Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS (Cycle B)
Readings:
Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8C-9
Isaiah 12:2-6
Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19
John 19:31-37
Abbreviations: NAB (New American Bible), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
In the Middle Ages, Roman Catholics began observing this solemnity on the third Friday after Pentecost venerate the precious wounds of Christ. It became an echo of Good Friday as a day of devotion to the Passion of Christ in which the faithful remembered Jesus's sufferings to help them come to terms with their sufferings. St. Gertrude the Great, who lived in the 13th century, had a vision of Jesus appearing to her the same way He had revealed Himself to St. Thomas the Apostle (Jn 20:24-29). Jesus showed St. Gertrude His wounds, and He taught her about His love, which she said was pouring forth from His Sacred Heart. In the 17th century, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque testified that in a vision, Christ chose her to spread the devotion to His Sacred Heart. St. John Eudes (d. 1680) preached about the loving heart of Jesus and composed a liturgy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. In 1765, Pope Clement XIII approved this devotion and set the date of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the Church's calendar. See St. Bonaventure's reflections on this solemnity.
The Theme of the Readings: The Mercy of God
In the First Reading, through the 8th-century BC
prophet Hosea, God reminded Israelites of the Northern Kingdom, deprived of
their land and sent into exile by the Assyrians, of their origins. He reminded
them of when He declared His love for them as His "firstborn son" from among the
nations of the earth in the Exodus experience. Yahweh had rescued the children
of Israel from Egyptian slavery. He "drew them with bands of love" as His
beloved children. He taught them how to walk to freedom across the desert
wilderness, feeding them along the way to the Promised Land with the manna from
Heaven, as a human father cares for his children. In those days, God promised the
Israelites His continued protection if they remained faithful to His commandments
and the oath of obedience they swore at Mt. Sinai's covenant ratification.
However, once they conquered the Promised Land and began to
prosper, the Israelites become disobedient and finally apostatized from the covenant
by worshiping pagan gods. Despite their many failures and covenant apostasy that
ended in a judgment of exile in a foreign land, God encouraged the exiled Israelites
through His prophets like Hosea. He told them that He still loved them and promised
to show them His mercy when He restored them to their covenant relationship with
Him.
The Responsorial Psalm is a hymn of praise to Yahweh, who is His people's "Savior." The people are grateful for God's works on their behalf, and they proclaim His marvelous deeds to each other and the other nations of the world. They praise God for bringing them "water at the fountains of salvation," comparing the gift of His salvation to the freshest and best water like the "living" or "flowing" water from natural springs. Their praise recalls Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman when He offered her "living water." Jesus promised her that whoever drank the water He offered would never thirst again because what He gives is the saving water that "will become in him a spring of water, welling up for eternal life" in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist (see Jn 4:4-14).
In the Second Reading, St. Paul wrote that his life's mission is to be God's special herald, bringing the "light" of Christ to the Gentiles. He testified that even his sufferings were part of God's plan. Paul's point was that God is the Master of His plan, and nothing on earth or in Heaven can conflict with His eternal purpose. It is a message that is important to us today when we worry about what the future will bring. We need to have faith because our future lies in God's hands.
In the Gospel Reading, St. John declares that Jesus's chest, pierced by the lance of a Roman soldier as He hung on the Cross, fulfilled the prophecy of the 6th-century BC prophet Zechariah. Zechariah prophesied the day was coming when They will mourn for the one whom they have pierced as though for an only child and weep for him as people weep for a firstborn child (Zec 12:10). Writing over 400 years before the birth of Jesus, Zechariah wrote that the death of a messiah-like figure would open a fountain of salvation: When that day comes, a fountain will be opened for the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurity away (Zec 13:1). The sacrificial death of Jesus of Nazareth, a descendant of the great King David, fulfilled this prophecy when the piercing of Jesus's chest resulted in the pouring forth of water and blood (Jn 19:34). It was the visible sign of the opening of the fountain of God's divine mercy, flowing out to all men, women, and children on the face of the earth in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist through which the Church is nourished throughout every generation until Christ returns in glory.
The First Reading Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8C-9 ~ My Heart is Overwhelmed
Thus, says the LORD [Yahweh]: 1 When Israel was a
child, I loved him, out of Egypt, I called my son. [...]
3 Yet it was I who
taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; 4 I drew them with human
cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his
cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was
their healer. [...]
8C My heart is overwhelmed; my pity is stirred. 9 I will not
give vent to my blazing anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again; For I am God
and not a man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames
consume you.
Hosea was God's prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 8th-century BC. In this passage, God recalls Israel's origins when He declared His love for His "firstborn son" from among the nations of the earth (Ex 4:22). Yahweh rescued the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery and taught them "to walk" to freedom across the desert wilderness, feeding them along the way to the Promised Land with the manna from Heaven, as a human father cares for his children. He "drew them with bands of love," not forcing them like slaves or draft animals, but like beloved children (verse 4). Despite God's loving care, the time came when they forgot Yahweh was their rescuer and their healer. After the United Kingdom of Israel became divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of the Davidic Kings of Judah in 930 BC, the people of the Northern Kingdom no longer "knew" the One true God in a covenant relationship. The political schism that divided the nation of Israel became a religious schism, and the people of the Northern Kingdom apostatized from their covenant with Yahweh to followed false gods (1 Kng 12:20-13:10).
When the people of the Northern Kingdom refused to repent their sins, in divine judgment, God sent the Assyrians to conquer the Northern Kingdom (722 BC) and take her citizens away into exile in pagan lands (2 Kng 17:1-23). However, in Hosea 11:8-9, God declared His promise to take pity on the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom, who He referred to as "Ephraim." A prince of the tribe of Ephraim became the Northern Kingdom's first non-Davidic king and led the people into apostasy from their covenant with Yahweh (1 Kng 11:26; 12:20, 26-32). Hosea's prophecy ends with Yahweh's promise to restore Israel to her covenant relationship with Him one day.
In Matthew 2:15, St. Matthew applies Hosea 11:1 to Jesus. Joseph and Mary took the child Jesus into Egypt when an angel told them to save Him from the wrath of King Herod (Mt 2:13-14). Matthew wrote: He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt I called my son," quoting Hosea 11:1 from the Greek Septuagint translation. The comparison Matthew made is to Israel as God's "firstborn son" from among the nations, called out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus (Ex 4:22), and promised a home in the "Promised Land." It was similar to the way Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, came out of the same land to begin God's divine plan for a new "exodus"/departure. The exodus Jesus would lead was out of sin and death to rebirth in a New Covenant that holds the promise of eternal life in the Promised Land of Heaven.
Responsorial Psalm Isaiah 12:2-6 ~ Extolling God's Mercy and His Glory
The response is: "You
will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation."
2 God indeed is my Savior; I
am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been
my Savior. 3 With joy, you will draw water at the fountain of salvation.
Response:
4 Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name; among
the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name.
Response:
5 Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievements;
let this be known throughout all the earth. 6 Shout
with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of
Israel!
Response:
Isaiah was God's prophet to the covenant people of the Divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the 8th-century BC before and after the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom. The Messianic prophecies in Isaiah Chapters 7-12 serve to remind us of the glorious future God planned for us in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the promised Davidic heir (Is 9:1-6; 11:1-5, 10-12). He is the suffering Redeemer-Messiah who gave His life for us (Is 53:1-12): pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed (Is 53:5) so we can live forever with Him in three stages:
The Church sees herself as the "holy remnant" of humanity that has experienced God's salvation in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. As in Isaiah's prophecy in Chapter 12, the Church is called to give testimony to the joy of her salvation before all the nations of the earth. Therefore, the Council of Vatican II declares: "all sons [and daughters] of the Church should have a lively awareness of their responsibility to the world; they should foster in themselves a truly catholic spirit; they should spend their forces in the work of evangelization. And yet, let everyone know that their first and most important obligation for the spread of the Faith is this: to lead a profoundly Christian life" (Ad gentes, 36).
The hymn of praise in Isaiah Chapter 12 expresses joy for all parts of the covenant people's society:
Both the Old and New Testaments express the unity of the covenant people of God (the Church) in the feminine, symbolizing the Bride of the Divine Bridegroom (Encountering the Book of Isaiah, Bryan E. Beyer, page 91).
In verse 2, Isaiah describes the joy the redeemed sinner knows because of God's great work on his/her behalf that inspires trust and gratitude. Since God is the source of salvation, every member of the covenant family knows he/she can trust and not fear Him. The line, My strength, and my courage is the LORD [Yahweh], and he has been my Savior in verse 2, is similar to the Song of Victory Moses and the Israelites sang after the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea/Sea of Reeds in their gratitude to God for their deliverance from the Egyptians: My strength and my courage is the LORD [Yahweh], and he has been my Savior. Isaiah's hymn of praise recognizes God's promised deliverance of His people as another miracle akin to the Red Sea miracle.
In verses 3-5, Isaiah changes the focus of the hymn from the individual to the entire covenant community. They praise God for the promise to bring them water at the fountains of salvation in the future, and they Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name, among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name.
The wording "water at the foundations of salvation" in verse 3 is significant. In the land of Israel, the principal source of water came from the Jordan River or streams, underground well-water, and rainwater collected in cisterns. However, the best, freshest water was from natural springs. In their hymn of praise, the people compare the gift of God's salvation to the freshest and best water like the "living" or "flowing" water from natural springs. Jesus offered the Samaritan woman "living water" and promised her whoever drank the water He offered would never thirst again. Jesus told her this was because what He gives is the water that will become in him a spring of water, welling up for eternal life (see Jn 4:4-14).
4 Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name. 5 Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth.
In verses 4-5, the people are grateful for God's works on their behalf, and so they proclaim His marvelous deeds to their people and the other nations of the world. The faithful proclaiming God's deeds to the people recall Psalm 105, a psalm that recounts God's wondrous works in the history of Israel.
6 Shout
with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of
Israel!
In this verse, the tense suddenly changes to the feminine singular. Zion
is the symbolic word for the covenant people personified in Scripture as a
woman. The Old Testament represents the unified covenant people (the Old
Covenant Church) as "Zion," God's virgin bride (see the chart on the Symbolic
Images of the Old Testament Prophets).
This imagery is what probably accounts for the feminine singular in Isaiah 12:6.
God promises the restoration of His relationship with His people. He will
become one with His people in the covenant bond of faithfulness symbolized like
the bond between a bridegroom and his bride in marriage. Jesus used this same
symbolic imagery, referring to Himself as the "Bridegroom" (Mt 9:15; Lk 5:34-35),
and the writers of the New Testament epistles and Church Fathers used the same
symbolic imagery for the relationship between Jesus and His Church (2 Cor 11:2;
Eph 5:25-27;
Rev 19:7-9; 21:2, 9; 22:17).
Isaiah Chapters 1-12 contain valuable truths that we should apply to our lives. The Book of Isaiah has much to tell us about who God is, where we stand in our relationship with Him, and what God expects of us as His covenant people. We should see God's discipline as an opportunity to come to repentance. Some people will reject God's fatherly correction like the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel or remain ignorant of His sovereignty over their lives like the pagan Assyrians. However, others will remain faithful no matter what struggles they face in life, like the faithful remnant of Israel, who became Jesus's disciples and carried His Gospel of salvation to the world. Which of these are you?
The Second Reading Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 ~ St. Paul's
Commission to Preach and His Intercessory Prayer for Christ's Mercy
8 To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace [charis]
was given, to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light [for all] what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past
in God who created all things, 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now
be made known through the Church to the principalities and authorities in the
heavens. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in
Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness of speech and confidence of
access through faith in him ...
14 For this reason, I kneel before the Father,
15 from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named,
16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power
through his Spirit in the inner self [anthropos = man], 17 and that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love,
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and
length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
[...] = IBGE, vol. IV, page 524.
St. Paul wrote that his life's mission was to be God's special herald, bringing the "light" of Christ to the Gentiles. He expressed his humility by declaring himself "the very least" of the "holy ones" called to preach Jesus's Gospel of salvation. In verse 8, Paul employed the Greek word charis, which Christians define as the unmerited gift of God's favor or grace. The eloquence of Paul's peaching was not his own; God gave Paul His grace to effectively preach the Gospel of salvation to the Gentiles. This instance is the ninth of twelve times Paul used the word "grace" in this letter ( Ephesians 1:2, 6, 7; 2:5, 7, 8; 3:2, 7, 8; 4:7, 29, and 6:24).
In verse 8, Paul also mentioned the "mystery" of God's divine plan concerning the Gentile peoples and hidden from the covenant people of Israel in past ages. It has always been God's resolve to bring Gentiles who were separated from Him as well as the Israelites/Jews who were in covenant with Him to salvation. Paul mentioned the principalities and authorities in the Heavens in 1:15-23. He referred again to the angelic spirits in verse 10 who reside with God in Heaven and are also subject to Christ.
11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he
accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in
whom we have boldness of speech and confidence of access through faith in him.
13 So I ask you not to lose
heart over my afflictions for you; this is your glory.
The fulfillment of God's divine plan in Christ for a united covenant
people and the exercise of His authority over all creation should give Christians
more confidence and faith in God. Paul wrote that their faith and trust in God
should increase despite any afflictions they or other Christians may
experience, including the news of Paul's sufferings during his imprisonment by
the Romans. Even Paul's sufferings are part of God's plan and are no reason for
becoming discouraged. Paul wrote that it is instead for "your glory" that his
readers should be glad. His imprisonment reflects that he has fulfilled his
mission to the Gentiles as God intended, preaching from
his house arrest in Rome. Paul's point is that God is the Master of His plan,
and nothing on earth or in Heaven can conflict with His "eternal purpose." It
is a message that is also important to us today when we worry about what the
future will bring. Have faith because your future lies in God's hands.
Ephesians 3:14-19 ~ Paul's Prayer
14 For this reason, I kneel before the Father,
15 from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named,
16 that he may grant you in
accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his
Spirit in the inner self [anthropos],
17 and that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love,
18 may have
strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Paul wrote that he kneels in prayer for those who read his
letter. His prayer includes those who read his letter in every generation of
the faithful. There are three parts to St. Paul's prayer, but our reading only contains
parts 1 and 2:
14 For this reason, I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named
Jews often stood to pray, but they also knelt. Kneeling is a position of submission that acknowledges the authority of earthly rulers and God the Divine King. It is also an act of worship that expresses the inner attitude of humility and obedience. For these reasons, we both stand and kneel when we pray in the sacrifice of the Mass (2 Chr 6:13b-14; Dan 6:10; Ps 95:6-7; Mk 1:40; 15:19; Acts 20:36; CCC 2702-3).
In verses 14 and 15, Paul used a wordplay on the relationship between two Greek words: pater, the word for "father," and patria, the word for family (derived from pater/father). Paul was expressing the concept that every family owes its origin and existence to its progenitor (human father). In the same way, God is the Divine Father and Creator of every Jewish and Gentile family on earth and the family of spiritual beings in Heaven. Angels are also part of God's family. They are rational spiritual beings who also owe their existence and identity to their Creator.
Paul offered five petitions for the readers of his letter:
The first petition: 16
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to
be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self
Paul prayed that his readers might receive inner strength
and power, as much as God's infinite resources (glory) can make possible through
the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The place where this strengthening is to take place
is the "inner person" (anthropos). The choices we make that lead to works
of holiness or the temptation to do evil come from within us.
The second petition: 17 and that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love
The second petition is like the first, but Paul added
another dimension with the request for the risen Savior to dwell within our
hearts so that we are rooted in love because Christ/God is Himself the
definition of love (1 Jn 4:7-8). In our modern concept, we think of the heart
as the expression of our feelings and emotions. However, for the ancients, the
heart was the center of the total essence of a person and the seat of one's
moral expression for good or for evil
(Lev 19:17;
Dt 4:29;
Dt 8:17; 9:4-5;
Ps 7:10; 9:1; 13:5; 24:4;
Pro 4:4; 6:18;
Mt 5:8; 11:29; 12:35; 15:8, 18-19;
Heb 3:10, 12; 10:22; 13:9;
Rev 17:17).
The third petition: 18 may have strength to comprehend
with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth
The word "strength" is a synonym for "power." Paul prayed
that God would give the readers of his letter the power to understand, in union
with the other "holy ones" of the united Body of Christ that is the Church. He
describes a four-part dimension: what is the breadth and length
and height and depth in their understanding of Christ. However,
Paul does not define what he means by those dimensions.
In interpreting this verse, Biblical scholars have suggested:
We can combine the three interpretations to conclude that Paul petitions the Lord that the mystery of His Divine Plan, which reflects His infinite wisdom, will reveal to his readers and the other "holy ones" of the Church a genuine understanding of Christ's gift of salvation to the world from His throne that is His Cross of sacrifice.
The fourth petition: 19a
and to know the love
[agape] of Christ that surpasses knowledge ...
In referring to love, Paul uses the Greek word agape, meaning
spiritual love. It is a word to which Christians gave the distinctive Christian
meaning of "self-sacrificial love in the way Christ loved us. Not only does
Paul pray for our knowledge to comprehend but to know the love of the Savior
that "surpasses knowledge." He is probably referring to the love of Christ that
is a reality exceeding our human capacity to explain in words. Paul prays that we
may have a personal experience of Jesus's unique agape, self-sacrificial love
despite our limitations in understanding.
The Cross of Jesus stands as the proof of His love for us that can never fail and from which nothing can separate us, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: What can separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecutions, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword [...] No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:35-39).
The fifth petition: 19b so that you may be filled with
all the fullness of God.
Paul sums up all that he has asked in the other four
petitions. He compares the lives of the "holy ones" who read his letter with
containers filled to the maximum level. He prays for the lives of the faithful,
including your life and my life, to be infinitely filled with God's divine life
and love!
The Gospel of John 19:31-37 ~ Behold the Pierced
Messiah
31 Since it was Preparation Day, in order that the bodies
might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week
was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken, and they be
taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then
of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus
and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, 34 but one soldier
thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
35 An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking
the truth, so that you also may come to believe. 36 For this happened so that
the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: "Not a bone of it will be broken."
37 And again, another passage says: "They will look upon him whom they have pierced."
Notice how John clarified the term "Preparation Day" to mean the day before the Jewish (Saturday) Sabbath. This term identifies the day of Jesus's crucifixion on our Friday, the 6th day of the week. In verse 31b, John refers to the Sabbath day of that week as "a solemn one," referring to the Sabbath that fell during the feasts of Passover (Nisan 14) and Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15-21).
Verse 31 mentions the Jewish authorities requesting Pilate to have the Roman guards hasten the deaths of the crucifixion victims. According to Mosaic Law, the dead body of a condemned man had to be buried before sundown on the day he died (Dt 22:22-23). Breaking the victim's legs prevented taking a breath by pushing against the small wooden foot support on the cross, causing shock followed by suffocation and death. For this reason, death by crucifixion was also known to the Romans as "broken legs" [Cicero, Philippicae XIII.12 (27)].
"33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, 34 but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe." This passage confirms #1: Jesus was flesh and blood; #2: He died; #3: the inspired writer of this Gospel was an eyewitness to these events.
St. John states that not breaking Jesus's legs was a fulfillment of prophecy (verse 36). The literal Greek reads: Not a bone of him (it) shall be broken (Interlinear Bible Greek-English, vol. IV, page 313; the Greek text uses an indefinite pronoun). The prophecy may refer to Psalm 34:20: Yahweh takes care of all their bones, not one of them will be broken (Ps 34:20 NJB or God watches over all their bones; not a one shall be broken = NAB Ps 34:21). However, it is also likely that John was referring to the requirements for the body of the Passover victim: Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ritual for the Passover ... you will not take any of the meat out of the house; nor may you break any of its bones" (Ex 12:43-46 NJB, repeated in Num 9:12). This requirement is also in the Jewish Mishnah that states any broken bones of the Passover victim made the offering invalid (Mishnah: Pesahim, 7:1B, 7:11C).
The second Old Testament passage that St. John declared fulfilled, They will look upon him whom they have pierced (verse 37), is from Zechariah 12:10, They will mourn for the one whom they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep for a firstborn child. Writing over 400 years before the birth of Jesus, Zechariah prophesied that the death of a messiah-like figure would open a fountain of salvation: When that day comes, a fountain will be opened for the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurity away (Zec 13:1). The sacrificial death of Jesus of Nazareth, a descendant of the great King David and heir of the Davidic covenant, fulfilled this prophecy and opened the fountain of God's divine mercy in Jesus's everlasting Kingdom of the Church!
This prophecy is St. John's symbolic element in verse 34 in the outpouring of the blood and the water from Jesus's side: and immediately blood and water flowed out. From the altar of the Cross, Jesus gave three gifts to His Church: Jesus's first gift was His mother, the second was His last breath that was the first moment of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and His third gift was the water and blood that gushed from the wound in His chest that pierced His heart. The symbolic significance of the last gift was:
The New Covenant gives rebirth through water and blood (the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist), generating in believers a new heart and a new spirit in the blood of Jesus. He is the unblemished Lamb of God, whose blood was "poured out" (the ritual language for a sin sacrifice; see Lev 4:29-31) for the salvation of humanity (see Jer 31:31-34; Lk 22:20; 24:25-27 and 44-48). Jesus fulfills the prophecies in the Old Testament and the rituals of blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. He opens the way for believers to come to Him through the Gospel of salvation and rebirth into the New Covenant through Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit.
Some Fathers of the Church interpreted the flow of the water and the blood from Jesus's heart as the birth of the Church, the Bride of Christ, born from the side of Jesus who, like Adam at the creation of his bride, Eve, was in a death-like sleep (Gen 2:21-23). The first Adam failed to sacrifice his life for his bride when Satan tempted her, but Jesus, the new Adam, sacrificed His life on the altar of the Cross so that His Covenant Bride, the Church, would live. It is in the water and the blood that Christ's Bride unites with Him in the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist (Eph 5:23-32; Augustine, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 120.2).
St. Paul connected the water supernaturally flowing from the Rock (Ex 17:5-6; Num 20:7-11) that refreshed and gave life to the children of Israel in their wilderness journey with the spiritual drink that flows from Christ in the Eucharist. It is an event Jesus promised in John 7:38, and as Ezekiel and Zechariah prophesied in Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Zechariah 14:8. The "Rock" that gave physical life to the children of Israel now gives supernatural life to the New Israel, the Universal Church (also see 1 Cor 10:1-4).
All these interpretations are in accord and reflect the fullness of Christ's perfect sacrifice. In St. John's descriptive passage, he wanted the readers and hearers of his Gospel to understand that Jesus's atoning blood shows that the Lamb of God sacrificed Himself for the salvation of the world (Jn 1:29). And he wanted the faithful to understand that the water, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, shows that the sacrifice is a rich source/fountain of grace. John identifies three elements coming from Jesus's Body on the Cross: His Spirit, water, and blood, and he refers to them as three witnesses in 1 John 5:7, So there are three witnesses, the Spirit, water and blood, and the three of them coincide. These three testimonies converge: blood and water join with the Spirit to bear witness to the origin, mission, and sacrifice of God the Son who gives life!
Catechism # 766 provides a fitting conclusion to this lesson: "The Church is born primarily of Christ's total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. 'The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.' For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the 'wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.' As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross" (quoting from Jn 19:34 and Vatican II, Sacrosanctum concilium, 5).
For an in-depth study of all the readings, see Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Catechism References for this
lesson (* indicates Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Hosea 11 (CCC 219*);
11:1 (CCC 219, 441*, 530*);
11:1-4 (CCC 370*);
11:9 (CCC 208)
Ephesians 3:8 (CCC 424); 3:12 (CCC 221*); 3:14 (CCC 239*, 2214*, 2367*); 3:16-17 (CCC 1073, 2714); 3:16 (CCC 1995); 3:18-19 (CCC 2565*)
John 19:31 (CCC 641*); 19:34 (CCC 478, 694*, 1225, 766*); 19:36 (CCC 608*); 19:37; (CCC 1432*)
God's mercy (CCC 210*, 211*, 604*)
Christ's love for all (CCC 430*, 478*, 545*, 589*, 1365*, 1439*, 1825*, 1846*)
The Heart of Christ is worthy of adoration (CCC 2669)
The Church was born from the pierced side of Christ (CCC 766*, 1225*)
Christ's love moves our hearts (CCC 1432*, 2100*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2018; revised 2021 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.