January 15, 2026
Thursday of the First Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 308
Reading
I
The Philistines
gathered for an attack on Israel.
Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer,
while the Philistines camped at Aphek.
The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel.
After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines,
who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield.
When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said
“Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today
by the Philistines?
Let us fetch the ark of the Lord from Shiloh
that it may go into battle among us
and save us from the grasp of our enemies.”
So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there
the ark of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim.
The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God.
When the ark of the LORD arrived in the camp,
all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded.
The Philistines, hearing the noise of shouting, asked,
“What can this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?”
On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,
the Philistines were frightened.
They said, “Gods have come to their camp.”
They said also, “Woe to us! This has never happened before. Woe to us!
Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?
These are the gods that struck the Egyptians
with various plagues and with pestilence.
Take courage and be manly, Philistines;
otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews,
as they were your slaves.
So fight manfully!”
The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated;
every man fled to his own tent.
It was a disastrous defeat,
.in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.
The ark of God was captured,
and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (27b) Redeem
us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Yet now you have cast us off and put us in disgrace,
and you
go not forth with our armies.
You have let us be driven back by our foes;
those
who hated us plundered us at will.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because
of your mercy.
You made us the reproach of our neighbors,
the
mockery and the scorn of those around us.
You made us a byword among the nations,
a
laughingstock among the peoples.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because
of your mercy.
Why do you hide your face,
forgetting
our woe and our oppression?
For our souls are bowed down to the dust,
our
bodies are pressed to the earth.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because
of your mercy.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
A leper came to
him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011526.cfm
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:1-11
Today’s story
digresses somewhat with this reading, which is really centred on the Ark of the
Covenant. It is linked with what we have read so far from Samuel by the mention
of Shiloh and Eli and his sons. Samuel does not appear. The overall context,
including the Philistines, is more like that of the Samson story.
It introduces the
Philistines as the ‘bad guys’ who are having it all their own way—at this
stage. Although, as usual, there is an implication that the Israelites are only
getting their deserts for their infidelities before Yahweh.
The passage begins
by our being told that the Israelites had encamped at Ebenezer to repel a
planned attack on them by the Philistines who were encamped at Aphek. The
location of Ebenezer (the name means ‘stone of help’) is not now known, but it
is presumed that it was probably not very far to the east of Aphek. This is not
to be confused with the place of a stone, called Ebenezer, erected by Samuel to
commemorate a victory over the Philistines (see 1 Sam 7:12). Aphek was in the
northern Philistine territory, about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the coastal
city of Joppa (Jaffa). Philistine presence this far north suggests they were
attempting to spread their control over the Israelite tribes of central Canaan.
A fierce battle
between the Philistines and the Israelites near Aphek ended in a disastrous
defeat for the Israelites in which thousands were killed. The leaders
immediately see in the defeat a message from God:
Why has the
Lord put us to rout today before the Philistines?
The elders
understood that their defeat was more an indication of God’s displeasure than
it was of Philistine military superiority. Israel’s pagan neighbours also
believed that the outcome of battle was decided by the gods. Things—both good
and bad—never happen simply by chance in the Bible.
In an attempt to
secure the Lord’s closer presence with them in the struggle against the
Philistines, the elders sent for the Ark of the Covenant. They were correct in
thinking there was a connection between God’s presence with his people and the
Ark, and no doubt they remembered the presence of the Ark at notable victories
in Israel’s past history. But they incorrectly believed that the Lord’s
presence within the Ark would also produce the results they wanted. They
reflected the pagan notion that the deity was fully identified with the symbol
of his presence and that God’s support could automatically be guaranteed by
manipulating the symbol.
The Ark of the
Covenant was brought from the sanctuary in Shiloh:
…ark of the
covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim.
We know that on
each end of the atonement cover of the Ark were golden cherubim with their
wings spread upward over the Ark (see Exod 25:17-22). In the space between
these cherubim God’s presence with his people was localised in a special way,
so that the atonement cover of the Ark came to be viewed as the throne of
Israel’s divine King (see 2 Sam 6:2; Ps 80:1; 99:1).
The Israelites
carried the Ark with them into battle. They were fully confident that with
God’s presence among them, they would not be defeated this time. It did not
actually help that the Ark was accompanied by the two wicked sons of Eli,
Hophni and Phinehas. Among other misdemeanours, these had been in the habit of
appropriating sacrificial offerings in the Temple for themselves (1 Sam
2:12-17). Here too, they are using the Ark in a way which reduced it to the
level of a pagan charm. For such desecrations they would pay a high price.
When the Ark
arrived among them, the people sent up such a war cry that the Philistines were
alarmed. Such a war cry was, in fact, part of the Ark ritual. And when the
Philistines realised that the Ark was actually present, they were even more
afraid and said:
…gods have come
into the camp….Woe to us!
Like the
Israelites, they identified the Ark with the actual presence of a god. They
knew well that it was the God of Israel which had brought on the plagues in
Egypt and rescued the Israelites from slavery:
Woe to us! Who
can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?
Their only hope
was to fight with everything they had. If they lost, they would become the
slaves of the Israelites as the Israelites had once been their slaves. In spite
of the presence of the Ark, there was another disastrous defeat for the
Israelites in which 30,000 died (probably an inflated figure to emphasise the
calamity of the defeat). And, what was worse, the Ark of the Covenant was
carried off by the victors. This phrase, or a variation of it, occurs five
times in the full story, making this the focal point of the narrative. Both
this and the deaths of Hophni and Phinehas, the wicked sons of Eli, were
cryptically foretold to Samuel (1 Sam 3:11-12). It is perfectly clear that the
defeat was punishment for sins which even the presence of the Ark could not
avert.
There is a
frankness about this story that is refreshing. The expected, stereotyped,
triumphalistic ending does not materialise. Perhaps the mistake of the
Israelites was to identify the presence of God with the Ark itself so that they
used it as a kind of charm or talisman to scare their enemies. Superstitious
though they were—the Israelite’s ruse nearly worked—the Philistines in
desperation set aside their superstitious fears, used the resources they had
and won the victory.
It is possible for
us Christians (and especially Catholics) to behave like the Israelites. We can
identify the statue, or the picture, or the medal with the person they
represent and endow them with a kind of magic power by which we think we can
manipulate not only events and other people, but even God himself. But God must
always remain utterly free. It is not for us to manipulate him, but to know
what his will is and to accept it, on the principle that God always wants what
is best for us (although it may not, in the short term, seem like that).
We pray to Our
Lady and the saints, not to tell them to twist God’s arm on our behalf, but to
help us to be like them and to accept God’s will in all things.
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Commentary on Mark 1:40-45
Today’s healing
story does not actually belong to that ‘day in the life of Jesus’ on which we
reflected over the past two days.
Lepers were among
the most piteous of people in scriptural times. Although little was understood
of the origin of the sickness, it was clearly known to be contagious, and
therefore greatly feared. The only solution was to isolate the victim and not
allow him or her to approach people. So, apart from the appalling physical
disintegration of body and limbs, there was the social ostracism, the contempt,
and the fearfulness of others which the victim suffered.
What was probably
even more tragic was that many who were branded as lepers were likely suffering
from some other ailment, which may not have been contagious at all—such as
ulcers, cancer or other skin diseases (and perhaps some of them even
psychosomatic). The signs for diagnosis are given in chapter 13 of the Book of
Leviticus and, by our standards today, are rather primitive indeed. The room
for a wrong diagnosis was huge. It was a question of being safe rather than
sorry.
The leper in the
story indicates his great faith and trust in Jesus, a necessary and sufficient
condition for healing in the Gospel. He says:
If you are
willing, you can make me clean.
He knows this
because he has undoubtedly seen or heard about what others have experienced.
Jesus is filled
with a deep sense of compassion for the man’s plight. Highlighting the emotions
of Jesus is a characteristic of Mark’s Gospel and is seldom found in Matthew.
What Jesus feels is compassion, not just pity. In pity we feel sorry for the
person, but in compassion, we enter into the feelings of the other; we
empathise with their experience. And, in doing so, Jesus does the
unthinkable—he reaches out to touch the leper. This must have been a healing
act in itself. The leper was by definition untouchable. Jesus says to him:
I am willing.
Be made clean!
But that is not
the end of the story because the man has still to be reintegrated into the
community—this is the second part of the healing process. He is told to go to
the priests to make the customary offering of thanksgiving. They will examine
him and then pronounce him fit to reenter society.
He is also told
not to say anything to anyone about it. Jesus wanted no sensationalism. But how
could the man refrain from telling everybody about his wonderful experience of
coming in contact with the whole-making power of Jesus? He becomes an ardent
evangeliser, a spreader of good news—something we are all called to be.
What is the
outcome of our experience of knowing Jesus? Why do we not have the enthusiasm
of this man? It is worth noting that the experience was the result of his first
having been the victim of a terrible cross. It is often in our crosses that
grace appears.
Once again, Jesus
goes out into the desert to avoid the enthusiastic crowds. Jesus was not
interested in having ‘fans’, only genuine followers. He would not be ready
until his full identity was recognised. That would only happen as he hung dying
on the cross (see Mark 15:39).
Before we leave
this story, we should ask who are the lepers in our society today? Sadly, there
are many marginalized groups—undocumented immigrants, those who are homeless,
individuals struggling with addiction to drugs, alcohol, pornography or other
harmful substances or activities; indeed, we have many lepers among us. Let us
examine our attitudes today and revise them as necessary.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2015g/
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father of love,
hear our prayers.
Help us to know
your will and to do it with courage and faith.
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 1:
40-45
A man suffering
from a virulent skin-disease came to him and pleaded on his knees saying, 'If
you are willing, you can cleanse me.'
Feeling sorry for
him, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him, 'I am willing.
Be cleansed.' And at once the skin-disease left him and he was cleansed. And at
once Jesus sternly sent him away and said to him, 'Mind you tell no one
anything, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for
your cleansing prescribed by Moses as evidence to them.' The man went away, but
then started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus
could no longer go openly into any town, but stayed outside in deserted places.
Even so, people from all around kept coming to him.
Reflection
•
Accepting
and curing the leper, Jesus reveals a new face of God. A leper came near Jesus.
He was an excluded, an impure person. He should be far away. Anybody who
touched him, would also become impure! But that leper had great courage. He
transgresses the norms of religion to be able to get near Jesus. And he calls
out: If you want, you can heal me. You need not touch me! It suffices that you
want, and I will be healed! This phrase reveals two evils: a) the evil of leprosy
which made him impure; b) the evil of solitude to which he was condemned by
society and by religion. It also reveals the great faith of the man in the
power of Jesus. And Jesus profoundly moved, cures both evils. In the first
place, to cure solitude, he touches the leper. It is as if he said: “For me,
you are not an excluded one. I accept you as a brother!” And then he cures the
leper saying: I want it! Be cured! The leper, to enter into contact with Jesus,
had transgressed the norms of the Law. Jesus also, to be able to help that
excluded person and therefore, reveal a new face of God, transgresses the norms
of his religion and touches the leper. At that time, whoever touched a leper
became impure according to the religious authority and by the law of that time.
• He integrated anew the excluded person in the fraternal living together.
Jesus, not only cures, but also wants the cured person to be able to live with
the others. He once again inserts the person in society to live with others. At
that time for a leper to be accepted again in the community, it was necessary
to get a certificate from the priest that he had been cured. It is like today.
A sick person leaves the hospital with a document signed by the doctor of the
department where he had been hospitalized. Jesus obliges the person to look for
that document, in such a way that he will be able to live normally with others.
He obliges the authority to recognize that this man has been cured. • The leper
announces the good that Jesus has done to him and Jesus becomes an excluded
person. Jesus forbids the leper to speak about the cure. The Gospel of Mark
informs that this prohibition does not serve. The leper, walking away, began to
diffuse the fact, to the point that Jesus could no longer enter publicly into a
city, but remained outside, in a deserted place (Mk 1: 45). Why?
Because Jesus had
touched the leper. Because of this, according to the opinion of the religion of
that time, now he himself was impure and should live far away from all others.
He could no longer enter the city. And Mark says that people did not care about
these official norms, in fact, people came to him from everywhere (Mk 1: 45).
Total subversion!
•
Summarizing.
In the year 70, when Mark wrote, as well as today, the time in which we live,
it was and continues to be important to have before our eyes models of how to
live and how to proclaim the Good News of God and of how to evaluate our
mission. In verses 16 to 45 of the first chapter of his Gospel, Mark describes
the mission of the community and presents eight criteria in order that the
communities of his time could evaluate their mission. The following is the
outline:
Text Activity of Jesus Objective of the
Mission‘
•
Mark
1: 16-20. Jesus calls his first
disciple to form the community
•
Mark
1: 21-22 The people were admired at
his teaching to create a critical conscience
•
Mark
1: 23-28. Jesus expels a devil
•
Mark
1: 29-31 To overcome the force of
evil
He
cures Peter’s mother-in-law
To
give life back so as to serve
•
Mark
1: 32-34. He cures the sick and the
possessed
To
accept the marginalized
•
Mark
1: 35 Jesus rises early to pray
To
remain united with the Father
•
Mark
1: 36-39. Jesus continues the
announcement. Not to stop at the
results
•
Mark
1: 40-45 He cures a leper
•
Personal Questions
To integrate anew the excluded
•
To
proclaim the Good News means to give witness of the concrete experience of
Jesus that one has. What does the leper announce? He tells others the good that
Jesus has done to him. Only this! And this witness leads others to accept the
Good News of God which Jesus brings to us. Which is the witness that you give?
•
To
take the Good News to the people, it is not necessary to be afraid to
transgress the religious norms which are contrary to God’s project, and which
make communication, dialogue and the living out of love difficult. Even if this
causes difficulty for the people, as it caused difficulty for Jesus. Do I have
this courage?
•
Concluding Prayer
Come, let us bow
low and do reverence; kneel before Yahweh who made us!
For he is our God,
and we the people of his sheepfold, the flock of his hand. (Ps 95: 6-7)
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