Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Ps 54 (53): 6, 8 See, I have God for my help. The Lord sustains my soul. I will sacrifice to you with willing heart, and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.

Collect Show favour O Lord, to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace, that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Micah 6:1-4.6-8; Psalm 49; Matthew 12:38-42

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Jesus, Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you. He answered, A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. (Matthew 12:38-42)

Faith Our passage today is from the twelfth chapter of St Matthew, and it gives yet another episode in the conflict between Jesus Christ and the Pharisees and lawyers. Of course, in respect to this or any chapter, the original manuscripts did not contain the chapter and verse divisions in the numbered form familiar to modern readers. It is agreed that it is on the system of Archbishop Stephen Langton (1150-1228) in the early thirteenth century that the modern chapter divisions (and even arrangements of books) are based. That said, let us take chapter twelve as a context for our passage today and notice the attacks on our Lord by the scribes and Pharisees. At the outset, there is the complaint of the Pharisees that our Lord’s disciples were violating the Sabbath by picking ears of corn (12:2). Our Lord’s refutation of this being given, the Pharisees are shown in the synagogue watching if he would heal on the Sabbath Day, which he did. Our Lord publicly refuted their muted criticism, leading them to plan his death (12:9-14). At that, our Lord withdrew from the place and crowds followed. The next episode is an exorcism, and the man thus freed spoke and could see. But when the Pharisees heard of it, they accused our Lord of having his power by collaboration with Satan. This too was refuted by our Lord, who warned them that they were blaspheming against the Holy Spirit (12: 22-38). They were a generation of vipers. There then follows the encounter of today (Matthew 12: 38-42), in which certain of the scribes and Pharisees require a sign, a miracle, from our Lord. With the exception of the event at the end of the chapter when the mother and relatives of Jesus ask to see him, the entire chapter narrates attacks on him by the scribes and Pharisees, and his repulsion of them. It is a portion of what was happening on a grander scale. The Pharisees — though not all (consider, for example, Nicodemus) — refused to give our Lord their faith. The refusal was deliberate, studied, and demanding.

“Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” In their own minds they constituted, as it were, a court of judgment. Jesus was asked to fulfil their requirements of proof, after which they would deliver their judgment. Our Lord told them that this showed they were an evil and adulterous generation. They were wicked (12:45). He pointed to the Scriptural figures of Jonah and the people of Nineveh. Jonah was not the ideal person to represent Yahweh God. He strove to avoid doing what God wanted of him. But despite his limitations, his word was immediately accepted by the people of Nineveh. He preached repentance, and the pagan city responded with obedience. Jonah worked no miracles, nor did he display moral perfection — as did Jesus Christ. But his word was sufficient because of the good heart of the people of Nineveh. People could tell that what he preached was true and divine in origin. They could tell, because of their moral disposition. If the people of Nineveh could and did do that, how much more ought the scribes and Pharisees accept the word of Christ, for in him someone far greater than Jonah was here. Or again, the queen of the South in the Book of Kings came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. She listened, was grateful, and learned. If she, a pagan, had faith in the word of Solomon, who worked no miracles and who in later life was unfaithful to Yahweh God, how much more ought one have faith in the word of Jesus Christ. The demand of the scribes and Pharisees for a proof by miracle could not be reduced simply to a request for adequate grounds of belief. It primarily involved moral corruption and failure. It was an evil request they had made of Christ. The people of Nineveh had faith. So did the queen of the South. They, the Pharisees, ought have faith also. Our Lord’s condemnation of the Pharisees shows that the act of faith is a moral matter, a matter of responsible choice, for which each person will be held accountable. The Pharisees failed the test.

The Pharisees had all the grounds they needed for faith in Jesus Christ. Miracles were not needed, just as miracles were not needed for the people of Nineveh nor for the queen of the South. What was needed was a good heart, a heart to perceive the goodness and complete trustworthiness of Jesus Christ himself. But of course, plenty of miracles were provided as well. These too bore witness to Christ’s transcendent goodness. Let us all our lives live near to Jesus, with the eyes of our heart contemplating his person day by day. This we should do because of our faith, and this contemplation of him will increase our faith. Faith is the foundation, and it takes us to sanctity.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Micah 6:1-4.6-8)

The Sacrifice of a Holy Life It is clear that in the ancient world religion consisted very largely in performing the right ceremonial and sacrifices to the gods. This acknowledged to the gods their dignity and sway over man. This ceremonial and religious acknowledgment was deemed to ensure their protection. Sacrifices were especially important. Of course, there was an element of real truth in this, and we see elements of it in the religion revealed by God to his chosen people. Sacrifice, ritual and the observance of constant honour to God himself was at the kernel of true religion. But distinctive to revealed religion, especially when compared with the religion of other ancient peoples, was the importance of holiness of life in God's sight — for, in the words of the prophet Micah (6: 6-8): "What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what the Lord asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God." Be holy, God said, because I am holy.

In the religion revealed and established by our Lord himself — the Christian religion — holiness of life was itself a special sacrifice all his faithful are called to offer constantly to God. All the faithful share in a common priesthood, offering a holy life in union with that of Jesus himself.

(E.J.Tyler)

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