Daily Reading
First Reading
Haggai 1:1-8
In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.”
Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.”
Psalm
Psalm 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a, 9b
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with victory.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and a two-edged sword in their hands …
to execute on them the judgment decreed.
This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!
Gospel Reading
Luke 9:7-9
Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was being done by Jesus, and he was greatly perplexed, because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who, then, is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.
Reflection
Friends, in today’s Gospel, we see Herod interested in and perplexed by Jesus. Political rulers don’t come across well in the New Testament. In Luke’s Christmas account, Caesar Augustus is compared very unfavorably to the Christ child. And in Matthew’s account that child is hunted down by the desperate Herod. Later, Herod’s son persecutes John the Baptist and Jesus himself. More to it, the Jewish authorities are seen in all of the Gospels as corrupt.
And Pontius Pilate is a typical Roman governor: efficient, concerned for order, brutal. Like the other rulers of the time, he perceives Jesus, quite correctly, as a threat. “Then you are a king?” Pilate asks. Jesus says, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.”
This does not mean that Jesus is unconcerned for the realities of politics, with the very “this-worldly” concerns of justice, peace, and right order. When he speaks of his kingdom not belonging to the “world,” he shades the negative side of that term. The “world” is the realm of sin, selfishness, hatred, violence. What he is saying is that his way of ordering things is not typical of worldly powers like Pilate, Caesar, and Herod.