Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
13th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle C)
Readings
1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21
Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11
Galatians 5:1, 13-18
Luke 9:51-62
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), 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, and 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: The Call of Discipleship
In the First Reading, God told the prophet, Elijah, to call a
young man named Elisha to discipleship and prepare Elisha to succeed him as
God's holy prophet to Israel. Answering Elijah's call, Elisha slaughtered the oxen
he used for plowing and then burned the plowing equipment to provide for the
last meal with his family. It was an act symbolic of Elisha leaving behind his
old life and never returning.
The Psalm Reading reminds us that the Lord cares for those who belong to Him. The men and women who answer God's call to serve Him and His Church do not need to be concerned with material wealth because God is their inheritance and the things of the world no longer have any hold on them.
St. Paul has a similar message in the Second Reading. Paul wrote that Jesus Christ has conquered the world and has set us free from its hold on us. As His disciples, we may live in the world, but we do not belong to the world. St. Paul defined Christian freedom as love in action and designed for serving Christ and His Church by extending God's love and mercy to those most in need of His love and mercy.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus began His last journey to Jerusalem. The time had come for Him to prepare His disciples for the greatest crisis of their lives by testing their faith and loyalty as their Master faced His Passion and death by crucifixion. Answering God's call to discipleship is not easy. It requires sacrifice and constancy in faith, duty, and obedience. While becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ does not require Christians to give up everything in life to follow the Lord, an authentic Christian must be willing to make the sacrifice.
Jesus calls Christians in every generation to practice the five principles of discipleship that St. Paul listed for the church at Colossae: proclaiming Christ, admonishing in Christ, instructing in Christ, imparting the wisdom of Christ, to present everyone as a disciple perfected in Christ (Col 1:28). For this, all Jesus's disciples "labor and struggle," like St. Paul, "in accord with the exercise of his (Jesus') power working within" us (Col 1:29). Nothing can be more important than one's relationship with Christ, not even one's physical life. No earthly inheritance can compare with the promise of our heavenly inheritance through Christ Jesus. We must make the words of the Responsorial Psalm our own as we give thanks and praise to God for our call to Christian discipleship and declare with confidence: You are my inheritance, O Lord!
The First Reading 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21 ~ The Call of
Elisha
16b The LORD said to
Elijah: "You shall anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, as a prophet
to succeed you." [...] 19 Elijah set
out and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was plowing with twelve yoke of
oxen; he was following the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak
over him. 20 Elisha left the oxen,
ran after Elijah, and said, "Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you." Elijah answered, "Go back! Have I done anything to you?"
21 Elisha left him and, taking the
yoke of oxen, slaughtered them; he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil
their flesh, and gave it to his people to eat. Then Elisha left and followed
Elijah as his attendant.
The 9th century BC prophet, Elijah from Tishbe in Gilead (1 Kng 17:1), was active in serving God in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It was his mission to call the people to repentance, to encourage them to remain faithful to Yahweh, and resist the influence of those who worshipped the pagan god Baal promoted by Israel's pagan queen, Jezebel. When it was time for his ministry to end, God directed Elijah to go to Abel-Meholah, a city east of the Jordan River, and select a man named Elisha to train to become his successor (verse 16b). Elisha found the young man working in his family's fields. The detail that Elisha was plowing with twelve teams of oxen (24 oxen in all) suggests the wealth of Elisha's father's estate and the material wealth Elisha was willing to forfeit in answering Elijah's call to discipleship.
19b Elijah went over
to him and threw his cloak over him.
Elijah throwing his cloak over Elisha was a symbolic
act similar to the imposing of hands on another, an act that indicated transmission
of power. In this case, it stood for transmitting the charism of prophecy. That
there were no other words exchanged between Elisha and Elijah other than the
request to make his farewell to his family shows that Elisha knew of the work
of God's prophet and understood the significance of being covered with his
cloak. At the end of Elijah's ministry, Elisha will receive the elder prophet's
cloak, signifying the inauguration of Elisha as Elijah's successor
(2 Kng 2:11-15).
20 Elisha left the
oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, "Please, let me kiss my father and mother
goodbye, and I will follow you."
Elisha's request to kiss his father and mother
demonstrates his commitment to the commandment to honor one's parents (Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16) and contributes to Elisha's characterization as caring and compassionate
(cf., his fatherly role to the community of the "sons of the Prophets" in 2 Kng
2-8). When Elisha made his request, Elijah tested him by giving him a way out,
Elijah answered, "Go back! Have I done anything to you?" But what Elijah said
did not deter Elisha.
21 Elisha left him
and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them; he used the plowing equipment for
fuel to boil their flesh, and gave it to his people to eat. Then Elisha left
and followed Elijah as his attendant.
Slaughtering the twenty-four oxen and burning the plowing
equipment to provide the last meal with his family was symbolic of Elisha giving
up his family inheritance and leaving his old life, never to return.
When Elisha completed his apprenticeship and saw Elijah assumed into heaven, he received a "double portion" of his master's prophetic spirit, becoming an even greater prophet as Elijah's heir and successor (1 Kng 2:1-18). Elisha succeeding Elijah as a greater prophet foreshadows Jesus succeeding St. John the Baptist (Mt 3:10-12). John came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Lk 1:17; Mt 3:11-12; Jn 1:29-30). Elijah's name, in Hebrew Eliyah, means "God is Yahweh," and Elisha's name means "God is salvation." Jesus's Hebrew name, Yahshua (Yeshua/Yehoshua in the 1st century AD) is a combination of their names: "Yahweh is salvation."
Responsorial Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11 ~ The Lord Takes Care
of Those Who Belong to Him
The response is: "You are my inheritance, O Lord."
1 Keep me, O God,
for in you I take refuge; 2 I say
to the LORD, "My Lord are you."
5 O LORD, my
allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot.
Response:
7 I bless the LORD
who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. 8 I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my
right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Response:
9 Therefore my heart
is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence 10 because you will not abandon my soul to the
netherworld [Sheol], nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo
corruption.
Response:
11 You will show me
the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right
hand forever.
Response:
This psalm's superscription (the introductory title) identifies it as A miktam of David. The Hebrew term miktam occurs six times in the superscriptions of the Book of Psalms, always with David's name (also see psalms 56-60). The meaning of miktam is unknown, but all six psalms with this superscription are psalms of lament, and four of the six have references to David's struggles with enemies. Of the 150 psalms, Scripture attributes 73 to David in the superscription. In this psalm, David expresses his trust in the Lord and the hope of his future eternal salvation in the divine Presence of his God.
The Hebrew word Sheol in verse 10 is Hades in Greek. It refers to the grave or netherworld/abode of the dead, which is neither the Heaven of the redeemed nor the Hell of the Damned, but a place of purification in which the souls of both the righteous and the wicked resided before the redeeming work of Christ. See Jesus' description of Sheol/Hades in Luke 16:19-31 and the Church's definition in CCC 633. From the tomb, Jesus descended into Sheol to preach the Gospel of salvation to those imprisoned there and emptied all the redeemed souls from Sheol, taking them to Heaven (Apostles' Creed, 1 Pt 3:18-20; 4:6). From that time, all the righteous dead go immediately to Heaven, and those who reject God's gift of salvation go to the Hell of the Damned (CCC 1033-37). Sheol/Hades continues as a place of purification for those destined for Heaven but still in need of cleansing from unconfessed venial sins or mortal sins forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for which additional atonement is required (CCC 1030-32). Today, the Church calls this state Purgatory, and it will continue in God's divine plan for humanity until the Final Judgment when there is no longer a need for Sheol/Hades/Purgatory (Rev 20:13-14).
In his homily in Acts 2:25-28, after the miracle of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, St. Peter quotes verses 7-11 from this psalm from the Greek Septuagint translation (LXX): "For David says of him: 'I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. 26 Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, 27 because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.'"
Peter quotes, without any additions or alterations, from Psalms 15:8-11 LXX (16:8-11 in the Hebrew text and our reading). Since it is a psalm attributed to David in its title, it is therefore understood as a reflection of David's personal experience and understanding. According to Jewish tradition, King David was born and later died on the Feast of Pentecost, c. 970 BC. Viewing this quotation from the perspective of Jesus's Resurrection, the words and phrases appear to anticipate those God-ordained events in:
Jesus's death on the Cross was a real, physical death, and since Jesus was fully human, His soul descended into Sheol like all humans who died. However, His flesh was not abandoned to Sheol/Hades, nor did His Body suffer corruption. Prophetically, the psalmist believed to be David wrote of events that were only fulfilled in Jesus: that even in His darkest moments on the Cross, Jesus did not despair because He knew God was with Him, He knew the promise of His Resurrection (verses 9-11 in the psalm), and that He would ascend to the Father in Heaven (see CCC 627).
St. Peter then argued that this passage is a proof-text that David was prophetically writing about Jesus's death and resurrection since David died but did not experience resurrection. Peter also quoted Psalm 109:1/LXX 110:1 in Acts 2:29-36 ~ "My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. 30 But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. 33 Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you both see and hear. 34 For David did not go up into heaven, but he himself said: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." 36 Therefore, let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."
According to a long-standing Christian tradition, dating back to the 4th century AD, when St. Helena went to the Holy Land to identify the sites associated with Christ, she discovered that the Upper Room of the Last Supper, also the location of the miracle at Pentecost, was built above the tomb of King David. Many modern scholars dismiss this tradition. However, St. Peter's homily is so vibrant that you can almost see him standing outside the house of the Upper Room and gesturing to the tomb of David on the first floor as he says: My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day (Acts 2:29).
According to the Scriptures, David's tomb was in the holy city of Jerusalem (1 Kng 2:10). The Jewish historian/priest Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100) wrote that there could be no graves in the holy city of Jerusalem except those of David, his family, and the prophetess Huldah (Antiquities of the Jews, 7.15.3; 13.8.4; Jewish Wars, 1.2.5).
Peter continued in Acts 2:30, referring to David: "But
since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would
set one of his descendants upon his throne..."
God made an eternal covenant with David. The essence of that
unconditional, royal grant covenant was the promise that David's throne would
endure forever, and his descendant would rule an eternal kingdom (see
1 Sam 7:12, 16; 23:5;
2 Chron 13:5;
Ps 89:21, 29-30; 110:1-5; 132:11-18;
Sir 45:25). That
Jesus is the Messianic heir of David was announced at His Incarnation by the
angel Gabriel (see Lk 1:32), and the Messianic title "son of David" was often
given to Jesus by others in the Gospels
(Mt 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30; 21:9, 15;
Mk 12:35; Jn 7:42).
In Acts 2:31, St. Peter, referring to verse 10 of Psalm 16, told the Jewish crowd: "... he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption." Since God's anointed would not see "corruption" (Acts 2:27 and Ps 15:10 LXX; Ps 16:10 Hebrew translation) like all other members of humanity, it appears that David had foreknowledge of the Messianic heir's resurrection from the dead. Peter's point was that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled this prophecy, which proved He is the Davidic Messiah; as Peter stated in Acts 2:32 ~ God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Under Mosaic Law, two or more witnesses were needed to establish a fact in a court of law (Dt 19:15). Here, all the members of the Christian community were testifying to the truth of Jesus's Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven.
St. Peter told them that they have proof of Jesus's true identity as the Son of God who sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven (position of honor and power) in what the Jews have witnessed in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that day. Peter told the Jewish crowd: Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you both see and hear (Acts 2:33).
In Acts 2:34, Peter made the point that David could not have been talking about himself in this psalm because he was buried and confined to the grave and bodily corruption. However, Jesus did ascend to Heaven (as the disciples witnessed in Lk 24:49 and Acts 1:9). And to make the point, Peter quoted from Davidic Psalm 110:1 (109:1 LXX), the psalm most often quoted by Jesus and the interpretation of which He taught the Sadducees and Scribes in Luke 20:41-44. Jesus taught that in this psalm, David was referring to the Messiah and not to his earthly son because, Jesus said, "David here calls him Lord; how then can he be his son?" (Lk 20:44). David could not have been speaking about himself in the psalm because his body did experience corruption, and he did not ascend to Heaven: "For David did not go up into heaven, but he himself said: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool" (Acts 2:34).
In conclusion, Peter told the crowd in Acts 2:36 ~ "Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." This was the conclusion of Peter's argument, using two Psalms of David. By the proof of His Resurrection, Jesus can be declared the "Lord" of whom Psalms 109:1 LXX (110:1 NABRE) speaks, and the Messiah referred to in Psalms 15:7-11 LXX (16:7-11 in our reading) who was not held prisoner in Sheol and whose body did not face corruption. Instead, He defeated death, and He ascended to the "right hand" of God the Father in His glorious victory!
The Second Reading Galatians 5:1, 13-18 ~ A Disciple's
Freedom in Christ
1 For freedom Christ
set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. 13 For you were called for freedom, brothers and
sisters. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather,
serve one another through love. 14 For
the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, 'You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.' 15 But if
you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by
one another. 16 I say, then: live
by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you
may not do what you want. 18 But if
you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
We live in the world, but we do not belong to the world; we belong to Jesus Christ. St. Paul defined Christian freedom as designed for love. The people of God no longer need the ritual purity laws or the animal sacrifices of the old Law of the Sinai Covenant that was a tutor and a guide meant to prepare God's people for the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah and His Gospel of salvation. Unfortunately, we still need guidance and moral laws to control human behavior because of our limited human condition. However, the observance of those laws should always be guided and motivated by the Holy Spirit toward the love of God and love of neighbor, which Jesus gave us as a summary of the moral law of the Ten Commandments (Mt 22:37-40).
The Gospel of Luke 9:51-62 ~ The Personal Sacrifice of
True Discipleship
51 When the days for
Jesus' being taken up [of his assumption] were fulfilled, he resolutely
determined to journey to Jerusalem, 52 and
he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to
prepare for his reception there, 53 but
they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was
Jerusalem. 4 When the disciples
James and John saw this they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire
from heaven to consume them?" 55 Jesus
turned and rebuked them 56 and they
journeyed to another village. 57 As
they proceeded on their journey someone said to him, "I will follow you
wherever you go." 58 Jesus answered
him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has
nowhere to rest his head." 59 And
to another he said, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and
bury my father." 60 But he answered
him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of
God." 61 And another said, "I will
follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." 62 To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to
the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God." [...]
= literal translation from the Interlinear Bible Greek-English, vol. IV,
pages 191-192.
This passage is the turning point in Luke's Gospel as Jesus began the journey to His Passion in Jerusalem. His teaching ministry in Galilee had come to an end, and Jesus prepared Himself and His disciples for what the Gospel of Luke calls the days "of his assumption" in Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Instead of traveling down the eastern side of the Jordan River to avoid passing through Samaria, Jesus and His disciples traveled the more dangerous but shorter route through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem. Only the Gospels of Luke and John record Jesus's dealings with the apostate Samaritans who rejected worship in Yahweh's holy Jerusalem Temple (Lk 10:30-37; 17:11-19; Jn 4:4-42). Once again, St. Luke emphasized the universality of Jesus's Gospel of the Kingdom by including the Samaritans, a people the Jews considered heretics, as recipients of His Gospel and candidates for salvation.
The term "Samaritan" was originally a geographic distinction for one from the city of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, founded by King Omri in the early 9th century BC. The Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. They then exiled the ten northern Israelite tribes into Assyrian lands to the east and imported five groups of Gentile peoples to resettle the conquered territory (2 Kng 17:24). The pagan people brought their pagan gods with them but also adopted the worship of Yahweh, who they considered the regional god (2 Kng 17:29-33, 41). After the 8th century BC, "Samaritan" became an ethnic and religious name for the people who came to inhabit the region between Galilee and Judea to the west of the Jordan River. The Jews despised the people known as Samaritans, considering them at the worst as Gentiles who falsely claimed to worship the God of Israel at their illicit Temple on Mt. Gerizim or at best as mixed-race Jews who were apostates from the true faith.
By Jesus's time, there may have been some intermarriage between Jews and Samaritans, but the two groups generally disliked and distrusted each other. The Samaritans only accepted the Torah in their canon (the first five books of Moses) of Scripture but offered worship according to their own understanding, as Jesus told the Samaritan woman: You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand because salvation is from the Jews (Jn 4:22).
The 1st century AD, Jewish priest/historian Flavius Josephus, wrote of the Samaritans:
Josephus also wrote about the Samaritans' hostility and ill-treatment of the Jewish pilgrims who traveled from the northern region of Galilee to the Jerusalem Temple by passing through Samaritan territory (Antiquities of the Jews, 20.6.2; Jewish Wars, 2.12.3). For this reason, most Jews traveled to Jerusalem down the east side of the Jordan River, passing through the Gentile territories of the Decapolis and Perea and crossing over near Jericho (Mk 10:1). The Samaritan town in Luke 9: 53 refused to receive Jesus since He intended to continue to Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple that was a rival to their own.
54 When the disciples
James and John saw this they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from
heaven to consume them?" 55 Jesus
turned and rebuked them, 56 and they
journeyed to another village.
Offended by the attitude of the Samaritans, James and John
Zebedee offer to destroy the town for rebuffing Jesus. Their desire to inflict
a fiery punitive judgment on the Samaritans recalls Jesus's nickname for them:
"the sons of thunder" (Mk 3:17). The Zebedee brothers' desire to punish the
offenders with fire recalls the work of the prophet Elijah in dispensing a
fiery verdict against those who offended God in 2 Kings 1:1-12. However, Jesus
separated Himself from comparisons with divine judgment associated with the
prophet Elijah and rebuked James and John. Jesus's rebuke reminded them and us
that, as professed emissaries of Jesus Christ, we must demonstrate our love and
not our anger if we want to win souls for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (see Lk 6:27-35). Divine judgment belongs to God, and we are not qualified to judge the
condition of another's soul.
57 As they were
proceeding on their journey someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever
you go." 58 Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has
nowhere to rest his head." 59 And
to another he said, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and
bury my father." 60 But he answered
him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of
God." 61 And another said, "I will
follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." 62 To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to
the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."
In this next section, Jesus gives three teachings to
would-be disciples that are warnings for those who want to join His mission. The
focus of His message is that one needs to weigh the cost of discipleship
against personal relationships and commitments. Three men express the
desire to follow Jesus, but He countered each man's spoken desire to follow Him
with a warning on the cost of discipleship:
In summary, there are three sacrifices Jesus calls each would-be disciple to make:
62 To him Jesus
said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is
fit for the kingdom of God."
Jesus's mention of "a hand to the plow" recalls Elisha's
turning away from his old life as a farmer to follow God's call in the first
reading (1 Kng 19:19-21). The radical transition of the New Covenant in Christ
made earthly ties a part of the things one must be willing to leave behind when
one becomes a disciple of the Redeemer-Messiah. Then as now, the decision to
follow Christ cannot only be an emotional enthusiasm but must be a resolute determination.
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21 (CCC 436*)
Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11 (CCC 627*)
Galatians 5:1, 13-18 (CCC 1741, 1748, 2744, 2819)
Luke 9:51-62 (CCC 557, 544*)
Jesus's ascent to Jerusalem for His death and Resurrection (CCC 587*)
Master, what must I do...? (CCC 2052*, 2053*, 2054*, 2055*)
The urgency of discipleship (CCC 1036*, 1816*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2016; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.