*** 1st Reading ***

2 Kings 24:8-17

 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father,

and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta, daugh­ter of Elna­than of Jerusalem. Jehoiachin treated Yahweh badly, as his father had done. At that time, the officials of Nebu­chad­nezzar, king of Babylon, came to attack Jerusalem, surrounding the city. 

Nebuchad­nezzar came while the city was being besieged by his men.  Jehoiachin, king of Judah, surrendered together with his mother, his ser­vants, his leaders and the pa­lace officials. It was the eighth year of the reign of Nebuchad­nezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar captured them and he took away the treasures of the House of Yahweh and of the king’s house. He also destroyed all the objects of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made for the sanctuary of Yahweh. So the word Yahweh had spoken, was fulfilled.

Nebuchadnezzar carried off into exile all the leaders and prominent men, the blacksmiths and lock­smiths, all the men of valor fit for war. A total of ten thousand were exiled to Babylon. Only the poorest sector of the population was left. Nebu­chaddnezzar also carried away Jehoiachin, with his mo­ther, his wives, the ministers of the palace, and the prominent men of the land.

 So all the prominent people, num­bering seven thousand, the blacksmiths, numbering a thousand, and all the men fit for war were deported to Babylon by the king of Babylon. He made Mattaniah, Jehoia­chin’s uncle, king of Jerusalem, in place of Jehoiachin. And he changed his name to Zedekiah.

 

Ps 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9

For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

 

**** Gospel ****

Matthew 7:21-29

 Not everyone who says to me: Lord! Lord! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not speak in your name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in your name?” 

Then I will tell them openly: I have never known you; away from me, you evil people!  “So, then, anyone who hears these words of mine and acts accordingly is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock.

But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”

 When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way he taught, because he taught with authority unlike their teachers of the Law.

 

Gospel Reflection

Words are cheap; that is, unless they are put into concrete action. Emotions and feelings, no matter how strong and stirring, are equally cheap; that is, unless they lead us to make a concrete and meaningful change in ourselves and in the world in which we live.

In today’s Godpel, Jesus reminds us of the necessity of acting upon the word that we receive, of doing something that will bring about a positive change in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

The Letter of James speaks of the kind of faith that brings about nothing positive in the world, it calls it “a faith that is dead”. Words and emotions aren’t bad, they can stir up something very powerful inside us.

But unless they move us to do something, something concrete, something good, something worthwhile, they are like shifting sand, ultimately useless.