Homily for Thursday
20th Week of Ordinary
Time
August 21, 2025
Jgs 11: 29-39
Matt 22: 1-14
Ps 40: 5, 7-10
Christian Brothers, St.
Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
The Return of Jephthah
(Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini)
The book of Judges
recounts stories of Israel’s repeated infidelities, of the Lord’s allowing them
in consequence to be harassed and oppressed by their enemies, and of his
repeatedly raising up tribal leaders known as judges to deliver them when they
finally turn back to him.
The judges by and
large reflect their times and culture.
Like Jephthah today, they’re stirred up by the Spirit of the Lord (Jgs
11:29) to save one or another of the Hebrew tribes. But they remain flawed heroes. So Jephthah is ready to practice human
sacrifice, one of the grievous practices of the nations round about Israel that
for a very long time tempted them to infidelity.
It took many
generations for Israel to be converted to the Lord in spite of prophets and
good kings like David and Josiah. Jesus
was still calling for their repentance 1,200 years after Jephthah, and one
could argue that still today they need a conversion to respect for human life.
You and I aren’t
exempt from the temptations of our time and culture. We’re vowed to God more profoundly than
Jephthah and his daughter were, yet our conversion to the ways of Jesus remains
incomplete. Tho we’ve accepted the
King’s invitation to his Son’s wedding feast (Matt 22:2), we’re not yet fully
garbed for it (22:11).
So each day we
recommit ourselves to our Lord Jesus.
Each day we make a fresh start to follow him. We pray that he give us ears open to
obedience (Ps 40:7), that he help us to greater fidelity to his ways and make
his law our constant delight (40:9).
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