February 11, 2026
Wednesday of the Fifth Week
in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 331
Reading
1
The queen of
Sheba, having heard of Solomon's fame,
came to test him with subtle questions.
She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous retinue,
and with camels bearing spices,
a large amount of gold, and precious stones.
She came to Solomon and questioned him on every subject
in which she was interested.
King Solomon explained everything she asked about,
and there remained nothing hidden from him
that he could not explain to her.
When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon's great wisdom,
the palace he had built, the food at his table,
the seating of his ministers, the attendance and garb of his waiters,
his banquet service,
and the burnt offerings he offered in the temple of the LORD,
she was breathless.
"The report I heard in my country
about your deeds and your wisdom is true," she told the king.
"Though I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own
eyes,
I have discovered that they were not telling me the half.
Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard.
Blessed are your men, blessed these servants of yours,
who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom.
Blessed be the LORD, your God,
whom it has pleased to place you on the throne of Israel.
In his enduring love for Israel,
the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice."
Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents,
a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones.
Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices
as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (30a) The
mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom
and his tongue utters what is right.
The law of his God is in his heart,
and his steps do not falter.
R. The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Your word, O Lord, is truth:
consecrate us in the truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus summoned the
crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021126.cfm
Commentary on 1
Kings 10:1-10
The story of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon gives an
opportunity for the sacred writer to describe the extraordinary magnificence of
the Jerusalem court.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Sheba is to be
identified with a mercantile kingdom that flourished in southwest Arabia circa
900-450 BC. It profited from the sea trade of India and east Africa by
transporting luxury commodities north to Damascus and Gaza on caravan routes
through the Arabian Desert. It is possible that Solomon’s fleet of ships
threatened Sheba’s continued dominance of this trading business. The queen,
too, may have wanted to establish better trading relationships. Solomon
dominated the Transjordan and, holding Ezion-Geber, controlled the caravan route
from north Arabia to Syria and Egypt. Judging by the descriptions of both
Solomon and the queen, it was a highly lucrative trade for both of them.
However, some hold that the queen mentioned here more
probably ruled over one of the Sabaean settlements of northern Arabia. The
Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) distinguishes between the more usual ‘Sheba’ (used
here) and ‘Seba’ which it associates more closely with Cush, or Ethiopia. The
name Seba came to be used for the region of the far South, (just as Tarshish stands
for the Western limits of the earth) and it was comprised of great tribes of
travelling merchants. This far-off people, together with the kings of Arabia
and Seba, will come to do homage to the future King, as implied in Matthew’s
account of the birth of Jesus (see Matt 2:11, referring to Ps 72:1-11 and Is
60:6).
The purpose of the queen’s visit was to test Solomon’s
wisdom, whose fame had reached as far as her kingdom. Arriving with a large
retinue and weighed down with expensive gifts, she asked him questions on all
the things in which she was particularly interested. He dealt easily and
competently with every problem she posed to him.
It seems that the Queen of Sheba recognised a connection
between the wisdom of Solomon and the God he served. Jesus used her example to
condemn the people of his own day who had not recognised that “something
greater than Solomon” was in their midst (see Matt 12:42; Luke 11:31).
When the queen saw the wealth and opulence with which
Solomon was surrounded—his palace, the food on his table, the number and dress
of his attendants and the holocausts he offered in the Temple, she was rendered
speechless. Solomon far surpassed all her expectations both in his wisdom and
his prosperity. Indeed, she said, blessed were the king’s court and attendants
to be always in the presence of such wisdom. The reports she had received at
home gave no idea of the reality she now saw with her own eyes.
She concluded by calling blessings on the God who put a
person of such wisdom and judgement as Solomon on Israel’s throne:
Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you
and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he
has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.
However, her blessings do not imply a personal recognition
of the God of the Israelites; there is no hint that she abandoned belief in her
own gods.
Before leaving, she gave even more gifts, including 120 gold
talents, an enormous amount of money. Never again would anyone bring such an
abundance of gifts as the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon.
Underlying this story, of course, is the understanding that
all Solomon’s magnificence was a sign of God’s blessings on his people. God
alone was the source of all these blessings. It is clear that the description
of this visit was not merely to describe the queen’s desire to experience
Solomon’s wisdom at first hand. For the writer, the focus is not on the queen,
but on the magnificence of Solomon’s court as a reflection of Israel’s glory
and God’s special favour on them as a people.
We too need to remember that all the good things we have and
experience are not simply the result of our own efforts. They can disappear
just as quickly as they came. We can never claim anything as absolutely our
own. We are simply stewards of all that comes into our hands. What we are given
is not merely for our own enjoyment, least of all to be used at the expense of
others. They are gifts by which we can be of service to others. Everything is
for one purpose only: God’s praise and service. And an awareness of that is a
form of real wisdom.
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Commentary on Mark
7:14-23
After defending himself against the accusations of some
Pharisees and scribes about his not observing the traditions of the elders,
Jesus now turns to the people. He enunciates what for him are the main
principles:
- Nothing
that goes into the body from outside can make a person ritually or
religiously unclean.
- What
makes a person unclean is the filth that comes from inside their mind and
is spoken through their mouth or expressed in action.
This was a major issue in the earliest days of the Church
and was dealt with by the Council of Jerusalem. The story is told in the Acts
of the Apostles (chap 15).
The first Christians were all Jews who continued to observe
Jewish customs. But when non-Jews began to be accepted into the Christian
communities, should they also be obliged to follow these laws and customs? It
became clear that, from a religious point of view, no food could be called
unclean. This helped to break down the barriers between Jew and Gentile. It has
been pointed out that, immediately after this, Jesus entered gentile territory,
something he did not often do in his own ministry (see tomorrow’s commentary).
Even Jesus’ disciples seemed shocked by Jesus’ teaching
(probably reflecting the reactions of some of the early Jewish Christians).
Jesus repeats what he says in the light of the Kingdom he was proclaiming:
He said to them, “So, are you also without understanding?
Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach and goes out into the sewer?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “It is what comes out of a
person that defiles.”
Real uncleanness is in the ‘heart’—i.e. in one’s mind. Real
uncleanness comes from within ourselves in the form of:
…sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, avarice,
wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil
things come from within, and they defile a person.
As Christians, we do not normally worry about clean and
unclean foods on religious grounds, but we can sometimes judge people’s
religious commitment by their observance or non-observance of purely external
things—a nun not wearing a habit, a person not taking holy water on going into
the church, or someone taking Communion in the hand versus by mouth.
We may have gotten rid of the problem of unclean foods, but
there are many other ways by which we focus on trivial externals while ignoring
the real evils, the places where real love is absent—in ourselves.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2054g/
Wednesday,
February 11, 2026
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,
forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel reading - Mark 7: 14-23
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me,
all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile
that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” When he
got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He
said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize
that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it
enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus,
he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what
defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts,
unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness,
envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they
defile.”
Reflection
The Gospel today is the
continuation of the themes on which we meditated yesterday. Jesus helps the
people and the disciples to understand better the significance of purity before
God. For centuries, the Jews, in order not to contract impurity, observed many
norms and customs bound to food, to drink, to dress, to hygiene of the body, to
contact with persons of other races and religions, etc. (Mk 7: 3-4). For them
it was forbidden to have contact with gentiles and to eat with them. In the
70’s, the time of Mark, some converted Jews said, “Now that we are Christians
we have to abandon these ancient customs which separate us from converted
gentiles!” But others thought that they had to continue with the observance of
these laws of purity (cf. Col 2: 16,2022). The attitude of Jesus, described in
today’s Gospel, helps us to overcome this problem.
•
Mark 7: 14-16: Jesus opens a new way to try to
bring people closer to God. He says to the crowds, “Nothing that goes into
someone from outside can make that person unclean; it is the things that come
out of someone that make that person unclean (Mk 7: 15). Jesus overturns
things: what is impure does not come from outside to the inside, as the Doctors
of the Law taught, but what comes from inside to the outside. Thus, nobody ever
needs to ask himself if this or that food is pure or impure. Jesus places what
is pure and impure on another level, not on the level of ethical behavior. He
opens a new way to reach God, and in this way realizes the most profound design
of the people. .
•
Mark 7: 17-23: In the house, the disciples asked
for an explanation. The disciples did not understand what Jesus wanted to say
with that affirmation. When they reached the house, they ask for an
explanation. The disciples’ question surprises Jesus. He thought that they had
understood the parable. In His explanation to the disciples He goes to the very
bottom of the question of impurity. He declares that all food is pure! In other
words, no food which enters into the human being from outside can make him
become impure, because it does not go to the heart, but to the stomach and ends
in the septic tank, but what makes one become impure, according to Jesus, is
what comes out from within the heart to poison human relationships. And then He
enumerates some of them: prostitution, murder, adultery, ambition, theft, etc.
Thus, in many ways, by means of the word, of life together, of living close to
one another, Jesus helps people to attain purity in another way. By means of
the word He purified the lepers (Mk 1: 40-44), cast out unclean spirits (Mk 1:
26, 39; 3: 15, 22, etc.), and overcame death, which was the source of all
impurity. Thanks to Jesus, who touches her, the woman who was excluded and
considered impure is cured (Mk 5: 25-34). Without fear of being contaminated,
Jesus eats together with people who were considered impure
(Mk 2: 15-17).
The laws of purity at the
time of Jesus. The people of that time were concerned very much about purity.
The laws and the norms of purity indicated the necessary conditions to be able
to place oneself before God and to feel well in His presence. One could not
approach God in just any way, because God is holy. The Law stated, “Be holy
because I am holy!” (Lv 19: 2). One who was not pure could not get close to God
to receive the blessings promised to Abraham. The laws of what was pure and
impure (Lv 11 to 16) were written after the time of slavery in Babylon, around
the year 800 after the Exodus, but had its origin in the ancient mentality and
customs of the people of the Bible. A religious and mystical vision of the
world led people to appreciate things, people and animals, beginning from the
category of purity (Gn 7: 2; Dt 14: 13-21; Nm 12: 10-15; Dt 24: 8-
9).
In the context of the
Persian domination, the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ, before the
difficulties of reconstructing the Temple of Jerusalem and of the survival of
the clergy, the priests who governed the people of the Bible increased the laws
relative to poverty and obliged the people to offer sacrifices of purification
for sin. Thus, after child birth (Lv 12: 1-8), menstruation (Lv 15: 19-24) the
cure of a hemorrhage (Lv 15: 25-30), women had to offer sacrifices to recover
purity. Lepers (Lv 13) or people who had contact with impure things or animals
(Lv 5:1-13) also had to offer sacrifices. Part of this offering remained for
the priests (Lv 5: 13). At the time of Jesus, to touch a leper, to eat with a
tax collector or publican, to eat without washing your hands, and so many other
activities rendered the person impure, and any contact with this person
contaminated the others. For this reason, it was necessary to avoid an impure
person. People lived with fear, always threatened by so many impure things
which threatened life. They were obliged to live without trust, not trusting
anything or anybody.
Now, all of a sudden, everything changes! Through faith in
Jesus, it was possible to have purity and to feel good before God without
having to observe all those laws and those norms of the ancient tradition . It
was liberation! The Good News announced by Jesus took away all fear from the
people, and they no longer had to be in a defensive situation all the time, and
He gives them back the desire to live, and the joy of being children of God,
without fear of being happy!
Personal Questions
•
In your life, are there any traditions which you
consider sacred and others which you do not? Which ones? Why?
•
In the name of the tradition of the ancients,
the Pharisees refused the Commandment of Jesus. Does this happen today? Where
and when? Does it also happen in my life?
Concluding Prayer
The upright have Yahweh for their Savior, their
refuge in times of trouble; Yahweh helps them and rescues them, He will rescue
them from the wicked, and save them because they take refuge in Him. (Ps 37:
39-40)
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