Thursday of Week 4 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Mark 6:7-13

We now reach a new stage in the formation of Jesus’ disciples. There was a calling of the first disciples to be “fishers of people”, then the choosing of twelve who would share in the very work of Jesus. Now the Twelve, the foundation of the future community, are being sent out to do exactly the same work that Jesus has been doing.

They have been given authority over unclean spirits, they preach repentance—that radical conversion (Greek, metanoia) to the vision of the Kingdom—and they anoint the sick with oil and heal them. Notice that these three activities cover the whole person: spiritual, mental and physical; healing and wholeness; health and holiness. To be holy is to be whole.

They are instructed to travel lightly, bringing only what they absolutely need—no food or money or even a change of clothes. They will not need these things because they will be taken care of by the people they serve. They are to stay in the first house that takes them in. Overall, they are to show total dependence on and trust in God.

This is freedom at its best. It is a model repeated by many saints and founders of religious congregations. Do we really need all the baggage we carry through life? Even the ancient Greeks said: “Those are really rich whose needs are the least”. That is what Jesus is teaching us. And, of course, he was a living example.

The disciples went off and did the three central works of Jesus:

• They proclaimed the Kingdom and called for a radical change of heart from people, so that they might see life in the way that Jesus, the Son of God, was proclaiming.
• They liberated many people from evil influences and compulsions. Freedom is the essence of Christian discipleship.
• They anointed the sick with soothing oil and brought them healing and wholeness.

They not only preached the Kingdom; they made it a reality in people’s lives. This is what we too are all called to do within the circumstances of our life. Even having little, we are to give much.

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Thursday of Week 4 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Hebrews 12:18-19,21-24

The reading gives a striking contrast between the appearance of God on Mount Sinai and the God that comes to us in Jesus Christ. It is another word of discouragement to the Hebrew Christians who want to go back to the old dispensation. They are being reminded of just what they want to go back to and what they want to leave.

According to the New American Bible:

“This remarkably beautiful passage contrasts two great assemblies of people: that of the Israelites gathered at Mt Sinai for the sealing of the old covenant and the promulgation of the Mosaic Law, and that of the followers of Jesus gathered at ‘Mt Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem’, the assembly of the ‘new covenant’. This latter scene, marked by the presence of ‘countless angels’ and of ‘Jesus’ with his ‘redeeming blood’ is reminiscent of the celestial liturgies of the Book of Revelation.”

The approach to God no longer occurs in an awe-inspiring theophany as on Sinai, but in a city built by God—for which the Old Testament saints yearned—the heavenly city. Together with the angels, they are assembled round the triumphant Mediator for all Christians, whom he has sanctified and made perfect.

In approaching God through Jesus, the Christians do not have to go through the experience that the Israelites had at the foot of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Law from Yahweh and where the covenant between Yahweh and his people was sealed. That was a truly awesome and frightening theophany. Some of its features were:

…a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.

But impatient with Moses’ delay in coming back, the Hebrews made the golden calf as an idol. And in a verse omitted from today’s reading, we are told:

…they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” (Heb 12:20)

In fact, so terrifying was the sight of this idolatrous image that even Moses, who had spoken face to face with Yahweh, admitted that he trembled with fear.

But the situation of Christ’s followers is completely different. The author tells the Hebrew Christians (using very traditional terms, but in a very different sense) that they:

…have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering…

The original Mount Zion was Jerusalem, the site of the Temple in whose sanctuary Yahweh dwelt. Here the author speaks of the “heavenly Jerusalem”.

They have come to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven. These are all those who have identified themselves with Jesus as his disciples and identify with the New Covenant.

They come to God, the Judge of all, and to:

…the spirits of the righteous made perfect…

This last phrase would appear to apply to the “righteous” in the Old Testament who are now given final deliverance and redemption through the saving death of Christ on the Cross (see Matt 27:52).

And, most of all, they have come:

…to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

When Abel was killed by his brother Cain, his blood cried out to God for vengeance (Gen 4:10). His was the first recorded murder in the Bible and, in addition, was the blood of a good and innocent man. But the innocent blood of Jesus, poured out on the Cross, is far more powerful. Abel’s blood cried out from the earth for vengeance, but the blood of Jesus has opened the way for everyone, providing cleansing and access to God. The blood of Jesus brings not vengeance, but forgiveness and reconciliation.

The awesomeness of Sinai was one that overpowered the senses. The awesomeness of our Christian faith is in the radical change it can bring about in our lives when we surrender ourselves totally to the Way to God that Jesus has shown. Our Saviour is “meek and humble of heart” and intimately accessible at all times. Some of his favourite words are: “Do not be afraid.”

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