Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle B)
Readings:
Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16:5, 8-11
Hebrews 10:11-14, 18
Mark 13:24-32
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The words LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Church's Universal Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Hope Amid Tribulation and Judgment
This Sunday is the second to the last week of the Church
year. Next week, we will celebrate the final week in Ordinary Time with the
Feast of Christ the King, which sets His Church on the path to Advent. The approaching
Advent season should remind us that just as Mary was waiting for the birth of
God the Son, we are waiting for the day when God will remove the veil that
separates people and nations from one another in Christ's Second Advent. It is
a day that will usher in the Last/Final Judgment, the focus of the First
Reading and the Gospel Reading.
The Last Judgment is the theme of the First Reading, in which the prophet Daniel (6th century BC) announces the deliverance of God's holy people through the mediation of the Archangel Michael, in which the faithful who awake to everlasting life are those whose names are in God's Book of Life. These wise ones have remained faithful to God and will experience the joy of the everlasting Kingdom and its covenant that God promised them through His prophets (Dan 2:44; 7:14; Jer 32:40; 50:5).
In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist recounts the blessings that come from God to those who devote themselves to Him. God is a constant guide and vigilant protector of the faithful remnant, looking after their spiritual well-being in their journey through earthly life. The psalmist expresses the hope that God will preserve him from eternal corruption and raise His servants bodily from death. The Church Fathers interpreted the psalmist's petition to point to the event of Jesus rising from the dead in His Resurrection in the same body He had in His mortal life.
In the Second Reading, the inspired writer reminds us that the sacrifice of Christ is unique. It completes and surpasses all the other old covenant sacrifices. In God the Father's gift to humanity, He handed His Son over to sinners to reconcile humanity with Himself. It is also the free will offering Jesus made in freedom and love by offering His life to His Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for humanity's rebellion and disobedience on the altar of the Cross. Therefore, the inspired writer envisions Jesus's return when justice reigns supreme and the enemies of Christ, who opposed God's divine plan, receive just punishment.
The first reading prepares us for the Gospel Reading, in which Jesus is visiting Jerusalem for the last time. As His Passion and death draw near, Jesus teaches about hope, telling the people of His time and us what will happen in His Second Advent. He uses the image of a fig tree responding to the change in seasons in His teaching concerning people recognizing the signs of His Second Coming. Jesus describes a great tribulation for the people of the earth that will end in an upheaval of the cosmos and His return in glory. Christ's Second Coming will bring about the dissolution of God's creation and the Final Judgment of all humanity that will call the righteous to eternal bliss and the wicked to everlasting punishment.
Just because a long time has passed since Jesus's Ascension into Heaven, do not doubt that the period of tribulation and the hope of eternal salvation in the Second Advent of Christ is coming. St. Peter warned the Church: But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard "delay," but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar, and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out (2 Pt 3:8-10; also see 1 Thess 5:2-4).
The Holy Spirit calls the faithful in every age to be watchful and ready for that great and terrible day. But we have the hope of knowing, as we pray in today's psalm, that so long as we persist in the obedience of faith, God will never abandon us. Instead, He will show the faithful remnant of His people "the path to life" that is eternal, the "fullness of joy" in His presence, and the righteous will "delight" at His "right hand forever."
The First Reading Daniel 12:1-3 ~ The Last Judgment
1 In those days, I, Daniel, heard this word of the Lord:
"At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your
people; it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until
that time. At that time, our people shall escape, everyone who is found written
in the book. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake;
some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace. 3 But
the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who
lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever."
When the prophet Daniel received this vision, the people of God were suffering. They were in exile in the pagan land of Babylon and were desperately waiting for the time when they completed God's judgment of seventy years in exile (Jer 25:11; 29:10). Daniel prophesies that they will return to their homeland; however, they will suffer under the domination of a series of four pagan kingdoms and foreign rule (Dan 2:27-45). Daniel's prophecy was confirmed historically. First, the Persians defeated their Babylon overlords, who the Greeks replaced. Second, the Greek Syrians attempted to force them to worship the Greek gods and embrace Hellenistic culture, which they successfully resisted. And later (after a brief period of independence), they were dominated by the Romans. But, no matter what the faithful people of God suffered in the years to come, Daniel foretold that one day, there would be a deliverance like none other in the history of humanity when God would establish an everlasting fourth Kingdom (Dan 2:44).
On that promised day, God will send the archangel Michal, the prince of angels and guardian of Israel (Jude 9; Rev 12:7). Perhaps St. Michael will sound the call that will announce Jesus's return and the beginning of the Last/Final Judgment (1 Thes 4:16). At the time, the Books of Deeds and the Book of Life will be opened (Dan 12:1; Rev 20:11-12). The "wise" (verse 3) who remained faithful to God's commandments and exercised righteous worship will arise to everlasting life, but the wicked and those who rejected or abandoned God in a time of trial will awaken to horror and disgrace (verse 2). The judgment is final, and the outcome for all the righteous and the wicked will never change; it is forever (see Mt 25:31-46).
The wise who kept their unwavering/steadfast faith and obedience to God's commandments (even to the point of martyrdom) and those who shared their faith with others will shine the brightest "like the splendor of the firmament" in a bodily resurrection (verse 3). The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel wrote symbolically of a resurgence of the people of God in terms of a spiritual resurrection (cf. Is 26:19; Ez chapter 37). However, Daniel writes about the bodily resurrection as an actual event as will Jesus in His discourses on His Second Advent and the Last/Final Judgment in the Gospels (Mt 24:29-46; Mk 13:24-32; Lk 21:25-35). The Church, in the light of Jesus's teaching in the Gospels, believes that "all the dead will rise in a bodily resurrection, "those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:39; cf Dan 12:2; (CCC 998).
Responsorial Psalm 16:5, 8-11 ~ God our Hope and Inheritance
Response: You are my inheritance, O Lord!
5 O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who
hold fast my lot. [...]. 8 I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand,
I shall not be disturbed.
Response:
9 Therefore, my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my
body, too, abides in confidence; 10 because you will not abandon my soul to the
netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
Response:
11 You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in
your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.
Response:
Attributed to David, this psalm addresses the psalmist's relationship and total dedication to Yahweh, his Lord. In verse 5, he speaks of the Lord God as his "allotted portion." He may be comparing himself to the Levitical ministers. They received no portion of the Promised Land because, in their dedication to God for ministerial service, He became their portion and their inheritance of liturgical service in the Temple and their allotted portion of the sacrifices (cf. Num 18:20; Dt 10:9; Josh 13:14; Ps 73:25). The psalmist is content with his calling and has confidence that his service will lead to the promised cup of salvation in the everlasting Kingdom of his Lord (cf. Ps 116:13).
In verses 8-11, the psalmist recounts the blessings that come from God to those who devote themselves to Him. God is his constant guide and his vigilant protector. God looked after his well-being in his earthly life, and the psalmist expresses the hope that his Lord will preserve him from eternal corruption because He will raise his servant bodily from the dead (verses 9-10). The Church Fathers interpreted verse 9 to mean that Jesus rose from the dead in His Resurrection in the same body as He had in His mortal life (cf. St. Jerome, Breviarium in Psalmos, 15.10).
10 because you will not abandon my soul to the
netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. 11
You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the
delights at your right hand forever.
The word translated "netherworld" is the Hebrew word Sheol
and in Greek Hades (CCC 633), meaning the grave or abode of the dead. The
psalmist is joyful because he has confidence that God will raise him from death
in a bodily resurrection and because God has shown his servant the "path to
life" in obedience to the Law.
St. Peter spoke of David's knowledge of the resurrection in his address to the crowds on Pentecost Sunday. He told the Jewish crowd: My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon this throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption (Acts 2:29-31).
The Fathers of the Church also applied the words you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld in verse 10 to Jesus's descent from His tomb into Sheol/Hades/the grave/netherworld to deliver the dead and to His glorious Resurrection (Origen, In Evangelium Ioannis, 1.220). St. Peter wrote about the deliverance from death and corruption in Sheol in his First Letter to the Universal Church. In it, he referred to Sheol/Hades as "prison": For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. In it, he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark (1 Pt 3:18-20). Peter continued: For this was why the Gospel was preached even to the dead that, though condemned in the flesh in human estimation, they might live in the spirit in the estimation of God (1 Pt 4:6). That Jesus delivered the souls from Sheol/Hades is what St. Paul wrote about in his Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 4:9-10), and it is what we profess in the Apostles' Creed (CCC 631)
The Second Reading Hebrews 10:11-14, 18 ~ The
Efficacy of Jesus's One Perfect Sacrifice
11 Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering
frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But this one
offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God;
13 now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are
being consecrated. [...]. 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no
longer offering for sin.
See the commentary in the Sunday readings for the past six Sundays on the Letter to the Hebrews passages.
11 Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering
frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins.
The inspired writer alternates between alluding to sacrifices offered:
See Heb 7:27; 10:11; Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:4-8; also see
CCC 1966; 608; 613-14; 616; 618.
The Sinai Covenant priests offered ministerial
service while standing (verse 11), offering animal sacrifice, grain, and wine
libations at the altar, and leading the community in prayer. Our New Covenant
priests also stand at the altar table to offer the sacrifice in the bread and
wine that become the Body and Blood of Christ and lead the congregation in
prayer.
12 But this one offered one
sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; 13 now
he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.
The inspired writer's point is that all the old covenant
sacrifices were imperfect and had to be repeated continually, unlike Christ's
unique once-and-for-all-time blood sacrifice, which is perfect. The Catechism
teaches: "The sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all
other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father, for the Father
handed his Son over to sinners to reconcile us with Himself. At the same time,
it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered
his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our
disobedience" (CCC 614). Jesus "stood" until His one
sacrifice, offered for the sins of humanity, was complete and then took His
seat forever at the right hand of God the Father. That Jesus "took his
seat forever at the right hand of God" is a Semitic expression, meaning Jesus
shares power with God the Father in Heaven, where He prays for us. Knowing that
He continually prays for us gives us hope in our present circumstances and our
promise of eternal salvation.
Jesus "sits" in His kingly role as ruler and Divine Judge of His Kingdom, but according to St. John's vision in the Book of Revelation, He also still "stands" in priestly service (Rev 5:5-6). That Jesus fulfills both the role of eternal Davidic King and High Priest is not a contradiction any more than Jesus's role as both High Priest and the sacrificial victim is a contradiction. The inspired writer would agree with the accuracy of the vision of St. John and its theological implications since he also stated that every High Priest must have "something to offer" in Hebrews 8:3. What Jesus offers as the eternal High Priest is the perfect sacrifice of Himself (see CCC 663-64).
Verse 13 is another allusion to Psalm 110:1, which the inspired writer already quoted in Hebrews 1:13. Significantly, each inspired writer of the Synoptic Gospels records Jesus quoting this line from Psalm 110:1 in Matthew 22:44, Mark 12:36, and Luke 20:43. St. Peter also quoted Psalm 110:1 in his address to the Jewish pilgrims to the Feast of Pentecost after the miracle of the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in the Upper Room (see Acts 2:35). It is quoted again in Hebrews 1:13 and 10:13. Psalm 110:1 is a Messianic sign and appears a significant seven times in the New Testament.
Hebrews 10:13 reads, now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool (underlining added). Christ is "at rest" but vigilant. He is watching His enemies and interceding for His priestly people (Heb 4:14-16; 7:25; 9:24). His enemies are Satan and his evil demons who seek to snatch away the souls of men and women by tempting them to renounce Jesus's eternal Kingdom in favor of earthly pleasures which cannot bring true happiness. Also counted among His enemies are the humans who reject Christ and oppose God's divine plan for humanity's salvation. In their rebellion, they become the sons and daughters of Satan instead of the sons and daughters of God. Christ's enemies desire to corrupt the innocent into denying sin, seeking sinful temporal satisfaction, and perversely declaring what is good evil and what is evil good. The time will come when He will crush all His enemies under His feet.
Christ's enemies include anyone who opposes God's divine plan for humanity's salvation, but there is also one chief enemy. God promised in Genesis 3:14-15 that the Redeemer-Messiah, born of "the woman," would crush His enemy. That specific "woman" is Mary of Nazareth. After the fall of Adam and Eve, God cursed the serpent and prophesied to him the coming of the Redeemer of humanity: Accursed be you of all animals wild and tame. On your belly, you will go, and on dust, you will feed as long as you live. I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [literally seed] and hers [literally her seed]; it [this indefinite Greek pronoun can mean "he," meaning the "seed of the woman" will bruise [crush] your head, and you will strike its heel (NJB). "To strike the heel" is a Semitic expression for "to do violence to." In John 13:18, when speaking of His betrayal by Judas Iscariot, Jesus said, "I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, 'The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me'" (emphasis added). "To crush the head" is a Semitic expression for "to strike a mortal blow;" to "raised the heel" is a Semitic expression for "to do violence." Jesus will return in His Second Coming to strike a mortal blow against Satan and his forces of evil. St. Paul also promised that the faithful followers of Christ would see Satan crushed under their feet in Romans 16:17-20.
14 For by one offering, he has made perfect forever those
who are being consecrated. [...] 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is
no longer offering for sin.
This verse is the third time the inspired writer used the
verb "has made perfect" or "has made complete" concerning Jesus's saving works.
He uses this verb in the perfect tense in the Letter to the
Hebrews in 2:10, 5:9, and 7:28.
He has also used the same verb three times, again in the perfect
tense, alluding to the old Law and its institutions in
Hebrews 7:19; 9:9; and 10:1.
However, in the case of the old Law and its required sacrifices and ritual purity restrictions, he used the verb in the negative sense. In the past, which to the inspired writer and his audience includes the thirty-odd years since Jesus's Ascension, Christ was "made perfect" in His sacrifice, but from that time on, He makes those sanctified by the gift of His sacrifice "perfect" and complete in their relationship to God. The inspired writer is returning to the prophecy of the New Covenant by Jeremiah in 31:31-34 in the late seventh/early sixth century BC. His point is that where there is complete forgiveness of sins, there is no longer any need for animal sacrifices and offerings for sin. Jesus Christ has conquered sin and eternal death, the devastating result of sin (2 Tim 1:10).
The Gospel of Mark 13:24-32 ~ The Hope in the Return of
Jesus Christ and The Lesson of the Fig Tree
24 "But in those days after that tribulation, the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will
be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And
then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and
glory, 27 and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the
four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. 28 Learn a lesson
from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know
that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that he is near, at the gates. 30 Amen, I say to you, this generation will
not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will
pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32 But of that day or hour, no one
knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Our passage is from Jesus's discourse on the turmoil that will precede the destruction of Jerusalem and His prophecies concerning His Second Coming. He begins by describing the breakdown of society followed by famine (Mk 13:7-8). Next, families will become divided, and the faithful will be persecuted (Mk 13:9-13). Finally, He prophesies the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem (Mk 13:14). All these events took place within the lifetimes of most of the Apostles and disciples when the Jews revolted against Rome in AD 66 and massacred the Roman garrisons in Judea. The Romans responded by sending four legions to deal with the rebellion. Forty years after Jesus's Ascension, in AD 70, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, and it was never rebuilt. The Jewish priest and historian Flavius Josephus, who was an eyewitness to the events, records that about a million Jews were sold into slavery and dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. The time for the necessity of the old Sinai Covenant liturgy and sacrifice had passed, and God was now present in the holy liturgy of sacrifice in the New Covenant banquet of the faithful and the transformed Toda (sacred communion meal of "Thanksgiving") of the Eucharist (from Eucharistia, "Thanksgiving" in Greek).
After Jesus's prophecy of the future tribulation and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, His discourse continued with the "after that tribulation" (verses 24-28) period. He spoke of another event and the altering of time itself, saying, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. In the traditional language of the prophets, Jesus uses the symbolism of cosmic events to describe the forceful intervention of God in humanity's history.
The sun, moon, and stars recorded the passing of the seasons and the reckoning of time. In this passage, Jesus refers to the event of His Second Coming when Christ the King will return in glory to collect "his elect" in the Resurrection of the Just and act as humanity's Divine Judge in the Last/Final Judgment. Notice Jesus uses the language of Daniel 7:13-14 to describe His Parousia. This term in Jesus's time referred to the return of a king or ruler to his vassal people to judge their obedience during his absence. In the 6th century BC, the prophet Daniel had a vision of the divine Messiah, who looked like a human being. Daniel saw one like a Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, he received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed (Dan 7:13-14).
However, Jesus might also be referring to His Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit to fill and indwell the Church when He gathers His elect from the four corners of the earth into His Kingdom. Some scholars hold this interpretation based on verse 30: Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place (emphasis added; also see Mt 23:36; Lk 21:37). This verse might also be a warning concerning His earlier prophecy about the tribulation associated with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in verses 7-14, an event that took place within the lifetimes of most of His disciples.
In verses 28-29, Jesus uses the symbolism of the fig tree again (see Mk 11:20-25), but in this case, it is the sign of what is coming instead of a symbol for Israel's judgment frequently used by the Old Testament prophets (Hos 2:12-15; Jer 8:13) and by Jesus in Matthew 21:18-21, Mark 11:12-14, and Luke 13:6-9.
Jesus warns His disciples that just as leaves on a fig tree appear in the spring as a sign of the coming of summer, when these things He foretold begin to happen, they will know that the events He prophesied are starting to take place, but this will all happen according to God's time.
30 Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
This verse probably refers back to Jesus's description of
the destruction of Jerusalem at the beginning of His discourse in
13:1-23.
It was an event that took place in AD 70, and there were those of His generation
still alive to witness it. Also, people in every generation face divine
judgment at the end of the struggles of their earthly lives in their Individual/Particular
Judgments after death (CCC 1021-22).
In verse 32, Jesus said, "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." It is impossible to predict the exact timing of Jesus's Second Coming because only God the Father knows when it will happen. Jesus warns that it will come suddenly, as in the event of the Great Flood in Genesis (Mt 24:37-41). The warning is for the faithful to remain vigilant and keep our souls in a state of purity in the Sacrament of Reconciliation so we will be ready for the event that will determine our eternal destiny.
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Daniel 12:2 (CCC 998*)Hebrews 10:14 (CCC 1544); 10:16 (CCC 64*)
Mark 13:32 (CCC 474*, 673*)
The Last Judgment and the hope of a new Heaven and earth (CCC 1038*, 1039*, 1040*, 1041*, 1042*, 1043*, 1044*, 1045*, 1046*, 1047-1049, 1050*)
Christ's one perfect sacrifice and the Eucharist (CCC 613*, 614*, 1365*, 1366*, 1367*)
Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2015; revised 2024 www.AgapeBibleStudy.com