Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

90C Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catechism Links
CCC 646, 994: in raising the dead Christ announces his own Resurrection
CCC 1681: Christian meaning of death associated with the Resurrection
CCC 2583: Elijah and the widow
CCC 2637: Christ frees creation from sin and death

CCC Cross Reference:
1 Kgs 17:7-24 2583
Gal 1:13 752; Gal 1:15-16 442; Gal 1:15 153; Gal 1:16 659; Gal 1:19 500; Gal 1:20 2154
Lk 7:11-17 994; Lk 7:16 1503

Back to SOW II '13
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Reading 1 1 Kgs 17:17-24

Elijah went to Zarephath of Sidon to the house of a widow.
The son of the mistress of the house fell sick,
and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing.
So she said to Elijah,
“Why have you done this to me, O man of God?
Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt
and to kill my son?”
Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.”
Taking him from her lap, he carried the son to the upper room
where he was staying, and put him on his bed.
Elijah called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying
by killing her son?”
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times
and called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
let the life breath return to the body of this child.”
The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah;
the life breath returned to the child’s body and he revived.
Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house
from the upper room and gave him to his mother.
Elijah said to her, “See! Your son is alive.”
The woman replied to Elijah,
“Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.
The word of the LORD comes truly from your mouth.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13

R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Reading 2 Gal 1:11-19

I want you to know, brothers and sisters,
that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin.
For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem
to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.

Gospel Lk 7:11-17
Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city,
a man who had died was being carried out,
the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming,
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst, ”
and “God has visited his people.”
This report about him spread through the whole of Judea
and in all the surrounding region.

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

 First reading    1 Kings 17:17-24

The son of the mistress of the house fell sick; his illness was so severe that in the end he had no breath left in him. And the woman said to Elijah, ‘What quarrel have you with me, man of God? Have you come here to bring my sins home to me and to kill my son?’ ‘Give me your son’ he said, and taking him from her lap, carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, do you mean to bring grief to the widow who is looking after me by killing her son?’ He stretched himself on the child three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, may the soul of this child, I beg you, come into him again!’ The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah and the soul of the child returned to him again and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. ‘Look,’ Elijah said ‘your son is alive.’ And the woman replied, ‘Now I know you are a man of God and the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth itself.’

Psalm:   Psalm 29:2,4-6,11-13

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me
  and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,
  restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,
  give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.
  At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

The Lord listened and had pity.
  The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into dancing:
  O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

Second reading    Galatians 1:11-19

The Good News I preached is not a human message that I was given by men, it is something I learnt only through a revelation of Jesus Christ. You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors.
  Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not stop to discuss this with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia at once and later went straight back from there to Damascus. Even when after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord.

Gospel    Luke 7:11-17

Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry’ he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you to get up.’ And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.’ And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.

Reading and Commentary from the Navarre Bible

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From: 1 Kings 17:17-24

The Son of the Widow of Zarephath Restored to Life
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[17] After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. [18] And she said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" [19] And he said to her, "Give me your son." And he took him from her bosom, and carried him up into the upper chamber, where he lodged, and laid him upon his own bed. 20] And he cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, hast thou brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?" [21] Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's soul come into him again." [22] And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. [23] And Elijah took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, "See, your son lives." [24] And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

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Commentary:

1 Kings 17:1-2 – 2 Kings 1:18. The ample coverage given to the reign of Ahab is not so much due to the actions of the king as to the fact that God raised up at this time prophets who played a critical role in maintaining knowledge and worship of the God of Israel when they were under threat. The most outstanding of these prophets is Elijah. It is quite likely that the narratives to do with Elijah were lifted straight out of another text and inserted here, like other accounts of prophets of the same time -- an unnamed prophet (chap. 20) and Micaiah the son of Imlah (chap. 22), both of whom speak to the king on God’s behalf during the war against Syria.

17:1-19:21. The great drought, which is the backdrop of chapters 17-19, seems to be a divine punishment for the king’s idolatry reported in the previous chapter; but the main thing it does is to provide an opportunity to show the superiority of the God of Israel over the Canaanite god Baal. Elijah, whose name means “my God is the Lord”, is an itinerant prophet who, like the patriarchs, moves around the country in obedience to the word of the Lord.

God makes himself known in a new way through the prophet Elijah. The same God who manifested himself as friend and protector of the patriarchs, and who gave the Law to Moses, now reveals himself as the Lord of creation and of nature. To the Canaanites the god Baal was master of the forces of nature -- rain, storms, fertility etc. Through the prophet Elijah the true God reveals himself to be distinct from and higher than all those forces, no matter what their power (cf. 19:11-13), as well as being their Lord (cf. 17:1). Elijah is the champion of the rights of God and of the poor (cf. chap 21) and in this sense he is a model for all the prophets that will come after him, the so-called writer prophets. “Elijah is the ‘father’ of the prophets, ‘the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob’ (Ps 24:6)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2582).

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From: Galatians 1:11-19

God's Call
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[11] For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel. [12] For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

[13] For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; [14] and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. [15] But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, [16] was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, [17] nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus.

[18] Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. [19] But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.

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Commentary:

11-12. "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10), Paul asked at the moment of his conversion. Jesus replied, 'Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do" (ibid.). The former persecutor, now under the influence of grace, will receive instruction and Baptism through the ordinary course of divine Providence--from a man, Ananias. Thereby Jesus led him to humility, obedience and abandonment. The Gospel which St Paul preached was identical with that preached by the other Apostles, and already had the character of "tradition" in the nascent Church (cf. 1 Cor 15:3; Gal 2:2). This is compatible with Paul's claim--made in this passage--that his Gospel does not come from any man but through a revelation from Jesus Christ. Firstly, because on seeing the risen Christ he was given supernatural light to understand that Jesus was not only the Messiah but also the Son of God; and also because this first revelation was followed by many others to which he refers in his epistles (cf. 1 Cor 11:23; 13:3-8 and especially 2 Cor 12:1-4).

St Paul's was a unique case, because normally a person came to know the Gospel of Christ by receiving it or learning it from those who had seen Christ during his life on earth and listened to his teachings. This was what happened in St Luke's case, for example (cf. Lk 1:2). St Paul still felt the need to go to Jerusalem to hear the Apostles' preaching (cf. below 1:16-18), especially that of St Peter.

13-14. The Acts of the Apostles tell us about Paul's religious zeal; a Pharisee, he had studied under Gamaliel (cf. Acts 22:3; Phil 3:5) and had consented to and been present at the martyrdom of Stephen (cf. Acts 7:58; 8:1). Saul had stood out as a persecutor of Christians, so keen was he to seek them out and imprison them, even going beyond Judea to do so (cf. Acts 9:1-2). Clearly he had been a man convinced of his Jewish faith, a zealous keeper of the Law, and proud to be a Jew (cf. Rom 11:1 ; 2 Cor 11:22). Such was the fear the early Christians had of him that they could not bring themselves to believe in his conversion (cf. Acts 9:26). However, this same fervor and passion, to use St Augustine's comparison (cf. "Contra Faustum", XXII, 70) was like a dense jungle -- a serious obstacle and yet an indication of immensely fertile soil. Our Lord sowed the seed of the Gospel in that soil and it produced a very rich crop.

Everyone, no matter how irregular his life may have been, can produce good re- sults like this--with the help of grace, which does not displace nature but heals and purifies it, and then raises and perfects it: Courage! You...can! Don't you see what God's grace did with sleepy-headed Peter, the coward who had denied him ..., and with Paul, his fierce and relentless persecutor?" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 483).

15-16. More than once in Scripture we read about God choosing certain people for special missions even when they were still in their mother's womb (cf. Jer 1:5; Is 49:1-5; Lk 1:15; etc.). This emphasizes the fact that God makes a gratuitous choice: there is no question of the person's previous merits contributing to God's decision. Vocation is a supernatural divine gift, which God has planned from all eternity. When God made his will known on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9: 3-6), St Paul "did not confer with flesh and blood", that is, did not seek advice from anyone, because he was absolutely sure that God himself had called him. Nor did he consent to the prudence of the flesh, seeking to "play safe": his self- surrender was immediate, total and unconditional. When the Apostles heard Jesus inviting them to follow him, they "immediately left their nets" (Mt 4:20, 22; Mk 1:18) and followed the Master, leaving everything behind (cf. Lk 5:11). We see the same thing happening in Saul's case: he responds immediately. If he makes his way to Ananias, he does so on the explicit instructions of Jesus--in order to receive instruction and Baptism and to discover what his mission is to be (Acts 9:15-16).

God's call, therefore, should receive an immediate response. "Consider the faith and obedience of the Apostles", St John Chrysostom says. "They are in the midst of their work (and you know how attractive fishing is!). When they hear his command, they do not vacillate or lose any time: they do not say, 'Let's go home and say goodbye to our parents.' No, they leave everything and follow him [...]. That is the kind of obedience Christ asks of us -- not to delay even a minute, no matter how important the things that might keep us" ("Hom. on St Matthew", 14, 2). And St Cyril of Alexandria comments: "For Jesus also said, 'No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God', and he looked back who asked permission to return home and speak to his parents. But we see that the holy Apostles did not act in that way; rather they followed Jesus, immediately leaving the boat and their parents behind. Paul also acted immediately. He 'did not confer with flesh and blood'. That is how those who want to fol- low Christ must act" ("Commentarium in Lucam", 9).

A person has a duty to follow Christ even if his relatives are opposed to his doing so or want him to delay making a final decision, perhaps because they feel that would be the more (humanly) prudent course: "A person should honor his parents, but God he should obey. We should love the one who has begotten us, but the first place should be given to him who created us", St Augustine says, not mincing words ("Sermon 100").

Even if we are unsure as to whether we are strong enough to persevere, this should not delay us or concern us: it should simply lead us to pray confidently for God's help, because, as Vatican II teaches, when God calls a person, he "must reply without taking counsel with flesh and blood and must give himself fully to the work of the Gospel. However, such an answer can only be given with the encouragement and help of the Holy Spirit [...]. Therefore, he must be prepared to remain faithful to his vocation for life, to renounce himself and everything that up to this he possessed as his own, and to make himself 'all things to all men' (1 Cor 9:22)" ("Ad Gentes", 24).

17-19. After a period of time devoted to penance and prayer, St Paul made his way to Jerusalem (cf. Acts 9:26-30) to see Cephas, that is, Peter. His stay of two weeks is an important indication of Paul's recognition of and veneration for Peter, chosen as he had been as the foundation stone of the Church.

In subsequent generations, right down the centuries, Christians have shown their love for Peter and his successors, traveling to Rome often at great personal effort and sometimes, even, risk. "Catholic, apostolic, "Roman"! I want you to be very Roman. And to be anxious to make your 'path to Rome', "videre Petrum" -- to see Peter (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 520). Solidarity with and veneration for the Pope is, then, a clear, practical sign of good Christian spirit.

"James the Lord's brother" (cf. notes on Mt 12:46-47 and 13:55) is, most commentators think, James the Less (cf. Mk 15:40), also called the son of Alphaeus (cf. Lk 6:15) and author of the letter which bears his name (cf. Jas 1:1).

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From: Luke 7:11-17

The Son of the Widow in Nain Restored to Life
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[11] Soon afterwards He (Jesus) went to a city called Nain, and His disciples and a great crowd went with Him. [12] As He drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her. [13] And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." [14] And He came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." [15] And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And He gave him to his mother. [16] Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited His people!" [17] And this report concerning Him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

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Commentary:

11-17. "Jesus crosses paths again with a crowd of people. He could have passed by or waited until they called Him. But He didn't. He took the initiative, because He was moved by a widow's sorrow. She had just lost all she had, her son.

"The evangelist explains that Jesus was moved. Perhaps He even showed signs of it, as when Lazarus died. Christ was not, and is not, insensitive to the suffe- ring that stems from love. He is pained at seeing children separated from their parents. He overcomes death so as to give life, to reunite those who love one another. But at the same time, He requires that we first admit the pre-eminence of divine love, which alone can inspire genuine Christian living.

"Christ knows He is surrounded by a crowd which will be awed by the miracle and will tell the story all over the countryside. But He does not act artificially, merely to create an effect. Quite simply He is touched by that woman's suffering and cannot but console her. So He goes up to her and says, `Do not weep.' It is like saying, `I don't want to see you crying; I have come on earth to bring joy and peace.' And then comes the miracle, the sign of the power of Christ who is God. But first came His compassion, an evident sign of the tenderness of the heart of Christ the man" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 166).

15. This mother's joy on being given back her son reminds us of the joy of our Mother the Church when her sinful children return to the life of grace. "The widowed mother rejoiced at the raising of that young man," St. Augustine comments. "Our Mother the Church rejoices every day when people are raised again in spirit. The young man had been dead physically; the latter, dead spiritually. The young man's death was mourned visibly; the death of the latter was invisible and unmourned. He seeks them out Who knew them to be dead; only He can bring them back to life" ("Sermon", 98, 2).

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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.

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