Published: Fri 05 June 2026
By Neill Cox
In Reflections .
tags: Reflections
Friday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time
Mark 12:35-37
At that time while teaching in the Temple, Jesus said, ‘How can the scribes maintain that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, moved by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my Lord:
David himself calls him Lord, in what way then can he be his son?’ And the great majority of the people heard this with delight.
When reading this Gospel it helps a lot to know that Jesus is quoting psalm 110,written by David and accepted as being about God the Father speaking to to the Messiah (The Lord said – God said, to my lord – the Messiah),
Most of chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark deals with Jesus being questioned by the Scribes and the Sadducees. In this passage it’s Jesus’ turn and he asks them a question. The messiah was to be a descendant of David, and Jesus is indeed one of David’s descendants, but he wants us to know that he is more than that, so he asks the scribes how the deal with this passages from psalm 110 – where David speaking about the Messiah refers to him as “my lord”, not saying something a father would say about his son.
Jesus does not deny his descent from David, but he shows that we need a deeper understanding of Jesus’ relationship with the Father.
The scribes were undoubtedly not happy to hear this, but almost all the people who heard were very happy. For us today it is still important that we understand Jesus as more than just an historical human teacher. To truly know Jesus is to understand that he is the second person of the Trinity – fully human, but also fully divine.
Saint Boniface, Bishop, Martyr
John 10:11-16
Jesus said:
‘I am the good shepherd:
‘I am the good shepherd;
Today is the memorial of Saint Boniface (born Winfrid), the apostle to the Germans. We know quite a lot about Saint Boniface, so I won’t try and cover it all here – a book of saints or Wikipedia can tell you much more.
St Boniface was born, and was originally named Winfred sometime around 675 near Exeter in England. He was born to a wealthy family and entered monastic life against his father’s wishes
In 716 the abbot of his monastery died and Winfrid was expected to become abbot. Instead left to work as a missionary in Frisia, part of what is today Germany. In all Boniface made three missionary journeys to Germany. The pope renamed him Boniface and appointed him both archbishop and papal legate to Germany.
In 754 Boniface and 52 of his companions were attacked and killed by brigands.
His body and several relics are in the Cathedral at Fulda in Germany.
Boniface was instrumental in establishing the church and Christianity in what is now Germany.
St Boniface exemplifies the good shepherd – he lay down his life for the flock he had gathered, and did all he could to ensure that the early Christians of Europe were gathered into one flock.
He is a reminder of the danger and hardships that missionaries often endure when preaching the Gospel and hopefully an inspiration for us when we encounter much smaller hardships in our own efforts to share out faith.