19 February 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” Joshua 5:9
The first reading shows us sin from God's side. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” We usually think of sin as breaking a rule. Genesis shows it as wounding a heart. The earth “was filled with violence”, and God grieves like a father who watches his children destroy one another. Yet one sentence opens a door: “But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD.” “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” On a Friday of the Great Fast, when we stand before the Cross, we see how far that grief of God went. The heart that was grieved in Genesis is the heart pierced on Calvary.
The second reading is a story of new beginnings at Gilgal. The generation that left Egypt had died in the wilderness, “not having listened to the voice of the LORD.” Their children, born on the journey, are circumcised at Gilgal, and God says: “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” Then they keep the Passover, and the next day they eat the produce of the land, and “the manna ceased.” The food of the journey gives way to the food of the promised land. During these weeks, and above all around Holy Week, thousands of pilgrims climb the hill of Malayattoor, where tradition remembers St Thomas at prayer. Many go barefoot, some carry wooden crosses, and the slope rings with the old cry, “Ponnin Kurishu Muthappo, ponmala kayattam.” A pilgrimage is a small Gilgal: we carry the disgrace of our old slavery up the hill, and the Lord rolls it away. Paul adds that the law itself was never the problem: “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.” The commandment “You shall not covet” showed Paul his sin, and sin used even the good commandment to deceive him. The law names the illness; only Christ heals it.
In the Gospel the leaders in the temple ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus answers with a question about John's baptism. They calculate: if we say from heaven, he will ask why we did not believe; if we say of human origin, the crowd will turn on us. So they answer: “We do not know.” It is not ignorance; it is refusal. They did know, but they would not say it, because the answer would have asked them to change. Many of our evasions in confession and in prayer sound just like this: I do not know. The Great Fast is the time to stop calculating, to admit what we already know, and to let the Lord roll away our disgrace.
Theme: “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.”
The grief of God over sin, the new beginning at Gilgal, the holy law, and the evasion that refuses to change.
“And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Genesis 6:6
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
Apply: Make the Way of the Cross today and offer the Lord your sorrow for having grieved him.
“The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.” Joshua 5:9
“Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7
Apply: Bring one old disgrace to the Lord in confession this Lent.
“O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,” Psalm 95:7–8
“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31–32
Apply: In your next confession, name plainly what you already know.
Sin grieves the heart of God, and the Cross shows how deeply he loves us still.
Stop calculating; let the Lord roll away your disgrace.
Take-home resolution: Make the Way of the Cross today and go to confession before the end of next week.
Dear friends, Genesis tells us that when the wickedness of humankind became great, the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind, and it grieved him to his heart (Genesis 6:6). Sin is not only breaking a rule. It wounds the heart of God. And on this Friday, before the Cross, we see how far that wound went.
But Noah found favour in the sight of the LORD; he walked with God (Genesis 6:8–9). There is always a door of grace.
At Gilgal God said to his people: today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt (Joshua 5:9). They kept the Passover, and the manna ceased, because they had reached the land. When we go on pilgrimage this Lent, when we go to confession, the Lord rolls away our disgrace too.
In the Gospel the leaders answer Jesus: we do not know (Mark 11:33). They knew, but they did not want to change. Let us not hide behind those words. Let us say honestly what we know, and let the Lord change us. Amen.
Children, the Bible says that sin makes God sad in his heart. Jesus loves us so much that he died on the Cross to take our sins away. Today, let us say sorry to Jesus and make his heart glad.
Lord Jesus Christ, our sins grieved the heart of your Father, and on the Cross your own heart was pierced for us. Roll away from us the disgrace of our old slavery, as you did for Israel at Gilgal. Give us the honesty to say what we know, and the courage to change. Feed us on our journey until we reach the land you have promised. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.
This Friday of the Great Fast has four readings. Genesis shows sin as something that grieves the heart of God. Joshua shows a new generation at Gilgal, where the disgrace of Egypt is rolled away, the Passover is kept and the manna stops. Paul says that the Law is holy, though it could not cure the illness it exposed. In the Temple, the authorities ask Jesus who gave him his authority, and they will not give an honest answer to his question. The key words are heart, new beginning and honesty.
Setting.
The chapters between Eden and the flood show sin spreading: Cain's murder of Abel (4:8), Lamech's boast of vengeance (4:23–24), and now violence that fills the earth. Many scholars think the flood story weaves together two older accounts. This would explain why vv. 5–8 say “the Lord” and vv. 9–12 say “God”, with each telling the same situation in its own way.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” (6:6)
Human “hearts” are named in v. 5 and the heart of God in v. 6. Sin is more than breaking a rule. It wounds a love.
“But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.” (6:8)
This one short sentence holds back the destruction. It comes before we are told anything about what Noah did.
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” (6:9)
Only Enoch has been said to walk with God (5:22–24). A person can be faithful even in a corrupt time.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism uses these chapters when it says that after the first sin the world is virtually inundated by sin (CCC 401). On a Friday of the fast, the words about God's grieved heart lead us to the Cross, where the Church sees how far that grief and that love went.
Setting.
Israel has crossed the Jordan on dry ground (Joshua 3–4), and the kings of the land are afraid. One would expect an army to attack at once. Instead the people stop at Gilgal, near Jericho, for two acts of worship. The generation that left Egypt has died in the wilderness, and those born on the way have not received the sign of the covenant.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised;” (5:7)
The fathers' failure does not cancel God's plan. The promise passes to a new generation.
““Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.”” (5:9)
This is said before any battle. God gives them a new standing first, and they fight only afterwards.
“The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land,” (5:12)
The food for the journey ends when the journey ends. God does not keep his people as children for ever, and they now eat from the land he has given.
How the Church reads it.
Passover required circumcision (Exodus 12:48), so these two acts belong together. The Old Testament already speaks of a circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4), and the Letter to the Colossians speaks of it in Christ (Colossians 2:11). St Justin Martyr sees Joshua's second circumcision as a figure of what Christ does (in substance; Dialogue with Trypho 113). The Catechism sees Baptism prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan (CCC 1222) and the Eucharist in the manna (CCC 1094).
Setting.
Paul has just said that Christians have “died to the law” (7:4). This could make it sound as if the Law were an evil thing, so he stops to defend it. For the first time in the letter he speaks at length in the first person. Most scholars do not read this as a diary of his own past, since he elsewhere calls himself blameless under the Law (Philippians 3:6). Many hear in this “I” the voice of Adam, or of Israel at Sinai, or of anyone who meets God's command and finds sin stirring.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”” (7:7)
A sign that says “wet paint” does not make the paint wet, but it does show what is there, and often tempts us to touch.
“and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.” (7:10)
The fault is not in the command. Paul pins it on sin, which he speaks of almost as a person.
“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.” (7:12)
Paul's verdict on the Law of his people is high praise. He never gives it up.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism follows this passage closely: the Law is holy, spiritual and good, yet imperfect, for it shows what must be done but does not of itself give the strength of the Spirit to do it (CCC 1963). Only grace heals what the Law reveals.
Setting.
Jesus has entered Jerusalem, and the day before, he drove the sellers from the Temple (11:15–18). Now, walking in the same courts, he is met by chief priests, scribes and elders, the groups he had said would reject him (8:31). “These things” most likely refers to what he did in the Temple. They were responsible for the Temple, and so their question was a natural one. It is about these leaders and this moment, and not about the Jewish people (CCC 597).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?”” (11:28)
“Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” (11:30)
This is no trick. Their answer to John would have told them the answer about Jesus, since it was John who pointed to him.
“They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’” (11:31)
They ask what will be safe to say, not what is true. This is what makes it impossible for them to learn.
“So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”” (11:33)
Jesus does not refuse honest doubt. He refuses to discuss with those who already will not say what they think.
How the Church reads it.
The Church honours John as the Lord's immediate forerunner, sent to prepare his way (CCC 523). The passage is also a lesson on conscience, the inner law that we are called to listen to (CCC 1776), and on truthfulness in speech and action (CCC 2468). In a good confession we do the opposite of “We do not know”: we say what we know.
Did God really regret making human beings?
Genesis speaks of God in human language so that we may feel how seriously he takes sin. The Bible also says that he does not change his mind as humans do (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29). The point is not that God made a mistake, but that sin matters to him, and that he remains faithful: he has already found Noah.
The calendar's note for today asks for abstinence from meat and recommends fasting and the Way of the Cross. The first reading tells us why: the heart grieved in Genesis is the heart pierced on Calvary. Keep the fast according to your own eparchy's norms, and let the honest word of a good confession be part of it.