CCC Cross Reference:
Tb 3:11-16 2585
Mk 12:24 993; Mk 12:25 1619; Mk 12:27 993
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Reading 1
Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17a
Grief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud.
Then with sobs I began to pray:
“You are righteous, O Lord,
and all your deeds are just;
All your ways are mercy and truth;
you are the judge of the world.
And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me,
and look with favor upon me.
Punish me not for my sins,
nor for my inadvertent offenses,
nor for those of my ancestors.
“We sinned against you,
and disobeyed your commandments.
So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death,
till you made us the talk and reproach of all the nations
among whom you had dispersed us.
“Yes, your judgments are many and true
in dealing with me as my sins
and those of my ancestors deserve.
For we have not kept your commandments,
nor have we trodden the paths of truth before you.
“So now, deal with me as you please,
and command my life breath to be taken from me,
that I may go from the face of the earth into dust.
It is better for me to die than to live,
because I have heard insulting calumnies,
and I am overwhelmed with grief.
“Lord, command me to be delivered from such anguish;
let me go to the everlasting abode;
Lord, refuse me not.
For it is better for me to die
than to endure so much misery in life,
and to hear these insults!”
On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media,
it so happened that Raguel’s daughter Sarah
also had to listen to abuse,
from one of her father’s maids.
For she had been married to seven husbands,
but the wicked demon Asmodeus killed them off
before they could have intercourse with her,
as it is prescribed for wives.
So the maid said to her:
“You are the one who strangles your husbands!
Look at you!
You have already been married seven times,
but you have had no joy with any one of your husbands.
Why do you beat us? Is it on account of your seven husbands,
Because they are dead?
May we never see a son or daughter of yours!”
The girl was deeply saddened that day,
and she went into an upper chamber of her house,
where she planned to hang herself.
But she reconsidered, saying to herself:
“No! People would level this insult against my father:
‘You had only one beloved daughter,
but she hanged herself because of ill fortune!’
And thus would I cause my father in his old age
to go down to the nether world laden with sorrow.
It is far better for me not to hang myself,
but to beg the Lord to have me die,
so that I need no longer live to hear such insults.”
At that time, then, she spread out her hands,
and facing the window, poured out her prayer:
“Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God,
and blessed is your holy and honorable name.
Blessed are you in all your works for ever!”
At that very time,
the prayer of these two suppliants
was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.
So Raphael was sent to heal them both:
to remove the cataracts from Tobit’s eyes,
so that he might again see God’s sunlight;
and to marry Raguel’s daughter Sarah to Tobit’s son Tobiah,
and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 25:2-3, 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
R. (1) To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
In you I trust; let me not be put to shame,
let not my enemies exult over me.
No one who waits for you shall be put to shame;
those shall be put to shame who heedlessly break faith.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Gospel
Mk 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.’
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Tobias 3:1 – 17
Then, sad at heart, I, Tobit, sighed and wept, and began this prayer of lamentation:
‘You are just, O Lord,
and just are all your works.
All your ways are grace and truth,
and you are the Judge of the world.
‘Therefore, Lord, remember me, look on me.
Do not punish me for my sins
or for my heedless faults
or for those of my fathers.
‘For we have sinned against you
and broken your commandments;
and you have given us over to be plundered,
to captivity and death,
to be the talk, the laughing-stock and scorn
of all the nations among whom you have dispersed us.
‘Whereas all your decrees are true
when you deal with me as my faults deserve,
and those of my fathers,
since we have neither kept your commandments
nor walked in truth before you;
so now, do with me as you will;
be pleased to take my life from me;
I desire to be delivered from earth
and to become earth again.
For death is better for me than life.
I have been reviled without a cause
and I am distressed beyond measure.
‘Lord, I wait for the sentence you will give
to deliver me from this affliction.
Let me go away to my everlasting home;
do not turn your face from me, O Lord.
For it is better to die than still to live
in the face of trouble that knows no pity;
I am weary of hearing myself traduced.’
It chanced on the same day that Sarah the daughter of Raguel, who lived in Media at Ecbatana, also heard insults from one of her father’s maids. You must know that she had been given in marriage seven times, and that Asmodeus, that worst of demons, had killed her bridegrooms one after another before ever they had slept with her as man with wife. The servant-girl said, ‘Yes, you kill your bridegrooms yourself. That makes seven already to whom you have been given, and you have not once been in luck yet. Just because your bridegrooms have died, that is no reason for punishing us. Go and join them, and may we be spared the sight of any child of yours!’ That day, she grieved, she sobbed, and went up to her father’s room intending to hang herself. But then she thought, ‘Suppose they blamed my father! They will say, “You had an only daughter whom you loved, and now she has hanged herself for grief”. I cannot cause my father a sorrow which would bring down his old age to the dwelling of the dead. I should do better not to hang myself, but to beg the Lord to let me die and not live to hear any more insults.’ And at this, by the window with outstretched arms she said this prayer:
‘You are blessed, O God of mercy!
May your name be blessed for ever,
and may all things you have made
bless you everlastingly.’
This time the prayer of each of them found favor before the glory of God, and Raphael was sent to bring remedy to them both. He was to take the white spots from the eyes of Tobit, so that he might see God’s light with his own eyes; and he was to give Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, as bride to Tobias son of Tobit, and to rid her of Asmodeus, that worst of demons. For it was to Tobias before all other suitors that she belonged by right. Tobit was coming back from the courtyard into the house at the same moment as Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was coming down from the upper room.
Psalm: Psalm 24(25):2-9
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
I trust you, let me not be disappointed;
do not let my enemies triumph.
Those who hope in you shall not be disappointed,
but only those who wantonly break faith.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
In you I hope all day long
because of your goodness, O Lord.
Remember your mercy, Lord,
and the love you have shown from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth.
In your love remember me.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
He guides the humble in the right path,
He teaches his way to the poor.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Gospel Mark 12:18 – 27
Then some Sadducees – who deny that there is a resurrection – came to him and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a wife and then died leaving no children. The second married the widow, and he too died leaving no children; with the third it was the same, and none of the seven left any children. Last of all the woman herself died. Now at the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be, since she had been married to all seven?’
Jesus said to them, ‘Is not the reason why you go wrong, that you understand neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising again, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the Bush, how God spoke to him and said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is God, not of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Wednesday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Tobit 3:1-11a, 16-17a
Tobit's Prayer in Nineveh
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[1] Then in my grief I wept, and I prayed in anguish, saying, [2] "Righteous are thou, O Lord; all thy deeds and all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou dost render true and righteous judgment for ever. [3] Remember me and look favorably upon me; do not punish me for my sins and for my unwitting offenses and those which my fathers committed before thee. [4] For they disobeyed thy command- ments, and thou gavest us over to plunder, captivity, and death; thou madest us a byword of reproach in all the nations among which we have been dispersed. [5] And now thy many judgments are true in exacting penalty from me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we did not keep thy commandments. For we did not walk in truth before thee. [6] And now deal with me according to thy pleasure; command my spirit to be taken up, that I may depart and become dust. For it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false reproaches,and great is the sorrow within me. Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn thy face away from me."
Sarah's Misfortune
---------------------------
[7] On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happend that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was reproached by her father's maids, [8] because she had been given to seven husbands, and the evil demon Asmodeus had slain each of them before he had been with her as his wife. So the maids said to her, "Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You already have had seven and have had no benefit from any of them. [9] Why do you beat us? If they are dead, go with them! May we never see a son or daughter of yours!"
[10] When she heard these things she was deeply grieved, even to the thought of hanging herself. But she said, "I am the only child of my father, if I do this, it will be a disgrace to him, and I shall bring his old age down in sorrow to the grave.
Sarah's Prayer in Media
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[11a] So she prayed by her window and said, "Blessed art thou, Lord my God, and blessed is thy holy and honored name forever.
The Prayers of Tobit and Sarah are Heard
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[16] The prayer of both was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God. [17a] And Raphael was sent to heal the two of them: to scale away the white films of Tobit's eyes; to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel in marriage to Tobias the son of Tobit, and to bind Asmodeus the evil demon.
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Commentary:
3:1-6. Tobit does not reply to his wife's criticism; instead he entreats God in language reminiscent of the Psalms--but whereas the Psalms always pray for health and salvation, Tobit ends up praying for death. In this he is like Job (cf. Job 3:20- 23), although Tobit acknowledges that God is right to punish him for his sins and those of his fathers, for which he feels responsible.
From the Greek text (where the RSV follows) one cannot deduce that Tobit envisages eternal life as a place of repose and joy in the presence of God; he sees it a place where the dead will dwell for all eternity. But the Latin version of the Vulgate implies that Tobit looks forward to being with the Lord. In any event, Tobit puts his trust in God, which means he can desire death, in the same sort of way that "the Christian can experience a desire for death like St Paul's: 'My desire is to depart and be with Christ' (Phil 1:23). He can transform his own death into an act of obedience and love towards the Father, after the example of Christ" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1011).
3:7-10. The narrator now takes over again (cf. 1:1-2), to introduce another Jewish family in exile which also finds itself in great difficulty. Tobit's and Sarah's are two stories in parallel butt pointing out that their prayers are spoken on the same day, the writer makes it clear that they meet in God.
Sarah's goodness can be seen from the fact that she is obedient to her father and is worried on his account (v. 10). The demon's name, Asmodeus (v. 8), is reminiscent of "Aeshma Deva", one of the seven evil spirits the Persians believed in, but it may also come from a Hebrew word ("smd") which means "to destroy, to annihilate". Asmodeus is the demon who destroys Sarah's husbands.
The text does not say that the demon was infatuated with Sarah, as some have interpreted; what he seems to want is to drive her to despair, as happened in the case of Job. In fact Sarah is on the edge of committing the grave sin of suicide, but her love for her father holds her back. To avoid tainting Sarah with the thought of suicide, the Vulgate says that "she went into an upper chamber of her house: and for three days and three nights did neither eat nor drink: but continuing in prayer with tears besought God, that he would deliver her from this reproach."
Suicide very rarely appears in the Bible (cf. 2 Sam 17:23), and Scripture makes no moral judgment on it; but from the fifth commandment (cf. Ex 20:15; Deut 5: 17) one can deduce that it is condemned: "Suicide contradicts the natural incli- nation of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 2281).
3:11-15. The gesture of praying at the window with arms outstretched probably means that she was holding them towards Jerusalem, as any good Jew should do when praying (cf. Dan 6:10). Sarah's prayer begins with praise of God and then she immediately goes on to pray for death (v. 10). She explains her predicament to God: she is innocent (vv. 14-15) and yet she is being condemned to have no heirs--and, according to Jewish thinking at the time, life holds no meaning for someone in that situation; even her maidservants jeer at her. But Sarah leaves it up to God to sort things out; to her, death seems the only solution (v. 15). God can indeed come to our aid in unexpected ways, for "Providence is the care God provides for everything that exists. [...] Moreover, divine providence has countless ways of working: so many, that they can not be accounted for in words or comprehended by the mind. It cannot be denied that all the calamities that befall men work for the salvation those who endure them giving thanks and thus win great reward for themselves. For God, according to his will that informs all things, desires that all be saved and come to be members his kingdom (cf. 1 Tim 2:4): he has not created us in order to punish us, but rather, being good, he wants us partake of his goodness" (St John Damascene, "Expositio Fidei Orthodoxae", 2, 29).
3:16-17. Two things are stressed: God listens to prayers when they come from the heart; and he responds with mercy, wisdom and providence in ways that exceed man's expectations. Now, by one and the same action (the dispatch of the angel Raphael) he comes to the rescue of Sarah and Tobit. The angel's name, meaning "God has cured" or "God's medicine", indicates the remedy God is going to provide: in a way it reveals the final outcome of the story.
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From: Mark 12:18-27
The Resurrection of the Dead
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[18] And Sadducees came to Him (Jesus), who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked Him a question, saying [19] "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother. [20] There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children; [21] and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; [22] and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died. [23] In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."
[24] Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? [25] For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven. [26] And as for being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? [27] He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."
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Commentary:
18-27. Before answering the difficulty proposed by the Sadducees, Jesus wants to identify the source of the problem--man's tendency to confine the greatness of God inside a human framework through excessive reliance on reason, not giving due weight to divine Revelation and the power of God. A person can have difficulty with the truths of faith; this is not surprising, for these truths are above human reason. But it is ridiculous to try to find contradictions in the revealed word of God; this only leads away from any solution of difficulty and may make it impossible to find one's way back to God. We need to approach Sacred Scripture, and, in general, the things of God, with the humility which faith demands. In the passage about the burning bush, which Jesus quotes to the Sadducees, God says this to Moses: "Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).
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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. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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