Why?

Brief comments and the OT and Gospel readings

The end of Jehoiada’s story

Jehoiada’s story is that of a hero of Judah and of God.

He restores the legitimate heir to the throne,

renews the covenant between God, the king and people.

All this in the midst of turmoil

murderous rages,

plots and assassinations.

Today’s passage

the king and people backsliding

again forgetting God and his justice.

Then, Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son,

stands up, as his father had,

for God and the ancient covenant.

You might ask:

Why are we reading this in the Bible?

What does it have to do with the Word of God?

This is part of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah,

condemning those who abandoned the Lord,

and ruled unjustly,

and praising the few who undertook reforms

and restored the ancient faith.

The final judgement comes,

first, with the fall of Israel in 722 BCE

to the Assyrian Empire

and the deportation of 27,000 Israelites

to eastern Assyria even as far as Medea,

today’s Kazakhstan, 1200 -1800 miles away,

on foot!

The same pattern continued in Judah,

with injustice and infidelity,

and occasional reforms,

until the final defeat of Jerusalem in 587 BCE,

and the deportation of all but the poorest inhabitants

to Babylon, again 1200 - 1600 miles away.

The point of these stories is

to recount in detail the repeated infidelities of the kings and people

until their final defeat,

as they understood it,

because of their infidelity and ‘hardness of heart’.

They were intended to turn the people away from the rebellion and injustice they describe.

When Jesus accuses the religious leaders of ‘hardness of heart’, and calls them ‘you who stoned the prophets’,

they understand all too well the seriousness of his accusation.

The Church presents us with these readings so that,

we too may understand Jesus’ words and actions,

with their full historical weight;

and accept his teaching with fuller depth.