Prophets and Losses
Jun 5: Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Today’s readings are about doing what we’re asked to do, and then some. Are we dead set on doing the minimum? Or worse, are we going to put energy into doing the opposite?
Reading 1
Tb 1:3; 2:1a-8
I, Tobit, have walked all the days of my life on the paths of truth and righteousness. I performed many charitable works for my kinsmen and my people who had been deported with me to Nineveh, in Assyria.
On our festival of Pentecost, the feast of Weeks, a fine dinner was prepared for me, and I reclined to eat. The table was set for me, and when many different dishes were placed before me, I said to my son Tobiah: "My son, go out and try to find a poor man from among our kinsmen exiled here in Nineveh. If he is a sincere worshiper of God, bring him back with you, so that he can share this meal with me. Indeed, son, I shall wait for you to come back."
Tobiah went out to look for some poor kinsman of ours. When he returned he exclaimed, "Father!" I said to him, "What is it, son?"
He answered, "Father, one of our people has been murdered! His body lies in the market place where he was just strangled!"
I sprang to my feet, leaving the dinner untouched; and I carried the dead man from the street and put him in one of the rooms, so that I might bury him after sunset. Returning to my own quarters, I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow. I was reminded of the oracle pronounced by the prophet Amos against Bethel: "All your festivals shall be turned into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation."
And I wept. Then at sunset I went out, dug a grave, and buried him. The neighbors mocked me, saying to one another: "He is still not afraid! Once before he was hunted down for execution because of this very thing; yet now that he has scarcely escaped, here he is again burying the dead!"
To understand what the neighbors are talking about, you have to know what happened earlier in the story.1 Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, was killing Israelites and leaving them to rot. Tobit sneakily grabs the bodies at night and buried them according to Jewish burial rites. A Ninevite ratted him out, the king confiscated all of Tobit’s property, and Tobit had to flee.
Later, Sennacherib’s sons assassinated him (good riddance), and Tobit was able to return home. That’s why he’s celebrating at the beginning of this passage.2
So, Tobit wants to celebrate his good fortunes by sharing with a poor person. Instead, his son finds another victim of violence. Again, Tobit does the right thing and buries him. The neighbors are laughing because he hasn’t learned his lesson.
But Tobit knows the truth: there’s no lesson to be learned. He did the right thing because it was God’s command, and it was the right thing to do. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks except God.
And that’s the lesson for us.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 112:1b-2, 3b-4, 5-6
R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
His generosity shall endure forever.
Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice;
He shall never be moved;
the just man shall be in everlasting remembrance.
R. Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
A person who not only follows God’s commands but delights in them is going to be generous. He’s going to go out of his way to help people (like bury a complete stranger). Because, after all, who is more generous than God?
Don’t just follow the rules, doing the bare minimum. Be generous, do more.
Alleluia
See Rv 1:5ab
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead;
you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your Blood.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus is the first man to rise from the dead by his own power (as opposed to Lazarus and Jairus’s daughter). He did it to lead the way for us.
Gospel
Mk 12:1-12
Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture passage: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?"
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.
This is one of those parables that’s fairly easy to interpret: God is the owner of the vineyard, the owner’s servants are the prophets, and his son is His Son.
I think this pairs nicely with Tobit because it’s almost the exact inverse. Tobit didn’t merely do the minimum required by the Law; he went out of his way and put himself in danger to help others.
The vineyard tenants (the religious leaders) go out of their way to do evil. They were living off of land they didn’t own, using tools they didn’t buy, protected by hedges they didn’t plant. They got to sell most of the produce and keep the profits on their own; the harder they worked, the better paid they were. The one caveat is that they were required to give a small cut to the owner.
But that wasn’t enough, so they mocked, beat, and killed several messengers, and ultimately the owner’s son! Like, was that worth it? They were doing pretty well. Did they have to keep all of the profit, which they would never have gotten on their own, anyway?
Yes, in this case, Tobit is a story; it’s what we would now call “historical fiction.”
The holiday referred to as “Pentecost” here is what Jews now call Shavuot, which is 50 days after passover.