July 12, 2025
Saturday of the Fourteenth
Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 388
Reading I
Jacob gave his sons
this charge:
“Since I am about to be taken to my people,
bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies
in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
the cave in the field of Machpelah,
facing on Mamre, in the land of Canaan,
the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite
for a burial ground.
There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried,
and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah,
and there, too, I buried Leah–
the field and the cave in it
that had been purchased from the Hittites.”
Now that their
father was dead,
Joseph’s brothers became fearful and thought,
“Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us
and now plans to pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!”
So they approached Joseph and said:
“Before your father died, he gave us these instructions:
‘You shall say to Joseph, Jacob begs you
to forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers,
who treated you so cruelly.’
Please, therefore, forgive the crime that we,
the servants of your father’s God, committed.”
When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears.
Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him
and said, “Let us be your slaves!”
But Joseph replied to them:
“Have no fear. Can I take the place of God?
Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good,
to achieve his present end, the survival of many people.
Therefore have no fear.
I will provide for you and for your children.”
By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.
Joseph remained in
Egypt, together with his father’s family.
He lived a hundred and ten years.
He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation,
and the children of Manasseh’s son Machir
were also born on Joseph’s knees.
Joseph said to his
brothers: “I am about to die.
God will surely take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land
that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued,
“When God thus takes care of you,
you must bring my bones up with you from this place.”
Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten.
Responsorial Psalm
R.
(see Psalm 69:33) Be glad you lowly ones; may your hearts be
glad!
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
R. Be glad you lowly ones; may your hearts be glad!
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
R. Be glad you lowly ones; may your hearts be glad!
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. Be glad you lowly ones; may your hearts be glad!
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his
Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!
“Therefore do not be
afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071225.cfm
Commentary on
Genesis 49:29-33; 50:15-26
We conclude our reading from the book of Genesis today. We
hear Jacob giving his final instructions before his death. He wants to be
buried close to his ancestors, Abraham and Isaac with their wives.
Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of
Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the
land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a
burial site.
We read about this purchase on Friday of Week 13. There
Abraham and his wife, Isaac and his wife and Jacob’s wife, Leah, were all
buried.
Then Jacob, having given his final instructions to his sons,
…he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and
was gathered to his people.
That is, he joined all of his ancestors in Sheol.
With the death of Jacob, the sons were full of trepidation
that Joseph would now want to settle his accounts with his brothers for all
they had done to him. They pre-empted any vengeful action by sending Joseph a
message. They quoted their father as telling them to go to Joseph and beg
forgiveness for all the wrong they had done to him:
We beg you, forgive the crime of the servants of your
father’s God.
Once again, Joseph weeps on the receiving their message.
They prostrated themselves before him and expressed their
readiness to be his slaves. They need not have worried. Their prostration is
another example of the prophetic dream which Joseph had shared with his
brothers many years previously. And, ironically, in times to come, the
Israelites will be reduced to virtual slavery in Egypt and this will trigger
the Exodus.
They did not reckon with their brother; Joseph was a much
bigger man than they:
Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?
He then tells them that all the evil they planned against
him has, in God’s plan, been turned to good and has resulted in the liberation
of many people. Joseph then promises to provide for them and all their
dependents. It was now the brothers’ turn to be deeply touched by the
magnanimity of someone who could, with some justification, have made things
very nasty for them. We see here a clear pre-figuring of the teaching and
example of Jesus later on. His teaching on the love of enemies, turning the
other cheek and forgiving seventy times seven.
This may well be said to be the central lesson of the whole
Joseph story. This is a lesson which we can apply to unpleasant experiences in
our own lives. As Paul says:
We know that all things work together for good for those
who love God… (Rom 8:28)
And probably it is only when we love God that we can
understand the place of the evil and the tragic in our lives.
From now on, Joseph stays with his own family and lives to
be 110 years old, long enough to see many of his grandchildren. It is now his
time to leave the world. He tells his brothers he is confident that God will
look kindly on them and, in time, bring them back from Egypt to the land he had
promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in perpetuity.
And finally he asks his brothers to swear an oath that his
bones be taken back to be buried with his fathers. This will not in fact happen
until centuries later when Moses, mindful of Joseph’s last wish, will take
Joseph’s bones with him as the Israelites begin their long trek to the Promised
Land (see Exod 13:19). Joseph’s bones were eventually:
…buried at Shechem, in the portion of ground that Jacob
had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem… (Jos
24:32; also see Gen 33:19)
The last verse of Genesis, which is not in our reading,
says:
And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was
embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
For the Egyptians the number 110 was seen as the perfect
life span and would signify divine blessings on Joseph. Note too that the very
last word of the book is “Egypt” and it is the setting for the opening of the
next book, Exodus, and the next stage in the history of God’s People. In the
coming weeks we will be reading passages from that great saga.
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Commentary on
Matthew 10:24-33
We continue Jesus’ apostolic discourse to his Apostles and
all those who do the work of evangelisation. He reminds them very clearly that
they can expect no better treatment than he himself received as:
A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the
master…
All in all, Christians are to show no surprise at violence
and abuse against them. But at times, it can be hard to understand. However, if
they treated the Master and Lord in this way, his followers can expect no
better treatment. If the Master is called the Prince of Devils, how much more
those of his family! Remember what Jesus had said earlier:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness (Matt 5:10)
Much of Jesus’ teaching to his disciples was done quietly
and away from the crowds. He frequently told both people he cured and demons
not to speak about him. Even his disciples were not to reveal his identity as
Messiah. People at that stage were not ready and could have misinterpreted the
true meaning of his teaching.
Also, his message could not be fully understood until he had
completed his mission through his passion, death and resurrection. Only that
would put his teaching into its proper context. But in the course of time, it
will be all made public.
Later on it will be the duty of his disciples to deliver the
message in its entirety and without fear. The Christian community, although
consisting of initiates with a way of life that is not always understood by
outsiders, has no secrets. The ‘mysteries’ that Paul and others speak of are
truths, previously unknown, which have been revealed. They are not like those
of the so-called ‘mystery religions’ of the time or of secretive societies in
our own. The message of Christ is to be made known to all in its entirety, even
in hostile environments.
Some of those who proclaim the Gospel are going to be
threatened even with losing their lives—a fact that is testified to by a long
list of martyrs (martyr, Greek for ‘witness’) over the centuries. Jesus
is saying that physical death is not the worst thing that can happen to a
person. It is a reality we are all going to have to face sooner or later
anyway. Far worse than physical death is the loss of one’s soul—the death of
one’s integrity. There are some values which transcend our physical survival.
To betray such a value in order to live a bit longer is to lose one’s soul.
Many, many martyrs have clearly understood this.
Jesus is telling us that, even though we may, as he himself
did, lose our lives, he will be with us. To be unfaithful to our deepest
beliefs and convictions is a fate worse than death.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1147g/
Saturday,
July 12, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father,
through the obedience of
Jesus, Your servant and Your Son, You raised a fallen world.
Free us
from sin and bring us the joy that lasts forever.
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 - Matthew 10: 24-33
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for
the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like
his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much
more those of his household! “Therefore, do not be afraid of them. Nothing is
concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say
to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim
on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot
kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body
in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them
falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your
head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my
heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my
heavenly Father.”
Reflection
Today’s Gospel presents to
us various instructions of Jesus on the behavior that the disciples have to
adopt in the exercise of their mission. What strikes most in these instructions
are two warnings: (a) the frequency with which Jesus refers to the persecutions
and suffering which they will have to bear; (b) the insistence repeated three
times to the disciples not to be afraid.
•
Matthew 10: 24-25: Persecutions and sufferings which
mark the life of the disciples. These two verses constitute the final part of a
warning of Jesus to the disciples concerning persecutions. The disciples should
know that, because of being disciples of Jesus, they will be persecuted (Mt 10:
17-23). But this should not be a reason for worry, because a disciple should
imitate the life of the Master and share the trials with Him. This is part of
discipleship. “A disciple is not greater than the teacher or a servant greater
than his master; it is sufficient for the disciple to grow to be like his
teacher and the servant like his master.” If they called Jesus Beelzebul, how
much more will they insult His disciples? In other words, the disciple of Jesus
should be worried if, in his life, there are no persecutions.
•
Matthew 10: 26-27: Do not be afraid to tell the truth.
The disciples should not be afraid to be persecuted. Those who persecute them
pervert the meaning of the facts and spread calumnies which change truth into
lies. But no matter how great the lie, the truth will triumph at the end and
will make the lie crumble down. This is why we should not be afraid to proclaim
truth, the things which Jesus has taught. Every day, the means of communication
pervert the meaning of things and the people who proclaim the truth are
considered as criminals; they make our system appear as just and it perverts
the meaning of human life.
•
Matthew 10: 28: Do not be afraid of those who kill the
body. The disciples should not be afraid of those who kill the body, who
torture, who strike and cause suffering. Those who torture can kill the body,
but they cannot kill liberty and the spirit in the body. They should be afraid,
yes, that the fear of suffering may lead them to hide or to deny the truth, and
that this will lead them to offend God, because anyone who draws away from God
will be lost forever.
•
Matthew 10: 29-31: Do not be afraid, but trust in
Divine Providence. The disciples should not fear anything, because they are in
God’s hands. Jesus tells them to look at the birds of the air. Two sparrows are
sold for a penny, but not one of them will fall to the ground without the
Father knowing. Every hair on your head has been counted. Luke says that not
one hair falls without our Father wanting it (Lk 21: 18). And so many hairs
fall from our heads! Because of this “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than
many sparrows.” This is the lesson which Jesus draws from the contemplation of
nature.
•
Matthew 10: 32-33: Do not be afraid to be the
witnesses of Jesus. At the end Jesus summarizes everything in this sentence:
“If anyone declares himself for Me in the presence of human beings, I will
declare Myself for him in the presence of My Father in heaven; 33: the one who
instead will disown Me in the presence of human beings, I will disown him in
the presence of My Father in heaven.” Knowing that we are in God’s hands and
that God is with us, at every moment, we have the necessary courage and the peace
to render witness and to be disciples of Jesus.
Personal Questions
•
What are you afraid of? Why?
•
Have you ever been persecuted because of your
commitment to announce the Good News of God which Jesus announced to us?
•
Persecution is not comfortable. There can be many
small persecutions throughout a day. Do you ever deny Jesus in little things to
make your life more comfortable and not make trouble? How is this important?
Concluding Prayer
Your decrees stand firm,
unshakable; holiness is the beauty of Your house, Yahweh, for all time to come.
(Ps 93: 5)
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