because there is too much at stake; what
is at stake is your life in eternity.
Catechism references for this lesson (*indicates Scripture quoted
or paraphrased in the citation)
Jeremiah 20:7-18 (CCC 2584*)
Romans 5:12 (CCC 400*, 402, 602*, 612*, 1008); 5:12-15 (CCC 388)
Matthew 10:28 (CCC 363*, 1034*); 10:29-31 (CCC 305), 10:32-33 (CCC 1816); 10:32 (CCC 14*, 2145*)
Adam, Original Sin, and Christ the New Adam (CCC 359, 402*, 403-407, 408*, 409*, 410*, 411*, 504,* 615*)
The Spirit of Christ sustains the Christian mission (CCC 852)
Evangelizing by the example of life (CCC 905)
Courageous witness of faith overcomes fear and death (CCC 1808*, 1816*)
Bearing witness to the truth (CCC 2471*, 2472*, 2473-2474)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2017; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.