Thursday of Week 9 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Paul reminds Timothy today that Jesus is both descended from David and risen from the dead. This tells us that Jesus is both one of us, because he descended from a human being, and also divine, because of his rising from death to life. Since Christ is God, his death has infinite value. Since he shares our human nature, he could rightfully offer himself in our place.
This is the heart of the gospel that Paul has preached and, because of that, he is now in chains. He is presented as being in prison awaiting sentence or even execution. But he emphasises, there is no way that the word of God can be chained. There is no way that Truth can be permanently suppressed. Truth always will out (if one may paraphrase Shakespeare). Many witnesses to the gospel have proved that over the centuries, right down to our own day. Prison and torture often have the very opposite effect; they only increase the desire to make the truth known.
So Paul will gladly undergo any suffering so that those called to believe in Christ will experience salvation in Jesus’ name. No suffering is too great if it brings about the salvation of God’s chosen ones who have yet to believe, a salvation which finds its climax in eternal companionship with Christ in glory.
To illustrate his teaching, he quotes from what seems to be an early Christian hymn:
If we have died with him,
we will also live with him; (see Rom 6:8)
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
(see Matt 10:22,33; Luke 12:9)
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
he cannot deny himself. (see Num 23:19; Rom 3:3-4)
The point to which Paul appeals is that suffering for Christ will be followed by glory. If we fully identify ourselves with the Christ who died on the cross, we shall also enter into glory with him. It is an exhortation to all of us to persevere in following Jesus, even when it involves difficulties and dangers.
But “if we deny him, he will also deny us”. This is certainly not to be understood as a tit-for-tat situation. It is unthinkable that God could act in that way. Rather, if we abandon the gospel or part of it for some temporary advantage, then we, by our own choice, are no longer with him.
Even when we are unfaithful, God himself remains always consistently faithful in his love for us. He cannot change. But neither can he compromise to accept us when we are in denial of truth and love. It is not he who abandons us, but we him. The choice is up to us and, if we are to be free, he must recognise our choice to separate from him.
In the final words in the reading, Timothy is told to tell the people “to avoid wrangling over words”. Paul’s warning seems to be directed at those who are being caught up in the ideas of Gnosticism. Two leaders of this heresy, Hymenaeus (see 1 Tim 1:20) and Philetus, denied the bodily resurrection and probably asserted that there is only a spiritual resurrection (similar to the error mentioned in 1 Cor 15:12-19). Gnosticism interpreted the resurrection allegorically or symbolically, but not as a reality. Paul told the Corinthians that:
…if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain. (1 Cor 15:14)
In a final piece of advice, Timothy is told that all that matters in our lives is that we try to make ourselves deserving of God’s approval, and we do that by consistently preaching and living the truth. It is a teaching we need to hear and implement in our own lives too.
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Thursday of Week 9 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 12:28-34
Not all the Pharisees and Scribes were hostile to Jesus—we have Nicodemus as one very good example. And here today we have a scribe who approaches Jesus with no apparently hostile motive. He had seen how well Jesus had dealt with the challenges put to him by various groups. He now comes to ask a question which was much debated among scholars.
There were more than 600 commandments in the Jewish Law, and it was often asked which of these had priority over the others. Unusual for him, Jesus immediately answers the man’s question. Was this because, unlike on other occasions, it was asked with politeness and respect and was a genuine request for an opinion?
In answering the question Jesus does not give just one commandment but two:
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
and
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Both answers are taken from the Law of Moses (Deut 6:4-5 and Lev 19:18 respectively) and so satisfy his questioner’s request. However, as we read through the New Testament and especially the words of Jesus in the Gospel, we know that Jesus gives his own twist to these two commandments.
First, in answering a question about which is the most important commandment, he gives two commandments which, in his view, are quite inseparable; one cannot be kept without the other. We cannot say we love God and then refuse to love our neighbour. He will make two other refinements. He will extend the meaning of ‘neighbour’ to include every single person and not just the people of one’s own race, religion or family (see Luke 10:30-37). And he will set as the standard of love, not just the love we are able to show, but the depth of love which he will show by dying for us (John 15:13).
The scribe is very pleased with the answer that Jesus gives and expresses full agreement, and:
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
That is to say, the scribe is very close to having the spirit of the gospel and to the following of Jesus. He still has to make the crucial step of committing himself to follow Jesus and become actively involved in the work of the Kingdom.
Whether Nicodemus or this scribe took that step or not we do not know. However, we can make our choice to start today or renew our commitment to keep this double commandment and to reflect on how well we put them together.
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