The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the choices we make that are based on our arrogance about the superiority of our way of thinking and acting.
harden not your hearts
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews is a warning against unbelief.
* [3:7–4:13] The author appeals for steadfastness of faith in Jesus, basing his warning on the experience of Israel during the Exodus. In the Old Testament the Exodus had been invoked as a symbol of the return of Israel from the Babylonian exile (Is 42:9; 43:16–21; 51:9–11). In the New Testament the redemption was similarly understood as a new exodus, both in the experience of Jesus himself (Lk 9:31) and in that of his followers (1 Cor 10:1–4). The author cites Ps 95:7–11, a salutary example of hardness of heart, as a warning against the danger of growing weary and giving up the journey. To call God living (Heb 3:12) means that he reveals himself in his works (cf. Jos 3:10; Jer 10:11). The rest (Heb 3:11) into which Israel was to enter was only a foreshadowing of that rest to which Christians are called. They are to remember the example of Israel’s revolt in the desert that cost a whole generation the loss of the promised land (Heb 3:15–19; cf. Nm 14:20–29)... The author attempts to read this meaning of God’s rest into Ps 95:7–11 (Heb 3:6–9). The Greek form of the name of Joshua, who led Israel into the promised land, is Jesus (Heb 3:8). The author plays upon the name but stresses the superiority of Jesus, who leads his followers into heavenly rest. Heb 3:12, 13 are meant as a continuation of the warning, for the word of God brings judgment as well as salvation. Some would capitalize the word of God and see it as a personal title of Jesus, comparable to that of Jn 1:1–18.1
Psalm 95 is a call to worship and obedience.
* [Psalm 95] Twice the Psalm calls the people to praise and worship God (Ps 95:1–2, 6), the king of all creatures (Ps 95:3–5) and shepherd of the flock (Ps 95:7a, 7b). The last strophe warns the people to be more faithful than were their ancestors in the journey to the promised land (Ps 95:7c–11). This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours.2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cleanses a leper who does not follow Jesus' subsequent advice.
* [1:40] A leper: for the various forms of skin disease, see Lv 13:1–50 and the note on Lv 13:2–4. There are only two instances in the Old Testament in which God is shown to have cured a leper (Nm 12:10–15; 2 Kgs 5:1–14). The law of Moses provided for the ritual purification of a leper. In curing the leper, Jesus assumes that the priests will reinstate the cured man into the religious community. See also note on Lk 5:14.3
Tamora Whitney comments that the leper heard his voice. He recognized that Jesus could change his life. Even though Jesus told him to go straight to the priest, the leper was so excited at his cure that he told everyone. He could now be among society again.
“Today is the day, and now the proper hour, to forsake our sinful lives and turn to the Lord.” Every day we should listen for his voice. “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”4
Peter Edmonds SJ celebrates the text of the Letter to the Hebrews as a 'fine sermon'.
We appreciate a good sermon. In our Sunday lectionary, we only have the opportunity to enjoy the highlights of the sermon that is the Letter to the Hebrews. One can debate how far the editors have selected the best parts by reading the whole for oneself. Certainly the texts provided can lead to a richer understanding of special days in the Church’s year, of the person of Christ who is ‘the same yesterday and today and forever’ (13:8), and of the way of Christian life, because here, ‘we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come’ (13:14). The person who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews remains unknown to us, but he asks for our prayers (13:18) and we in our turn ask for his.5
Don Schwager quotes “Why did Jesus touch the leper,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD).
And why did [Jesus] touch him, since the law forbade the touching of a leper? He touched him to show that 'all things are clean to the clean' (Titus 1:15). Because the filth that is in one person does not adhere to others, nor does external uncleanness defile the clean of heart. So he touches him in his untouchability, that he might instruct us in humility; that he might teach us that we should despise no one, or abhor them, or regard them as pitiable, because of some wound of their body or some blemish for which they might be called to render an account... So, stretching forth his hand to touch, the leprosy immediately departs. The hand of the Lord is found to have touched not a leper, but a body made clean! Let us consider here, beloved, if there be anyone here that has the taint of leprosy in his soul, or the contamination of guilt in his heart? If he has, instantly adoring God, let him say: 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.' (excerpt from FRAGMENTS ON MATTHEW 2.2-3)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Hebrews 3:7-14 comments that the Letter to the Hebrews gives refreshingly direct advice: “Encourage yourselves daily while it is still ‘today’” (3:13). As a warning to Jewish Christians tempted to grow weary of their discipleship or to be indifferent to Jesus, the author uses the example of the ancient Israelites. During their journey from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, they cried out against God in the desert (Numbers 14). Rather than encouraging each other to remember their destiny, they focused their attention on all the current hardships.
We may not be wandering in a desert like the Israelites or facing persecution like the early Christians, but we can certainly be tempted by indifference and procrastination. What we put off until tomorrow can reveal our priorities and the state of our hearts. We may need to get so many things done today that the things God wants of us—whether praying, going to Confession, or looking in on a neighbor—those can always wait for tomorrow. These upside-down priorities can be a sign that we need to choose for the Lord today.7
Friar Jude Winkler notes that the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 to underline that we have to turn to the Lord and avoid rebellion. We have to live with and like Jesus in our everyday life. Friar Jude suggests that as Mark received testimony from Peter about Jesus' life, he was not certain of the time frame of all of the events.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM comments that in this time of unveiling, new stories need to be told about everything from ecology and faith to money and power, and they need to be told from many different perspectives. Only as we contemplate and engage new paradigms and visions can we discern where and how God is calling us to act. Author and educator Michael Nagler shares his version of a new story based on his decades-long commitment to the practice of nonviolence. Fr. Richard notes that the currently prevailing story, that we live in a material, random universe, so that we, too, are primarily physical objects that need material things to be fulfilled, is really only as old as the Enlightenment.
Take, for example, the acute inequality that has polarized our society (and, to a lesser extent, societies in other lands). What drives it is greed. The same greed that drives some to profit from war and armaments—the greed that is a nearly ubiquitous source of suffering for the many (and even for the few who seem to benefit financially). Is not greed, in turn, a function of the belief that we are primarily physical entities in competition with others? . . . Greed is behind so many destructive processes; greed that’s reached unheard-of proportions today, creating an inequality that makes meaningful democracy impossible. But what is behind greed itself? It could not exist without the idea that a human being is material and separate from others, including the environment we live in.8
The hardness of heart that draws us off the best route for our journey may be softened by contemplation of Jesus' example of seeking healing for all in need.
References
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