20 February, 2020. Thursday of Week 6

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1st Reading: James 2:1-9

Show no favouritism, but love your neighbour as yourself

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Responsorial: Psalm 33:2-7

Response: The Lord hears the cry of the poor

I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
The poor have called; the Lord heard them
and rescued him from all their distress.

Gospel: Mark 8:27-33

Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah; then he is reprimanded

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
BIBLE
May your words, O Lord be on my lips and in my heart. May they guide me on life’s journey and keep me near to you.

Everyone’s the same in the good Lord’s sight

None of us can look at a cross without remembering the passion of Jesus, his sacrificial death for the salvation of people everywhere. His cross is prominent in our churches as the sign of victory over sin and despair, and the pledge of our future life as the family of God.
Saint James wants us to learn an important message from the cross of Christ.. Our faith should have no place for partiality, snobbery or elitism. We are not to judge people’s worth by their wealth or race, their class or social prestige. Standards like that are corrupt estimates, arising from the unequal world of privelege and poverty. Under the sign of the cross each individual is valued as a human being, created in the divine likeness and loved by God the Father of us all.
James hits out against all servile deference and class distinction. He will not have us show special regard to rich, fashionably dressed people, while despising others who are shabbily dressed. In the eyes of God we are equallly needy, naked and beautiful. Like Jesus, James is staunchly egalitarian, urging goodness and respect for all others, regardless of rank.
His egalitatian ideal is based on the maxim: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” which Jesus called the second commandment and is repeated by Paul in Romans (13:9). This ideal is hard to put into practice, just as is the call to carry the cross with Jesus. Little wonder that Peter protested against the need for the cross, until Jesus sternly told him, “Out of my sight, you Satan! You are not judging by God’s standards but by human standards.” We can examine our own hearts to see by what standards we judge other people.
With so much dissension and racism in our world today, it’s clear that not all are yet willing to believe that “Everyone’s the same in the good Lord’s sight.” But as followers of Jesus, we are strongly invited not only to believe in that maxim, but to act upon it.

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