12th Sunday - A (June 25, 2023)

 

Matthew 10: 26-33

 

Last week, we heard Jesus sent the disciples to proclaim, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

 

In the same chapter, Jesus then warns the disciples of opposition and persecution.

 

But, the Kingdom of God is here,  so three times Jesus assures them, “Do not be afraid.” 

 

The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus again assuring the disciples, “I am with you always” (28:20).

 

Jesus is always with us, especially in his words and in the Eucharist.

 

And to us now, he says, “Do not be afraid.”  

 

 

12th Sunday - B (June 20, 2021)

 

"Do You Not Care?"
Mark 4: 35-41

The disciples ask the wrong question, "Do you not care that we are perishing?"

Of course Jesus cares.  Not only does he care for their physical well being, he cares for their salvation also.

And not only for his followers.

The Gospel passage begins with Jesus telling the disciples to "cross to the other side" of the lake, the side inhabited more by gentiles than the children of Israel.  Then, following this passage, Mark would recount Jesus healing people who are gentiles.  

For Jesus, these people are all God's children.

And Jesus cares for them all.

Jesus cares for us all. 

Image source:  www.agnusday.org

12th Sunday - A (June 21, 2020)

Me Compared with Two Sparrows

Matthew 10: 26-33

“Two sparrows are sold for a small coin.” 

The name of the small coin is mentioned the original Greek text of Matthew’s Gospel.  Based on the common salary of day laborers at the time of Jesus, a person would need to work about 15 minutes to buy one such sparrow. 

“Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.”

If a sparrow is still in the Father’s care, all the more we are. 

And this Father knows even “the hairs on your head.”

“So, do not be afraid.”

12th Sunday - C

Commentary

Luke 9: 18-24

The Christ of God

The disciples see Jesus at prayer.

And when Jesus asks for their opinion of who he is, Peter says, “The Christ of God.”

Peter and the other disciples recognize Jesus' identity through his communication with God.

At this point in their following of Jesus, they do not fully know what that means. They are not ready for the cross.

Yet, they know Jesus is the Christ of God.

So it is with me. I can only become my true self when I am in touch with God, my heavenly Father.

Happy Father's Day to all fathers.  Thank you for leading us to God, the heavenly Father.

12th Sunday, C (June 19, 2016)

Readings

12th Sunday - C (June 23, 2013)

Commentary

Luke 9: 18-24

Who Is He for Me?

By this time in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is at the height of his popularity and fame, by human standards, of course. 

He is now known as a powerful preacher. Large crowds come to listen to him. 


He cures the sick, casts out demons, and even raises the dead back to life. 


Immediately before this passage, earlier in the same Chapter 9, he feeds thousands with just five loaves of bread and two fish. (9:11-17, we heard this passage three weeks ago on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi) 

The disciples themselves have experienced success and popularity. 


Chapter 9 begins with Jesus giving the Twelve "power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to cure the sick." 


Both Jesus and the Twelve are so successful that "Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed." And people say the same thing about Jesus to Herod that we hear from the disciples in this passage.  It was such that Herod asks, "Who then is this about whom I hear such thing?" And Herod "keeps trying to see [Jesus]" (9:7-9) 

The Twelve, upon returning, explain to Jesus "what they had done." (9:10). Interestingly, they brag about what they had done.

In this context of Jesus' popularity and success, Jesus asks the proud and probably somewhat arrogant disciples, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

Then comes the personal question, "But who do you say that I am?" 


Finally, he teaches them that it is one thing to say who Jesus is, it is another thing to really know who he is. 

It is not likely that the disciples are ready to understand or accept a Messiah who must suffer, be rejected, and killed.

Yet, Jesus goes even further, telling them what they must do if they want to be his disciples: "deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. "