1 June 2024 – Saturday of Week 8

1 June 2024 – Saturday of Week 8

Memorial: St Justin, martyred c 165, born in the holy Land and settled in Rome, remembered for his defence of Christian belief and practice.

1st Reading: Epistle of Jude, verses 17; 20-25

Persevere in God’s love, and welcome the mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ

My beloved, you must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. But build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Responsorial: Psalm 63

R./: My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God

O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water. (R./)

Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you. (R./)

Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you. (R./)

Gospel: Mark 11:27-33

Jesus will explain his authority if others will state their judgment on John’s ministry

Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” – they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Willing to be honest

God requires honesty in us, in order to properly relate to Him.Dishonesty sets up a more formidable barrier to God’s presence with us than many of our more identifiable sins. These can be forgiven by God’s great mercy, but only if we are honest enough to admit that we have sins to be forgiven. Jude deals with this kind of honesty, when he writes: “Correct those who are confused; the others you must rescue, snatching them from the fire.”

Jesus makes a similar demand, when religious leaders feel that their monopoly of truth and holiness dispenses them from being honest and above board. To protect their status they permit themselves to lie or to be devious. In the early church, some people felt so spiritually sanctified that they could ignore normal discipline in their lives, particularly in acts such as eating or physical expressions of love. They were not honest enough to admit the integral unity between body and soul, physical and spiritual.

By what authority?

Jesus was required to offer some justification for his startling act of clearing the merchants out of the temple. It was a daring and dangerous thing to do, without permission from the temple authorities. He had no official right to regulate things in the temple, so their complaint is perfectly understandable, “What authority have you for acting like this?”

This episode happened towards the end of Jesus’ ministry. At the start of his ministry, according to Mark, the general public were impressed by the moral authority with which Jesus spoke and acted. Far from contesting his claim to authority, as the leaders did, they accepted it as genuine. They kept asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching, with authority.”

Christians believe that Jesus spoke and acted with the authority of God. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, it was a true and liberating authority. We all need empowerment of some sort to live with nobility and purpose. The real issue is where to seek that empowerment. Faith assures us that Jesus has the authentic authority of God, enabling us to be fully human and fully alive.