Greetings on this the Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Gn 27:1-5, 15-29; Ps 135:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6; Mt 9:14-17
Notes:
God is not fooled by our foolery.
God is not deceived by our deceptions.
God is not persuaded by our self-identity, secular accomplishments, vain appearance, fancy speech nor display of false intimacy.
In our first reading today, Jacob survived his deceptions because the Lord loves him. But his life would have been easier without the deceptions.
Jacob’s Deception (the test put before him)
- Which of my sons are you? False Identity.
- How did you succeed so quickly, son? False Accomplishment.
- Come closer, son, that I may feel you. False Appearance.
- Although the voice is Jacob’s, the hands are Esau’s. False Speech.
- Are you really my son Esau? False Relationship.
- Come closer, son, and kiss me. False Intimacy.
Deception List
- False Identity
- False Accomplishment
- False Appearance
- False Speech
- False Intimacy
Our gospel portion today is focused in particular on the newness of the New Covenant in Jesus. In a series of parables, each of these parables speaks of the unsuitability of attempting to combine the old and the new. Jesus’ teaching is not a patching up of Judaism, nor can the gospel be contained within the limits of Mosaic law (NABRE, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/9?16=#48009016-1 ).
Since Jesus is speaking with those who are not actually in compliance of the Law already, the reply has two modes and two ways.
Modes
- The Mosaic Law is beautiful and wonderful but not designed to contain the New Covenant.
- The New Covenant is beautiful and wonderful but is designed to go beyond the Old Covenant.
Ways of Being
- The way of Jacob’s Deception.
- The way of the Bridegroom.
How so? They place appearance at a higher importance, even above divine relation.
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
It is a subtle reminder and it comes first in the order of the reply. Be certain fasting has not gone away. Be certain why you fast is a higher order of importance.
Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
Who is your fasting for? What are you trying to accomplish by it?
To John’s disciples and to the Pharisees (and for us to consider, too) the question is: Are you engaging in Jacob’s deception?
- False Identity
- False Accomplishment
- False Appearance
- False Speech
- False Intimacy
Be of good cheer!
To the Lord your fragrance is wonderful!
The Lord prefers the Smell of the Sheep be upon him so you may know and follow him.
Deeper reflection for Ministers and Clerics
“I wish you to be shepherds with ‘the smell of the sheep'”, the Pope said.
He said pastors should be “people capable of living, of laughing and crying with your people, in a word, of communicating with them”. He expressed concern that sometimes reflections and thoughts on priesthood are laboratory sample: this priest, that priest and so on. He said priesthood isolated from the people of God, is neither a Catholic priesthood nor a Christian one.
“Strip yourselves of your pre-constituted ideas, your dreams of greatness, your self-assertion, in order to put God and people at the center of your daily concerns,” the Pope said, stressing that a pastor is one who puts God’s holy faithful people at the centre. For those priests who would like to be an intellectual, not a pastor, the Pope said, it is better for them to be lay persons. A priest has to be a pastor in the midst of God’s people because God has chosen him for that.
First Reading
Ah, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field that the LORD has blessed!
Responsorial
Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!
Gospel Acclamation
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.
Gospel
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry