Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Jesus’ wisdom impresses the towns people but rejected Him


February 3, 2016

Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day: St. Blase, Bishop & Martyr Saint Blase, Bishop & Martyr (316)

Reading 1

2King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, “Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number.”

9Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered: in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service; in Judah, five hundred thousand.

10Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people, and said to the LORD: “I have sinned grievously in what I have done. But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish.”[1]

11When David rose in the morning, the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying: 12“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.”

13Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: “Do you want a three years’ famine to come upon your land, or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you, or to have a three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must reply to Him who sent me.”

14David answered Gad: “I am in very serious difficulty. Let us fall by the hand of God, for He is most merciful; but let me not fall by the hand of man.” 15Thus David chose the pestilence. Now it was the time of the wheat harvest when the plague broke out among the people. The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.

16But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD regretted the calamity and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people, “Enough now! Stay your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the LORD: “It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred.”[2]

Responsorial Psalm

R. (see 5c) Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

1Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. 2Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile.

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,” and you took away the guilt of my sin.

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

6For this shall every faithful man pray to You in time of stress. Though deep waters overflow, they shall not reach him.

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

7You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round. 

R. Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

Alleluia John 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

1Jesus departed from there and came to His native place, accompanied by His disciples.[3] 

2When the sabbath came He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. They said, “Where did this Man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given Him? What mighty deeds are wrought by His hands![4] 3Is He not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother (see Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC500 for the words brothers and sisters) of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.[5]

4Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”[6]  5So He was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying His hands on them.[7] 6He was amazed at their lack of faith.



Notes on Readings:

[1] 2 Samuel 24:10 - The narrative supposes that since the people belonged to the Lord rather than to the king, only the Lord should know their exact number.

[2] 2 Samuel 24:17 - Before this verse a Qumran manuscript (4Q Sam[a]) gives the fuller text of  1 Chronicle 21:16 an alternative to the words When David saw the angel who was striking the people.

[3] Mark 6:1 - His native place: the Greek word patris here refers to Nazareth (compare with Mark 1:9; Luke 4:16, 23-24) though it can also mean native land.

[4] Mark 6:2-6 - See the note on Matthew 13:54-58.

[5] Mark 6:3 - Is He not the carpenter?: no other gospel calls Jesus a carpenter. Some witnesses have "the carpenter's son," as in Matthew 13:55. Son of Mary: contrary to Jewish custom, which calls a man the son of his father, this expression may reflect Mark's own faith that God is the Father of Jesus (Mark 1:1, 11; 8:38; 13:32; 14:36). The brother of James . . . Simon: in Semitic usage, the terms "brother," "sister" are applied not only to children of the same parents, but to nephews, nieces, cousins, half-brothers, and half-sisters; compare with Genesis 14;16; 29:15; Leviticus 10:4. While one cannot suppose that the meaning of a Greek word should be sought in the first place from Semitic usage, the Septuagint often translates the Hebrew ah by the Greek word adelphos, "brother," as in the cited passages, a fact that may argue for a similar breadth of meaning in some New Testament passages. For instance, there is no doubt that in verse 17, "brother" is used of Philip, who was actually the half-brother of Herod Antipas. On the other hand, Mark may have understood the terms literally; see also Mark 3:31-32; Matthew 12:4613:55-56; Luke 8:19; John 7:3,5. The question of meaning here would not have arisen but for the faith of the church in Mary's perpetual virginity.

[6] Mark 6:4 - A prophet is not without honor except . . . in his own house: a saying that finds parallels in other literatures, especially Jewish and Greek, but without reference to a prophet. Comparing Himself to previous Hebrew prophets whom the people rejected, Jesus intimates His own eventual rejection by the nation especially in view of the dishonor His own relatives had shown Him (Mark 3:21) and now His townspeople as well.

[7] Mark 6:5 - He was not able to perform any mighty deed there: according to Mark, Jesus' power could not take effect because of a person's lack of faith.

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Dear Humanity,

I personally encourage everyone to emulate JESUS' values on LOVE, FAITH, HOPE
and CHARITY, as the humanity has been a failure; which resulted to the more than two (2) years of pandemic and its after-effects on economy, not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.

And the saddest part of it, is that, it affected the POOREST of the POOR to even extremely be more poorer, in exchange of the affluent to be more richer.

Thank you and may GOD bless you and the whole family to have an enjoyed life's journey at home, Church, schools/universities, corporate commitments, public and places of interest.