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Scripture In Depth
16th Sunday of Ordinary Time C
July 21, 2013
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Reading I: Genesis 18:1-10a
The annunciation of Isaac’s birth to Abraham has
no obvious connection with the thanksgiving for the
Christian mystery in Colossians (second reading) or with
Martha and Mary in Luke (Gospel).
Perhaps there is a thread linking the revelation of
Isaac’s birth to Abraham and the mystery hidden
for ages and generations and now made manifest.
God is a God who acts in history, his actions are
constantly new, and accompanying his actions is the
revelation of theft meaning. Action plus revelation of
its meaning equals mystery.
Annunciation scenes are a device to disclose the meaning
of God’s acts in salvation history. The birth of a
major figure in salvation history (often a birth out of
due course, a supernatural birth) is announced by an
angel.
The birth of Isaac was supernatural, because both
Abraham and Sarah were too old to become parents. This
and other similar birth stories (for example, Samson and
Samuel) provide the Old Testament precedent for the
annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Joseph in Matthew,
and to Mary in Luke.
For Jesus’ birth is likewise supernatural. In
other words, Jesus is not merely a product of human
history but an intervention, indeed the final
eschatological intervention of God in salvation
history.
The meaning of this history is disclosed to Joseph
(“He will save his people from their sins”)
and to Mary (“He will be great, and will be called
the Son of the Most High”).
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Responsorial Psalm: 15:2-3, 3-4, 5
This psalm is one of the “entry psalms”
sung as the pilgrims entered the temple. It describes
the character of the person whom God will accept as a
worthy pilgrima person of justice, sincerity, and
integrity.
Abraham was known for his justice, and this psalm serves
as a fitting response to the
First Reading.
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Reading II: Colossians 1:24-28
The letter to the Colossians is one of the
antilegomena that is, a letter regarded, at least
by more radical critics, as deutero-Pauline. If that is
so, the present passage is remarkably close to what St.
Paul would have written, and is the product of a mind
thoroughly impregnated with the thoughts of the Apostle.
It interprets the Apostle’s self-understanding
precisely as in Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and
Romans.
Suffering is one of the hallmarks of apostleship. The
Apostle fills up what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions—a bold formulation, which, however,
does not mean that something is lacking in the atoning
power of Christ’s death.
The clue lies in the undoubted letters of Paul, which
present his suffering as an epiphany, manifestation, or
proclamation of Christ’s cross. What is
“lacking” is not the atoning power of the
cross but its manifestation in the Church as a present
reality.
As in the undoubted letters, Paul’s gospel is a
“mystery” (1 Cor 2:1), the proclamation of a new saving act, a complete
novum unheard of before. For Paul, this mystery
has a particular nuance (see
Rom 11:25): it involves admission of the Gentiles to the
privileges of the end-time community.
There are also some differences between our passage and
the undoubted letters. In the latter, Paul does not
speak of the Church as the body of Christ
tout court but employs that image as a metaphor
or simile to express the unity of the Church amid the
diversity of its members.
Also, the undoubted letters either reject the notion
that Christians already here in this time could be
“mature” (teleioi, literally,
“perfect”) or use it ironically.
Colossians and Ephesians speak of perfection as a goal
toward which Christians should progress on their earthly
pilgrimage.
The differences are slight but significant.
The antilegomena presuppose a later situation in
which it is recognized that the Church is here to stay,
to live in history and to produce a Christian
culture.
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Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
This well-known idyllic scene is placed by Luke
immediately after the parable of the Good Samaritan (see
last Sunday). In this position it corrects the activistic
impression that might otherwise be deduced from Jesus
answer to the lawyer’s question: “Do this,
and you will live.”
Activism must spring from hearing the word of God. Most
of us would feel that we have to combine Mary and
Marthahearing the word of God and going out into
the world in active service.
But we must recognize that some have a primary vocation
to be Mary, others to be Martha.
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Copyright © 1984 by The Order of St. Benedict, Inc.,
Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. Used by
permission from The Liturgical Press,
Collegeville, Minnesota 56321
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Preaching the Lectionary:
The Word of God for the Church Today
Reginald H. Fuller. The Liturgical Press. 1984 (Revised
Edition),
pp. 487-489.
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Thank you to Liturgical Press who makes this
page possible
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For more information about the 3rd edition (2006)
of
Preaching the Lectionary
click picture above.
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Art by Martin Erspamer, O.S.B.
from
Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical
Year
(A, B, and C).
Used by permission of Liturgy Training
Publications. This art may be reproduced
only by parishes who purchase the
collection in book or CD-ROM form. For
more information go to:
http://www.ltp.org/
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