September 2, 2025
Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 432
Reading 1
Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters,
you have no need for anything to be written to you.
For you yourselves know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.
When people are saying, "Peace and security,"
then sudden disaster comes upon them,
like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,
and they will not escape.
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness,
for that day to overtake you like a thief.
For all of you are children of the light
and children of the day.
We are not of the night or of darkness.
Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do,
but let us stay alert and sober.
For God did not destine us for wrath,
but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep
we may live together with him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,
as indeed you do.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (13) I believe that I shall see the good things
of the Lord in the land of the living.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life's refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land
of the living.
One thing I ask of the LORD;
this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land
of the living.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land
of the living.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A great prophet has arisen in our midst
and God has visited his people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"
Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
"What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out."
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
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Commentary on 1
Thessalonians 5:1-6,9-11
Today we have our final reading from this letter. We will
read Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians next year at this time.
In this passage, Paul continues what we saw in yesterday’s
reading on the subject of the Lord’s final coming. The theme today is
watchfulness. As far as the Lord’s coming is concerned, there is no point in
talking about times and dates because:
…the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
In the first verse of today’s reading, the phrase “times and
the seasons” is like a cliché. Behind it is the idea that God is outside time,
but at the same time, controls time and its divisions. There have always been
some Christians who try to fix the date of Our Lord’s return (“The end is
nigh!”) and some Thessalonians may have been among them. We saw earlier how
some Thessalonians were not bothering to work any more because they believed
that the Lord was due any day soon. Paul wants to scotch such a mentality.
The expression “day of the Lord” goes back to Amos 5:18. In
the Old Testament it is a time when God will come and intervene with judgement
and/or blessing. In the New Testament the thought of judegment continues, but
it is also the “day of redemption” (Eph 4:30); the “day of God” (2 Pet 3:12),
or of Christ (1 Cor 1:8; Phil 1:6); and “the last day” (John 6:39), the “great
day” (Jude 6) or simply “that day” (2 Thess 1:10). It is the climax of all
things. There will be some preliminary signs, but the coming will be
unexpected:
…if the owner of the house had known in what part of the
night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake… (Matt
24:43-44)
Paul, in fact, asserts he has no idea when the Last Day will
come, and he merely repeats what the Lord said about having to stay awake till
it comes. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, so it is necessary to
stay awake because it will come soon. At first Paul expected he might live to
see the Last Day; he later realised he might die before it, and warns people it
will not come as soon as they thought. More than anything, the prospect of how
long it would take to convert the pagans made it certain that the Last Day
would not come for a very long time.
Paul warns that it is precisely when people are saying how
quiet and peaceful everything is that sudden destruction comes on them. It will
come as suddenly as labour pains on a pregnant woman and there will be no
escape. This ‘destruction’ will not mean annihilation, but exclusion from the
Lord’s presence, the end of real living and the nullification of all human
‘success’ and accomplishment. Hell is being separated from God and all that God
stands for, separated from the deepest needs of our being.
Paul emphasises the surprise that will strike the unbeliever
especially. The Greek word for ‘sudden’ (or ‘unexpected’—aiphnídios) is
only found once in another New Testament text, but in the same context:
Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with
dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that day does not
catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.
(Luke 21:34)
In speaking about labour pains, the emphasis is not on the
pain, but rather on the suddenness and inevitability of such pains for an
expectant mother.
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for
that day to surprise you like a thief…
True believers do not live in darkness nor do they belong to
darkness. The mention of ‘the Day’ without further qualification helps Paul to
introduce the mention of light and day and contrast ‘wakefulness’ with the
dark, night and sleep. It also allows him to make the contrast between
Christians (children of the light) and others (children of darkness).
The Thessalonian Christians, says Paul:
…are all children of light and children of the day; we
are not of the night or of darkness.
In Semitic languages (such as Hebrew), to be called the ‘son
(or child) of’ a particular quality meant the person was characterised by that
quality. Christians do not simply live in the light; they are characterised by
light, they radiate light. Jesus said of himself:
I am the Light of the world. (John 8:12)
And he said of his followers
You are the light of the world… (Matt 5:14)
As children of the day, then, they should:
…not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and
be sober.
Unbelievers are insensitive to things of the spirit; they
are in a kind of sleep. Such sleep is not for the “children of light”. On the
contrary, they are to be on the watch, ready for the coming of the Lord no
matter when it happens. They need too to be “sober”, in full control of
themselves and aware of what is going on around them. This contrasts with what
Paul says in the next verse (not in our reading):
…for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are
drunk get drunk at night
They should realise that God’s plan for them is not vengeful
punishment, but that they should win salvation through Jesus Christ. God is on
our side; he wants to be with us and for us to be with him. It was his will
that Jesus died for us so that “awake or asleep” (i.e. whether still living or already
dead), we should live united with him. The same opportunities for salvation are
open to all—the living and the dead alike.
Paul then ends with an exhortation he gave earlier:
…encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed
you are doing.
Literally, he tells them to build each other up, using a
verb that basically applies to the building of houses, but frequently used by
him for ‘building up’ the Body of Christ, which the Christian community is. All
in all, it is a message of positive hope and confidence and reassurance.
We, too, need to maintain a balance between being ready to
be called at any moment of any day, while being free from unnecessary fear and
anxiety about the time or circumstances of our death. Let Paul’s attitude be
ours—living or dead, he longed to be united with the Lord. The best preparation
is to live always in the now: seeking, finding and responding to God in every
person and in every experience of every moment of every day. Such a person will
never be taken by surprise.
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Commentary on Luke
4:31-37
Immediately after his mixed reception in Nazareth, Jesus
moves on to Capernaum, a town on the north shore of Galilee, which was to be
the base from which Jesus did much of his missionary work. As in Nazareth, he
taught the people in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Unlike in Nazareth:
They were astounded at his teaching because he spoke with
authority.
He did not quote other authorities like the teachers of the
law, because his authority was directly from God; it was his own.
At the same time, it was not the authority of domination. It
was the authority of someone who has access to special knowledge, the authority
of someone who speaks in his own name and not just on behalf of others, the
authority of one who empowers others and makes them grow.
The word ‘authority’ comes from the Latin auctoritas,
which in turn comes from the verb augere, meaning to increase or
augment. And Jesus’ authority is not only in word and teaching. Right there in
the synagogue as he speaks is a man possessed by a “spirit of an unclean demon”.
The spirit, through the man, speaks in fear of the power of Jesus:
Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy
One of God.
This title seems to indicate that the spirit recognises
Jesus’ divine origin, but not his Messiahship. There was a belief in those
times that knowing the exact name of one’s opponent gave one power over him.
Jesus ordered the evil spirit to leave the man, who was
thrown to the ground, but not hurt. The people are amazed. Exorcism was not new
to them, but they had never seen it done with such speed and effectiveness.
They are astounded again at the power and authority of Jesus. They realise they
are in the presence of someone very special, in fact, the “Holy One of God”.
Each one of us is given authority of some kind—as a parent,
a teacher or perhaps our job responsibility. Let us make sure that we use it in
such a way as to enhance the abilities of others rather than diminish them.
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Tuesday, September 2,
2025
Opening Prayer
Almighty God,
every good thing comes from you.
Fill our hearts with love for you, increase our faith,
and by your constant care
protect the good you have given us.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 4: 31-37
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a
town in Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath.
And his teaching made a deep
impression on them because his word carried authority. In the synagogue there
was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil, and he shouted at the
top of his voice, ‘Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you
come to destroy us? I know who you are: the
Holy One of God.’
But Jesus rebuked it, saying, ‘Be quiet! Come
out of him!’ And the devil, throwing the man into the middle, went out of him
without hurting him at all. Astonishment seized them and they were all saying
to one another, ‘What is it in his words? He gives orders to unclean spirits
with authority and power and they come out.’ And the news of him travelled all
through the surrounding countryside.
Reflection
In today’s Gospel we can see the facts more
closely: the admiration of the people because of the way Jesus taught and the
cure of a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit. Not all the Evangelists
give this account in the same way. For Luke, the first miracle is the peace with
which Jesus liberates himself from the threat of death on the part of the
people of Nazareth (Lk 4: 2930) and the cure of the possessed man (Lk 4:
33-35). For Matthew, the first miracle is the cure of the sick and of the
possessed (Mt 4: 23) or, more specifically, the cure of a leper (Mt 8: 1-4).
For Mark, the miracle was the expulsion of the devil (Mk 1: 23-26). For John,
the first miracle was Cana, where Jesus changed the water into wine (Jn 2:
1-11). Thus, in the way of narrating things, each Evangelist, accordingly,
indicates which was the greatest concern of Jesus.
•
Luke 4: 31: The change of Jesus toward
Capernaum: “Jesus descends to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and on Saturday he
taught the people.” Matthew says that Jesus went to live in Capernaum (Mt 4:
13). He changed his residence. Capernaum was a small city on the crossroad
between two important streets: the one coming from Asia Minor and was leading
to Petra on the south of Transjordan, and the other one coming from the region
of the two rivers: the
Tigris and the Euphrates, and
descended toward Egypt. The change toward Capernaum facilitated the contact
with the people and the diffusion of the Good News.
•
Luke 4: 32: Admiration of the people at the
teaching of Jesus. The first thing that people perceive is that Jesus teaches
in a different way. It is not so much the content that strikes them, but rather
his way of teaching: “Jesus speaks with authority.” Mark adds that because of
his different way of teaching; Jesus created a critical conscience among the
people about the religious authority of his time. The people perceived and
compared: “He teaches with authority, unlike the Scribes” (Mk 1: 22, 27). The
Scribes taught quoting authority. Jesus does not quote any authority; rather he
speaks starting from his experience of God and of his life.
•
Luke 4: 33-35: Jesus fights against the power of
evil. The first miracle is the expulsion of the devil. The power of evil took
possession of persons, alienating them. Jesus restores the persons to be themselves
again, giving them back the consciousness and liberty. He does this thanks to
the force of his word: “Be quiet! Come out of him!” And on another occasion, he
says: “But if it is through the finger of God that I drive devils out, then the
Kingdom of God has indeed caught you unawares” (Lk 11: 20). Today, also, many
people live alienated from themselves, subjugated by the means of
communication, by the propaganda of the government and of business. They live
slaves of consumerism, oppressed by debts and threatened by creditors. People
think that they do not live well if they do not have everything which the
propaganda announces. It is not easy to expel this power which today, alienates
many people, and return the persons to be themselves again.
•
Luke 4: 36-37: The reaction of the people: he
gives orders to the unclean spirits. Jesus not only has a diverse way of
teaching the things of God, but another aspect which causes admiration in the
people is his power over unclean spirits: “What is it in his words? He gives
orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out.” Jesus
opens a new path so that the people can place themselves before God to pray and
to receive the blessings promised to Abraham. Before, they had to purify
themselves. There were many laws and norms which made the life of the people
difficult and marginalized many persons who were considered impure. But now,
purified by faith in Jesus, persons could once again place themselves before
God and pray to him, without the need to have recourse to the complicated norms
of purity which were frequently expensive.
Personal Questions
•
Jesus causes admiration and astonishment among
the people. Does the way of acting of our community cause admiration among the
people of the neighborhood? What type of admiration?
•
Jesus drives out the power of evil and restores
the persons to be themselves again. Today many persons live alienated from
everything and from all. How can we help them to recover and be themselves
again?
Concluding Prayer
Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger, full of faithful
love. Yahweh is generous to all, his tenderness embraces all his creatures. (Ps
145: 8-9)
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