CCC Cross Reference:
Gal 4:21-31 1972; Gal 4:26-28 723; Gal 4:26 757; Gal 5 1454; Gal 5:1 1741, 1748
Ps 113:1-2 2143
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Reading 1
Gal 4:22-24, 26-27, 31–5:1
Brothers and sisters:
It is written that Abraham had two sons,
one by the slave woman and the other by the freeborn woman.
The son of the slave woman was born naturally,
the son of the freeborn through a promise.
Now this is an allegory.
These women represent two covenants.
One was from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery;
this is Hagar.
But the Jerusalem above is freeborn, and she is our mother.
For it is written:
Rejoice, you barren one who bore no children;
break forth and shout, you who were not in labor;
for more numerous are the children of the deserted one
than of her who has a husband.
Therefore, brothers and sisters,
we are children not of the slave woman
but of the freeborn woman.
For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm
and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5a and 6-7
R. (see 2) Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
or:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
or:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
or:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Who is like the LORD, our God,
who looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
or:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Lk 11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Galatians 4:22 - 5:1
The Law says, if you remember, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl, and one by his free-born wife. The child of the slave-girl was born in the ordinary way; the child of the free woman was born as the result of a promise. This can be regarded as an allegory: the women stand for the two covenants. The first who comes from Mount Sinai, and whose children are slaves, is Hagar – The Jerusalem above, however, is free and is our mother, since scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren women who bore no children! Break into shouts of joy and gladness, you who were never in labour. For there are more sons of the forsaken one than sons of the wedded wife. So, my brothers, we are the children, not of the slave-girl, but of the free-born wife.
When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 112(113):1-7
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!
High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?
From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 11:29 – 32
The crowds got even bigger and Jesus addressed them, ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgment day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgment day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’
Readings and Commentary from Navarre
Monday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1
The Two Covenants: Hagar and Sarah
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[22] For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. [23] But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. [24] Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. [26] But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. [27] For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one that dost not bear; break forth and shout, thou who art not in travail; for the desolate hath more children than she who hath a husband." [31] So, brethren, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Christian Liberty
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[1] For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
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Commentary:
21-31. The entire Old Testament narrative contains lessons for Christians. The Apostle says as much when he declares that these things have a symbolic meaning and "were written down for your instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Cor 10:11). However, certain episodes and people have particular significance, and this passage cites one (cf. Gen chaps. 16, 17 and 21). Abraham had been given a promise by God that he would have a son (Gen 15:4) by his wife Sarah (cf. Gen 17:19). However, both of them were quite old, and Sarah, besides, was barren; so, in keeping with the ancestral customs of the tribe, Sarah made Abraham take Hagar, her slave-girl, and Hagar had a son, Ishmael. However, God told Abraham that this son was not the son of the promise (cf. Gen 17:19). The promise was fulfilled sometime later when, through a miracle of God, Sarah gave birth to a son. St Paul speaks to us about the allegorical meaning of this episode: two women -- Sarah, Abraham's wife and the mother of Isaac, and Hagar, her slave and the mother of Ishmael -- stand for two stages in Salvation History. Hagar symbolizes the stage of the Old Covenant made on Mount Sinai, while Sarah represents the New Covenant sealed forever by the blood of Christ, the covenant which frees us from the yoke of the Law and from sin.
Paul's conclusion from this is that Christians are brothers of Isaac, born of the free woman, and therefore they are heirs of the promise made to Abraham and his descendants.
24-26. The sacred writer wants to stress that if one continues to be subject to the Mosaic Law it is equivalent to remaining a slave, to being a son of Hagar. People in that position constitute the present Jerusalem who is "in slavery with her children". Against this there is the heavenly Jerusalem, a metaphor also used in the Apocalypse to describe the Church triumphant in glory (cf. Rev 21: 2, 10). This metaphor also conveys the idea of the transcendent, supernatural character of the Church.
Undoubtedly St Paul's Jewish contemporaries would have regarded this comparison of Jerusalem with Hagar as virtually blasphemous. However, we do know that the rabbis of his time did make a distinction between the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem, the former being only a pale shadow of the latter. The Apostle uses these teachings, which can be deduced from Sacred Scripture, to explain that those who believe in Christ are the true descendants -- spiritual descendants -- of the lawful wife, Sarah, who prefigures the heavenly Jerusalem; whereas those who do not believe in Christ, although they belong racially to the people of Israel, are no longer true descendants of the lawful wife, but rather are children of Hagar.
St Paul then makes a play on words, in typical rabbinical style: since Hagar is one of the names of the mountainous region of Sinai, to which, according to the geographical notions of the time, Mount Sion also belongs (Sion being the hill on which Jerusalem is built), this earthly Jerusalem is connected with Hagar, the slave, to whom the divine promise was not made. This whole passage, while we may find it very odd, does reveal St Paul's earlier training as a rabbi, a training which divine Providence uses to show us the inner meaning of one of the most important episodes in Old Testament history.
1-3. The Law of Moses, which was divinely revealed, was something good; it suited the circumstances of the time. Christ came to bring this Law to perfection (cf. notes on Mt 5:17-19 and Gal 5:14-15). All the elaborate legal and ritual prescriptions in the Mosaic Law were laid down by God for a specific stage in Salvation History, that is, the stage which ended with the coming of Christ. Christians are under no obligation to follow the letter of that Law (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologiae", I-II, q. 108, a.3 ad 3).
Although in this letter to the Galatians the Apostle is emphasizing, as we have seen, freedom from the Law of Moses, obviously this liberation cannot be entirely disconnected from freedom in general. If someone submits to circumcision after being baptized, it amounts to subjecting oneself to a series of practices which have now no value and to depriving oneself of the fruits of Christ's Redemption. In other words, subjection to the Law brings with it a loss of freedom in general. Paul is using the full might of his apostolic authority when he says, "If you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you." Christ's Redemption alone is effective; it has no need of the rites of the Old Testament.
From: Luke 11:29-32
The Sign of Jonah
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[29] When the crowds were increasing, He (Jesus) began to say, "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. [30] For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.[31] The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. [32] The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here."
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Commentary:
29-32. Jonah was the prophet who led the Ninevites to do penance: his actions and preaching they saw as signifying that God had sent him (cf. note on Matthew 12:41-42).
[The note on Matthew 12:41-42 states:
41-42. Nineveh was a city in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) to which the prophet Jonah was sent. The Ninevites did penance (John 3:6-9) because they recognized the prophet and accepted his message; whereas Jerusalem does not wish to recognize Jesus, of whom Jonah was merely a figure. The queen of the South was the queen of Sheba in southwestern Arabia, who visited Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-10) and was in awe of the wisdom with which God had endowed the King of Israel. Jesus is also prefigured in Solomon, whom Jewish tradition saw as the epitome of the wise man. Jesus' reproach is accentuated by the example of pagan converts, and gives us a glimpse of the universal scope of Christianity, which will take root among the Gentiles.
There is a certain irony in what Jesus says about "something greater" than Jonah or Solomon having come: really, He is infinitely greater, but Jesus prefers to tone down the difference between Himself and any figure, no matter how important, in the Old Testament.]
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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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