GOSPEL

July 2, 2018 (Monday) 13th Week in Ordinary Time Psalter: Week 1/(Green) Ps 50:16bc-17, 18-19, 20-21, 22-23 Remember this, you who never think of God.

1st Reading: Am2:6-10, 13-16

Yahweh says this, “Because Israel has sinned, not once but three times; and even more, I will not relent; They sell the just for money and the needy for a pair of sandals; they tread on the head of the poor and tram- ple them upon the dust of the earth, while they silence the right of the afflicted; a man and his father go to the same woman to profane my holy name; they stretch out upon garments taken in pledge, beside every altar; they take the wine of those they swindle and are drunk in the house of their God. It was I who destroyed the Amorites before them, whose height was like the height of the cedar; a people as sturdy as an oak. I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below. It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you 40 years in the wilderness to take possession of the land of the Amorites.

Behold, I will crush you to the ground, as a cart does when it is full of sheaves. The swift shall be unable to flee and the strong man shall lose his strength. The warrior shall not save himself nor the bowman stand his ground. The swift of foot shall not escape nor the horseman save himself. Even the most stout-hearted among the warriors shall flee away naked on that day,” says Yahweh.

Gospel: Mt 8:18-22

When Jesus saw the crowd pressing around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. A teacher of the law approached him; and said, “Master, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another disciple said to him, “Lord, let me go and bury my father first.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”

Reflection:

Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.

To bury one’s father was one of the sacred duties of a son. When Jesus says, “let the dead bury the dead” he is using a hyperbole to express the urgency of proclaiming the Kingdom, a mission which supersedes all other responsibilities.

However, to follow Jesus everywhere meant homelessness, “the Son has nowhere to lay his head.” While not all are called to give up family, discipleship to Jesus requires an interior freedom to go wherever the Spirit bids. As one finds oneself uprooted and “homeless,” one finds a home in every family that welcomes the Gospel of Jesus.