NEW TESTAMENT: Hebrews 1: 1 - 4, 2: 5 - 12 (RCL)
Hebrews 1: 1 - 4, 2: 9 - 11 (Can. BAS)
Hebrews 2: 9 - 11 (Roman Catholic)

Hebr 1:1 (NRSV) Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

2:5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6 But someone has testified somewhere,
"What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?
7 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honor,
8 subjecting all things under their feet."
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying,
"I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."

Comments h/t montrealanglican.org
The author contrasts the old and new ways of God: that of “long ago” and that “in these last days” (1:2), our era, the one between Christ’s first and second coming. God spoke then to the ancestors of Israel, our spiritual ancestors; in this era he speaks to us; then he spoke through “prophets” (1:1, including Moses); now he speaks through “a Son” (1:2), the one who is Son. A priest mediated and purified. Christ shared in (and mediated) creation of the “worlds” (in Jewish cosmology, the earth and the heavens) and is “heir” of God. Jesus (“He”, 1:3) shows us something of God’s greatness, and is an exact image, icon, of God. He continues to sustain all that is created. Jesus purified us of our sins through his death; he was then exalted in returning to the Father. Since before time and now he is “much superior to angels” (1:4), to other heavenly beings, being God.
In Judaism, angels controlled the world (2:5), and priests were seen as angels. The quotation in 2:6-8 is Psalm 8:4-6; to the author, who wrote Psalms is immaterial (2:6): the psalm is the word of God. These verses say humans are superior to nature, but here they are used to refer to Jesus, possibly because “human beings” was translated son of man in the contemporary translation. All creation is under our control (2:8) but now we only see this in Jesus: he for a time humbled himself in becoming human, so that he might die for the sake of all. Jesus’ exaltation (“crowned”, 2:9) is a consequence of his death. Then 2:10: it was in accordance with God’s plan to save all people that Jesus should complete God’s action (“make ... perfect”); Jesus is the forerunner for all of us in being with God forever.

Note 2:1-3, the reason for writing the book: we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. If Christ’s message is valid, and deviations from God’s ways lead to punishment, how can we escape judgement if we ignore salvation through Christ?

1:2: “through whom he also created ...”: Christ was mediator (agent) in creation. In the Old Testament (and the Apocrypha), this is the role of personified Wisdom: in Proverbs 8:30-31, Lady Wisdom says: “was beside him [God], like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race”. See also Wisdom of Solomon 7:22. [NJBC]

1:2: “worlds”: Several worlds, both visible and invisible. The invisible worlds are the heavens.
1:3-4: Possibly a liturgical hymn. Similar wording occurs elsewhere in the New Testament. [NJBC]

1:3: “reflection”: The Greek word can also mean radiance. NJBC notes that reflection is more likely here; it is an echo of Wisdom of Solomon 7:26. Again, “exact imprint” is also found in Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 (translated as “spotless mirror” in the NRSV).
1:3: “sustains”: The Greek word also has the sense of guides. Jesus’ sonship and priesthood are the basis for salvation.

1:3: “at the right hand ...”: Jesus fulfills Psalm 110:1: “The LORD says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool’”. Glorification is always mentioned immediately after mention of the resurrection. [NJBC]

1:4: “name”: In Semitic thought, a change in name indicated a change in the person who received it. Here the new name is Son: see v. 5. [NJBC]

1:5-14: A demonstration, based on quotations from the Old Testament, that while angels are in divine service, Christ is superior to them. [CAB]

2:1-4: Christ being superior to angels places a greater obligation on those to whom the faith has been handed down by eye witnesses to Jesus’ life. Failure to keep to the faith will have dire consequences. [NOAB]


GOSPEL: Mark 10: 2 - 16 (RCL)
Mark 10: 2 - 12 (13 - 16) (Roman Catholic)

Mark 10:2 (NRSV) Some Phar'isees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" 4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." 5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, "God made them male and female.' 7 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.


Comments

h/t montrealanglican

Jesus is now in Judea (or east of the Jordan, in Perea.) Mosaic law permitted a man to divorce his wife (but not a woman her husband) for cause, but the grounds were unclear. The Pharisees were divided re the legality of divorce as well as the grounds for it, so their question is a trap. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 says (in part) that a man may simply “write a certificate of dismissal” (v. 4), without legal proceedings. (That book was seen as Moses’ teaching.) In vv. 5-8, Jesus says: Moses allowed divorce as a concession to human weakness, but God’s original plan was that marriage be for life: man and wife are “one flesh”; my stance is God’s plan, not Mosaic law. In this plan, remarriage is either literally “adultery” (vv. 11-12) or a deviation from God’s ways. (Sometimes a wife, in effect, divorced her husband. Elsewhere Jesus accepts that a man may divorce an unfaithful wife.)
Vv. 13-16 tell about the kingdom of God and the kind of people who will be admitted to it. People wish Jesus to “touch” (v. 13) their children, to lay hands on them and bless them (v. 16). Jesus is “indignant” (v. 14) at the disciples’ inability to understand him and the nature of the Kingdom. Children are receptive; a child has no status and makes no claim to power. Whoever is not receptive to God’s gifts will not enter the kingdom. There is no place there for human status and power.