20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
17 thAugust 2025
Lectionary Readings: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Ps 40:2- 4. 18;
Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53
The Sunday liturgy places us before the responsibility of the Word of God. It is the measure of our attitude and, evidently, its consequences. Indeed, the Word of God demands fidelity, that is, a continuous attitude; indeed, it is the true meaning of having faith. It is not an imaginary act, an expression in words alone, but a behavior of loyalty and fidelity. We see that God’s faithfulness always remains, but fidelity to God and His Word does not always translate into glory according to the measure of this world.
The perfection and fullness that come from God do not always align with the reality created and practiced by humanity. Therefore, experiencing the Word of God and its transmission can be a cause of misunderstanding and division. The pursuit of holiness, which must be a reality for those who want to live the Word of God and be faithful to it, results in separation. To be holy (Kadosh) is to be set apart, separated for God. Today’s readings show us the rewards of faithfulness to God’s Word in a world of contrary values and practices.
The Prophet Jeremiah remained faithful to God, despite the threats and suffering God inflicted upon him. He was faithful, he kept fidelity. Because of his faithfulness to God’s Word, the Prophet was excluded (separated) from his community. This means that God’s Word is divisive and separates for God those who belong to Him. As the Psalm sings: “Though I am afflicted and poor, yet the LORD thinks of me. You are my help and my deliverer” (Ps 40:18)
The Scriptures and the tradition of Israel teach us that God’s Word defines and separates what is of God and what is without God, and it is within this tradition that we must understand the teachings of Jesus and his followers. Let’s look at some examples:
– “But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked” (Isaiah: 11:4).
. “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (Joel 2:31).
– “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:18).
– “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud and all who do evil will be stubble. And the coming day will burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch” (Malachi 4:1)
– “For the son dishonored the father, the daughter reset up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the (members) of his own house” (Micah 7:6)
We also find it in extra-Biblical Jewish literature such as the book of Jubilees, Qumran and the Talmud:
– “And in that generation the children will condemn their parents and the elders of sin and injustice… and they will fight among themselves, the young with the old and the old with the young” (Book of Jubilees: 23, 16.19)
– “For all my antagonists you will condemn to judgment, to separate in my account between the righteous and the unrighteous” (Qumran, 1QH Sl).
– “In the footsteps of the Messiah, presumption will increase and death will reach its heights…sons will shame the elders and the elders will rise up before the sons, for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. The face of this generation is like the face of a dog; the son will not respect his father. And in whom can we have confidence? In our Father who is in heaven” (t.b. Sotah 49b).
The Scriptures and the tradition of Israel teach us that the Word of God defines and separates what is of God and what is absent from God. The coming of the Messiah is the favorable time for the fulfilment of the Word. Therefore, the proclamation of Jesus as the expected Messiah must be confirmed by the fulfilment of these prophecies that were part of Israel’s universe of faith. And it is only within this tradition that we should understand the teachings of Jesus and his followers.
Therefore, Luke’s statement: “Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire…”, (more extensively we find it in Mt 10), delivered by Jesus, reflects this vision of the messianic time announced and awaited by the Jewish people, present in the Scriptures, the Oral Tradition, and the liturgy. As we can learn from the Talmudic text cited above. The messianic time is a time of reckoning in history. The Messiah must organize creation, altered by the human reality of living without God.
Several other New Testament texts follow this same logic of the messianic era. Example: “Therefore, as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all who cause offences and all who do lawless things. They will throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mt 13: 40-43).
Among so many possibilities of understanding and explaining the texts of Scripture proposed for our liturgy today, we learn that the Word of God is straight, dynamic and penetrates our reality; transforming it according to God’s designs: The Word that penetrates and that signifies the dividing line of approach and distance in relation to God and his commandments: “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Therefore, the Word of God lived and transmitted by the tradition of Israel and taught by Jesus does not provoke and is not the source of division, but it denounces attitudes and realities without the presence of God.
This week’s Sunday Liturgy Commentary was prepared by
Elio Passeto, NDS, Jerusalem–Israel, Director
[Copyright © 2025]
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