The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to expand our understanding of family to include all humanity who share the image of God with us.
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All.
* [10:1–10] Christian faith now realizes that the Old Testament sacrifices did not effect the spiritual benefits to come but only prefigured them (Heb 10:1). For if the sacrifices had actually effected the forgiveness of sin, there would have been no reason for their constant repetition (Heb 10:2). They were rather a continual reminder of the people’s sins (Heb 10:3). It is not reasonable to suppose that human sins could be removed by the blood of animal sacrifices (Heb 10:4). Christ, therefore, is here shown to understand his mission in terms of Ps 40:5–7, cited according to the Septuagint (Heb 10:5–7). Jesus acknowledged that the Old Testament sacrifices did not remit the sins of the people and so, perceiving the will of God, offered his own body for this purpose (Heb 10:8–10).
* [10:1] A shadow of the good things to come: the term shadow was used in Heb 8:5 to signify the earthly counterpart of the Platonic heavenly reality. But here it means a prefiguration of what is to come in Christ, as it is used in the Pauline literature; cf. Col 2:17.
* [10:5–7] A passage from Ps 40:7–9 is placed in the mouth of the Son at his incarnation. As usual, the author follows the Septuagint text. There is a notable difference in Heb 10:5 (Ps 40:6), where the Masoretic text reads “ears you have dug for me” (“ears open to obedience you gave me,” NAB), but most Septuagint manuscripts have “a body you prepared for me,” a reading obviously more suited to the interpretation of Hebrews.
* [10:8] Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings: these four terms taken from the preceding passage of Ps 40 (with the first two changed to plural forms) are probably intended as equivalents to the four principal types of Old Testament sacrifices: peace offerings (Lv 3, here called sacrifices); cereal offerings (Lv 2, here called offerings); holocausts (Lv 1); and sin offerings (Lv 4–5). This last category includes the guilt offerings of Lv 5:14–19. (Hebrews, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 40 is a Thanksgiving for Deliverance and Prayer for Help
* [Psalm 40] A thanksgiving (Ps 40:2–13) has been combined with a lament (Ps 40:14–17) that appears also in Ps 70. The psalmist describes the rescue in spatial terms—being raised up from the swampy underworld to firm earth where one can praise God (Ps 40:2–4). All who trust God will experience like protection (Ps 40:5–6)! The Psalm stipulates the precise mode of thanksgiving: not animal sacrifice but open and enthusiastic proclamation of the salvation just experienced (Ps 40:7–11). A prayer for protection concludes (Ps 40:12–17). (Psalms, PSALM 40 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus thanks His Father and identifies His True Kindred and His Family.
* [3:32] Your brothers: see note on Mk 6:3. (Mark, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)
Nancy Shirley shares about families because the gospel directs us that even this most precious family that we hold so dear is secondary to the family that Jesus offers us. That family reaches beyond genetics and legal bonds to those sharing one Father.
We are reminded that we are all united in Christ and that Christ reaches well beyond his “earthly family” to all of us. When I first read this passage, I was taken aback that Jesus was ignoring his family, then I realized the greater good, the greater Love that encompassed so many. With Jesus, our Family is extensive, the losses minimized as we realize the finite experience here on Earth is but a fraction of eternal life with our Father. It is difficult for me to truly fathom the concept of forever and to fully comprehend what true peace and everlasting love will feel like but the love and shelter of my earthly family is a beginning. (Shirley, 2025)
Don Schwager quotes “The cross of Christ as victory,” by Augustine of Hippo, 430-543 A.D.
"[Mary] did the Father's will. It was this in her that the Lord magnified, not merely that her flesh gave birth to flesh... When he said, 'Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it' (Luke 11:28), he was in effect saying: 'My mother whom you have called blessed is blessed for the reason that she keeps the Word of God, not that the Word was made flesh in her and dwelt among us (John 1:14), but that she keeps the very Word of God through which she was made and which was made flesh in her." (excerpt from TRACTATE ON JOHN 10.3.2) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Hebrews 10:1-10 comments that today’s first reading contains a simple three-word phrase that may seem just as tiny and plain on the outside but is filled with countless treasures on the inside: “Behold, I come” (Hebrews 10:7).
Behold, I come. Let Jesus’ words resound in your heart today. Let him come to you, again and again. There are so many more rooms in his “little house” for you to explore!
“Jesus, thank you for coming into the world. And thank you for coming into my heart!” (Meditation on Hebrews 10:1-10, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that the customs and shrines of the Hebrew Testament described in Hebrews were a foreshadowing of the forgiveness of the Blood of the Lamb in Jesus through which we are forgiven for all time. The Sacrament of Confession is a physical experience that allows the words “You are forgiven” to be truly heard. Friar Jude notes that the Gospel of Mark is not always easy to follow and understand. Consider that the family of Jesus expected a Messiah that would be a conquering hero and Jesus' witness required a leap of faith.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces disability rights activist and author Amy Kenny who challenges the implications of Jesus’ healing of “the blind man” in John 9. Today, we typically think of illness (and sometimes disability) as biological, with Western medicine set up to find and cure disease directly…. Folks in Jesus’s day thought about healing in much broader terms. They talked about healing as restoring relationships and integrating someone back into social and religious systems.
To assume that my disability needs to be erased in order for me to live an abundant life is disturbing not only because of what it says about me but also because of what it reveals about people’s notions of God. I bear the image of the Alpha and the Omega. My disabled body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. I have the mind of Christ…. I don’t have a junior holy spirit because I am disabled. To suggest that I am anything less than sanctified and redeemed is to suppress the image of God in my disabled body and to limit how God is already at work through my life. Maybe we need to be freed not from disability but from the notion that it limits my ability to showcase God’s radiance to the church. (Rohr, n.d.)
We ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten our understanding and practice of loving care for our brothers and sisters of all families in the world.
References
Hebrews, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 28, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/10?1
Mark, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 28, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/3?31
Meditation on Hebrews 10:1-10. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 28, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/01/28/1188983/
Psalms, PSALM 40 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 28, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/40?2
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Healing Beyond the Cure. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 28, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/healing-beyond-the-cure/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Whoever Does the Will of God Is My Brother and Sister. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 28, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jan28
Shirley, N. (2025, January 27). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Retrieved January 28, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/012825.html
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