February 11, 2025
Tuesday of the Fifth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 330
Reading 1
God said,
"Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures,
and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky."
and so it happened:
God created the great sea monsters
and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems,
and all kinds of winged birds.
God saw how good it was, and God blessed them, saying,
"Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas;
and let the birds multiply on the earth."
Evening came, and morning followed–the fifth day.
Then God said,
"Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures:
cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds."
and so it happened:
God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle,
and all kinds of creeping things of the earth.
God saw how good it was.
Then God said:
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
the birds of the air, and the cattle,
and over all the wild animals
and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
God created man in his image;
in the divine image he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying:
"Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
and all the living things that move on the earth."
God also said:
"See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth
and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;
and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air,
and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground,
I give all the green plants for food."
And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Evening came, and morning followed–the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.
Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing,
he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.
Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2ab) O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in
all the earth!
When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars which you set in place—
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
All sheep and oxen,
yes, and the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Incline my heart, O God, to your decrees;
And favor me with your law.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from
Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.)
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?"
He responded,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites,
as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."
He went on to say,
"How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!
For Moses said,
Honor your father and your mother,
and Whoever curses father or mother shall die.
Yet you say,
'If someone says to father or mother,
"Any support you might have had from me is qorban"'
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.
You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021125.cfm
Commentary on
Genesis 1:20—2:4
God completes the work of creation we were considering in
yesterday’s reading.
Evening and morning, the
fifth day
On the fifth day God creates swarms of living creatures from the waters
(rivers and seas, and salt and fresh water are not distinguished) and the birds
of the air. These include:
…the great sea monsters and every living creature that
moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm and every winged bird of
every kind [i.e. everything that flies, including insects].
The Hebrew word for ‘create’, bara, is a verb
whose only subject can be God. There are three objects of creation mentioned:
the universe as a whole, sea monsters controlling the waters, and human beings,
who control the land. And:
God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and
fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
And, as before:
…God saw that it was good.
Evening and morning, the
sixth day
On the sixth day it is the turn for land-based creatures—all kinds of
domestic animals (cattle, sheep), creeping things (reptiles, snakes, insects and
small animals), and wild animals. It was God who brought all these into being.
And he saw that they were good.
Also on the sixth day he creates human beings, saying:
Let us make humans in our image, according to our
likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
The “us” in this passage certainly does not denote many
gods, but God taken together with the retinue of the divine court. The plural
can also express the majesty and fullness of God’s being, and the common name
for God in Hebrew is elohim, a plural form (recall also that, in
the past, the pope and some royalty used the term ‘we’ in speaking of
themselves).
While some translations of the Bible use the word “man” in
lieu of “humans”, the original translation of the word used is a collective
noun for the whole human race, male and female, and so we read later in the
sentence, “let them have dominion”. The New Revised
Standard Version Bible updated edition (NSRVue, the translation cited
in these commentaries) is more accurate in using the term “human” (note, the
separate creation of man and then woman is found in the second creation account).
In our image
The human image, in some paradoxical way, resembles a God who has no
visual image—perhaps in his speech, his intelligence and moral sense. We should
note the opposite, namely, that the Bible does not hesitate to depict divine
manifestations in human form. God is even presented with human
feelings—sadness, disappointment, anger, vengeance and so forth.
This close relationship with God distinguishes human beings
from the animals. It also involves a distant sharing in God’s nature:
intellect, will, dominion and authority. We are like God in our access to truth
and wisdom, if on an infinitely lower level. We are like God in ability to
love. All this paves the way for an even higher image: our sharing in the
divine nature through the gift of grace (God’s love experienced and active in
our lives). Being in God’s image, humankind is given dominion over all other
living things, including wild animals—in the sea, on land and in the air.
Now we have the first piece of poetry in the
Bible—forty-percent of which is poetry:
So God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Male and female God created
them
Both male and female are created equally in the image of God, who is
beyond gender and inclusive of both. Compare this also to the later narrative
of woman’s creation (see this Thursday’s reading).
They, too, are told to increase and multiply, to fill the
earth and be responsible for it and for all the animals, birds and living
things within it. And to both humans and all the fish, animals and birds are
given the fruits and seeds of every tree and plant. It is a description of a
golden—and vegetarian—age, when human beings and animals were at peace with
each other, all having only plants for their food. That will change with the
coming of Noah (Gen 9:3).
The work of creation of both heavens and earth is now
finished, completed in the six days when work was allowed:
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was
very good.
God rested on the seventh day
With his work completed, God rested on the seventh day. And in this way
God blessed the seventh day and made it ‘holy’, because on that day he had
rested from his work of creation. In future, his people would work on six days
but would, in imitation of Yahweh, ‘keep holy the Sabbath day’. It would be a
day of prayer and worship and of rest from all kinds of work.
The Sabbath (Hebrew, shabbat) is of divine
institution, for on that day God himself rested. The word shabbat is
avoided here since, according to the Priestly author, the Sabbath was not
imposed until the giving of the law on Sinai, when it then became the sign of
the covenant (Exod 31:12-17). However, even at the creation God set an example
which was to be followed.
The last sentence of the passage brings to a close one of
the creation stories in Genesis, but it can also be read as the beginning of
the next section:
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth
when they were created.
Reflecting on today’s reading, we cannot be unaware that our
responsibility to be stewards of God’s creation has frequently led to serious
abuse of our environment at all levels and is a major concern today. We have
mistaken stewardship for domination and control rather than good management.
The whole of creation is put into our hands to supply our
needs. But we realise more and more that we ourselves are part of that
creation, and that there is an essential symbiosis, a mutual interdependence.
From mighty galaxies to sub-atomic particles there is a seamless robe of being
into which we must fit, in a way that benefits all.
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Commentary on Mark
7:1-13
A group of self-righteous scribes and Pharisees come to
Galilee from Jerusalem to observe Jesus. Obviously, word has reached Jerusalem
about what Jesus has been doing up in Galilee. They immediately notice that
Jesus and his disciples do not observe some of the “traditions of the elders”,
especially with regard to the washing of hands before eating. These traditions
were a body of highly detailed, but unwritten human laws, which the scribes and
Pharisees regarded as having the same binding force as the Law of Moses. Paul
admits to having been a fanatical upholder of these traditions (see Gal 1:14).
It is hard not to come to the conclusion that many of these
observances were originally based on practical experience. Eating without
washing one’s hands could be a source of sickness, although they knew nothing
about germs or bacteria. Because sometimes it could be diseased, eating pork
made some people seriously sick, so the meat was banned altogether. But in
order to ensure these hygienic requirements would be observed, they were linked
to a religious sanction. Violating them was not just bad for your health, but a
violation of God’s will. In the thinking of the Jewish leaders, to ignore them
was to disobey God.
Clearly Jesus was not against the washing of hands as such,
even as a religious observance. What he was against was the legalism by which
the mere observance of some external actions was equated with being a devout
lover of God. He quotes from the prophet Isaiah:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines. (Is 29:13)
The real commandments of God, like unconditional love of the
neighbour, are neglected in favour of what are purely human traditions. Jesus
illustrates the hypocrisy involved by showing how some supposedly devout people
got around the basic responsibility of respect for parents (which the Mosaic
law demanded) by claiming that they had consecrated all they owned to God and
the temple, while in fact keeping it for their own use. The Corban (or Qorban in
some translations) was a way of supposedly making a gift to God by an offering
to the Temple, but in such a way that the donor could continue to use it for
himself and not give it to others, even needy parents. This is like the story
about the pastor who said, “Each week I throw all the collection up in the air
for God. What stays up, he keeps; the rest comes to me”.
We sometimes meet Catholics who confuse the essential
service of God with some religious rule. They judge people by whether they eat
fish on Friday or not. They piously go through all kinds of devotional
exercises, but their conversation is full of gossip and destructive criticism
of others.
Others get tied down by scruples (“Did I say my penance
after Confession?”) when the more important question would be, “Did I change my
behaviour?” or “How did I keep my promise not to repeat the same sins?” Some
ask: “Did I observe the full hour of fasting before communion?” when the more
important issue would be, “Does my going to communion bring me closer to God
and make me a more loving person with others?”
There can be a bit of the Pharisee in all of us, and that is
the real subject of the teaching today. We will be judged by the depth of our
love and nothing else.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father, watch over your family and keep us safe in your
care, for all our hope is in you.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Gospel Reading -
Mark 7: 1-13
The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from
Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples
were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the
Pharisees, and all the Jews, keep the tradition of the elders and never eat
without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the
marketplace, they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also
many other observances which have been handed down to them to keep, concerning
the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So the Pharisees and scribes
asked him, 'Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but
eat their food with
unclean hands?' He answered, 'How rightly Isaiah prophesied
about you hypocrites in the passage of scripture: This people honor me only
with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. Their reverence of me is
worthless; the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments. You put
aside the commandment of God to observe human traditions.' And he said to them,
'How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God to preserve your own tradition!
For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother, and anyone who curses father
or mother must be put to death. But you say, "If a man says to his father
or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Korban
(that is, dedicated to God)," then he is forbidden from
that moment to do anything for his father or mother. In this way you make God's word ineffective for the
sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.'
Reflection
The Gospel today speaks about the religious traditions of
that time and of the Pharisees who
taught this tradition to the people. For example, to eat without washing the hands, as they
said, to eat with impure hands. Many of these traditions were separated from
life and had lost their significance. But even if this was the state of things,
these were traditions kept and taught, either because of fear or because of
superstition. The Gospel presents some instructions of Jesus concerning these
traditions.
• Mark 7: 1-2:
Control of the Pharisees and liberty of the disciples. The Pharisees and
some Scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, observed how the disciples of
Jesus ate the bread with impure hands.
Here there are three points which deserve to be made evident: a) The Scribes were from Jerusalem, from the capital
city! This means that they had come to observe and to control what Jesus did.
b) The disciples do not wash the hands before eating! This means that being
with Jesus impels them to have the courage to transgress the norms which
tradition imposed on
the people, but
that no longer had any sense, any meaning for life. c) The fact of washing
the hands, which up until
now continues to
be an important
norm of hygiene, had assumed
for them a
religious significance which served to
control and discriminate persons.
• Mark 7: 3-4: The Tradition of the Ancients. “The
Tradition of the Ancients” transmitted norms which had to be observed by the
people to have the purity asked by the Law. The observance of the law was a
very serious aspect for the people of that time. They thought that an impure
person could not receive the blessings promised by God to Abraham. The norms on
purity were taught to open the way to God, source of peace. Instead of being a
source of peace, the norms constituted a prison, slavery. For the poor, it was practically impossible to observe the
hundreds of norms, of traditions and of laws. For this reason, they were
considered ignorant and damned persons who did not know the law (Jn 7: 49).
• Mark 7: 5: The
Scribes and the Pharisees criticize the behavior of the disciples of
Jesus. The Scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus:
Why do your disciples not behave according to the tradition of the Ancients and eat the bread
with impure hands? They think that they are interested in knowing the reason
for the behavior of the disciples. In reality, they criticize Jesus because he
allows the disciples to transgress the norms of purity. The Pharisees formed a
type of confraternity, the principal concern of which was to observe all the
laws of purity. The Scribes were responsible for the doctrine. They taught the
laws relative to the observance of
purity.
• Mark 7: 6-13 Jesus
criticizes the incoherence of the Pharisees. Jesus answers quoting Isaiah: This people approach me only in words, honors me only with lip
service, while their hearts are far from me (cf. Is 29: 13). Insisting on the norms of purity, the
Pharisees emptied the content of the commandments of God’s Law. Jesus quotes a
concrete example. They said: the person, who offers his goods to the Temple,
cannot use these goods to help those in greater need. Thus, in the name of tradition
they emptied the fourth commandment from its
content, which commands
to love father
and mother. These persons
seem to be
very observant, but they are so
only externally. In their heart, they remain far away from God; as the hymn
says: “His name is Jesus Christ and is hungry and lives out on the sidewalk. And people when
they pass by, sometimes do not stop, because they are afraid to arrive late to
church!” At the time of Jesus, people, in their wisdom, were not in agreement
with everything they were taught. They were hoping that oneday the Messiah
would come to indicate another way to attain purity. In Jesus this hope becomes
a reality.
Personal Questions
• Do you know any
religious tradition today which does not have too much sense, but which
continues to be taught?
• The Pharisees were
practicing Jews, but their faith was divided, separated from the life of the
people. This is why Jesus criticizes them. And today, would Jesus criticize us?
In what things?
Concluding Prayer
Our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the
world! I look up at your heavens, shaped
by your fingers,
at the moon and the stars you set firm-
what are human beings
that you spare a thought for them, or
the child of Adam that you care for him? (Ps 8: 1, 3-4)
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