http://www.easterbrooks.com/cgi-bin/Cathcal.cgi?20050118

First Reading: Hebrews 6:10-20
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10
Gospel: Mark 2:23-28

First Reading: Hebrews 6:10-20

10

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones.

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We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end,

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so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises. ¹

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² When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, "he swore by himself,"

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and said, "I will indeed bless you and multiply" you.

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And so, after patient waiting, he obtained the promise. ³

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Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument.

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So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath,

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so that by two immutable things, ⁴ in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.

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This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, ⁵

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where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Table of Contents Hebrews 6

Footnotes

¹ [12] Imitators of those . . . inheriting the promises: the author urges the addressees to imitate the faith of the holy people of the Old Testament, who now possess the promised goods of which they lived in hope. This theme will be treated fully in Hebrews 6:11.

² [13] He swore by himself: God's promise to Abraham, which he confirmed by an oath ("I swear by myself," Genesis 22:16) was the basis for the hope of all Abraham's descendants.

³ [15] He obtained the promise: this probably refers not to Abraham's temporary possession of the land but to the eschatological blessings that Abraham and the other patriarchs have now come to possess.

⁴ [18] Two immutable things: the promise and the oath, both made by God.

⁵ [19] Anchor . . . into the interior behind the veil: a mixed metaphor. The Holy of Holies, beyond the veil that separates it from the Holy Place (Exodus 26:31-33), is seen as the earthly counterpart of the heavenly abode of God. This theme will be developed in Hebrews 9.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10

1

¹ Hallelujah. ² I will praise the LORD with all my heart in the assembled congregation of the upright.

2

Great are the works of the LORD, to be treasured for all their delights.

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You won renown for your wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD.

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³ You gave food to those who fear you, mindful of your covenant forever.

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You sent deliverance to your people, ratified your covenant forever; holy and awesome is your name.

10

⁴ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; prudent are all who live by it. Your praise endures forever.

Table of Contents Psalms 111

Footnotes

¹ [Psalm 111] A temple singer (Psalm 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel's history (Psalm 111:2-10). The deeds reveal God's very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

² [1] In the assembled congregation of the upright: in the temple. Cf Psalm 149:1.

³ [5] Food to those who fear you: probably a reference to the manna in the desert, which elsewhere is seen as a type of the Eucharist. Cf John 6:31-33, 49-51.

⁴ [10] The fear of the LORD: reverence for God, the Hebrew term for religion.

Gospel: Mark 2:23-28

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¹ As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.

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At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?"

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He said to them, "Have you never read what David did ² when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?

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How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?"

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Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, ³ not man for the sabbath.

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⁴ That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

Table of Contents Mark 2

Footnotes

¹ [23-28] This conflict regarding the sabbath follows the same pattern as in Mark 2:18-22.

² [25-26] Have you never read what David did?: Jesus defends the action of his disciples on the basis of 1 Sam 21:2-7 in which an exception is made to the regulation of Lev 24:9 because of the extreme hunger of David and his men. According to 1 Sam, the priest who gave the bread to David was Ahimelech, father of Abiathar.

³ [27] The sabbath was made for man: a reaffirmation of the divine intent of the sabbath to benefit Israel as contrasted with the restrictive Pharisaic tradition added to the law.

⁴ [28] The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath: Mark's comment on the theological meaning of the incident is to benefit his Christian readers; see the note on Mark 2:10.