From: Mark 8:11-13
The Leaven of the Pharisees
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Commentary:
11-12. Jesus expresses the deep sadness He feels at the hardheartedness of
the Pharisees: they remain blind and unbelieving despite the light shining around
them and the wonderful things Christ is doing. If someone rejects the miracles
God has offered him, it is useless for him to demand new signs, because he asks
for them not because he is sincerely seeking the truth but out of ill will: he is try-
ing to tempt God (cf. Luke 16:27-31). Requiring new miracles before one will be-
lieve, not accepting those already performed in the history of salvation, amounts
to asking God to account for Himself before a human tribunal (cf. Romans 2:1-11).
Unfortunately, many people do act like this. But God can only be found if we have
an open and humble attitude to Him. “I have no need of miracles: there are more
than enough for me in the Gospel. But I do need to see you fulfilling your duty
and responding to grace” (St J. Escriva, “The Way”, 362).
12. The generation to which Jesus refers does not include all the people of His
time, but only the Pharisees and their followers (cf. Mark 8:38; 9:19; Matthew
11:16), who do not want to see in Jesus’ miracles the sign and guarantee of His
messianic mission and dignity: they even attribute His miracles to Satan (Mat-
thew 12:28).
If they do not accept the signs offered to them, they will be given no other sign
of the spectacular kind they seek, for the Kingdom of God does not come noisily
(Luke 17:20-21) and even if it did they in their twisted way would manage to mis-
interpret the event (Luke 16:31). According to Matthew 12:38-42 and Luke 11:29-
32, they are offered yet another sign—the miracle of Jonah, the sign of the death
and resurrection of Christ; but not even this remarkable proof will lead the Phari-
sees to shed their pride.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
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First reading |
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Genesis 4:1-15,25 © |
The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. ‘I have acquired a man with the help of the Lord’ she said. She gave birth to a second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering for the Lord, while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering. But he did not look with favour on Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast. The Lord asked Cain, ‘Why are you angry and downcast? If you are well disposed, ought you not to lift up your head? But if you are ill disposed, is not sin at the door like a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?’ Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out’; and while they were in the open country, Cain set on his brother Abel and killed him.
The Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I do not know’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s guardian?’ ‘What have you done?’ the Lord asked. ‘Listen to the sound of your brother’s blood, crying out to me from the ground. Now be accursed and driven from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hands. When you till the ground it shall no longer yield you any of its produce. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth.’ Then Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. See! Today you drive me from this ground. I must hide from you, and be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth. Why, whoever comes across me will kill me!’ ‘Very well, then,’ the Lord replied ‘if anyone kills Cain, sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for him.’ So the Lord put a mark on Cain, to prevent whoever might come across him from striking him down.
Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth, ‘because God has granted me other offspring’ she said ‘in place of Abel, since Cain has killed him.’
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Psalm |
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Psalm 49:1,8,16-17,20-21 © |
Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
The God of gods, the Lord,
has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
‘I find no fault with your sacrifices,
your offerings are always before me.’
Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
‘But how can you recite my commandments
and take my covenant on your lips,
you who despise my law
and throw my words to the winds?
Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
‘You who sit and malign your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
You do this, and should I keep silence?
Do you think that I am like you?’
Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
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Gospel Acclamation |
Ps94:8 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Or |
Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel |
Mark 8:11-13 © |
The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with Jesus; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to test him. And with a sigh that came straight from the heart he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no sign shall be given to this generation.’ And leaving them again and re-embarking, he went away to the opposite shore.