Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time 

The Responsorial verse tells us: “His love is everlasting” (Psalm 136). And every act of Christian ministry today says the same thing. 

In Exodus 12: 37-42 God shows his “steadfast love” by fulfilling his promise to Abram that his descendants would be brought home after four hundred years (Genesis 15: 13-16). “Six hundred thousand men” could be just a Semitic exaggeration common in Scripture; or the word for “thousand” (‘elep) can also mean “family,” which would bring the total number of people down to five or six thousand. The point, however, is not numbers but God’s fidelity. And this is what God told the Jews to celebrate annually in “a vigil to be kept for the LORD by all the Israelites throughout their generations.” This was the Passover meal, which we continue to celebrate in the Easter Vigil of Holy Saturday night. And every act of ministry that we perform for other people is an expression and embodiment of God’s steadfast love. His continuing care for people through his ministers is proof that “His love is everlasting.” 

Matthew 12: 14-21 underlines Jesus’ gentleness. He cannot avoid being confrontative, but when things begin to heat up, he “withdraws” rather than provoke further conflict (see Matthew 4:12; 12:15; 14:14; 15:21). Jesus does not seek to overcome, crush, snuff out, or destroy. Whatever there is in a person that can be salvaged, he tries to salvage it. Wherever there is a spark of light or life, he nurtures it to help it grow. For Jesus, “victory” consists in saving, not defeating: “He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”  

Whoever ministers in Jesus’ name will always offer hope, open doors, accept people where they are, and encourage them to forward motion, no matter how slight or how slow. Ministers who act “in Jesus’ name” do not fixate on what is missing in a person’s faith, observance of the laws, or religious righteousness. It is the Pharisees and “teachers of the law” who tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others” (Matthew 23:4). But Jesus’ ministers look always to the life that is there, to the light people have, to the love they are able to live by, and build on that. They never break the thread that still attaches someone to the Church or snuff out faith by pinching off hope. The love to which they witness is unconditional; it is God’s love, a love that is willing to wait, that “will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory.” Christian ministry proclaims, “His love is everlasting.” 

Initiative: Be a priest. Build on the good in people. Drive no one away. 

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #394, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.