Readings: 1 Timothy 3:10-17; Psalm 118; Mark 12:35-37
When Christians gather to celebrate their faith the central and most important of those celebrations is the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is the summit of the Christian life, the highpoint of the community's week. It is also the source of that life, because there we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, this extraordinary sacramental gift. And there too we are consecrated as the priest calls down the Holy Spirit first on the bread and wine, that they might become the Body and Blood of Christ, and second on all who share in Christ's Body and Blood, that they might become one body and one spirit in Christ.
But we are also 'consecrated in the truth' during the celebration of the Eucharist because its first part is the 'Liturgy of the Word' in which we are fed on the Word of God in the scriptures. When it has been proclaimed in the readings we hear it explained in the teaching of the homily, we receive it in joy by singing psalms and alleluias, we respond to it by professing our faith in the love song that is the Creed, and by praying for the Church and the world, for all in special need and for the dead. The proclamation of the Word also has a sacramental character - it brings about what it signifies because Christ is really present with us in His Word as it is proclaimed and taught among us.
The readings today focus on this aspect of our life of faith. The short gospel reading shows us Jesus teaching in the Temple, explaining a verse of scripture, and using it to put to the people a provocative question: how can the Messiah be the son of David when David calls him 'Lord'? Why the majority of the people hear this 'with delight' may be a bit puzzling for us. In the context it is Jesus' first chance to put a question of his own after a series of questions addressed to him by various groups - Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, scribes, lawyers - they have all had a go at him and now he stands on his own ground and puts his own question to the people. Perhaps it was the thought of enemies being put under the feet of the Messiah that delighted the crowd. Or they were simply enjoying the conflict especially now that Jesus, having survived a series of ambushes, was beginning to fight back.
To ask good questions is one of the tools of teaching and Jesus does it here as he often does it elsewhere. In fact his usual way of responding to a question put to him is to ask a better one in response. He also says this: David wrote this verse under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so we are dealing with something true. He is taking his stand on the holy scriptures of Israel's faith. Paul emphasises the same thing in the first reading. Scripture is the foundation of your teaching, he says to Timothy, as it is the foundation of what we know and what we believe. All scripture is inspired by God, Paul says, and so is useful for teaching, for refuting, for guiding people's lives, for teaching holiness. The scriptures carry to us a wisdom that leads to salvation and to know them is to be fully equipped and ready for any good work. But expect opposition too, Paul says, which inevitably comes the way of anybody who tries to live in devotion to Christ.
So we have two short readings but rich in reminding us of the essential source of our faith, the holy scriptures, the Bible. Its authors were inspired by God as they wrote. And all those texts bear witness in some way to Christ, to who he is and to his mission. We have the chance to be fed and watered at this source every Sunday - every day if we wish. Through the Word of God in the scriptures we come to know truth, learn how to live and are shown at what we should aim. Christ is with us each day in his Word, comforting and challenging, illuminating and inspiring, teaching and guiding. How could we not run each day to such a spring, and there drink deeply with delight?
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