THE DAILY GOSPEL

June 23, 2016 (Thursday) 12th Week in Ordinary Time Psalter: Week 4/(Green)

Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8-9 For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us. 1st Reading: 2 K 24:8-17

Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he succeeded his father, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. Jehoiachin treated Yahweh badly, as his father had done.

At that time, the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to attack Jerusalem, surrounding the city. Nebuchadnezzar came while the city was being besieged by his men.

Jehoiachin, king of Judah, surrendered, together with his mother, his servants, his leaders and the palace officials. It was the eighth year of he reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar captured them and he took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh and of the king’s house. He also destroyed all the objects of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for the Sanctuary of Yahweh. So the word Yahweh had spoken, was fulfilled.

Nebuchadnezzar carried off into exile all the leaders and prominent men, the blacksmiths and locksmiths, all the men of valor fit for war. A total of 10,000 were exiled to Babylon. Only the poorest sector of the population was left. Nebuchadnezzar also carried away Jehoiachin, with his mother, his wives, the ministers of the palace, and the prominent men of the land.

So all the prominent people, numbering 7,000, the blacksmiths, numbering a thousand, and all the men fit for war were deported to Babylon by the king of Babylon.

He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king of Jerusalem, in place of Jehoiachin. And he changed his name to Zedekiah. Gospel: Mt 7:21-29

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in your name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in your name?’ Then I will tell them openly, ‘I have never known you; away from me, you evil people!’

“Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine, and acts according to them, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house. But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!”

When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way he taught, because he taught with authority, unlike their teachers of the law. Reflection:

In today’s gospel reading we hear Jesus tell us that, if we want to be happy and have a good and productive life, we have to build our lives on the rock of his teaching. Well and good. But Jesus taught so many things! How can we remember all of them? How can we be sure that we are not forgetting something, and that our whole life will not be ruined because of that forgotten something?

The answer to that quite legitimate question happens to be simple. Because on one occasion Jesus told us that we fulfill all the recommendations found in the entire Bible if we do only one thing. And this is what he says earlier in the same chapter of Matthew from which today’s reading is taken: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets” (Mt 7:12). Here is the touchstone of the true follower of Jesus. In fact, Jesus tells us, even if you perform miracles in his name and cast out demons in his name, all that will be useless to you if you do not love your neighbor as yourself. Love is the last word with him. Nothing else really matters.

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