Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and doctor of the Church

Today's Mass Readings

Sometimes we are tempted to think that the gospel injunction to serve the poor is merely an individual mandate – that as long as we give some of our money, as long as we make a casserole for the homeless once in a while, as long as we give a beggar some money here and there, we have lived out our obligation to the poor. All of these things are very good things, indeed holy things, that a part of the Christian life. In fact, they compose a standard that sometimes I would be pleased if I myself met! But today’s first reading reminds us that Scripturally, there’s more. This reading from Leviticus describes the mandate of the Jubilee year in Jewish law. Every fifty years, land was to be redistributed among the Israelites back to the original divisions among the tribes. That is, every generation would go back to what their ancestors had. Think about how much that would undercut amassing wealth! Think about how it would cut back on passing on wealth from generation to generation! The gap between the rich and the poor could only get so wide until the Jubilee brought everyone back to level ground.

Some scholars have interpreted Jesus’ early preaching as inaugurating and announcing a Jubilee year. In today’s gospel, Herod and Herodias throw John in prison and then have him killed. On the surface, they kill John because he has announced the unlawfulness of Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife Herodias. Sexual intercourse with one’s sister-in-law was prohibited by the law (see Lev 18:16). Yet, perhaps they feared the wider implications, too. By the time they arrested and killed John, Jesus was already preaching. Herod even later associated Jesus closely with John (Mt 14:1-2). Perhaps because of the preaching of Jesus and John, Herod, clearly one of the rich who stood to benefit from ignoring the law on land redistribution (and obviously on other matters!), feared that his wealth might not be safe.

Preaching on behalf of the poor, especially when it threatens the rich, has consequences. John was put to death. And so was Jesus. Let us pray today to be open to the needs of the poor not only as we can “afford,” but also on a social and structural level. Let us pray that we, unlike Herod, might have the courage to hear the message of Jesus, even if it challenges our goals of accumulating wealth!

- Tim Gabrielli