Monday 18th January 2021
2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Heb. 5:1-10; Ps. 110(109): 1,2,3,4; Mk. 2:18-22 (Ps Wk II)
The first half of today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews is a simple description of role of the High Priest, which all Jewish readers of the Letter would certainly have been familiar with. The second half applies this description of “High Priest” to Jesus, apparently with specific reference to his Passion. Indeed this section of the Letter almost reads like a meditation on the Passion narrative of the Gospels, especially the account of Jesus' agony in the garden, for it is there that we can most obviously see or imagine Jesus offering “prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to God, who was able to save him from death”.
It was there in the garden that Jesus felt the urge to pray that his Father would take the chalice of death from him so that he would not have to drink it. Then he offered himself to the Father in total obedience and acceptance: “Not my will but yours be done”. Thus, the author of Hebrews chooses to focus on Jesus’ obedience, “obedience unto death, even death on a cross” as Paul describes it in Philippians 2:8.
Father in heaven, teach us obedience so that Your will may be done in our lives as it is in heaven.
Midway to our celebration of the Cross and Easter, we reflect on how we are like the animals, tables and vendors in the temple, interfering with others\' finding the Lord. As individuals and as a community, we must repent. But we are called to more than guilt feelings.
