June 25, 2026
Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 374
Reading 1
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Nehushta,
daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
He did evil in the sight of the LORD,
just as his forebears had done.
At that time the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
himself arrived at the city
while his servants were besieging it.
Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother,
his ministers, officers, and functionaries,
surrendered to the king of Babylon, who,
in the eighth year of his reign, took him captive.
And he carried off all the treasures
of the temple of the LORD and those of the palace,
and broke up all the gold utensils that Solomon, king of Israel,
had provided in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had foretold.
He deported all Jerusalem:
all the officers and men of the army, ten thousand in number,
and all the craftsmen and smiths.
None were left among the people of the land except the poor.
He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon,
and also led captive from Jerusalem to Babylon
the king's mother and wives,
his functionaries, and the chief men of the land.
The king of Babylon also led captive to Babylon
all seven thousand men of the army,
and a thousand craftsmen and smiths,
all of them trained soldiers.
In place of Jehoiachin,
the king of Babylon appointed his uncle Mattaniah king,
and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (9) For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver
us.
O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
They have given the corpses of your servants
as food to the birds of heaven,
the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
They have poured out their blood like water
round about Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
We have become the reproach of our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
O LORD, how long? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name’s sake.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062526.cfm
Commentary on 2
Kings 24:8-17
The fate of the southern kingdom, including Jerusalem, was
to be no better than that of the north. Today’s passage describes the first
deportation of the Hebrews from Jerusalem into Babylon. However, the conquerors
now are not the Assyrians, but the new ‘world power’ of the day, the Babylonian
empire under King Nebuchadnezzar. We meet him again in the Book of Daniel where
we read the famous stories of the hand writing on the wall and the dream of the
statue with the feet of clay, the story of Daniel in the den of lions and the report
of the three young men in the fiery furnace. Like all the emperors before and
after him, Nebuchadnezzar’s empire was doomed to fall. But here, he is seen as
an instrument of God in bringing punishment on the sinful and idol-worshipping
people of Judah.
King Jehoiakim of Judah had unwisely rebelled against the
Babylonians after being subjected to them for three years. This brought a wave
of invasions and destruction from neighbouring peoples directed at sinful Judah
(2 Kings 24:1-7).
Now his son, Jehoiachin, a mere 18 years old, had only been
on the throne for three months. The young king, like his predecessors, did not
follow the ways of the Lord, which means that he led a life of immorality and
idolatry. It is just then that Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonian forces.
Less than 25 years had passed since the events of yesterday’s reading when
Jehoiachin’s father, Josiah, had tried to turn the people of Judah back to God
and observance of the covenant law.
During the siege, Nebuchadnezzar himself arrived. According
to Babylonian records, the king “encamped against the city of Judah, [that is,
Jerusalem] and on the second day of the month of Addaru [i.e. March 16, 597 BC]
he seized the city and captured the king”, Jehoiachin. It was the eighth year, by
Jewish reckoning, of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. The city does not seem to have put
up much of a fight, even though, built on a hill with steep sides, it was a
formidable challenge to attacking forces, as Sennacherib found to his cost.
Jehoiachin, however, together with his mother and all his
court, surrendered and were taken captive by the Babylonian king. Jehoiachin
was to remain under his rule for 37 years, until the death of Nebuchadnezzar,
under relatively comfortable circumstances. This fulfilled a prophecy of
Jeremiah:
As I live, says the Lord, even if King Coniah [short
for ‘Jeconiah’] son of Jehoiakim of Judah were the signet ring on my
right hand, even from there I would tear you off and give you into the hands of
those who seek your life, into the hands of those whom you fear, even into the
hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans. I
will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were
not born, and there you shall die. But they shall not return to the land to
which they long to return. (Jer 22:24-27)
What was in a way even more shameful and sacrilegious, the
treasures of the Temple and the royal palace were all carried away. Some of
these included gold vessels which had been put in place by King Solomon when he
built the Temple. It was in one way a terrible sacrilege, but with sacrifices
no longer possible, there is even an implication that Yahweh is no longer
present among his people.
Finally, practically the whole population of Jerusalem was
carried off. This included the whole of the army, as well as craftsmen and
artisans. All of these could be used by Nebuchadnezzar for his own building
projects. Only the poorest of the poor were left behind. Altogether some 10,000
were reportedly taken away. There is likely to have been an overlap between
soldiers and skilled craftsman, just as in Israel today all young men have to
serve in the armed forces.
In Jehoiachin’s place, his uncle Mattaniah was installed as
king and given the name Zedekiah. Mattaniah was a son of King Josiah, whom we
saw in yesterday’s reading and the brother of Jehoiachin’s father, Jehoiakim.
Mattaniah means ‘gift of Yahweh’ while Zedekiah means ‘Yahweh is my justice’.
It has been suggested that Nebuchadnezzar wanted to imply that his actions
against Jerusalem and Jehoiachin were just. There is even a hint that the king
is simply an instrument of God’s justice in what took place. In any case, the
name change signified subjection to Nebuchadnezzar.
Once again, we see God’s people pay for their infidelities
in failing to keep the law of the Lord. And yet, it is likely that many of
those who were carried off adjusted to their new circumstances, made the best
of them, may even have done very well and came to regard their place of exile
as home for them and their children. In our own times, we see Jewish
communities in exile thriving, not to mention the millions of other peoples who
have contributed to the ‘melting pot’ that is the United States, Australia and
the European Union.
There was not much benefit in sitting and moping about one’s
past and longing for old days, old ways and old places, although some did do
that (as in Psalm 137, “By the rivers of Babylon…”). Nothing that happens to us
is the end of possibilities. Every experience is a challenge to find God in a
new situation, a new environment. Wherever life brings us, God is there close
by. He is always to be found where we happen to be now, not where we would like
to be.
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Commentary on
Matthew 7:21-29
We come today to the final reading from the Sermon on the
Mount. Jesus spells out the essential quality of the true disciple. He or she
is not to be measured merely by external activities. It is not enough, for
instance, to keep saying “Lord, Lord…” That by itself will not bring a person
under the kingship of God. It will not be enough either to be able to perform
wonders like casting out demons or working other miracles, even in the name of
Jesus.
The true disciple is someone who is totally united to God in
heart, soul and mind. Such a person is one who listens to Jesus’ words and
carries them out. As we have said elsewhere, listening here means a number of
things:
- To
pay attention to what Jesus is saying to us; to listen with attentiveness.
- To
understand what is being said, as it is possible to listen without
understanding.
- To
accept fully and to assimilate into one’s being what one understands. It
is possible to hear clearly, to understand clearly, but not to accept or
assimilate. Children do that all the time!
When we have fully assimilated as part of our own thinking
what we have heard and understood, we will naturally act accordingly. It is
only when all this becomes a reality in our lives that we can say we are truly
disciples of Jesus and, as he says, that is the only sure foundation on which
to build our lives.
To live a Christian life only on the surface, that is, only
with words and externally conforming behaviour, is like building a house on
sand. Once we come under attack, we will collapse because we have no deep
foundation inside. We see that happening frequently when people who have lived
in an outwardly Christian environment move to a purely secular situation—and
fall away very quickly.
So let us be like that sensible man who builds his house on rock,
the firm foundation that is Christ, with the vision of Christ also the vision
of our own life, a life built on truth and love. With this we come to the end
of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew clearly indicates the end by saying:
Now when Jesus had finished saying these words…
He adds that Jesus’ teaching made a deep impression on the
people, mainly because he spoke with authority:
You have heard that it was said…But I say to you…
(Matt 5:38)
That is, he spoke in his own name, unlike the scribes who
could only be interpreters of God’s Law.
As mentioned at the beginning, the Sermon on the Mount is
the first of five major discourses. It deals mainly with the qualities that are
to be found in the individual follower of Christ. Let us pray that those
qualities may be found increasingly in each one of us.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2125g/
Thursday,
June 25, 2026
12th Week of Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father,
guide and protector of your
people, grant us an unfailing respect for your name, and keep us always in your
love.
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 7: 21-29
Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone
who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the
one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in
your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to
them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’ “Everyone who
listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who
built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and
buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will
be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and
the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely
ruined.” When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his
teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel presents the last part of the
Sermon on the Mount: (a) it is not sufficient to talk and sing, it is necessary
to live and to practice (Mt 7: 21-23). (b) the community constructed on the
foundation of the new law of the discourse on the mount will remain standing at
the moment of the storm (Mt 7: 24-27). (c) the words of Jesus are a severe
judgment on the contemporary religious leaders, the scribes (Mt 7: 28-29).
The end of the Sermon on the Mount presents
some opposition and a few contradictions which exist even in our time: (a)
people who continually speak of God, but who do not do God’s will. They use the
name of Jesus, but do not practice a relationship with the Lord in their life
(Mt 7: 21). (b) There are people who live in the illusion of working for the
Lord, but on the day of encounter with Him, they will discover, tragically,
that they have never known Him (Mt 7: 22-23).
The two last scenarios of the Sermon on the Mount, the house
built on the rock
(Mt 7: 24-25) and the house built on sand (Mt
7: 26-27), illustrate these contradictions. By means of these, Matthew
denounces, and at the same time tries to correct, the separation between faith
and life, between speaking and doing, between teaching and practicing.
•
Matthew 7: 21: It is not sufficient to speak, it
is necessary to practice. What is important is not to speak of God in a
beautiful way or to know how to explain the bible well to others, but rather to
do the will of the Father, and in this way, be a revelation of His face and of His
presence in the world. Jesus made the same recommendation to the woman who
praised Mary, His Mother. Jesus answered: “Blessed rather are those who listen
to the Word of God and put it into practice” (Lk 11: 28).
•
Matthew 7: 22-23: The gifts should be at the
service of the Kingdom and the community. There were people with extraordinary
gifts, for example the gift of prophecy, of exorcism, of healing, but they used
these gifts for themselves, outside the context of the community. In the Day of
Judgment, they will hear a hard sentence from Jesus: “Away from Me all evil
doers”. Evil is the opposite of justice. It is to do with Jesus what the
doctors did with the law: to teach and not to practice (Mt 23: 3). Paul will
say the same thing with other words and arguments: “Though I have the power of
prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the
faith necessary to move mountains, if I am without love, I am nothing. Though I
should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be
burned, if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.” (1 Cor 13: 2-3)
•
Matthew 7: 24-27: The parable of the house built
on the rock. The final conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount is to open oneself
and to practice. Many people entrust their security to extraordinary gifts or
to observance. But their true security does not come from prestige or from
observance. It comes from God! It comes from the love of God who has loved us
first (1 Jn 4: 19). His love for us, manifested in Jesus, exceeds everything
(Rm 8: 38-39). God becomes our source of security when we seek to do His will.
There He will be the rock which supports us in the moments of difficulty and
storm.
•
Matthew 7: 28-29: To teach with authority. The
Evangelist closes the Sermon on the Mount saying that the crowds admired the
teaching of Jesus, “because He taught with authority, and not like the
scribes.” The result from the teaching of Jesus is a critical understanding of
the people in regard to the religious authority of the time. His simple and
clear words resulted from His experience of God, from His life dedicated to the
Father’s plan. People admired and approved the teaching of Jesus.
•
Community: the house built on the rock. In the
Book of Psalms, we frequently find the expression: “God is my rock and my
fortress… My God, my rock, my refuge, my stronghold, my saving strength…” (Ps
18: 3). He is the defense and the strength of the one who seeks justice (Ps 18:
21, 24). The people who trust in this God, become in turn, a rock for others.
Thus, the Prophet Isaiah invites people in the exile saying: “Listen to me you
who pursue saving justice, you who seek Yahweh! Consider the rock from which
you were hewn, the quarry from which you were dug. Consider Abraham your father
and Sarah who gave you birth” (Is 51: 1-2). The prophet asks people not to
forget the past. The people should remember that Abraham and Sarah, because of
their faith in God, became rock, the beginning of the People of God. Looking
toward this rock, the people should acquire courage to struggle and to escape
from slavery. Matthew also exhorts the community similarly to have rock as
foundation (Mt 7: 24-25) and thus, they themselves can be rock to strengthen
their brothers and sisters in their faith. This is the sense of the name which
Jesus gave to Peter: “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church”
(Mt 16: 18). This was the vocation of the first community, called to unite
itself with God, the living rock, so as to become also a living rock, because
they listen and put into practice the Word. (Ps 2: 4-10; 2: 5; Ep 2: 19-22).
Personal Questions
•
How does our community seek to balance prayer
and action, prayer and practice, to speak and to do, to teach and to practice?
What could improve in our community, so that it will be a rock, a secure and
welcoming house for all?
•
To be rock for another is also to be in truth.
Do I, and my community, know and understand Church teaching and the bible well
enough and in truth such that I and we can be rock for others who need help in
their Faith?
•
There is another kind of rock. The rock in the
parable of the sower. The seed (the Word) could not grow on rock. Do I read,
learn and grow from the Word and from the saints that have given example before
us, and from Church teaching? Am I like the rocky ground in the parable where
the seed dries up or am I like a strong rock who gives stability to my brothers
and sisters?
Concluding Prayer
Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of Your name; Yahweh,
wipe away our sins, rescue us for the sake of Your name. (Ps 79: 9)
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