Memorial of Saint Benedict

Today's Mass Readings

The message of today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Hosea is particularly clear: Turn back to the Lord your God. As with much of the Book of Hosea, the message is again delivered to the rebellious northern 10 tribes of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. It’s rebellion against the Southern Kingdom not only involved political rebellion, but was in fact a rebellion against God as well. The message is one of hope. Israel need not remain in rebellion forever. The key is turning back to God. The Greek word for Repentance involves such a turning back. Repentance is a turning away from sin and a turning toward God. In essence, Hosea is asking the people to repent, to turn back to God. It is only in turning to God that we can be saved.

In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, we find Jesus sending out His disciples as sheep among wolves. This is a frightening image. The wolf is the predator of the sheep. Sheep have little defense against such wolves. Jesus presses the imagery further: be as shrewd as serpents but as innocent as doves. In Scripture the serpent is sometimes a figure of the demonic (as in Genesis 3 and Revelation 12). The demons in Scripture may be wicked and evil, but they are also cunning. Jesus wishes His disciples to be cunning, but unlike the demons, Christians must be innocent; we must be holy.

The image painted before us is one where we as Christians might be under attack at various points in our lives because of our faith in Jesus. We are called upon to remain innocent of blame throughout our lives, but we must be wise and discerning. Above all, if we are to survive as Jesus’ sheep among the wolves, we need to take Hosea’s advice, and turn back to the Lord our God.

Jeff Morrow