Friday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
As a pastor, there are numerous kinds of questions that I am asked. Some are meant to clarify issues, others are meant to decipher my opinion, and still others are meant to trap me. One teenager the other day asked me if I like beer. I evaded the question because I think the youngster was looking for a justification for her own behavior. If she could say that Fr. Satish likes beer, then she could find a reason to avoid kicking the habit.
This entire 12th chapter of Mark contains similar situations. People come to Jesus to ask questions. Some questions are precisely meant to trap him. For example, last Tuesday we had the gospel reading about paying taxes to Caesar. Following this was the question from the Sadducees (the Jewish sect that did not believe in the Resurrection) about the seven brothers who married the same woman. And then, there was the question about the greatest commandment. Jesus answered all these questions with great deft. But then to our surprise, he raises a trick question himself: “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? (Mk 12:35). And then he quotes Ps 110: 1. “The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet. ’David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” We only know that Jesus raised the question. We are not give an answer to this question but only the reaction of the crowd: “The great crowd heard this with delight.” (Mk12:37b). The readers are left to interpret the meaning of this passage themselves.
Scripture scholars tell us that the main purpose of this passage is to suggest that the Messiah cannot be adequately and exhaustively described as Son of David. The Messiah is greater than David.
So, surely this is not the most inspiring message we want to draw from today’s readings. But in light of the first reading from the second letter of Paul to Timothy, the gospel is not all the irrelevant. Paul draws a contrast between those who live religiously (2 Tim 3:12) and wicked people/charlatans (2 Tim 3:13). Paul even describes these two groups of people. Those who live religiously are people of purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance. The wicked are self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
Today, we take the opportunity to examine our motives. Why do we do what we do? The questions we ask, the statements we make, the charity we perform, the praise we offer, the criticism we give, things we say in front of people and behind their back, the reason we go to church… why do we do what we do?
- Fr. Satish Joseph