for July 30
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading from the prophet Jeremiah has another somewhat negative message from the Lord. Jeremiah is sent to watch a potter working at his wheel. Whenever an object turns out badly, the potter remakes it into something else of whatever sort he pleases, not necessarily the same object as the first one that turned out badly. So the Lord of course can do to the people what the potter has done to the clay when and if they turn out badly. Thus the powerful conclusion: like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are the people in the hand of the Lord.

But there is a possibly more positive background to the story. In one of the creation accounts in the beginning of the book of Genesis, we are told that God formed man out of clay, surely intended as praiseworthy. Maybe it is good for us sometimes to think of God as the potter and ourselves as the clay, perhaps beseeching to Lord to make us in his image as the other creation account in the book of Genesis affirms.

The first part of today’s gospel is another parable about the kingdom of God. There is a net collecting fish, both good and bad. When it is full, it is brought ashore and the good and bad fish are separated. Jesus then says the same will happen at what he calls “the end of the age,” when angels will separate the righteous and the wicked.

Such judgment and subsequent punishment for some is found elsewhere in the gospels as well. The key is the criteria. At the end of Matthew’s gospel you may recall what is decisive is concern for the poor and needy, feeding the hungry and the like. There we learn that caring for others is actually a way of serving Jesus himself. Remember Paul’s principle that all of us together are the body of Christ.

While it might strain the imagination that the net is only brought ashore when full, it parallels the timing Jesus mentioned. All of us are off and on saints and sinners, so we are fortunate that our tolerant God gives us time to repent when needed before the final consummation comes about. Jesuit scripture scholar Daniel Harrington put it this way almost thirty years ago: The message of patient tolerance and leaving to God the settling of scores is timely today also. For a world in which so many conflicts occur on the basis of religion, race, ethnic identity, and so forth, this is sound advice.

The conclusion at the end of the gospel is not particularly directed toward the parable that preceded it. It applies more generally to the teaching of Jesus as enfolding both the new and the old. Think of the section in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus affirms many of the ten commandments but also deepens their interpretation. The challenge the church has faced from the beginning is how to express timeless truths for succeeding generations and their cultures.
—Edward O’Donnell SJ

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