OPEN AND FEARLESS SPEECH - 12th Sunday In Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Homily for the 12^th Sunday In Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Based on Mt 10:26-33 (Gospel), Jr 20:10-13 (First Reading) and Rm 5:12-15 (Second Reading)

From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”

OPEN AND FEARLESS SPEECH

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Mt 10:28).

The Gospel for this 12^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) is taken from Mt 10:26-33,under the title “Open and fearless speech”.

Parallel text is Lk 12:2-7 that says :Everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear (v. 2). For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed on the housetops (v. 3). ‘To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more (v. 4). I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him (v. 5). Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God’s sight (v. 6). Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows (v. 7).

Verses 26  and 27 says: Do not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear.^k What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops. Footnote  ^ksays “Jesus was obliged to obscure his message: 1. His hearers would have misunderstood a clearer teaching, Mk 1:34+; 2. He himself had not yet completed- by death and resurrection-the work which alone could explain the message. Later on it will be the duty of his disciples to deliver the message in its entirety and without fear. These same words are found in Lk but with an entirely different meaning: the disciples are not to imitate Pharisaic hypocrisy; whatever they may try to hide will certainly come to light eventually; they must therefore speak openly.”

Parallel texts for verse 26 say:

1.       Mk 4:22 - For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’

2.       Lk 8:17 - For nothing is hidden is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be known and brought to light.

3.       1 Tm 5:25 - In the same way, the good that people can do can be obvious; but even when it is not, it cannot be hidden forever.

Verse 28-32 say: ‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell.Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet no one falls to the ground without your Father knowing.Why, every hair on your head has been counted.So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven.^l Footnote  ^lsays“When the last Judgment takes place and the Son commits the elect to his Father, cf. 25:14.”

Parallel texts of verse 28 are:

1.       Heb 10:31 - It is dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

2.       1 P 3:14…if you do have to suffer for being good, you will count it a blessing. There is no need to be afraid or to worry about them.^d Footnote ^d says: “Om. ‘or to worry about them.’”

3.       Rv 2:10  - Do not be afraid to the sufferings that are coming to you: I tell you, the devil is going to send some of you to prison to test you, and you must face an ordeal in ten days.^h Even if you have to die, keep faithful, and I will give you the crown of life for your prize. Footnote^hsays “i.e. of short duration.”

4.       Rv 14:7 - Fear God and praise him, because the time has come for him to sit in judgment; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and every water-spring.’

 Verse 33 says: But the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Mk 8:38 - For if anyone in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

2.       Lk 9:26 - For if anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his own glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

3.       2 Tm 2:12 - If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us.

4.      Rv 3:5 - Those who prove victorious will be dressed, like these, in white robes;^b I shall not blot their names out of the book of life, but acknowledge their names in the presence of my Father and his angels.Footnote ^bsays “A symbol of purity but also of victory and joy”.

The First Reading is taken from Jr 20:10-13.

Verse 10 says: I hear so many disparaging me, ‘“Terror from every side!” ‘Denounce him! Let us denounce him!’ All those who used to be my friends watched for my downfall, ‘Perhaps he will be seduced into error. Then we will master him and take our revenge!’.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Jr 6:25 - Do not go out into the countryside, do not venture on the roads, for the enemy’s sword is there, there is terror on every side.

2.       Ps 31:13 - I hear their endless slanders, threats from every quarter, as they combine against me, plotting to take my life.

3.       Ps 41:5 - My enemies say of me with malice, ‘How long before he dies and his name perishes?’

4.       Lm 2:22 - As thought to a festival you have summoned terrors on every side; on the day of your wrath, no one escaped, no one survived. Those whom I had nursed and reared, my enemy has murdered them all.

5.       Ws 2:12 - Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he  annoys us^g; and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing. Footnote  ^g says “Literary influence of Is. 3:10 (LXX).”

Verse 11 says: But Yahweh is at my side, a mighty hero; my opponents will stumble, mustered, confounded by their failure; everlasting, unforgettable, disgrace will be theirs.

Parallel text is Ps 109:29 that says: Clothe my accusers in disgrace, cover them with a cloak of shame.

Verses 12 and 13 say: But you, Yahweh Sabaoth, you probe with justice, who scrutinize the loins and heart, let me see the vengeance you will take on them, for I have committed my cause to you.^g Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the soul of the needy^h from the hands of evil men. Footnote  ^g says ‘‘with justice’ two Hebr. MSS, Syr., Arab., cf. 11:20: ‘the just man’ Hebr. ‘committed’ corr., cf. 11:20; ‘revealed’ Hebr. This verse, a repetition of 11:20, does not seem to have belonged here originally.”; and  Footnote ^h  says “The ‘needy’, ebion, here in the sense of ‘devout’, the man who looks to Yahweh for support. The ‘poor of Yahweh’, cf. Zp 2:3+, are the spiritual children of Jeremiah.”

Parallel texts of verse 12 are:

1.        Jr 11:20 - But, you, Yahweh Sabaoth, who pronounce a just sentence who probe the loins and heart, let me see the vengeance you will take on them, for I have committed my cause to you.^j Footnote ^j says “‘I have committed’ corr.; ‘I have revealed’ Hebr. On such appeals to God for revenge, cf. Ps 5:10+.”

2.       1 S 16:7…but Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘Take no notice of his appearance or his height for I have rejected him; God does not see^b as man sees; man looks at appearances but Yahweh looks at the heart.’ Footnote  ^b says “‘God sees’ Greek.”

The Second Reading is taken from Rm 5:12-15 under the title “Adam and Jesus Christ^h”.  Footnote ^h says “Sin dwells within man, Rm 7:14-24; now death, sin’s chastisement, came into the world as a result of Adam’s fall, Ws 2:24; from this Paul concludes that sin itself entered into all men through that first fall. We have here the doctrine of original sin. Its interest for Paul lies in the parallel it enables him to draw between deadly work of the first Adam and the more than sufficient compensation of the ‘second Adam’, vv. 15-19; 1 Co 15:21f, 25. It is as the new head of the human race, the great image in which God remakes his creation, Rm 8:29+; 2 Co 5:17+, that Christ is mankind’s savior.”

Verse 12 says: Well then, sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death,ⁱ and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned. ^j Footnote  ⁱ  says “Sin divides man from God. This separation is ‘death’, death spiritual and eternal; physical death is the symbol of it, cf. Ws 2:24; Heb 6:1+.”; and Footnote  ^j  says “Meaning disputed. Either by sharing in Adam’s sin, (‘all have sinned in Adam’) or else by their own personal sins, cf. 3:23. In this second interpretation the Greek could be translated ‘for this reason that everyone…’ a phrase introducing a situation actually occurring which allowed (eternal) death to threaten all mankind. Sin’s power which through Adam made its entrance into the world did in fact bring about eternal death by means of personal sin, itself an acquiescence in Adam’s rebellion (Paul is of course speaking of adults). A further translation is possible ‘by reason of which (i.e. of the death-situation brought about by Adam’s sin) everyone has sinned’.”

Parallel texts are:

1.       Gn 3:1 - The Fall. The serpent^a was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that Yahweh God has made. It asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?’ Footnote ^a says “The serpent is here used as a disguise for a being hostile to God and an enemy of man: this being is identified with the Adversary or the Devil (Jb 1:6+) in the Book of Wisdom, in the NT and in all Christian tradition.”

2.       Ws 2:24 - It was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world,ⁿ as those who are his partners will discover. Footnote ⁿ says ‘devil’ in the LXX renders the Hebr. Satan, cf. Jb 1:6+. Here, the author is interpreting Gn 3, cf. Rv 12:9; 20:2; Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:8. The death introduced by the devil is spiritual, with physical death as its consequence, cf. 1:13+; Rm 5:12f.

3.       Si 25:24 - Sin began with a woman, and thanks to her we all must die.^h Footnote ^h  says “Alluding to the first sin. Apostle Paul also recalls the guilt of Eve, 2 Co 1:3 1 Th 2:14, but cf. Rm 5:1.”

4.       1 Co 15:21-22 - Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man (v. 21).Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ.

Verse 13 says: Sin existed in the world long before the law was given. There was no law and so no one could be accused of the sin of ‘law-breaking’,

Parallel text of verse is that says:

1.       Rm 3:23 - Both Jew and pagan sinned and forfeited God’sglory^h. Footnote ^h says ‘Glory’ in OT sense, Ex 24:16+, that is to say God as present to human beings and communicating himself to them more and more, a process that can only reach its climax in the messianic era, cf. Ps 84:9; Is. 40:5, etc.

2.       Rm 6:23 - For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3.       Gn 3:17,19 - To the man he said, Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, Accursed be the soil because of you. With suffering you shall get your food from it every day of your life (v.17) With sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the soil, from as you were taken from it; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return (v. 19).

Verses 14 and 15 say: yet death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even though their sin, unlike that of Adam, was not a matter of breaking a law. Adam prefigured^k the One to come, but the gift itself considerably outweighed the fall. If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many^l died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift. Footnote  ^k says “‘prefigured’, 1 Co 10:6+: the likeness, therefore, is not complete – hence the comparison, begun in v. 12 and interrupted by the long parenthesis of vv. 13 and 14, becomes a contrast in v. 5.”; and Footnote ^l says “The word ‘many’ means all mankind, cf. v. 18; see Mt 20:28”.

Parallel text for verse 14 are:

1.       Rm 4:15 - Law involves the possibility of punishment for breaking the law - only when there is no law can that be avoided^g Footnote ^g says “Lit. ‘For laws brings anger whereas (var. ‘for’)  where there is no law there is no law-breaking either’.

2.       Rm 7:7 - The function of the Law^e.  Does it follow that the Law itself is sin? Of course not. What I mean is that I should not have known what sin was except for the Law. I should not for instance have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said you shall not covet. Footnote  ^e says “In itself the Law is holy and good since it expresses God’s will, 7:12-15, 1 Tim. 1:8, it is the glorious prerogative of Israel, Rm. 9:4, but cf. 2:14f. And yet it seems to have been a failure: in spite of the law the Jews are sinners like everyone else, Rm. 2:21-27; Ga. 6:3; Ep 2:3, and obedience to it even makes them so confident, Rm 2:17-20; 3:27; 4:2,4; 9:31f; Ph 3:9; Ep 2:8, that they are shut off by it from the grace of Christ, Ga 6:12; Ph 3:18; cf. Ac 15:1; 18:13; 21:21. In short, the Law is powerless to make any man just, Ga 3:11,21f; Rm 3:20; cf. Heb 7:19. Paul’s argument, to which polemic lends a tone of paradox, is that this apparent failure of the Law is due to the nature of the Law itself and to the part it was meant to play in the history of salvation. The Law gives information – it does not give spiritual strength. No law, whether Mosaic or otherwise, not even the primordial command given to Adam, cf. vv 9-11, can prevent sin, in fact the law makes it worse: 1. Because though the law is not the source of sin, it be comes the instrument of sin by arousing concupiscence, Rm 7:7f; 2. Because by informing the mind it increases the fault, which becomes a conscious ‘transgression’, 4:15; 5:13; 3. Because the only remedy law offer is punishment, 4:15, curse, Ga 3:10, condemnation, 2 Co 3:9, death, 2 Co 3:6; hence it can be called ‘the law of sin and death’, Rm 8:2; cf. 1 Co 15:56; Rm 7:13. Nevertheless God willed this defective system, though as a temporary period of schooling, Ga 3:24, to make people conscious of their sin, Rm 3:19f; 5:20; Ga 3:19, and to teach them to look for justification solely to the grace of God, Ga 3:22; Rm 11:32. Since this state of things is only for a time it has to give way before the fulfillment of the promise made, before the Law, to Abraham and his descendants, Ga: 3:6-22; Rm 4. Christ has put an end to the Law, Ep 2:15; cf. Rm 10:4, satisfying its demands by dying a sinner’s death, Ga 3:13; Rm 8:3; Col 2:14, but at the same he ‘fulfills’, cf. Mt 5:17; 3:15, all that is of the positive value in the Law, Rm 3:31; 9:31; 10:4. He emancipates the sons from the guardianship of the tutor, Ga 3:25f. With him they are dead to the Law, Ga 2:19; Rm 7:4-6; cf. Col 2:20, from which he has ‘redeemed’ them, Ga 3:13, in order to make them sons by adoption, Ga 4:5. Through the promised Spirit he gives to mankind thus renewed, Ep 2:15+, the inward strength to do all the good things prescribed by the Law, Rm 8:4f. This order of grace, superseding that of the old Law, may still be called a law, but it is ‘the law of faith’, Rm 3:27, ‘the law of Christ’, Ga 6:2, ‘the law of the Spirit’, Rm 8:1, and love is the essential precept, Ga 5:14; Rm 13:8f; cf. Jm 2:8.”