1ST READING
Jeroboam builds idols to create alternative worshipping places for the northern kingdom of Israel (Jerusalem is in the southern kingdom of Judah). Not only is the nation divided but now the vast majority of it is worshipping idols. This means disaster for Israel and such will not be long in coming, with exile (to Assyria) in less than 100 years. Unfaithfulness to God ultimately does not bear good fruit.
1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34
26 Jeroboam thought to himself: “The kingdom will return to David’s house. 27 If now this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me.” 28After taking counsel, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people: “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan. 30This led to sin, because the people frequented these calves in Bethel and in Dan. 31 He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the people who were not Levites. 32 Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month to duplicate in Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah, with sacrifices to the calves he had made; and he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places he had built. 13: 33 Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this, but again made priests for the high places from among the common people. Whoever desired it was consecrated and became a priest of the high places. 34 This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.
P S A L M
Psalm 106:6-7, 19-20, 21-22
R: Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
6 We have sinned, we and our fathers; we have committed crimes; we have done wrong. 7 Our fathers in Egypt considered not your wonders. (R) 19 They made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; 20 they exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock. (R) 21 They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, 22wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea. (R)
GOSPEL
Does Jesus feed the people because He has pity for them? Yes, but more than that, He feeds the people to demonstrate that He has the power to overcome seemingly impossible difficulties. He is not constrained by the normal laws of supply and distribution. As Son of God, He stands above the normal physical laws of nature. This is a sign to us of His divinity.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
Mark 8:1-10
1 In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, 2 “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” 4 His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” 5 Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied. 6 He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. 8They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over — seven baskets.9 There were about four thousand people. He dismissed the crowd 10 and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
LIST
think: Unfaithfulness to God ultimately does not bear good fruit.
T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for: __________________
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God’s special verse/thought for me today_
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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Galatians 1-3
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