FIRST READING
2nd Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy 3:10-17
You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 119:157, 160, 161, 165, 166, 168
R. (165a) O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
Though my persecutors and my foes are many, I turn not away from your decrees.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
Permanence is your word’s chief trait; each of your just ordinances is everlasting.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
Princes persecute me without cause but my heart stands in awe of your word.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
Those who love your law have great peace, and for them there is no stumbling block.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
I wait for your salvation, O LORD, and your commands I fulfill.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
I keep your precepts and your decrees, for all my ways are before you.
R. O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.
ALLELUIA
John 14:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL
Mark 12:35-37
As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight.
REFLECTIONS:
What kind of ruler does the world need today? Who
can establish true peace and justice? When the people of Israel settled
into the promised land, they wanted a king to unite and rule them like
the other nations around them. Their first king, Saul, failed to establish
a dynasty. But when David was annointed king God established a covenant
with him and promised that his dynasty would last forever. Among the Jews
the most common title for the Messiah (the Hebrew word for
Christ
or the Anointed One) was the Son of David. The Jews looked
forward to the long-expected Savior who would come from the line of David.
Jesus was often addressed with that title, especially by the crowds (Mark
10:47ff, Matthew 9:27; 12:23).
Why did Jesus question the Jews on the claim that their Messiah or Christ
would be the son of David? After all the New Testament makes clear that
Jesus himself is a direct descendant from the line of David's throne (Romans
1:3, 2 Timothy 2:8, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38). Jesus posed the question
to make his hearers understand that the Messiah is more than the son of
David. Jesus makes his point in dramatic fashion by quoting from one of
David's prophetic psalms, Psalm 110: The
Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I put your enemies under
your feet. How can the son be the lord of his father? Jesus,
who took upon himself our human nature for our sake, is not only the son
of David, he is first and foremost the Son of God eternally begotten of
the Father. The Messiah King whom God promised to send would not only come
from David's line, but would be greater than any earthy ruler who came
before or would come after. Jesus claimed a sovereignty that only God can
claim a sovereignty that extends not only to the ends of the earth but
to the heavens as well. But the way Jesus would establish his kingdom was
far different from any of the expectations of the tiny nation of Israel.
Jesus came to rule hearts and minds, not lands and entitlements. He came
to free people from the worst tyranny possible slavery to sin, Satan,
and a world ruled by greed and lust for power and wealth.
Paul the Apostle states that no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except
by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). It is the role of the Holy
Spirit to make the Lord Jesus present and known in our lives. We can accept
the Lord Jesus or reject him, love him or ignore him. He will not force
his rule upon us. But the consequences of our choice will not only shape
our present life but our destiny as well. What does it mean to acknowledge
that Jesus is Lord? The word lord
means style="font-style: italic;">ruler or style="font-style: italic;">king
the one who is owed fealty and submission. The Lord and Master of our
lives is the person or thing we give our lives over to and submit to in
a full way. We can be ruled by many things our possessions, the love
of money, our unruly passions, alcohol, drugs, and other forms of addictions.
Only one Lord and Master can truly set us free to love and serve others
selflessly and to be loved as God intended from the beginning. When we
acknowledge that Jesus is Lord we invite him to be the king of our heart,
master of our home, our thoughts, our relationships, and everything we
do. Is the Lord Jesus the true king and master of your heart and do you
give him free reign in every area of your life?
"Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of David and "Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of David and
the Son of God. You are my Lord and I willingly submit myself to
your rule in my life. Be Lord and King of my life, my thoughts, heart,
home, relationships, work, and all that I do."
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