Jerusalem and its people failed to recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah

and the time of God's grace and salvation when he was physically present among them.

 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

1 Maccabees 2:15-29*

In the meantime,

The king's representatives, who were forcing the Jews to give up their religion,

came to Modein to organize a sacred gathering. While many Israelites went to them,

Mattathias and his sons drew apart. The representatives of the king addressed Mattathias,

and said to him: "You are one of the leaders of this city, an important and well-known man,

and your many children and relatives follow you. Come now, and be the first to fulfill the king's order,

as the men of Judah have already done, and the survivors in Jerusalem as well.

You and your sons will be named friends of the king and the king will send you gold, silver and many other gifts."

 

But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: "Even if all the nations included in the kingdom

should abandon the religion of their ancestors and submit to the order of king Antiochus,

I, my sons and my family will remain faithful to the Covenant of our ancestors.

May God preserve us from abandoning the law and its precepts. 

We will not obey the orders of the king nor turn aside from our religion either to the right or to the left."

When he finished speaking these words, a Jew came forward,

in the sight of everyone, to offer incense on the altar that was built in Modein,

according to the king's decree. When Mattathias saw him, he was fired with zeal.

 

His heart was stirred; and giving vent to his righteous anger,

he threw himself on the Jew and cut the man's throat on the altar.

At the same time, he killed the king's representative

who was forcing the people to offer sacrifice; and then tore down the altar. (...)

Many Jews who looked for justice and wanted to be faithful to the law went into the desert.

 

Ps 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15 

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 19:41-44

When Jesus had come in sight of the city, he wept over it, and said,

"If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Yet days will come upon you, when your enemies will surround you with barricades,

and shut you in, and press on you from every side.

And they will dash you to the ground and your children with you, and not leave stone upon stone within you,

for you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"You did not recognize the time."

Time is more than simply the passing of the seconds on a clock.

Our experience of time can vary according to circumstance, and so, time can drag or fly by.

Moreover, time related to our lived experience also involves God's intervention.

Thus, in theology often time is divided into two key types: chronos and kairos.

Chronos is the simple passage of the hours and days. Kairos, on the other hand, is graced time, God's time.

It's his action of entering into our lives, into our history. Kairos is the "favorable time" (2 Cor 6:2);

it is the passage of events according to God's plan of salvation.

 

Just as we can perceive ordinary time in different ways, we can be more or less alert to God's time.

Jesus laments the lack of awareness of the people around him.

Thus, he says, "you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God."

They have not recognized the day of salvation that has dawned with Christ's birth.

Many had not understood that the time of the Messiah had finally arrived.