Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

(II Samuel 6:12b-15.17-19; Mark 3:31-35)

The first reading today tells of King David making “burnt offerings” and “peace offerings.”  In a burnt offering the animal sacrificed to God is destroyed so that there is nothing to be eaten.  Burnt offerings were made to atone for sins.

A peace offering was not wholly consumed by fire. Blood was shed, of course, but most of the animal was left to be eaten by the people who brought it.  Peace offerings were not made to pacify God for sins but to thank God for His goodness. 

The Eucharist is a kind of peace offering.  The bread and the wine brought for sacrifice become the body and blood of Christ.  He is offered to God in a spirit of praise and thanks. The people who brought the sacrificial elements then receive them back transformed.  Eating Christ’s body and drinking Christ’s blood give them new life.  At the Last Supper Christ made a New Covenant with his disciples.  Under this arrangement their sins are forgiven.  They may leave in complete peace, freed from past sins and energized with new life.