for July 27
Monday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading from Jeremiah was written before the possibly immanent destruction of Jerusalem. His topic is amazingly an unwashed linen loincloth which after he had worn it was hidden in the rocks. He clearly intends to get the attention of his audience, as it does ours, as we learn that if a long while later he were to get it, not surprisingly it would have rotted away.

What follows is the message from the Lord which in some sense relates to that loincloth. The cloth symbolizes the great pride the people have in the city of Jerusalem. But the people themselves are described as wicked for stubbornly not obeying the Lord’s word proclaimed by prophets and worse for adoring strange foreign gods. Then we learn why a loincloth was chosen, rather than say a hat or a coat. As close as a loincloth is to one’s body, so close was the Lord to the people of Israel whom he calls my renown, my praise, my beauty.

But the people like the loincloth are told they are good for nothing, indicted in the powerfully negative conclusion: they did not listen. The psalm refrain phrases it even more strikingly: You have forgotten the God who gave you birth. May we never be so tempted.

In the gospel Jesus offers two parables and since we’re not familiar with mustard seeds and only tangentially with yeast, we might not grasp their import. If a mustard seed is not exactly the smallest of seeds, the image still works and in fact Jesus invokes it again later in the gospel when he tells the disciples their faith could move mountains if only the size of a mustard seed. Since the full-grown bush is about ten feet high, some wonder whether birds could nest in its branches but Jesus is actually quoting the prophet Ezekiel describing Israel as God’s special tree. Jesuit scripture scholar Daniel Harrington interprets the parable as a “contrast between the small beginning and the great results as well as the inestimable value of the kingdom.”

The second parable is somewhat similar. If someone mixed yeast into three measures of flour, about fifty pounds, the result would be enough bread to feed more than one hundred people, hardly a typical baking event. But the exaggeration is probably deliberate. One author invites us to reflect on the insignificant beginning of the ministry of Jesus and its final consummation at the end of time. Another possibility would be to think of leaven as the power of God in our lives.

Jesus concludes by quoting Psalm 78 about all of this as being part of the plan of God since the foundation of the world. The key word is perhaps hidden, implying Jesus as privy to the divine mind. We also need to recall that Jesus proposes these parables about the kingdom or reign of God, God’s overwhelming love and forgiveness far beyond anything we can imagine. For that we give thanks and rejoice and, I would add, commit ourselves to sharing the message.
—Edward O’Donnell SJ

Today’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.