29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Is the Role of the Messiah?

The request that the sons of Zebedee make of Jesus in today's Gospel passage is shaped by the long history of ancient Israel and the contemporary understanding of the role of the Messiah. The Israelite monarchy was established by Saul in the 11th century B.C. His successor, David, expanded the territory of the kingdom, making Jerusalem the capital. The glory days of the monarchy came during the reign of his son Solomon, who transformed the kingdom into a small empire, with even more expanded borders. But right after Solomon the land was split in two, the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. In time, both areas were overrun by conquerors, and the Israelites came to live under the oppression of a series of foreign occupies - the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greens, and the Romans, the last of whom held sway at the time of Jesus.

In the midst of their oppression, the Israelites received prophecies that God would send a Messiah who would liberate them. Their understanding of the coming of the Messiah was that he would be a military conqueror who would overthrown the occupiers and would rebuild the great kingdom of the past, making it even more glorious. That is how the disciples also saw Jesus, as the king who would usher in the new golden age. Hence the request of the sons of Zebedee. Their hope was that once Jesus became the king of the new monarchy, they could be the top officials in his court, enjoying all the power, wealth, and glory that would come with such positions.

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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Christianity and Wealth

The Gospel passage for this Sunday includes a very famous line: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25). Our initial thought might be to think of a sewing needle and try to imagine a camel squeezing through that tiny hole, which would clearly imply that a wealthy person has no chance of entering the Kingdom of God. But in the culture of Jesus, the phrase "eye of a needle" had another meaning too. The phrase was used to describe a small door that opened in one of the large panes of a grand gate, like a city gate. Such gates would be opened in the morning and would stay open for the day to allow for the daily coming and going of the inhabitants and visitors. Then in the evening, the gates would be closed and locked for the night.

But the small door called the eye of a needle could still be opened as needed during the night hours, which kept the city safer than having to open up the gates after sundown. The eye of a needle door was narrow and short so as to make it easier to defend in case of an attack. Since camels tend to be taller than grown adults and would typically be carrying packages too, getting a camel through the eye of a needle was quite a task. The packages would need to be removed and the camel would need to almost crawl in order to pass. While having a camel enter this way was not easy, it was not impossible either. Returning to the Gospel passage for this Sunday, according to the analogy Jesus uses, entering the Kingdom of Heaven would not be impossible for a rich person, but it would certainly be tough. Only with God's grace would it be possible.

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27th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Marriage Is the Height of God’s Creative Work on Earth

The Bible starts with two accounts of the creation of the world by God. The first one (Genesis 1:1-2:3) details the order in which God created the world and life on earth. At each stage, the narrator tells us that God looked at his work and saw that it was good. The final stage is the creation of human beings: "God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). God then blesses humankind, tells them to multiply and fill the earth, and gives them dominion over the rest of creation. After the creation of human beings, God looks at his work and considers it very good. Up until now, everything was called good, but now that human beings have been created, creation is described as very good. Humanity is shown to be the pinnacle of God's creative work, the height of the order of creation on the earth.

The second account of the creation of the world (Genesis 2:4-25) focuses on the nature of humanity. We see from the account that neither man nor woman is whole independently on a natural level, but that they are meant to complement each other and form one whole through the union of marriage. In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, Jesus states: "from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh" (Mark 10:6-8). The first account of creation shows that human beings are the greatest of God's creative work on earth. The second account shows that our nature is designed for man and woman to complete each other on a natural level through marriage. Thus, taken together, the two accounts of creation that open the Bible tell us that the marriage of man and woman is the height of the natural order God created in our world.

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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time: You Can’t Take It With You

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus often engages in a verbal technique called hyperbole, the use of deliberate exaggeration to make a point. In contemporary American culture, hyperbole tends to be used by teens and young adults, but not so much by older generations. But in some other cultures, hyperbole is very much a part of daily interaction.

Such was the case in the culture of Jesus, and we must account for his use of hyperbole when we seek to interpret his words. When Jesus tells us to cut off our foot or hand or pluck out our eye if each leads us to sin, he is clearly making use of hyperbole. However, we should not take his words lightly because he is exaggerating. Jesus is highlighting a central aspect of our faith, that God must be central in our lives.

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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Embracing the Cross Is the Path to Joy

In this Sunday's Gospel passage, Jesus states: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me” (Mark 9:37). Later in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus adds: "Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it" (Mark 10:15). To understand the words of Jesus more fully, we need to consider the different status of children in the society of his time. In today's culture, children tend to be the focal point of the life of a family, with lots of time, energy, and resources invested into their development, education, entertainment, and overall well-being. Much of a family's decision-making revolves around considerations involving the children.

Children were important to ancient families too, but they did not get nearly the same amount of attention as children do today. In the ancient world, children were very much at the bottom of the bottom of the social hierarchy and families made much fewer decisions on the basis of what would be best for their children. We have to bear in mind this cultural difference when we seek to understand the meaning of the words of Jesus.

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24th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Christ Before Everything

Caesarea Philippi is located in the Golan Heights, which is the northeastern part of the modern state of Israel. Today, the area is a beautiful park, visited by many nature lovers. Within the park stands a group of ancient Roman ruins, the remnants of temples dedicated to various gods revered in Greco-Roman culture. Among these temples was one honoring the Emperor Augustus, who had founded the Roman Empire and was worshipped as divine.

At the time of Christ, the Jewish people, like many other nations, lived under Roman occupation. Throughout the New Testament, we see a contrast between the reign of Christ and Roman imperial power. The Gospel of Mark starts with the words "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1). At first sight, we might gloss over this sentence as just a chapter heading. But, as we shall see, each word is full of deep meaning. The use of the word "beginning" invokes the first words of Genesis, "In the beginning" (Genesis 1:1), the words that introduce the account of creation. Mark is subtly implying that what we are about to read, the coming of Christ among us, is as important as God's act of creation. In the New Testament, the life-giving order created by Christ is set in contrast with the oppressive order brought about by the Roman Empire.

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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Finding the Creator Through Creation

In understanding the role of the physical world in human life, we have seen two extremes in human history. One perspective is materialistic hedonism, which sees the overindulgent enjoyment of the physical as the goal of life, with no reference to a higher cause or state of being. On the other extreme, we see schools of thought like Gnosticism, which view the material world as inherently evil and consider the goal of life to be the escape from the physical toward the spiritual. Catholicism rejects both of these perspectives.

The Church teaches that the material world was created inherently good. The physical world has been marred by the consequence of sin, but the physical is not evil. We are allowed to enjoy the goodness of the physical world, as long as we have the right perspective. We must always remember that the material world is God’s creation. The physical is never an end in and of itself, but something that speaks of the glory of God, the creator of the universe. Thus, if we approach the world correctly, our engagement with the physical will always lift our soul to God. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, we see the curing of a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. As soon as he is cured, he can hear the words of Jesus. He is also able to speak of Jesus to others. His situation is an image of how the physical can lift us up to the spiritual.

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