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Ordinary Time · Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year B

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20

The Wicked Plot Against the Righteous One

September 19, 2027

Christ Mocked (The Crowning with Thorns), Hieronymus Bosch
Christ Mocked (The Crowning with Thorns), Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1510National Gallery, London
Four tormentors fill the frame, each one leaning in from a corner, each face a separate study in cruelty. Christ looks straight out at the viewer and does nothing.Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is: Wisdom writes the script, and Bosch painted the four men following it.Hieronymus BoschA Netherlandish painter of demons, hybrids and exact human cruelty, whose work was collected by Philip II and has never been fully explained.National Gallery, LondonFounded in 1824 by buying one banker's collection, and deliberately placed in Trafalgar Square so that people from every part of London could walk to it.National Gallery, London
Roman Lectionary
GospelMark 9:30-37Mk 9:30-37
Second ReadingJas. 3:16–4:3Jas 3:16–4:3
First ReadingWis. 2:12, 17-20Wis 2:12, 17-20
Responsorial PsalmPs. 54:3-4, 5, 6+8 (6b)Ps 54:3-4, 5, 6+8 (6b)

Overview & Insights

"Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for according to his own words God will take care of him." (Wisdom 2:20)

The ungodly, quoted by the author, resolve to trap the righteous man because his life reproaches theirs and he claims God as his father. They plan to test him with insult and torture and to condemn him to a shameful death, expecting that God will rescue him if he truly belongs to God.

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Commentary

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Agape Bible Study

A Catholic study of the day's readings, reading the persecuted just one of Wisdom as a foreshadowing of Christ.

Background & Word Study

Wisdom 2 with Haydock NotesWis 2 with Haydock Notes New Advent · Catholic Encyclopedia

The Douay-Rheims text of Wisdom 2 with Haydock's Catholic commentary notes on the plot against the just man.

The Book of WisdomThe Book of Wis New Advent · Catholic Encyclopedia

The standard Catholic introduction to the book: how it was written, in what language, and how it came to stand where it does.

Wisdom 2 (NABRE, with footnotes)Wis 2 (NABRE, with footnotes) USCCB

The text as the Church reads it, with the notes that set the passage in its own moment.

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