Tuesday of Week 16 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Micah 7:14-15,18-20

Today’s final selection from Micah consists of a lovely prayer from a people aware of their great needs which only God can remedy. The prophet begs God to lead his people to richer pastures, for the people of Israel are his very inheritance:

Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock that belongs to you…

Right now, they live:

…alone in a forest
in the midst of a garden land…

The prophet says they are living isolated in a land that is unproductive—in the sense that they are living in a situation of desolation and hardship after their return to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon.

They now long for the days when they could pasture in:

…Bashan and Gilead….As in the days
when you came out of the land of Egypt,
show us marvelous things.

This was a time when they were the witnesses to all God’s wonders on their behalf. And as in the days after they left Egypt, they long for more wonderful signs of Yahweh’s love and power.

The prophet then appeals to God’s very nature to come to their aid:

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over the transgression
of the remnant of his possession?

This prayer is a kind of psalm of which similar examples occur in the prophetic writings. Micah’s God is not the kind of god that others believe in, a god who instils terror and fear. This God takes faults away and pardons crime. This God is not vindictive; he does not cherish anger forever, but delights in showing mercy and compassion.

Micah begs his God to have pity on his people in spite of all that they have done:

…tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.

He appeals to God to remember and to implement the covenants of old that were made with Abraham and Jacob, covenants of faithfulness and mercy.

Perhaps we, too, feel now (or have felt at other times) that our lives were being lived in a kind of desert. We ask God to lead us to richer pastures where we can experience joy and peace. As well, we should also know that we have a God beyond compare, made known to us through the life and death of Jesus. Through Jesus, he has given us a new life in a new covenant. As did the people of Micah’s time, we also beg our God to wipe out all our sins and help us to turn totally to him in love and fidelity.

Read more

Monday of Week 16 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 12:38-42

Today’s passage follows two others, which we have not read. In the first, Jesus is accused of doing what he does by the power of Satan (Matt 12:22-32). This is an accusation which he easily shows is self-contradictory and makes no sense. In the second, he says that a tree which is rotten inside cannot produce good fruit (Matt 12:33-37). Goodness comes from a person’s interior. The words are directed at his accusers whom he more than once accuses of being hypocrites—pious and law-abiding on the outside, but full of malice inside.

It is these same people who approach him today. It is difficult to know their mood as they ask Jesus for a sign. Is it a genuine request for Jesus to indicate the source of his authority and power, or is it a hostile demand for Jesus to present his credentials?

In response, Jesus first says that:

An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Yes, “evil and adulterous”, because for anyone with an open mind, Jesus has been giving nothing but signs ever since he began his public life. The ordinary people have been full of praise and amazement at what Jesus is doing and say:

A great prophet has risen among us!…God has visited his people! (Luke 7:16)

But these leaders, blinded by their own prejudice, are even saying that the teaching, exorcisms and healings of Jesus are the work of Satan.

In addition to all this, they are going to get an unmistakable sign of who Jesus really is. They will be given “the sign of the prophet Jonah”:

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.

This is a clear reference to Jesus’ resurrection—the conclusive sign of his identity and power.

Mention of Jonah leads Jesus to say that:

…people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed something [i.e. Jesus] greater than Jonah is here!

Similarly:

The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed something greater than Solomon is here!

This of course also refers to Jesus, who is greater by far than Solomon.

We, too, have the privilege of listening to Jesus and we know the sign of his resurrection. Is it not possible that there are many people around us who, not knowing Jesus, but following the guidance of their consciences, will find themselves going before us into the Kingdom?

Complacency is probably one of our biggest temptations: “I am good enough; I observe the basic requirements of my religion.” Is that all that Jesus expects of me?

Read more