Other comments on this day's readings can be found here.
Reading 1 - 1Ki 7:40-42
"So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King
Solomon in the temple of the LORD: the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals
on top of the pillars; the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped
capitals on top of the pillars; the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets
of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the
bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars..." (1Ki 7:40-42).
Four hundred brazen pomegranates complemented the two great
pillars of Stability and Strength -- Jachin and Boaz -- at the entrance of the
Temple. The pomegranate is a very special fruit in the divine imagery: it is the
essence of all fruit. It was on the border of the High Priest's robe (Exo
39:24), with the golden bells of salvation and praise. Cut through transversely,
the pomegranate has twelve sections, arranged around the center like the camps
of the twelve Tribes around the Tabernacle. It is full of white, pearl-like
seeds in a red fluid, and seems to represent a multitudinous unity purified in
the blood of the Lamb. In the Song of Songs, the Bride is said to have temples
like the halves of a pomegranate (Song 4:3; 6:7); the eastern pomegranate is
light golden brown with a tinge of pink, and the physical resemblance is
striking. Also, the association of the multitudinous Bride with the pomegranate
and the Temple is, in itself, a powerful and thought-provoking spiritual
image.
Reading 2 - Jer 33:14-16
"In reference to this good time which is near at hand it is
written, 'Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good
thing which I have promised to the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah.
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to
grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this
is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness' (Jer 23:5,6;
33:14-16; Eze 48:35; Isa 24:23). The Kingdom of God, then, has existed once,
but, for the present, exists 'no more' [Eze 21:25-27]. It existed from the
fourteenth to the twenty-eighth generation [Mat 1:17], a period of rather more
than a thousand years; but it has been extinct upwards of two thousand five
hundred years -- a time so long that the promise of its restoration has become a
mere fable, or speculation, in the estimation of the world! But the believer in
the gospel of this kingdom rejoices in the sure and certain hope of its
restitution, and glorious and triumphant existence for a thousand years, at the
expiration of which kingdoms on earth will be no more, but God will be all and
in all" (John Thomas, "Elpis Israel").
Reading 3 - Mar 7:32-35
"There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could
hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After HE TOOK HIM
ASIDE, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he
spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh
said to him, 'Ephathah', which means, 'Be opened.' At this, the man's ears were
opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly" (Mar
7:32-35).
"The Lord God has given His Son the tongue of the learned that
he might speak a word in season to him that is weary. Sometimes our ears are
dull of hearing, and when they are we usually find that we have also an
impediment in our speech. To take us away from the multitude to the isolation of
a sick bed, or into that mental detachment which comes from solitude, is perhaps
the only way towards healing which will give us ears to hear the joyful sound of
his Gospel, and voice to speak forth his praise" (Melva Purkis, "A Life of
Jesus" 204).