August 16, 2025
Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 418
Reading 1
Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at
Shechem,
and addressed them, saying:
"Fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely.
Cast out the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt,
and serve the LORD.
If it does not please you to serve the LORD,
decide today whom you will serve,
the gods your fathers served beyond the River
or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling.
As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
But the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD
for the service of other gods.
For it was the LORD, our God,
who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt,
out of a state of slavery.
He performed those great miracles before our very eyes
and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples
through whom we passed.
At our approach the LORD drove out all the peoples,
including the Amorites who dwelt in the land.
Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."
Joshua in turn said to the people,
"You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God;
he is a jealous God who will not forgive
your transgressions or your sins.
If, after the good he has done for you,
you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods,
he will do evil to you and destroy you."
But the people answered Joshua, "We will still serve the LORD."
Joshua therefore said to the people,
"You are your own witnesses that you have chosen to serve the LORD."
They replied, "We are, indeed!"
Joshua continued:
"Now, therefore, put away the strange gods that are among you
and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."
Then the people promised Joshua,
"We will serve the LORD, our God, and obey his voice."
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day
and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem,
which he recorded in the book of the law of God.
Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak
that was in the sanctuary of the LORD.
And Joshua said to all the people, "This stone shall be our witness,
for it has heard all the words which the LORD spoke to us.
It shall be a witness against you, should you wish to deny your God."
Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his own heritage.
After these events, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the LORD,
died at the age of a hundred and ten.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 5a) You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you."
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Children were brought to Jesus
that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said,
"Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;
for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
After he placed his hands on them, he went away.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081625.cfm
Commentary on Joshua
24:14-29
This is the last of our readings from the book of Joshua. It
is an immediate continuation of the previous passage (vv 1-13) as Joshua gives
his final words to the tribes gathered at Shechem. Today’s reading consists of
the second and third parts of the whole passage.
In part two of the reading (vv 14-24) all the people declare
for Yahweh and renounce pagan gods, and in part three (vv 25-29) a covenant is
adopted and its statutes committed to writing.
Having reminded them of all that Yahweh did for them from
time immemorial down to the present, Joshua urges the people to fear the Lord
and to serve him truly and sincerely. ‘Fear’ here means to trust, worship and
serve in a spirit of deep respect for the immensity of God. There is no place
for fear in the ordinary sense before our loving God:
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out
fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached
perfection in love. (1 John 4:18)
They are to get rid of the gods their polytheistic ancestors
served those days long beyond the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia and later in Egypt.
In Ur and Haran, Abraham’s antecedents, Terah’s family, would have been exposed
to the worship of the moon-god, Nanna(r) or Sin. The sin of
building the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai was primarily that of
making an image of Yahweh, but it probably was also influenced by Apis,
the sacred bull of Egypt.
With a slight touch of mockery, Joshua tells the people
that, if they find serving Yahweh is not a good thing, let them make up their
minds which gods they want to serve, whether those of their ancestors in
Mesopotamia or those of the Amorites, in whose land they are right now. There
is a suggestion that they are not totally committed.
As far as Joshua and his family are concerned, they will
continue to serve Yahweh. Joshua publicly makes his own commitment, hoping to
elicit a similar commitment from Israel.
With one voice, the people affirm their allegiance to Yahweh:
Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to
serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors
up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great
signs in our sight.
It was Yahweh who kept them safe among all the different
people through whom they passed. It was Yahweh, too, who drove out all the
nations so that they could take over the land. They conclude:
Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.
Joshua, however, is somewhat sceptical of their promises and
warns them that they will, in fact, not be able to serve Yahweh. He is warning
them of over-confidence. Fidelity to God’s service is not easy, and therefore
those who take such solemn obligations on themselves must be ever vigilant
against human weakness. Time will show just how attractive the Canaanite gods
were to the Israelites.
They must remember that Yahweh is a holy God, a jealous God
who will not tolerate their misdeeds and sins. If they desert Yahweh and turn
again to the gods of other peoples:
…he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after
having done you good.
But again the people insist:
No, we will serve the Lord!
To which Joshua replies:
You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen
the Lord, to serve him.
They cry out with one voice:
We are witnesses.
In that case, retorts Joshua:
Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and
incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.
This was a direct challenge. It was likely that some of them
did have around them other gods represented by idols of wood and metal, which
could easily be thrown away and destroyed—if they were really sincere.
But once again the people make their pledge:
The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.
Our reading concludes with the third part of the verses
where Joshua makes a solemn covenant between God and the people and lays down a
statute and ordinance for them there in Shechem. This consisted of the pledges
they had agreed to and the decrees and laws from God. All was solemnly recorded
in the Book of the Law of God and a large stone set up as a memorial.
Joshua set it up under the oak tree in Yahweh’s sanctuary at
Shechem. Finally, he said to the people:
See, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has
heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us; therefore it shall be a
witness against you if you deal falsely with your God.
The stone was set up as a witness to the covenant renewal that
closed Joshua’s ministry. It will be the seventh memorial in the land to remind
Israel of what the Lord had done for them through his servant. To these
memorials were added the perpetual ruins of Jericho (Josh 6:26). This refers to
the famous occasion when Joshua and the Israelites marched round the walls of
Jericho blowing trumpets, causing the walls of the city to collapse (see Josh
chap 6).
Thus the promised land itself bore full testimony to Israel
(seven being the number of completeness)—how she had come into possession of
the land, and how she would remain in the land only by fulfilling the covenant
conditions. The land shouted its own story.
Joshua then dismissed the people, everyone to their own
heritage. Joshua’s work was done and he was ready to go. He died at the
venerable age of 110, just 10 years short of his superior and mentor, Moses.
Ancient Egyptian records indicate that 110 years was considered to be the ideal
life span. It was also the age at which Joseph died.
Joshua was buried at Timnath-Sera, which lay in the
highlands of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash (and about 30 km north of
Jerusalem).
We are also told in this passage (though not in the reading)
that the mummified remains of Joseph, which had been brought all the way from
Egypt at the time of the Exodus, were now buried in Shechem, near the borders
between the two Josephite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and:
…in the portion of ground that Jacob had bought from the
children of Hamor, the father of Shechem (Josh 24:32)
This fulfilled a final request Joseph had made before he
died (see Gen 50:25).
With the death of Joshua, the great epic of the Exodus is
complete and the people are in their Promised Land, committed to serving Yahweh
faithfully as his people forever. As we shall see, it will not quite work out
like that.
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Commentary on
Matthew 19:13-15
This short passage is an echo of the statement Jesus made at
the beginning of the discourse on the Church (Matt 18:1-4). Parents were
bringing their children for Jesus to bless. The disciples, with the
officiousness of minor officials, thought they were doing their Master a favour
by protecting him from such trivial nuisances.
Jesus scolds them:
Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it
is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.
Thus, not to children alone does the Kingdom of Heaven
belong, but to all those who have the qualities of the child: their simplicity
and openness, teachability, freedom from prejudice and readiness for change and
adaptation. Only such people are ready to hear the message of the Gospel in its
fullness.
The passage leads naturally into the next one about the rich
man who asked Jesus what he should do to enter eternal life. For all his
wealth, he would prove to be wanting in this particular area of openness.
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Saturday,
August 16, 2025
Ordinary
Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, your
Spirit made us your children, confident to call you Father.
Increase your Spirit within us and bring us to our
promised inheritance. 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 19: 13-15
The people brought little children to Jesus,
for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples scolded them, but
Jesus said, ‘Let the little children alone, and do not stop them from coming to
me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of Heaven belongs.’ Then he
laid his hands on them and went on his way.
Reflection
The Gospel today is very brief; only three verses. The Gospel
describes how Jesus accepts the children.
•
Matthew 19: 13: The attitude of the disciples concerning the children. People
brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and pray.
The disciples scolded the mothers.
•
Why? Perhaps because this was according to the
severe norms of the Law of purity, the small children in the conditions in
which they lived were considered unclean, impure. If they touched Jesus, he
would become impure. Because of this, it was important to avoid that they
should get close to him and that they touch him. Because it already had
happened one time, when a leper touched Jesus. Jesus became unclean, impure and
could no longer enter the city. He had to remain in deserted places (Mk 1:
4-45).
•
Matthew 19: 14-15: The attitude of Jesus: he accepts and defends the life of the children.
Jesus reproved the disciples and said: Let
the little children alone, and do not stop them from coming to me, for it is to
such as these that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs.” Jesus does not care
about transgressing the norms which prevent fraternity and acceptance to be
given to the little ones. The new experience of God, the Father has marked the
life of Jesus and gives him new eyes to perceive and to value the relationship
between persons. Jesus gets on the side of the little ones, of the excluded and
assumes their defense. It impresses when we see together everything which the
Bible says regarding the attitudes of Jesus in defense of the life of the
children, of the little ones:
•
To give
thanks for the Kingdom present in the little ones. Jesus’ joy is great when
he sees that the children, the little ones understand the things of the Kingdom
which he announced to the people. “Father, I thank you!” (Mt 11: 25-26) Jesus
recognizes that the little ones understand more about the things of the
Kingdom, than the doctors!
•
To defend
the right to shout or cry out. When Jesus, entered the Temple, he upset the
tables of the money changers, and the children were those who shouted: “Hosanna
to the Son of David!” (Mt 21: 15). Criticized by the high priests and the
Scribes, Jesus defends them and in his defense, he recalls the Scriptures (Mt
21: 16).
•
To
identify oneself with the little ones. Jesus embraces the little ones and
identifies himself with them. Anyone who accepts a little one accepts Jesus (Mk
9: 37). “In so far as you have done it to one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did it to me.” (Mt 25: 40).
•
To accept
and not to scandalize. One of the hardest words of Jesus is against those
who are a cause of scandal for the
little ones, that is, who are the cause why the little ones no longer believe
in God. Because of this, it would have been better for them to be thrown into
the sea with a millstone around their neck (Lk 17: 1-2; Mt 18: 5-7). Jesus
condemns the system, both the political one as well as the religious one, which
is the reason why the little ones, the humble people, lose faith in God.
•
To become
like children. Jesus asks his disciples to become like children and to
accept the Kingdom as children do. Without this, it is impossible to enter into
the Kingdom (Lk 9: 46-48). It indicates that the children are professors of the
adults. That was not normal. We are accustomed to the contrary.
•
To accept
and to touch. (Today’s Gospel). The mothers with their children who get
close to Jesus to ask him to bless the children. The Apostles react and drive
them away. Jesus corrects the adults and accepts the mothers with the children.
He touches the children and embraces
them. “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them!” (Mk 10:
13-16; Mt 19: 13- 15). According to the norms of that time, both the mothers
and their small children, practically, lived in a state of legal impurity.
Jesus does not allow himself to be drawn by this.
•
To accept
and to take care. Many are the children and the young people whom he
accepts, takes care of and rises from the dead: the daughter of Jairus, who was
12 years old (Mk 5: 41- 42), the daughter of the Canaanite woman (Mk 7: 29-30),
the son of the widow of Nain (Lk 7: 14-15), the epileptic child (Mk 9, 25-26),
the son of the Centurion (Lk 7: 9-10), the son of the public officer (Jn 4:
50), the boy with five loaves of bread and two fishes (Jn 6: 9).
Personal Questions
•
Children: what have you learnt from children
throughout the years of your life? And what do children learn about God, about
Jesus and his life, from you?
•
Which is the image of Jesus which I give to
children? A sever God, a good God, distant or absent?
Concluding Prayer
Lord, give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a
generous spirit.
I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will
return to you. (Ps 51: 12-13)
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