Third Sunday in Ordinary Time-A
Reading 1IS 8:23—9:3
First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (4a) Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble his way.
Reading 21 COR 1:10-13, 17
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you. I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.
Gospel MT 4:12-23 OR 4:12-17
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.
Commentary
THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT PARTS in today’s Gospel reading:
a. Jesus, the light of the nations and the fulfillment of Hebrew Testament prophecies.
b. A call to total conversion, to live in that light
c. Early responses to the call.
After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus moves up north to Galilee. It is his home province. It is where he will begin his public life.
John’s “arrest”
A note about John’s “arrest”. The verb in the original Greek is paradidomi (), which literally means to “hand over”. This is a theme word which goes right through the Gospel:
John the Baptist was handed over – and executed (by King Herod)
Jesus was handed over – and executed (by both Jews and Gentiles – he died for all)
Many of Jesus’ disciples were handed over – and some were executed (mainly by Gentiles).
And this “handing over” has been happening to disciples ever since and down to our own day. Paradoxically, persecution can always be the expected result of living the Gospel of truth and love.
At the consecration during every Eucharist, the celebrant says: “Take this all of you and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.” “Given up” is perhaps a less than ideal translation of the Latin tradetur which means “will be handed over” and is the Latin equivalent of the Greek verb paradidomi. So, in the Eucharist, the Body of Christ is also “handed over” to us. And we, in turn, collectively as the Body of Christ in the Christian community are expected to continue that handing over of ourselves in the service of the Gospel and the promotion of the Kingdom.
Nazareth Matthew says that Jesus left his home town of Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town in Galilee, which, he tells us, is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee “in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali”. This reminds the evangelist of a prophecy from Isaiah which Matthew now sees being fulfilled.
At this time Galilee did not seem an obvious choice for the Messiah’s mission. It was regarded as a ‘remote’ province. (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”, Nathanael asked with some surprise and cynicism.) It was a rebellious region where even Jews were not noted for their observance of the Law.
Yet the prophecy suggests that the Light of the World is to be found in Galilee. Galilee, of all places, is to be the light of the nations? Not for nothing do we speak of a “God of surprises”!
But it is precisely in this Galilean town of Capernaum that Jesus, the Messiah, begins his mission. His preaching is summed up in one deceptively simple sentence: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” ‘Preaching’ would be better translated ‘proclaiming’, making an announcement of Good News.
Good News
What is this “good news”? The Greek eu-angelion (’), from which comes the Latin evangelium, is translated into modern English as “gospel”. This is a variant of the earlier ‘God-Spel’ or ‘good news’.
And what is this good news? The Good News is that the “Kingdom of Heaven” is near. “Kingdom of Heaven” can be a very misleading term. To many, it may be identified with “heaven”, the “place up there” where we hope to go to after death, if we have behaved ourselves.
In fact, it is important to be aware that the term in this context has far less to do with a future life than with our life here in this world. The other gospels speak more directly of the “kingdom of God” which, in fact, is what Matthew also means. However, Matthew’s gospel was written for a Christian community consisting primarily of converted Jews. In their tradition, they were very reluctant ever to use the name of God directly and so Matthew throughout his gospel speaks of God in indirect ways. One way is to use the term “heaven” or to use the passive voice of a verb, e.g. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them.” He does not say by whom they are forgiven but God is clearly understood.
Again, “kingdom” for us suggests the territory ruled over by a king. The Greek word the evangelists use is basileia () from the word basileus () which means a king. Basileia is better translated as ‘rule’, ‘reign’ or ‘kingship’. It indicates more the power of being a king than the place over which one is king. To be in the kingdom, then, is not to be in a particular place, either in this life or the next. Rather it is to be living one’s life – wherever we are – under the loving power of God. It is to be in a relationship of loving submission to one’s God and Lord and to be in an environment where values like truth, love, compassion, justice, freedom, commmunity, and peace prevail.
‘Repent!’ The way to enter that relationships is, in Jesus’ words, to “repent”. This is the response to Jesus’ call. ‘Repent’ usually means to be sorry for, to regret some wrong actions we have done in the past. Jesus, however, is asking for much more than that. It is a call, not to wipe out the past, which is really not possible, but for a change of direction from now on and into the future. The Greek word which is rendered by many translations as ‘repent’ is metanoia, (). This word implies a radical change in one’s thinking; it means looking at life in a completely new way, making what is now sometimes called a ‘paradigm shift’. This new way of seeing life is spelt out through the whole of the Christian Testament.
It is only when we begin to make this radical change that we begin to become part of that Kingdom, that we begin effectively to come under the influence of God’s power in our lives. We begin to see things the way God sees them and our behaviour changes accordingly.
The call is not just to be sorry for past sins and not to do them any more. There has to be a complete change of direction, a deep involvement in doing God’s work. That work involves working with others for an end to poverty and destitution, to hunger and joblessness, to communal and religious hatred, to rampant greed, ambition and shameless consumerism and to create a world of love and care – the special attributes of God.
The kingdom has not yet arrived. There is still much to be done – right here where we live.
And it is a message not just for Catholics or Christians but for people everywhere. The Kingdom goes far beyond the boundaries of the Church and the Kingdom is being realised in many ways in places where Christianity has yet to penetrate. About 80 percent of the world’s population does not know the Gospel of Jesus but that does not mean that the values of the Kingdom are absent. We must learn not to see Christianity or Catholicism in sectarian terms – ‘them’ and ‘us’. The message of Jesus is a vision of life for all humanity and should be communicated as such.
First partners
After his preaching, Jesus finds the first partners for his work. They are not Pharisees or Scribes, not scholars or influential members of the community but fishermen, who may have been quite illiterate. (In the sense that they could not read or write, although they may well have been steeped in the oral tradition of their Jewish faith – knowing their Hebrew Testament much better than most of us know our New Testament!)
It is significant that the call takes place right in their working place. The initiative for the call comes from Jesus. “I chose you, you did not choose me.”
For them it means a metanoia, a complete break in their lifestyle. There is a complete letting go.
“Immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus.” They put their total trust in Jesus, leaving behind their only means of livelihood, not knowing where it would all lead. Jesus himself had already taken this step in leaving Nazareth, his family and his livelihood as a carpenter.
From now on their life would consist not in worrying what they could get and keep but in service to their brothers and sisters, especially those in greatest need.
At the same time there is no evidence that they lived in destitution or want. Leaving the tools of the only way of life they had known was to choose to lead a simple lifestyle, only having those things necessary for their sustenance and their work, the new work Jesus was calling them to do.
Their security now came from the new lifestyle they were inaugurating, life in a mutually supporting community, where the needs of each one were taken care of. This, in effect, brought a life of greater material, emotional and social security than is found in our individualistic, competitive, rat-race style of survival.
One great family
They separated from their families not because they did not love them but because, as disciples of Jesus, they realised they belonged to a much larger family. They were learning not only to love their own but to love especially all who were in need of love, care and compassion.
In the beginning, their first concern may be family members (early on, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law) but later on they will give priority to those in greater need, non-family members, foreigners, total strangers, even enemies. To follow Jesus is to belong to a much bigger family.
In the Second Reading, too, Paul warns against divisions in the Christian family. It seems that the Christians in Corinth were dividing into factions and identifying themselves with various community leaders: “I am for Paul”, “I am for Cephas (Peter)”; even “I am for Christ”. It is clear that such divisions are harmful. All can only be for one person, the One who suffered, died and rose for them, the One in whose name all of them were baptised – Jesus their Lord.
We have, unfortunately, many such divisions among Christians today – “I am a Catholic”, “I am an Anglican… a Lutheran… a Methodist… a Presbyterian…” The list is, alas, endless. This is not the kind of family that Jesus intended. Such a dysfunctional family is not in a good position to give effective witness to the Good News of truth and love and fellowship which Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper (John 17).
Today’s call is asking us not just to fit Jesus into our chosen way of living but to fit ourselves into his vision of life. In doing so, we are not making a sacrifice; we are on to a sure winner where we can only gain.Second Sunday in Ordinary Time-A
Reading 1 IS 49:3, 5-6
The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, that Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength! It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
to do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!"
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
Reading 2 1 COR 1:1-3
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel JN 1:29-34
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him,but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
Commentary
TODAY WE BEGIN again the Sundays in the Ordinary Season of the year. On most Sundays, we will be following the gospel of Matthew. However, today’s Gospel reading is from John.Our readings speak about two things:
– the identity of Jesus, and
– the mission of Jesus.
We need to know who Jesus is, if we want to be his disciples. We also need to know what his mission is, if we want to be good disciples. Because a good disciple is also an apostle. By definition, a disciple is a follower; an apostle is the bearer of a message from a superior. The Christian disciple not only follows the Gospel of Jesus but also helps others to hear and accept it.
Who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus? We see him today simultaneously in the role of Lord and Servant. Today’s Gospel speaks about Jesus being baptised by John the Baptist. As Jesus approaches, John announces to some of his own disciples: “There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Why is Jesus called by this strange title, the Lamb of God? It refers back to the origins of the great Jewish feast of the Passover. According to the tradition, God had been urging the Pharaoh to let God’s people leave Egypt. There had been a series of plagues but each time Pharaoh reneged on his promise to do so. The final and most terrible plague involved the slaying of every firstborn child in Egypt.
In order that the Israelites might not be punished, they were told to smear the doorposts of their houses with the blood of a lamb. When God’s angel struck, he passed over the blood-painted houses of the Israelites and their children were spared. They had, in effect, been saved by the blood of the lamb.
Pharaoh acknowledged defeat and finally said he would let the Israelites go. (He will go back on his word once more and with disastrous results for him.) On the night before the Israelites left, under the leadership of Moses, they had a final meal which included the eating of a roast lamb. (The same lamb whose blood had been painted on the doorposts of the house.) The lamb then becomes the sign and symbol of the liberation of God’s people from slavery and oppression.
This great event of the Exodus, the Going Out, was and is commemorated in the Passover meal which Jesus celebrated with his disciples at the Last Supper and which is still celebrated by Jews worldwide. (The Passover meal is now also being observed unofficially by many groups of Catholics and other Christians during Holy Week.)
Jesus the eternal Lamb
But for us – and this is John the Baptist’s meaning – Jesus is the new Lamb which brings freedom and liberation from the oppression of evil and sin. He sacrifices himself to take away our sins.
Through his death he liberates us. It is no coincidence that Jesus’ sacrificial death took place at the Passover. He is the new Pasch; he is the Lamb who both sacrifices himself and is sacrificed to liberate us. And it is his Blood poured out that is the sign of our salvation.
Jesus can do this because he is at the same time our Lord and our Servant. Because he is our Lord, he can take away our sins; because he is a servant, he sacrifices his life for us. And he is not only our servant, he is our friend. As he told his disciples at the Last Supper, the greatest love a person can show is to sacrifice one’s life for one’s friends and he insists that his disciples are his friends not servants. Even more, Jesus is our Brother.
Jesus and John
John the Baptist also speaks of Jesus in the same way. He says: “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.” Now we know that John and Jesus are related. And we know, from Luke’s gospel, that John is older than Jesus by about six months, yet he says that Jesus ranks above him and existed before him.
John appears first proclaiming the Kingdom of God. But Jesus precedes John in dignity and status. Because, before John was even conceived in his mother’s womb, Jesus, the Word of God, already existed.
So John says, “I did not know him”. How come he does not know his own cousin, although he makes clear statements about him? Why does he not know his cousin? Of course, he knows Jesus while at the same time he does not know him. For at first he did not know the real identity of Jesus. Jesus is not only his younger relative. Jesus is his Lord and his God.
Son of God
When did John know? When, he says, he “saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself [at first] did not know him but the one who sent me to baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit’.”
And then he makes his declaration of faith: “I myself have seen and have given witness that this is the Son of God.” Jesus is Lord and God. (In this first chapter of his gospel, John gives all of Jesus’ titles: Word, Son of the Father, Lamb of God, Son of God, Messiah [the Christ], Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Joseph, King of Israel, Son of Man.)
And yet, this Jesus Lord is standing in the river water, together with many sinners. He is God but he has come to serve us, to love us, to liberate us, to mingle with us, to be one of us. And he asks us to work with him in the same way – to be in the world and to serve the world, to serve all as brothers and sisters.
Jesus as servant The First Reading also speaks of Jesus as servant. “Israel, you are my servant.” The Lord “formed me in the womb to be his servant”. And what is the work of this servant? His work is to “bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him…” (In the Reading it is Isaiah who is being spoken to but the words clearly are now applied to Jesus – and by implication also to us.)
But it is not enough to bring just the Jews back to God. “It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel…” Much more, as Isaiah continues: “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus is the Light of the whole world. He wants every single person to experience his salvation.
He wants every single person to enter the Kingdom of God. He wants every person to experience the truth, the love and the freedom of the Gospel. The mission of Jesus is to bring all the people of the world back to God, their Creator, their Beginning and their End.
Our common mission
The mission of Jesus is also our mission. We cannot be good disciples of Jesus if we are not also good apostles. To be a good Christian necessarily entails being a good evangeliser. Our duty is not only to save our own souls and “go to heaven”. Our duty is also to share our faith with others, help them to know Jesus and his Gospel, and to experience directly the love of God.
Where can we do this? In our homes and families, in our working places, in the area covered by our parish.
Let us pray that God will help us to work together with Jesus to establish his Kingdom in the whole world and especially in that part of it where we live out our lives.
Sunday of Week 4 of Advent
Click here for the readings on Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25
WE ARE NOW on the eve of the birth of Jesus. In today’s Gospel, Matthew tells us how this came about. His account is totally different from that of Luke. The only thing in common with both accounts are the central ideas that:
– Jesus is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and
– Joseph and Mary are the parents of Jesus.
In both accounts there is an angelic appearance: in one case to Mary and in the other to Joseph. Mary is told – in Luke’s gospel – that she is to bear a son. When she says that she is still a virgin, she is told that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and her child will be the Son of God. In Joseph’s case, he is told – in Matthew’s gospel – not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife because the child with whom she is pregnant is from the Spirit of God. The stories are different but the central message is the same. Mary is the mother of the Child but Joseph is not the father.
Jewish weddings
Jewish weddings involved three stages. First, there was the engagement. This was often prearranged by the parents or a matchmaker while the couple were still young children. Marriages were primarily seen as the union of families and the continuing of the family line. They were not primarily unions of love, as we expect today. Of course, in the course of time husband and wife could become deeply bonded by a genuine love and caring for each other. But it was procreation, especially the bearing of sons, that was the first priority. So we see in Old Testament times how cursed women felt who could not bear sons for their husband and his family.
Love might or might not come later; it was secondary. And it was only relatively recently that the Catholic Church itself put the two ends of marriage – love and procreation – as equally important. It took quite a while in the Church for the idea that a deep Christian love could be expressed through sexual intercourse, that it involved a deep mutual giving of one’s whole self to the spouse and that it was not just a regrettable but unavoidable means to procreate.
Joseph’s dilemma
Later came the betrothal. This was a legally binding relationship lasting for one year. During this period the couple lived apart and had no sexual relations. If either party did not want at this stage to go through with the marriage, there had to be a divorce. And the penalty for having sexual relations with a betrothed virgin was stoning to death for both. The third stage was the marriage itself.
We can see then Joseph’s serious dilemma, not to mention his feeling of shock, when he found that his betrothed was already pregnant and not by him. It seemed an open and shut case of adultery.
And imagine the feelings of Mary herself in this position! How was she to explain that she was pregnant by the power of God? Who would believe a story like that? If Joseph felt outraged and betrayed, one would understand. Most men would have planned vengeance at such an insult to their manliness and the possibility of becoming the laughing stock of the other men in the village.
But Joseph was not an ordinary person. He was a “righteous” man. And he must have seen in Mary more than an ordinary person too. He did not want to expose her openly. To do so would have made her liable to the severest punishment. But at the very least the Mosaic law required a man to divorce his wife under such circumstances. This was Joseph’s duty and he was going to observe it.
But compassion for his bride (extraordinary in the circumstances and in that culture) led him to want to break off the engagement quietly that is, before a minimum of two witnesses and without pressing charges.
The angel’s message
Just then the angel appears to him telling him to go through with the marriage. The child has been conceived by the power of God’s Spirit. No other man is involved. The son is to be called ‘Jesus’, which means ‘Saviour’ because his mission is to save his people from their estrangement with God.
As a descendant of David, Joseph will become the legal father of Jesus the Messiah. And Jesus will be called later in the Gospel, “Son of David”. As Paul puts it in the Second Reading today: he, Paul, is preaching the gospel “concerning [God’s] Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”.
In many ways, Joseph is a reflection of Joseph in the Hebrew Testament, the son of Jacob who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. He was also a righteous man, influenced by dreams and forced into exile in Egypt.
Fulfilment of scripture
Eleven times altogether in his gospel Matthew indicates how events in the life of Jesus are fulfilments of Hebrew Testament promises. Here he quotes the prophet Isaiah (using the Greek Septuagint text): “Look, the virgin (Greek parthenos, parqenos; Hebrew alma, young girl of marriageable age) shall conceive and bear a son.” The child will be called Emmanuel, which Matthew explains as meaning “God with us”. Jesus will be the very presence of God the Father in our world. As John says in his Prologue: “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us” (John 1:14). God is with us and is one of us. And this presence does not end with the Resurrection.
Before Jesus leaves his disciples at the Ascension, his last words (in Matthew’s Gospel) are: “I am with you always – to the very end of time” (Matt 28:20). Right down to the present, Jesus continues to be Emmanuel. And that is why we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus 2,000 years on. Through his Body, the Church, the Christian community, Jesus continues to be visibly present in word and action. This Eucharist is our sacramental celebration of that presence, a presence in every single one of us here.
The effectiveness of that presence depends on our conscious union with Jesus and with the vision of his Gospel lived out in our daily lives. Let Jesus be really re-born in each one of us this Christmas.
First Sunday of Advent (A)
Click here for the Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44
A NEW YEAR in the Church’s calendar begins today. Happy new year to all!
This period is appropriately called “Advent”. It comes from the Latin word adventus which simply means ‘coming’. But whose coming are we talking about? Obviously we are beginning to prepare to remember God coming to be a human being among us, with us and like us. And yet, although the Scripture for today does speak of the coming of God, it makes no mention of the coming of Christ as Christmas.
Actually, at this time we can speak of three comings of God. The first, is when Jesus, the Son of God came to be born in the stable at Bethlehem. But today’s Mass also speaks of the final coming of Jesus at the end of the world. And there is still a third kind of coming we need to be aware of, namely, when God enters our lives every day. Every single experience can be an opportunity to make contact with God. And we are reminded of that ongoing contact with God especially in the celebration of the sacraments, including this Eucharist.
Preparing for the end
Today’s Mass actually says very little about the first coming of Jesus or, about his birth in Bethlehem. The Scripture readings rather emphasise our need to prepare for the final coming of Jesus, whether that means the end of the world as we know it or of the end of our own individual lives.
The First Reading invites us to go with God. It says, “Let us go together to the Temple of God.” Of course, we know that for us Jesus himself is the real Temple of God. And, because of that, the body of the Christian community united with Christ its Head is also God’s Temple. And we go to him and with him because “he will teach us his ways that we may walk in his paths”. He will show us the way for us to follow on our pilgrimage through life, the way that will lead us to meet him on that last day on earth.
A final coming
The Second Reading and the Gospel emphasise that we must prepare for that final coming of Jesus, whatever form it is going to take. The first coming of Jesus in Bethlehem is to help us prepare for this final coming.
We really need this warning. On the one hand, we do not like to think too much about how or when we will leave this world. But it is a fact. It is the one future fact of our lives of which we can be absolutely certain. There are people who are very afraid to die and who do not even want the subject raised. Today’s Scripture wants to remind us of the final purpose of our lives.
Many of us are like the people mentioned in today’s Gospel: “Before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing till the flood came and swept them all away…” These people were doing very ordinary things. Exactly the same things that we do. But they were so busy doing them that they failed to give any thought to where their lives were ultimately leading and what was the goal of that life.
They were very busy, just like us. Maybe they were very successful, maybe they made a lot of money, maybe they made wonderful marriages, had lots of exciting experiences… But, in the end, they were not ready for the most important appointment of their lives. The question is: how ready am I right now?
Maybe you think: “I don’t have to worry. I had my medical check-up the other day and the doctor said I have the heart of a teenager.” But how many teenagers end up as statistics on the death toll on our roads every year? For them, death is something which happens to other people, to old and sick people.
We sometimes think that the busier we are the better. (We even like to say, “The devil finds work for idle hands to do.”) We work for today, for tomorrow, for next month, for next year, for our future, for our children’s future… But what about our real future? Our future with God? What preparations are we making for that future?
One taken, one left
So the Gospel today says, “Of two men in the fields, one is taken, one is left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.” This could mean that one is taken away by a natural or personal disaster (an earthquake or a heart attack) and the other left untouched. Or it could mean that God takes one away to himself and abandons the other. In either event, the basic meaning is the same. Two men, two women on the outside apparently the same, doing the same work. And yet there is an important difference between them. One is prepared and one is not.
Of course, in our daily lives we have to work, cook food, earn our living, take care of our families… but we must also prepare for the final call. That is the most basic reality of our lives. If we forget that, all our other success is actually failure. Let us remember the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so busy about good things, about taking care of others but it was Mary who was in the right place, in touch with the centre of meaning, the Word made flesh.
And we do not know when the Lord will come. “If the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into…” And, in many ways, it is a blessing that we do not know the day nor the hour. On the one hand, if we did know, we could be filled with a terrible anxiety knowing what the final blow was going to be or, on the other hand, we would let our lives go completely to pot knowing that we could straighten everything out at the last minute. In either case, our world would become a terrible place in which to live. So it is a question of being ready for any eventuality. “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming…”
How prepare?
The obvious question to ask is, How are we to prepare? St Paul today in the Second Reading has some advice. “Let us give up all the things we tend to do under cover of darkness and live decently as people do in the daytime.” I guess there are dark areas in all of our lives. Things we do, things we say, things we think, the indulging of our lower and self-centred appetites; things which we would not like other people to know about because they are quite wrong. They do no good to me or to others.
Instead, we need to develop our relations with God and with our brothers and sisters based on a caring and unconditional love for all. We need to learn how to find God, to find Jesus in every person, in every experience. We need to respect every person as the image of God. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves, to love everyone just as Jesus loved us.
If, in our words and actions, our daily lives are full of the spirit of Jesus, then we have prepared. We do not need to be anxious about the future or what will happen to us. Concentrate on today, on the present hour, the present situation and respond to it in truth and love and the future will take care of itself. Then we do not have to fear no matter when Jesus makes his final call. Because we know he is going to say: “Come, my friend. I want to call you now; I want to share with you my life that never ends.” And we will respond: “Yes, Lord, I am ready. I have been waiting for you all this time.” It will be an encounter, not of strangers, but of two old friends.
Sunday of Week 2 of Advent
Click here for the Redings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12
LAST SUNDAY’S READINGS focused on the final goal and meaning of our lives. It is the reason for the coming of Christ among us. Today we begin to look more directly at the coming of God’s Son in our midst as a preparation for that final coming. The central figure in today’s Gospel is John the Baptist.
But, first, we need to look at the powerful passage from Isaiah in the First Reading. It is in two parts:
a. The first is a picture of the perfect King. He is a descendant of Jesse, who was the father of King David, and clearly points to Jesus. He is full of the Spirit of God and enjoys the special gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, insight, counsel, power, knowledge and a deep sense of reverence for God. When Jesus is baptised we will see that Spirit coming down on him in all its fullness.
b. The second part is a picture of the age this King will inaugurate. It is a regime of justice and peace, free from danger or fear. This is the ultimate goal of the Reign of God, a goal we have not yet realised but which, with the help of our King, we have great hope of reaching.
We read this, of course, in today’s Mass in the context of Advent and Christmas. There is a real challenge for us to identify with this programme in word and action. Strange as it may seem, God expects our co-operation in carrying it out.
A true prophet
But now to John the Baptist, a great figure in his own right and a true prophet in the Jewish tradition with a message from God. We know he had a large following of disciples and many people came out to the desert to hear him speak. He performed a ritual in water by which people expressed sorrow for their sinful lives and turned back to God. That ritual was called baptism.
In some ways the role of John was not unlike that of Jesus, yet, in other ways, very different.
Like Jesus, John preached a message of repentance. ‘Repentance’ here, as elsewhere in the New Testament, translates the Greek word metanoia (metanoia). It is much more than just being sorry for the past. It involves a deep and radical change in one’s thinking and behaviour. ‘Radical conversion’ would be a better rendering than ‘repentance’, which somehow implies simply going back to one’s past but without the sin.
Like Jesus, too, John will be rejected, persecuted, ‘handed over’ and finally executed for his courageous defence of truth and justice.
But there are also clear differences between John and Jesus. This was not least in their lifestyles. John lived a severely ascetical life as a hermit in the desert. People came out to him; he did not go to them. Jesus, on the other hand, is seen as a socialiser living mainly in cities and towns. He goes out of his way to mix with all kinds: rich and poor, religious and secular, good and bad. Nor does he hesitate to enjoy the hospitality of their houses. Yet, through it all, Jesus enjoys a high level of personal freedom, at home with all but manipulated by none. Totally in contact with the world but not tainted or influenced by its weaknesses.
Not equals
John emphasises that Jesus outranks him completely. He is not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. He is simply preparing the way for the Messiah, the Christ, the Saviour King. Jesus, on the other hand, is the Way.
John’s baptism was an individual expression of a desire to come back from sin to God, to return to a faithful following of the Law. The baptism of Jesus, on the other hand, comes with the “Holy Spirit and fire”. It inaugurates a special relationship with Jesus, through which the baptised person becomes incorporated into the very Body of Christ, becomes, as it were, a very extension of Christ himself. It involves not just personal reformation but becoming involved in the remaking of the whole world, bringing the whole world into the Reign of God.
Two kinds of people
Two kinds of people were coming out to see John. There were ordinary people, genuine penitents, looking for reconciliation with God. There were also Pharisees and Sadducees. However, these came out, not to express sorrow for sin, but to test John’s orthodoxy and observance of the Law.
John has little time for them. He sees them just as much in need of repentance and conversion as anyone else. They are not to think that, simply because they are descendants of Abraham, their salvation is assured. It is not birth, race, religious affiliation, education, social status, or financial clout that makes us friends of God but our awareness of our total dependence on him for everything we need. Salvation only comes to those who give themselves totally into God’s hands and make his will their own. No one is saved simply by being born a Law-abiding Jew, as the Pharisees seemed to think, any more than being baptised into the Christian Church alone brings salvation. Much more is expected. Jesus later on will say that those who presume they are God’s people but without the actions to prove it will have to give way to tax collectors and prostitutes, who, because they reformed, will go into the Kingdom first.
Matthew is not just lashing out at some Jewish leaders. The words of John today are primarily directed to ourselves, to the Pharisee and Sadducee in each one of us. Our most dangerous enemy is complacency: “I’m a good enough Catholic. I’m not perfect, of course, I’m not a religious fanatic but I keep the basics of my religion. I’m OK.” Where our relationships with God are concerned, to stay in the same place is to go backwards.
More than history
If we have such a casual attitude to the demands of our faith, we may look on Advent and Christmas as merely memories of past historical events. But Advent means “coming” and, if this season is to be meaningful, there has to be a genuine coming of Jesus into our lives both as individuals and as community. It is a time to remind ourselves of our constant need for metanoia.
If John the Baptist were to come among us today, what would he tell us? What would he warn us against? As we come to the end of another calendar year (and the beginning of the Church year) where do we need conversion and change in our lives? How can we and our families give better witness to the Christian message? What changes are called for in the way our parish gives corporate witness to the Gospel? The celebration of Advent calls for a serious consideration of these questions.
We are probably well into preparations for the celebration of Christmas. But what preparations have I made for the time afterwards, for the year that is ahead? Will Jesus be really part of my life? Will he really be entering my life in a special way at this time? Are his concerns my concerns? Namely, a desire that I be of service to others, that I work with others to build a better society, founded on love and justice and an equitable sharing of resources.
“Peace (and justice) on earth to those who are God’s friends” needs to become not just the song of the angels but a programme for me and my community.
Sunday of Week 3 of Advent
Click here for the readings on Isaiah 35:1-6; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
TODAY USED TO BE CALLED “Gaudete Sunday” from the first word of the Entrance Song in Latin. Gaudete means ‘Rejoice!’ Formerly, as some of us can still remember, Advent was a much stricter penitential season. During three days of this week there was fast and abstinence. This was known as “Quarter Tense” because it occurred four times in the year. However, this Sunday was intended to be a relaxing break reminding us of the celebrations soon to come. As a symbol of this, the penitential violet of the vestments may be softened to a kind of pink, or rose colour. (There is a similar Sunday in the middle of Lent.)
On the one hand, a penitential mood is an appropriate way to prepare ourselves to welcome the coming of the Lord. And, though we may not have fasting, many parishes will organise Penitential Services with the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the days leading up to Christmas. At the same time, it is difficult not to feel some excitement as we anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ coming among us.
Full of joy
So, the Mass text and readings today are full of joy, especially the Entrance Song, the Opening Prayer and the First Reading from Isaiah.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice!” is the cry of the Entrance Antiphon. Why? Because “the Lord is near”.
The Opening Prayer asks that we, “who look forward to the birthday of Christ, experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving.”
In the First Reading the prophet goes overboard with excitement and enthusiasm:
Let the wilderness and dry lands exult,
let the wasteland rejoice and bloom…
let it rejoice and sing for joy.
And the reason for all this?
They shall see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God.
And is it just a matter of being able to see him? No, for
Look! your God is coming… He is coming to save you!
Salvation means bringing healing, wholeness and holiness as we become closely united to him. This healing, wholeness and holiness is depicted graphically:
The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed,
then the lame shall leap like a deer
and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy.
These words, as we will see below, will be applied explicitly to Jesus who brought this healing and wholeness into so many people’s lives.
However, we should not confine this healing only to the physical. It will also include healing on the emotional, social and spiritual levels. We are not made whole until harmony and wellbeing flows through our whole self.
The One who is to come
All this is closely linked to today’s Gospel. We find ourselves, in Matthew’s Gospel, at the mid-point in Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist had already been arrested. He had accused King Herod of doing something immoral, namely, marrying his brother’s wife while his brother was still living.
While in prison, John hears about Jesus and sends some of his disciples with a question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Whether John really wanted to know or whether it was really for the benefit of his disciples is not clear. After all, John had already proclaimed Jesus at the River Jordan and said he was not worthy to unloose the thongs of Jesus’ sandals. “The one who is to come” is, of course, the long-expected Messiah.
How does Jesus answer? As so often happens, he does not respond directly to the question but quotes the prophet Isaiah using the passage which is our First Reading for today. “Go back and tell John what you hear and see: the blind see again, and the lame walk and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News/Gospel is preached to the poor.”
This exactly describes what Jesus has been doing. It also exactly conforms to what Isaiah said about the time of the Messiah. Jesus in effect is saying “Yes, I am the one who is to come. I am the Messiah, the Christ, the Saviour King of Israel.”
Still waiting
While the Gospel speaks of the Messiah already here, we at this very time are, in a sense, still waiting in anticipation. Jesus, of course, is already present and working through his Body, the Christian community, the Church. But he still has to come more fully into our own lives. As the Opening Prayer suggests, we need to “experience the joy of salvation” – that power of healing and wholeness which Jesus can bring into our lives. This is something each one of us has to do and what we as a community also have to do. I feel that there are still many, including Christians, who have not yet experienced the deep joy of becoming whole in Christ.
For most of us, the transformation into becoming “another Christ” takes time. We need the advice of James in the Second Reading: “Be patient.” As he says, “How patiently [the farmer] waits for the precious fruit of the ground until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains!”
One of the greatest
John the Baptist is presented by Jesus as one of the greatest persons ever born. Yet he missed the privilege being born into the age of Christ, a privilege that has been made available to us. We could do well to emulate John in preparing ourselves for Jesus to become really part of our lives.
John was strong. He was a man of integrity. He was not one of the rich and famous. He was no pop star – all sound and no substance. He would never have made a glamorous icon for Hello magazine. Yet many people went out to hear him, to be challenged by him, to have their lives radically changed by his words.
Actually, our Christian vocation is similar to his. We are called to prepare the way for Jesus to come into our own hearts but also to prepare other people’s hearts so that they, too, may “experience the joy of salvation”, that healing, wholeness and holiness we all long for and which alone gives real meaning to our lives. Christmas is a time of gifts – both giving and receiving. Let us make sure that among the gifts we offer to others is some of the Christian joy which we ourselves have received.
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1SIR 15:15-20
If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him. Immense is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing. The eyes of God are on those who fear him; he understands man’s every deed. No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.
Reading 2 1 COR 2:6-10
Brothers and sisters: We speak a wisdom to those who are mature, not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for, if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Responsorial Psalm PS 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34R. (1b)
Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
Be good to your servant, that I may live
and keep your words.
Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Instruct me, O LORD, in the way of your statutes,
that I may exactly observe them.
Give me discernment, that I may observe your law
and keep it with all my heart.
Gospel MT 5:17-37 OR 5:20-22A, 27-28, 33-34A, 37
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
“It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife - unless the marriage is unlawful - causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,' and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”
Commentary on Sirach 15:15-20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37
THE FIRST CHRISTIANS were all Jews. In the beginning they continued to observe many of their traditional customs e.g. about circumcision, about clean and unclean food. They went to the Temple in Jerusalem to pray. But very soon, non-Jews (Gentiles) also became Christians and these did not have to observe some of the traditions of the Jews. But the Jewish Christians felt uncomfortable about this. When they became Christians did they have to abandon traditions, which were so much part of both their religious and social life? It became a very serious issue in the Apostolic Church.
Matthew’s gospel, from which today’s passage comes, was written primarily for Jewish Christians and today’s reading – and indeed the whole of this gospel – can be seen as words of encouragement for them. Throughout his gospel, Matthew constantly uses the Old Testament to show that the life of Jesus is not a breakaway from past Jewish traditions but that it is a continuation of all that was foretold by the prophecies of the Hebrew Testament. The life and teaching of Jesus is not to be seen as a new religion; Jesus’ life is the natural development of the story of salvation. And Jesus is the climax of that story, because Jesus is the Messiah king and saviour for whom the Jews had been waiting for such a long time. (In that sense, our Bible is really only one book.)
The Law and Jesus
So in today’s Gospel Matthew emphasises the relation between Jewish Law and the teaching of Jesus. Matthew reassures his readers that Jesus has not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to bring them to completion. So, in a sense, the Law still has force. “Until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”
On the other hand, there is much in Jesus’ teaching that is completely new. He did not abolish the Law but he introduced a completely new way of thinking. He did not abolish or change the Law but went far beyond its literal requirements. For Jesus, just to keep the Law externally is not enough. To be a disciple of Christ, the foundation of our lives must go deeper – to a mutual love. To keep the Law without love is like having a body without a soul. Literally to keep the Law of God and of the Church is not the same as being a good disciple of Jesus. “If your virtue goes no deeper than the Scribes and the Pharisees [who were perfect observers of the letter of the Law], then you will never enter the Kingdom of God,” Jesus says today.
The Scribes and the Pharisees kept the Law and the Commandments very carefully. But Jesus would say that, though they observed the external requirements of the Law, they did not have the spirit which is the foundation of the Law: to love God and to love the neighbour as oneself. Clearly, this teaching would have made much more impact on a Jewish audience but, even in our Christian lives, it is possible for people to have a very mechanical notion of what is good behaviour. This is revealed often in the way we “go to confession”.
Six examples
To help us understand his meaning Jesus gives six striking examples and, in today’s Gospel, we have four of them. In these four examples Jesus helps us to understand that, to be one of his disciples, it is not enough simply to keep what the Law tells us to do. We do not keep the Law through our behaviour but through our basic attitudes, our basic values.
When the Pharisees kept the Law they wanted to obey God but very often they neglected the needs of others. It was their own “perfection” they were mainly concerned about (just as we can be exclusively concerned about being in a “state of grace”). Even now, some people in confession are sorry because their sins offend God or are instances of personal failure but often they show little awareness of how their sins hurt other people.
For Jesus, we cannot separate our relationship with God and our relationship with people. If we cannot find God in our brothers and sisters, we cannot say that we really love God. “As often as you did not do it to them, you did not do it to me.” Or in the words of the First Letter of John: “If you refuse to love, you must remain dead; to hate your brother is to be a murderer” (1 John 3:15).
Do not kill
The first example from the Law that Jesus gives is, “Do not kill.” But Jesus says we must not even get angry or use insulting words with others. What Jesus is saying is that we must deeply respect the dignity and rights of every person, a person who is unconditionally loved by God and for whom Jesus will sacrifice his life. And if we do not respect our brothers and sisters deep within our heart, we cannot say we respect God. So if I am going to the Temple to pray (a religious act of worship) and I remember I have offended someone, I should go and reconcile with my brother first and only then make my offering in the Temple. Otherwise, my prayers and offering are of no real value.
Life and worship cannot be separated: each influences the other. Yet, how often do we piously go to Mass when we have deeply hurt another person and need to reconcile with him or her? We cannot say we love Jesus if we are hurting others.
That is the meaning of the sign of peace which we share with others before sharing in the communion. And, where possible, it would be great to make a point of giving the sign of peace sincerely to a person with whom we have a problem, a person we may criticise or dislike, or someone who is a foreigner or a complete stranger. If we cannot do this, we may question the genuineness and integrity of our communion.
Do not commit adultery
“You must not commit adultery.” Adultery occurs when there are sexual relations between two people, of whom at least one is already married. In Jewish Law there were very serious penalties for this. We remember the woman who was brought to Jesus to be stoned to death, because that was what the Law demanded. Jesus, however, says you can commit adultery in your thoughts (and nobody knows about it – except you).
Again Jesus is saying that, apart from our external actions, our basic attitude is paramount. We cannot just use another person just as an object to give us pleasure. We cannot use another person like a toy. When that happens both are degraded. Real love is completely different. Real respect is completely different. And adultery is wrong not so much because it is a sexual act outside marriage but because it is an act of serious injustice to the innocent married partner and seriously injures the marriage relationship. It is a serious breach of trust and fidelity.
No divorce
The Law also says, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” In Jesus’ time, it was relatively easy to divorce. If a husband became sexually attracted to another woman, he could just make an official declaration that he was divorcing his wife. It could be for very trivial reasons. She could do nothing. She had no say in the matter.
It was legal but, according to Jesus, it was against the dignity and the rights of the wife. It was legal but it was both selfish and unjust. It was legal but also immoral. For Jesus, it is not enough for something to be legal. It must also be good. It must also be an expression of love and justice. That is something we need to remember. Immoral acts are not less moral because they do not happen to be against the law or because I am no longer a practising Catholic.
It would seem that Jesus is dealing here with divorce for selfish reasons. In our time, divorce is often the result of a marriage having irretrievably broken down. In Jesus’ time, love or happiness had very little to do with marriage. It was governed by the laws and by tradition and was seen primarily as the bringing together of two families with the purpose of producing heirs. The matter is more complex in our own time and we have also to distinguish between obtaining a civil divorce (which Catholics can do) and having a second sacramental marriage (which, under the present legislation, Catholics may not do). And there are other issues involved in the question of divorce but they can be dealt with more fully when we deal with the question later (27th Sunday, Year B)
No false swearing
“Don’t swear falsely! Carry out what you vow.” It was common in Jesus’ time for people to guarantee the truth of what they said by making a solemn oath before God. Jesus’ point is that a good Christian does not have to swear at all, because a true Christian is a reliable and totally honest person. He or she is a person of integrity. Such people can be trusted when they speak. They don’t have to give external guarantees. Their ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ means exactly what is said and there are no mental reservations. It is a pleasure to meet people like that, who are totally transparent and have nothing to hide.
Catholics and the law
There are not a few Catholics who feel that if they just keep the Commandments they are good Catholics. They often like to ask, “Is this a sin?”, that is, is it against the law? Is it a mortal sin or is it a venial sin? If it is “only” a venial sin, then I can do it.
But true Christians do not ask whether something is legal or illegal. They love God, they love Jesus, they love their brothers and sisters. Their only concern is how they can serve and love them more and more. They want to work with Jesus and with his brothers and sisters to build the Kingdom of God. No matter how much they do, they know they can still love more and do more and be more.
It is not then a question of law; it is not a question of what I have to do. It is a question of how much more I can do, how much more I want to do. The requirements of the law are way behind.
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 LV 19:1-2, 17-18
The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy. “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”
Responsorial Psalm PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Reading 2 1 COR 3:16-23
Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy. Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: God catches the wise in their own ruses, and again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
Gospel MT 5:38-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Commentary on Lev 19:1-2, 17-18; 1 Cor 3:16-23 and Matthew 5:38-48
TODAY’S MASS SPEAKS of the essence of holiness. And why should we be holy? We should be holy, because God himself is holy and we have been created in his image. But what is holiness? Does it consist in saying many prayers? In spending long hours in the church? The First Reading today says it consists negatively, in not hating your own kind, and positively, in loving one’s neighbour as oneself. It is taken for granted that we normally act in our own self-interest. However, the Gospel says we are to act equally in our neighbour’s interest as well. Because, in the long run, it is also in our own long-term interest not just in our future life but here on earth.
No vengeance
In the Gospel, as Jesus continues to teach his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, he again reminds his hearers that more is expected of his disciples than was laid down in the Old Testament. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.” That sounds like a command to take vengeance. On the contrary, it was a counsel of self-restraint — only hurt your opponent to the same degree that he/she hurts you and no more. Also, retaliation could only be authorised by a court. In our own time, it is not unusual to see people take vengeance far beyond the hurt that was done to them.
The non-violent approach
But Jesus proposes a quite different approach. “Do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile…” What an impractical recipe! How could any self-respecting person follow such wimpish advice? Aren’t we taught that to be a man you don’t take things lying down, you give as good as you get, and even more…?
Yet, is it really wimpish? Who is the really strong person: the one who lashes out in anger or the one who remains fully in control of himself? The one who refuses to be brought down to the same level as his attacker?
Three examples
Let us look at three examples of the Gospel in action:
a. The Jesuit writer John Powell tells of a man who used to buy his newspaper from a man who always treated him rudely. One day a friend saw this and asked the man why he put up with such behaviour. The man replied, “Why should two of us be rude? Why should I allow another person to manipulate my feelings?”
b. In the film “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Gregory Peck plays the part of a white lawyer defending a black man accused (wrongly, as it turns out) of rape. One day one of the white townspeople comes up to Peck and spits in his face to express his disgust at a white man defending a “nigger” who raped a white woman. Peck stands there dignified and silent and slowly wipes the spit from his cheek. He says nothing; he does nothing. But it is clear which of the two men has lost his dignity. (And, of course, it turns out that it was a white man who raped the girl.)
Example of Jesus
c. Jesus before his accusers. During his trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was struck on the cheek and accused of insolence. How did he respond? Did he turn the other cheek? Not exactly. Did he hit back? No. He simply said, “If I have done any wrong, tell me what it is. If not, why do you strike me?” There is no anger, no vindictiveness, no abuse. He simply speaks to his accusers in quiet, reasonable terms in a totally non-violent way. He retains his dignity while they lose theirs in violence and abuse. He does not cringe before them; in fact, he stands up to them.
Let us make it very clear. In the way in which Jesus understands it, turning the other cheek is not weakness; it requires tremendous inner strength and security. We do not see much of that kind of strength from the macho characters on our TV screens. There the slightest offence is to be replied to in a hail of bullets and bombs. But, as we know from the various flashpoints around the world, it is bound to fail. It has failed in Northern Ireland; it is failing in Israel; it has failed between India and Pakistan. And there are countless other examples.
Dealing with enemies
But Jesus is not finished yet. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the pagans do the same?”
Is Jesus out of his mind? Does he really expect genuine, red-blooded human beings to react this way to hostility and violence? How can we possibly love people who do us harm, whom we know to be evil, wicked and corrupt? Are we really to love the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, to love the terrorist, the sexual abuser…?
Problem of love
The problem here is the word ‘love’. Generally speaking, to say we love a person is to have warm feelings of affection towards them or even to be in love with them. Is Jesus asking me to have the same feelings for my life companion as for some terrible human monster? The answer is unequivocally, NO!
‘To love’ in the Gospel context here means to ‘wish the wellbeing of’. It is a unilateral, unconditional desire for the deepest wellbeing of another person. It does not ask me ‘to be in love with’, to have warm feelings for someone who is doing me and others serious harm. That would be ridiculous. But we can sincerely wish the wellbeing of those who harm or persecute us. We pray that they may change, not just for our sake but also for their own. We pray that from hating, hurting people they become loving and caring people.
Most in need
Far from being unreasonable to pray for such people, there are no people who need our prayers more. On the other hand, to hate them in return is simply to make ourselves just the way they are, to reduce ourselves to their level. And we see what happens in our world when hate and violence are returned by hate and violence.
The canker of hate
Nothing eats away at our innards more than resentment, anger, hatred and violence. Sometimes we think we can punish people by hating them but it is we ourselves, not they, who are the real victims.And, of course, it is in our attitude to hostile and misbehaving people that the genuineness of our concern for people is really tested. As Jesus says, it is easy to care for the people who are close to us, who are good to us. To paraphrase the Gospel, even terrorists love terrorists. The Mafia is known for its loyalty to its members – but not to anyone else.
Perfection
The passage concludes with Jesus saying, “Be perfect, then, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This obviously is an ideal, a goal to be aimed at. And the perfection intended is not total perfection but rather to aim at that total impartiality of a God who extends his providential care and love equally to all. In the dry, searing heat of the Middle East, all, good and bad, have to endure the burning sun and enjoy the gentle, cooling rain. God stretches out his caring love to all, good and bad, and he does not love the bad less than the good. So, if we want to identify with Him, we have no right whatever to withdraw our love, that is, our desire for wholeness, from a single person. Whether a person returns our love or God’s love is their problem and their loss.
Pie in the sky
Let us not, then, just see this teaching of Jesus as pie in the sky, something that is hopelessly ideal. If we reflect on it, we will begin to see that this is the only reasonable way for us to deal with people both for our own personal growth and fulfilment and as contributing also to that of others. Jesus is not asking us to do something impossible and unreasonable but to open our eyes and see what is the only really sensible way to live and relate with the people around us.
And why should we treat other people with such reverence and concern? Because, as St Paul says today, “you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy and you are that temple” — and so is that person next to me right now. Here Paul is speaking specifically of Christians who form the Body of Christ but, in other ways, every single person is made in the image of the Creator and God is present in some way there.
God’s presence
All in all we are being called on to recognise and respond to God’s presence in every single person and creature that we meet. Irrespective of how they behave. And that is true even when the person acts in ways totally contrary to God’s way. In fact, it is precisely then that the God in me has to reach out and affirm the God in the other. Mutual violence only weakens God’s presence in both of us. Paradoxically, the worse a person behaves, the more that one is crying out to be loved and cared for.
At the beginning, we said that the theme of today’s readings was ‘holiness’. Perhaps we now have some idea just where real holiness is to be found.
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1Ex 19:2-6a
In those days, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai and pitched camp.While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain,
Moses went up the mountain to God. Then the LORD called to him and said, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5
R. (3c) We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
The LORD is good:
his kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Reading 2 Romans 5:6-11
Brothers and sisters: Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Gospel Matthew 9:36—10:8
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1JER 20:10-13
Jeremiah said: “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!’ All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. ‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.’ But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion. O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause. Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!”
Responsorial Psalm PS 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35R. (14c)
Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my children,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;
in your great mercy turn toward me.
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!’‘
Reading 2 ROM 5:12-15
Brothers and sisters: Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned— for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come. But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.
Gospel MT 10:26-33
Jesus said to the Twelve: “Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 ZEC 9:9-10
Thus says the LORD: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm PS 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14
R. (cf. 1) I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
.
Reading 2 ROM 8:9, 11-13
Brothers and sisters: You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Gospel MT 11:25-30
At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Commentary
There are two apparently contradictory sides to the Gospel. On the one hand, there are very radical demands made on us in the following of Jesus. An example of these ‘hard sayings’ was the Gospel of last Sunday:
Anyone who prefers father or mother…son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me…
Luke’s Gospel in particular emphasises the absolute and unconditional demands made of the Christian disciple.
Before making the decision of becoming a disciple of Christ, sit down and count the cost because:
…whoever does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:33)
Following Christ is all or nothing, you cannot at the same time serve God and long for material possessions and all the things that money can buy.
Yet that passage from Luke is followed immediately by chapter 15 and the three stories of God’s longing to bring back the sinner: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost (prodigal) son. In other words, another side of the Gospel speaks with equal emphasis of God’s warmth, compassion and his desire for reconciliation with the weak and the sinful.
Finding the balance
So if you found last week’s readings rather demanding, they need to be balanced against the passages into today’s Mass. It would be wrong to come down too much on either side. The Gospel still calls for total giving of self, not as the denial of that self, but as the only way to find one’s true self. At the same time, our God is a God of infinite patience and compassion as we stumble along in our efforts to unite ourselves fully with him.
The theme of today’s readings is very much one of peace and consolation. The First Reading from the prophet Zechariah speaks of a king entering Jerusalem riding on a young donkey. The scene is one of humility but also of peace. He rides on a placid donkey rather than on a prancing war horse. This is confirmed later in the words:
He will banish [war] chariots from Ephraim and [war] horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished.
Our king is a king of peace: He will proclaim peace for the nations.
He is a king of peace, not just in the sense of an external absence of violence but of a deep, inner peace, shalom. Jesus, who is identified with the king in Zechariah’s passage, also brings peace. He is the Prince of Peace (Jesus also brings the “sword”, but this is not contradictory, as we will see below):
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest .
Through the tough times
Whatever demands Jesus may make on our following of him, he wants to be at all times truly a source of comfort, of consolation and of forgiveness and reconciliation. Whatever demands life may be making on us, he is there too to be called on. When we are in difficulties and pain, we can ask him to take them away. He may not always do so, but we can expect him to restore our peace. For we need to remember that Jesus is not to be seen as an escape from our problems. Sometimes he will give us peace not from our pain, but within our pain. There can be the danger that we expect Jesus or his Mother or some other saint or the Church to be there to wave a magic wand that wipes away all our problems, all difficulties, all obstacles.
Jesus’ own life is an excellent example. In the garden of Gethsemane, faced with imminent arrest, torture and execution, he did not want to have to go through it. This is a perfectly normal human reaction to the threat of death. Anything else would be very strange. Yet one sometimes hears people speak as if Jesus actually wanted to go through all those terrible experiences.
Jesus begged his Father to spare him going through this appalling ordeal. He prayed:Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me…
But then, at the end of his prayer, he prayed: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. (Matt 26:39)
The Father was silent, and his will was clear. Jesus should face what is coming. And, when sometime later, Jesus rises from his prayer, he is a very different person. From that moment on and for the rest of his Passion experience he reveals nothing but quiet dignity and strength in the face of all kinds of abuse and humiliations.
He is full of an inner peace, which had come once he had said that total ‘Yes’ to his Father. His prayer in the garden had been answered, although not in the way he originally requested.
Here we might say we have the two sides of the Gospel coming together. On the one hand, Jesus makes that absolute and total surrender of himself into God’s hands but, at the same time, experiences the “rest” that comes to those who “labour and are overburdened”.
Paul’s experience
There is a similar example from the life of Paul. He had some kind of (physical?) ailment which was a source of great distress to him. He felt that it was a serious hindrance to his work of proclaiming the Gospel. He says:
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
And, he says, God answered his prayer, but again not in the way he had asked. He was told:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.
His ailment, far from being an obstruction to preaching the Gospel, in fact made the power of Christ more visible. From then on, Paul, far from wanting his problem to be removed, says:
I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
He begins to realise that: When I am weak, then I am strong.
And Paul found peace. He had learnt, as we need to do, that “God writes straight with crooked lines”.
How different from the way we sometimes approach God, or Jesus, or Mary! “God, give me this…God, I must have this or I can’t go on…Not your will, O Lord, but mine be done! My will be done in heaven as I am trying to get it done on earth!” Everything is upside down. It is not surprising, then, that such prayers seem to go unanswered.
There are some things which can be changed in life, and it is up to us to do the changing, mainly by changing ourselves. There are other things which cannot be changed and need to be accepted and lived with. Peace comes from saying a sincere Yes to what is clearly God’s will in our life. This will of God is most often made known by the realities by which we are surrounded. Peace comes when I want, really want, what God wants – when God’s will and mine coincide. This is not passive fatalism; it is an active and joyful response.
Sharing the yoke
So Jesus says today: Shoulder my yoke…and you will find rest…Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
A yoke we think of as a heavy (and very burdensome, even painful) piece of wood laid on the shoulders of an ox. But, because of the yoke, the ox can pull the weight of the cart behind it more easily. It is a burden which is also a help. The words of Jesus often seem, at first sight, to be very burdensome.
‘These are hard sayings; who can take them?’…After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. (John 6:60,66)
Yet, in fact, once understood, we know that there can be no other way of living in true freedom and peace.
There is still another way of understanding the image of the yoke. Think of it as a double yoke, where two oxen can work together better. We now have a lovely image of Jesus and ourselves yoked together, pulling together. “Shoulder my yoke” then becomes “Share my yoke”. Where I go, he goes along with me, pulling together with me and making it all the easier.
There is really no conflict between the two sides of the Gospel. There is only one Jesus, only one Gospel. We are called to be with Jesus all the way, accepting his life vision, his standards, his values – unconditionally. This calls for the simplicity and openness of children rather than intellectual sophistication. Accepting Jesus all the way is not intended as a burden, but as a source of comfort, peace, liberation and joy.
Happy are those who carry the “burden”, the yoke of the Gospel. Jesus has the secret of living well. Is it not time that we Christians discovered this wonderful secret and began to share it with others?
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1IS 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
R. (LK 8:8) THE SEED THAT FALLS ON GOOD GROUND WILL YIELD A FRUITFUL HARVEST.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R.
Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
R.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R.
The fields are garmented with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain.
They shout and sing for joy.
READING 2 ROM 8:18-23
Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
GOSPEL MT 13:1-23 OR 13:1-9
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Commentary on Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
There are three distinct parts in today’s Gospel: parable, interlude, and explanation of the parable. A way of looking at this division is to regard the parable as being close to the actual words of Jesus. This is followed by a theological ‘interlude’ on “hearing” and finally there is an interpretation of the parable possibly emanating from the early Church and, in effect, producing a related but distinct lesson or message.
In the parable itself, the emphasis is on God (the sower) who works and produces results. The interpretation of the parable puts the emphasis more on us (the soil) and the ways in which we can respond. The interlude or comment in between gives the key to our response and subsequent fertility of the seed.
God’s munificence
The parable has strong links with the First Reading from Isaiah. In both we are told that God shares his abundance with us and his plans will not be frustrated. God’s creative and nurturing work is compared with rain and snow falling on the earth and not returning until it has given moisture,
…making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating.
In the parable, it is true that the seed falls many times on inhospitable soil, but some will undoubtedly fall on rich soil and produce an abundant harvest. Says the Lord in Isaiah:
So, the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in was it was sent to do
.
This is clearly a message of hope for communities which may at times be discouraged by the meagre results of their evangelisation efforts. We are reading here from Matthew 13. The whole chapter consists of “parables of the Kingdom”. They all say in different ways that the Kingdom of God, in spite of its tiny and weak beginnings, will be established for it is “like a treasure hidden in a field” or “a pearl of great price”. Once discovered, all else is given up in order to be part of it.
In the whole of Scripture God’s word is not just a spoken word. It is a doing word, a creating, life-giving word. It is like a life-bearing seed. Where do we encounter that word? If we are sufficiently sensitive, we encounter it unceasingly in every experience of our lives, whether that experience is joyful or sad, a success or a failure, pleasant or painful.
There is clearly, of course, for us one place in particular where God’s word is more clearly experienced and that is in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is the Word of God. Everything that Jesus said, everything that Jesus did, was God communicating to us through him. Not just his teaching but his whole life, from the hidden years of Nazareth through his public life to his death and resurrection – in all of this Jesus was, and is for us today, the Word of God.
Barren soil
And yet, as in the parable, much of that Word fell on barren soil. Many refused to hear or to see (hence so many cases of deafness and blindness in the Gospel). Even Jesus’ closest disciples did not provide, at first, very promising soil. Jesus’ life and mission seemed to end in tragic and dismal failure. There was not a single disciple in sight. His enemies laughed and mocked him. And yet…it was precisely at that moment as the seed “fell into the ground and died” (see John 12:24) that the Word of God began to take root in people’s hearts. Beginning, like the tiny mustard seed, like the small amount of yeast in a large batch of dough, the seed, the Word of God, began to grow and flourish against all odds.
The word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
As with Jesus himself, so with us today we need to be reminded that God’s plans will not be frustrated, that the Kingdom will be established.
Listen, anyone who has ears!
Why speak in parables?
The part that follows contains some apparently alarming words. Is Jesus saying that he spoke in parables so that only his inner circle would understand and that the rest be left in darkness? That hardly makes sense. It does provide a bridge to the interpretation of the parable to follow. There seems, especially in the quotation from Isaiah, a heavy sarcasm. Those who see but never understand; those who hear and hear but never get the message. Why? Not because they are stupid, but because they basically do not want to. If they saw, if they really heard, they might be converted, they might have to change their ways radically – and that is the last thing they want to do. In the context of Matthew’s gospel, these words seem particularly directed at those of his people who rejected Jesus, but it applies to all who close their ears in prejudice and fear.
But to his disciples and followers Jesus says:
Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!
Many before Jesus’ time longed to see and hear but never got the privilege of Jesus’ followers.
The key word today is ‘hear’. It is a very scriptural word and contains essentially four elements:
· to listen with a totally open and unconditional mind;
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
· to understand what one hears;
· to accept and appropriate fully what one understands;
· to have this acceptance flow out into our behaviour.
One can listen, but not understand, one can understand without accepting, and one can accept without implementing. All four are necessary for conversion and healing. All four are necessary for full hearing.
Different responses
All of this leads naturally into the third part: an interpretation of the parable on the level of different kinds of hearing. Some seed falls on the path. There is no soil here. There is no prospect of the seed taking root. Ears and eyes are closed and unreceptive to the Word of God.
The seed falls on rocky ground in the field where there is a thin layer of soil. The seed takes root and begins to grow, but soon gets burnt up by lack of water and the heat of the sun. It is like those Christians who, after baptism or after a retreat or some spiritual experience, have a great rush of enthusiasm for God but, under the slightest pressure, soon run out of steam and fall away. Probably there was no real hearing, no real understanding and hence no real commitment. This group, in the text, may be referring to people who became baptised Christians in the early Church, and were full of enthusiasm until faced with persecution for their faith. They caved in and gave up.
What is my response?
Some seed also falls on soil where there are many weeds and thorns. As it grows, it gets smothered by the competing plants. This we might call the “having your cake and eating it” response. I do want to be a good Christian, but I also want to have all the things that the world around me thinks important, even if they are in conflict with the Gospel vision. It won’t work. We cannot at the same time totally serve God and be a part of the materialistic, consumerist, hedonistic, “success”-hungry world. Probably a very large number of us, in varying degrees, belong in this category. As a result, the Church’s work in building the Kingdom is severely hampered.
Finally, some of the seed falls in rich, nutritious soil. This soil is like the:
…man who hears and understands [the Word of God]
He is the one “who yields a harvest” in varying degrees of abundance.
In the long run, as we said at the beginning, the work of God cannot be frustrated either by threats from society or from within the Christian community. But what matters for me as I hear this Scripture is to be aware that I, as this individual, can refuse to provide the fertile patch of soil for God’s Word to take deep root. God’s plan as a whole will succeed, but it is up to me to be part of that plan. I personally can say No or Not yet or Yes, but…I can, like many of the people that Jesus knew, resist the radical change of view that conversion entails. In the process I will also miss out, of course, on the deep healing that the Word of God can bring into my life and, with the healing, a sense of liberation, happiness and peace.
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1IS 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
R. (LK 8:8) THE SEED THAT FALLS ON GOOD GROUND WILL YIELD A FRUITFUL HARVEST.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R.
Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
R.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R.
The fields are garmented with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain.
They shout and sing for joy.
READING 2 ROM 8:18-23
Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
GOSPEL MT 13:1-23 OR 13:1-9
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Commentary on Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
There are three distinct parts in today’s Gospel: parable, interlude, and explanation of the parable. A way of looking at this division is to regard the parable as being close to the actual words of Jesus. This is followed by a theological ‘interlude’ on “hearing” and finally there is an interpretation of the parable possibly emanating from the early Church and, in effect, producing a related but distinct lesson or message.
In the parable itself, the emphasis is on God (the sower) who works and produces results. The interpretation of the parable puts the emphasis more on us (the soil) and the ways in which we can respond. The interlude or comment in between gives the key to our response and subsequent fertility of the seed.
God’s munificence
The parable has strong links with the First Reading from Isaiah. In both we are told that God shares his abundance with us and his plans will not be frustrated. God’s creative and nurturing work is compared with rain and snow falling on the earth and not returning until it has given moisture,
…making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating.
In the parable, it is true that the seed falls many times on inhospitable soil, but some will undoubtedly fall on rich soil and produce an abundant harvest. Says the Lord in Isaiah:
So, the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in was it was sent to do
.
This is clearly a message of hope for communities which may at times be discouraged by the meagre results of their evangelisation efforts. We are reading here from Matthew 13. The whole chapter consists of “parables of the Kingdom”. They all say in different ways that the Kingdom of God, in spite of its tiny and weak beginnings, will be established for it is “like a treasure hidden in a field” or “a pearl of great price”. Once discovered, all else is given up in order to be part of it.
In the whole of Scripture God’s word is not just a spoken word. It is a doing word, a creating, life-giving word. It is like a life-bearing seed. Where do we encounter that word? If we are sufficiently sensitive, we encounter it unceasingly in every experience of our lives, whether that experience is joyful or sad, a success or a failure, pleasant or painful.
There is clearly, of course, for us one place in particular where God’s word is more clearly experienced and that is in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is the Word of God. Everything that Jesus said, everything that Jesus did, was God communicating to us through him. Not just his teaching but his whole life, from the hidden years of Nazareth through his public life to his death and resurrection – in all of this Jesus was, and is for us today, the Word of God.
Barren soil
And yet, as in the parable, much of that Word fell on barren soil. Many refused to hear or to see (hence so many cases of deafness and blindness in the Gospel). Even Jesus’ closest disciples did not provide, at first, very promising soil. Jesus’ life and mission seemed to end in tragic and dismal failure. There was not a single disciple in sight. His enemies laughed and mocked him. And yet…it was precisely at that moment as the seed “fell into the ground and died” (see John 12:24) that the Word of God began to take root in people’s hearts. Beginning, like the tiny mustard seed, like the small amount of yeast in a large batch of dough, the seed, the Word of God, began to grow and flourish against all odds.
The word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
As with Jesus himself, so with us today we need to be reminded that God’s plans will not be frustrated, that the Kingdom will be established.
Listen, anyone who has ears!
Why speak in parables?
The part that follows contains some apparently alarming words. Is Jesus saying that he spoke in parables so that only his inner circle would understand and that the rest be left in darkness? That hardly makes sense. It does provide a bridge to the interpretation of the parable to follow. There seems, especially in the quotation from Isaiah, a heavy sarcasm. Those who see but never understand; those who hear and hear but never get the message. Why? Not because they are stupid, but because they basically do not want to. If they saw, if they really heard, they might be converted, they might have to change their ways radically – and that is the last thing they want to do. In the context of Matthew’s gospel, these words seem particularly directed at those of his people who rejected Jesus, but it applies to all who close their ears in prejudice and fear.
But to his disciples and followers Jesus says:
Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!
Many before Jesus’ time longed to see and hear but never got the privilege of Jesus’ followers.
The key word today is ‘hear’. It is a very scriptural word and contains essentially four elements:
· to listen with a totally open and unconditional mind;
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
· to understand what one hears;
· to accept and appropriate fully what one understands;
· to have this acceptance flow out into our behaviour.
One can listen, but not understand, one can understand without accepting, and one can accept without implementing. All four are necessary for conversion and healing. All four are necessary for full hearing.
Different responses
All of this leads naturally into the third part: an interpretation of the parable on the level of different kinds of hearing. Some seed falls on the path. There is no soil here. There is no prospect of the seed taking root. Ears and eyes are closed and unreceptive to the Word of God.
The seed falls on rocky ground in the field where there is a thin layer of soil. The seed takes root and begins to grow, but soon gets burnt up by lack of water and the heat of the sun. It is like those Christians who, after baptism or after a retreat or some spiritual experience, have a great rush of enthusiasm for God but, under the slightest pressure, soon run out of steam and fall away. Probably there was no real hearing, no real understanding and hence no real commitment. This group, in the text, may be referring to people who became baptised Christians in the early Church, and were full of enthusiasm until faced with persecution for their faith. They caved in and gave up.
What is my response?
Some seed also falls on soil where there are many weeds and thorns. As it grows, it gets smothered by the competing plants. This we might call the “having your cake and eating it” response. I do want to be a good Christian, but I also want to have all the things that the world around me thinks important, even if they are in conflict with the Gospel vision. It won’t work. We cannot at the same time totally serve God and be a part of the materialistic, consumerist, hedonistic, “success”-hungry world. Probably a very large number of us, in varying degrees, belong in this category. As a result, the Church’s work in building the Kingdom is severely hampered.
Finally, some of the seed falls in rich, nutritious soil. This soil is like the:
…man who hears and understands [the Word of God]
He is the one “who yields a harvest” in varying degrees of abundance.
In the long run, as we said at the beginning, the work of God cannot be frustrated either by threats from society or from within the Christian community. But what matters for me as I hear this Scripture is to be aware that I, as this individual, can refuse to provide the fertile patch of soil for God’s Word to take deep root. God’s plan as a whole will succeed, but it is up to me to be part of that plan. I personally can say No or Not yet or Yes, but…I can, like many of the people that Jesus knew, resist the radical change of view that conversion entails. In the process I will also miss out, of course, on the deep healing that the Word of God can bring into my life and, with the healing, a sense of liberation, happiness and peace.
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1WIS 12:13, 16-19
There is no god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned. For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all. For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity. But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.
Responsorial Psalm PS 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16
R. (5a) Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn toward me, and have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
Reading 2 ROM 8:26-27
Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.
Gospel MT 13:24-43 OR 13:24-30
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Commentary on Wisdom 12:13.16-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43
Today sees a continuation of last Sunday’s Gospel reading from chapter 13 of Matthew on the parables of the Kingdom. Matthew in these parables speaks consistently of the “kingdom of heaven” and it could be, for some people, a misleading phrase because it seems to refer to the after-life, an other-world future existence.
In fact, as has been mentioned in a number of previous commentaries, Jesus and the Gospel are speaking very emphatically about the world in which are living NOW. The Kingdom represents the kind of world that God, through Jesus, wants to see realised among us here on earth. We pray for it daily in the Lord’s Prayer:
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…
And it will only come about in so far as we co-operate and work together with Jesus, here and now.
Why, then, does Matthew speak of the “kingdom of heaven”? We need to remember that this gospel is written mainly for a Jewish readership. Out of respect, the Jews did not like to use the name of God directly. “Heaven” then is a euphemism for “God”. And Matthew uses other devices to avoid mentioning God’s name directly e.g. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven” (i.e. by God), or “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (i.e. from God). Mark, on the other hand, writing for a different readership, has no problems speaking about the “kingdom of God”.
Nature of the ‘Kingdom’
“Kingdom” in the Gospel does not refer to a place, either here or hereafter. The Greek word, basileia, better translated as ‘kingship’, or ‘reign’, or ‘rule’, so some translations speak of the ‘Reign of God’. The Kingdom is primarily an environment, it is a set of relationships, it is a situation where God’s values prevail. And what are God’s values? In practice, they are the deepest human values and aspirations as mirrored in the life of Jesus, who is himself the revelation of God to us in accessible human form. These values include truth, love, compassion, justice, a sense of solidarity with all other human beings, a sense of trust in other, a deep respect for the dignity of every other human person, a holistic concept of human growth and development. And, of course, all these are seen in the light of God, who is their Ultimate Source. It is to be like him and with him that we live according to these values. They, with and through Jesus, are our link with Him.
People who, individually and collectively, try to live these values belong, with Jesus, to the Kingdom of God. They are united with the rule of God in trying to build a world we would all like to see happen. It is very much something for the here and now. It is basically the vocation of the Church, and therefore the vocation of every parish community and of every member of that community. At the same time, we need to recognise that the Kingdom and the Church are not co-terminous (see the parable below). The Kingdom extends beyond the Church. There certainly are people, who may not explicitly know Christ or express allegiance to Christ, who yet live the ideals and the values of the Kingdom in their lives. Individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi or the Dalai Lama are examples from the recent past. On the other hand, we cannot say we belong to the Kingdom simply because we are baptised Church members, but only in so far as the vision of the Kingdom is an effective factor of our daily living.
Weeds and wheat
In today’s Gospel reading we have three images or parables of the Kingdom at work among us. The first is the parable of the weeds among the wheat. The Kingdom of God clearly calls for people of the highest ideals and great generosity. It also calls for a great measure of tolerance, patience and understanding in seeing the Kingdom become a reality. The conversion of our societies into Kingdom-like communities is a very gradual process. There is always the danger that, when people try to take God or the good life seriously, they become elitist. We Christians, simply as Christians, can feel superior to people of other religions or none. As Catholics we can talk disparagingly of Anglicans, Protestants, Evangelicals. And even among Catholics, members of charismatic groups, Legionaries, Bible study groups, social action groups can see themselves as ‘superior’ to ‘ordinary’ Catholics who ‘only’ go to Mass on Sundays. And the Sunday mass-goers are a cut above those who only appear at the Christmas midnight Mass.
And, in general, we ‘decently moral people’ are ahead of the ‘thugs’, ‘louts’ and other ‘undesirables’ in our society. ‘Thugs’ and ‘louts’ may be descriptive, but they are also words of intolerance. We sanctimoniously set ourselves up as judges of others. It is a trend which is increasingly being found in our daily media, and they presumably reflect the interests and values of readers and viewers (among whom one can, alas, find “good” Catholics).
Living side by side
Hence, today’s parable far from being remote touches on deep areas in the lives of all of us. The parable is saying that people who are filled with the vision and values of God and Jesus must learn to live side by side with a whole spectrum of people who, in varying degrees, do not yet share or live this vision and these values. This applies to differences between Christians and non-Christians but also within Christian communities themselves. We are – and always will be – a sinful Church. To pretend that we are anything else is a lie. It is not the healthy who need the physician Jesus, but the sinners and tax collectors – you and me.
We can go even further. Each one of us is a combination of wheat and weeds. In each one of us there are elements of the Kingdom and elements that are deeply opposed to it. Paul recognised that struggle within himself (see Romans 7:21-25). So we need to learn how to be tolerant with our own weaknesses. God told Paul that it was precisely through his weaknesses that he could reveal his glory:
My power is made perfect in [your] weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
The coming of the Kingdom then is not going to be a neat and tidy process. And experience again and again confirms that fact, whenever we try to bring out change and reforms in any community.
Small beginnings
The next two parables point to two other characteristics of the Kingdom. The parable of the mustard seed shows that the work of the Kingdom has tiny beginnings, whether we are talking of the fledgling Church which Christ established or any newly established Kingdom-inspired movement today. And wherever the vision of the Kingdom becomes truly rooted, it will experience certain and inevitable growth.
Why? Because the vision of the Kingdom is not a narrow, religious one but an expression of the deepest aspirations of all human beings. At its beginnings the Church, as the instrument for the building of the Kingdom, must have felt it faced a daunting task. Its tiny communities were scattered all over Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. Waves of persecution and hostility followed each other in a determined effort to wipe them out. But they prevailed as Truth, Love and Justice must in the end always prevail. Even so, the “weeds” of opposition will always be present.
An element of growth
In the third parable, the Kingdom is compared to a small amount of yeast in a large batch of dough. Its presence cannot be easily detected – for it is totally blended with and part of its environment – as a good Kingdom community should be. At the same time, it has an energy of its own which produces a remarkable influence of growth in the whole. Perhaps part of our Christian problem is that we are too exclusively concerned with the growth (or even the survival) of the Church in general, or of our little corner of the Church, and not sufficiently with the growth and well-being of the whole community to which we belong.
God’s Kingship in the here and now
To sum up, each of the three parables is saying something specific about the development of God’s Kingdom among us:
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 11 KGS 3:5, 7-12
The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon answered: “O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request. So God said to him: “Because you have asked for this— not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right— I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
R. (97A) LORD, I LOVE YOUR COMMANDS.
I have said, O LORD, that my part
is to keep your words.
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Let your kindness comfort me
according to your promise to your servants.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
For I love your command
more than gold, however fine.
For in all your precepts I go forward;
every false way I hate.
Wonderful are your decrees;
therefore I observe them.
The revelation of your words sheds light,
giving understanding to the simple.
READING 2 ROM 8:28-30
Brothers and sisters: We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified.
GOSPEL MT 13:44-52 OR 13:44-46
Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”
Commentary on 1 Kings 3:5.7-12: Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52
WE HAVE TODAY the third and final set of readings centred on the parables of the Kingdom from Matthew chapter 13. If you have not read last week’s reflections you might like to go back and refresh your memory on what is understood here by the Kingdom of “heaven” (i.e. of God).
We are again presented today with three parables, two of which are closely linked in meaning but with slight differences. The people of Jesus’ time would have understood them all very easily. They were drawn from scenes of everyday life with which they were perfectly familiar.
The first and second parables are in effect saying that to know God and to live according to the Gospel are the most precious things in life. Through Jesus and the Gospel we come to know and understand what is the real meaning of life, what are the most important things in life.
Discovering a treasure
In the first parable Jesus compares entering the Kingdom to a man who finds treasure in a field. We need to remember that in those days, ordinary people did not have banks. Only the rich had access to places where their possessions were secure. If ordinary people did have valuable things, the simplest and safest thing was to hide them under the ground. Of course, because of war or some other unforeseen calamity, they might have to leave a place suddenly and not be able to take their belongings with them. They might not be able to return or they might die before they could do so. Someone else, then, might stumble on their treasure and, according to Jewish law, the finder could regard it as his own.
In this parable, the man comes across the treasure but the field where it is hidden does not belong to him. He sells everything he has in order to get ownership of the field and hence of its buried treasure. The idea obviously is that when one really discovers Jesus and his vision of life everything else becomes secondary. In the service of the Kingdom there are no half measures and in that service there is a special kind of liberating joy. This was Paul’s experience: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8) and again “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 2:21).
To have a personal relationship with Christ and to have made his view of life one’s own is the most beautiful, the most precious thing in the world. It is not enough, of course, just to say this; one must personally experience it as a fact – as many have done and many, unfortunately, have never really tried to do.
In search of treasure
The second parable is similar. A businessman is looking for fine pearls. When he finds the one he wants, he sells everything else he has in order to acquire it.
A slight, if significant, difference has been pointed out between the two stories. For, in the first, the man was not actually looking for the treasure. Perhaps he found it while digging the ground or ploughing the field, that is, in the course of his ordinary working day. Jesus – and the real meaning of Jesus — may come to me unexpectedly through some daily experience. Many people have described their conversion to Christ as happening in such an unexpected way. There is a need, as the Gospel constantly urges, for us to be ready whenever and however Jesus comes into our lives.
In the second parable, however, the man is on the lookout for the “pearl of great price”. He knows it must exist and he uses all his energies to find it. Although we are baptised Christians, we still need to pursue constantly the true and full meaning of the Gospel which can escape us for many years. We always need to understand more, to love more, to serve more.
Example of Solomon
It is in this context that we can take a look at the First Reading from the First Book of Kings. The young King Solomon is told by God, “Ask what you would like me to give you.” It is a question that Jesus sometimes asks in the Gospel and he is asking it of me in today’s Mass. How am I going to answer? What do I most want to have or to be right now? We can make a good guess at what a lot of people, including ourselves, would be likely to ask. For many it would be likely to have some connection with money or material security. What did Solomon ask for? “Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between God and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?”
In other words, he asked for wisdom and discernment. Wisdom is much more than knowing a lot of things or having prestigious university degrees. Being endowed with wisdom is much more than being just a morally very good person. Wisdom gives an in-sight into what is truly important in life, an awareness of the meaning and purpose of living, of what really matters. It is an understanding of where our real wellbeing and happiness lies. That is indeed a pearl of great price, price-less in every sense of the word.
Wisdom as seeing
Solomon did not ask for wealth, or power, although these things came to him. He did not ask just to have things, or to have obstacles in his life removed. He asked to be able to see. A constant theme running through the Gospel is the healing of blind people and of the incurable blindness of those who thought they could see. The true disciple is the one who begs Jesus, “Lord, that I may see.” The one who sees is the one who has wisdom. The one who has wisdom knows how to cope with the situations of life whether they bring ease or difficulty, pain or joy.
This is what Solomon asked for and this is what God gave him. “Since you have asked for this and not asked for long life for yourself or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for a discerning judgement for yourself, here and now I do what you ask. I give you a heart wise as none before you has had and none will have after you.” And, of course, the ‘wisdom of Solomon’ is a by-word down to our day.
This is the treasure hidden in a field for which a man sells everything to have. This is the fine pearl for which a merchant sells everything he owns in order to get it. The ability to see is what opens the door to the Kingdom of God, that world of interlocking relationships between God, human beings and our world which brings to all security, happiness and peace. For here there is truth, here there is love and caring, here there is freedom and peace.
For much of the time, we are chasing false treasures, mainly money, status and pleasure. For much of the time we are locked into the past – full of nostalgia or regrets, or focused on the future – not yet achieved longings and desires, or depressing fears and anxieties. Meanwhile the enriching present passes us by and the treasure is never discovered and the really valuable pearl is never found.
A mixed bag
This brings us to the third parable today. While the first and second parables speak of the total commitment and dedication which are the ideal of every follower of Christ, this third parable helps to put our two feet firmly back on the ground. While the ideals are valid and still beckon us, they must not lead us into any form of elitism. This parable reminds us that the Church and even the Kingdom in the process of its evolution is full of all kinds of people. Our Church is a Church of both saints and sinners. And we might say it is primarily for sinners. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). The role of the Church is to accept into its bosom “the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame” (Luke 14:21) and lead them to the treasure and the pearl of great price.
The lesson of this parable is similar to that of the weeds growing up with the wheat, namely, that the kingdom is a mixed body of saints and sinners (good and rotten fish). There will be always be a temptation on the part of some who feel they are more “faithful” to separate themselves from the “bad eggs”, from the weeds, but Jesus is here telling us that that is the work of God in his own good time. In the meantime, it is for us to learn to be tolerant, compassionate and understanding of those who seem to fall far below the requirements of the Gospel and the Kingdom. And, as we said in discussing the parable of the weeds, there are very few of us who are not, in the one person, a mixture of the good and the rotten. If there are some who clearly do fall by the wayside we can sincerely say, with Saint Augustine, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”
Judgment is for later. Right now, it is for us to use the time given to us to go in search of the treasure and the pearl of great price, of the gift to be able to identify, with Jesus, the really true, the good and the beautiful, and to help others too in the same search.
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 IS 55:1-3
Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
R. (CF. 16) THE HAND OF THE LORD FEEDS US; HE ANSWERS ALL OUR NEEDS.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
READING 2 ROM 8:35, 37-39
Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. .
GOSPEL MT 14:13-21
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
COMMENTARY FROM SACRED SPACE.COM
THE GOSPEL TODAY OPENS with Jesus withdrawing to a “lonely” place with his disciples. We are told that this happened on receiving the news of John the Baptist’s execution. We know that Galilee in those times was quite heavily populated and Jesus had become already a well-known figure. What was the reason for this withdrawal? It could have been to provide a period of rest and reflection for Jesus and his disciples, a time for the disciples to be taught by Jesus. However, a more obvious reason was to avoid possible danger after the execution of John the Baptist. It is worth noting that Jesus had no streak of recklessness nor did he go out of his way to court opposition or suffering. Several times the Gospel records Jesus prudently getting out of the public eye when things were getting too hot.
DEEP COMPASSION However, on this occasion, Jesus and his companions were observed slipping away. So while they made for the other side of the lake by boat, “the people…leaving the towns, went after him on foot”. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was faced with a large crowd of people. His immediate reaction was one of deep compassion and he began to heal the sick among them. This contrasts with Mark’s version where Jesus’ compassion leads to teaching the crowds. The healing, of course, in its own way was a kind of teaching, as the teaching was also a kind of healing. Jesus’ aim was always to restore people to wholeness in body and spirit. That is the meaning of salvation.
We might reflect ourselves at this juncture on how we react to sudden and unexpected calls on our time and energy. Are we always filled with compassion for those who ask for help? Especially if those asking are strangers or people we do not particularly like? How many real opportunities for bringing some wholeness into a person’s life have been lost because a request was made in conflict with plans that I had made, not least religious plans? (Remember the priest and Levite who ignored the mugging victim on the road to Jericho because they were on the way to the Temple?)
There are two reactions possible to calls for help. On the one hand, I can completely ignore such calls when they conflict with what I have planned to do. In this case, I always put my own perceived needs first and I am not going to put myself out for others. Once this gets known, you won’t often be asked for help but it is hardly the Christ-like response.
On the other hand, I may be one of those persons who cannot say No. In which case, I put aside what I have planned and go to help the person, even though I do not want to do so, and may feel highly resentful. On the outside I will be all smiles while on the inside I am in knots of anger and frustration. The final outcome of this kind of response is “burnout”. If I am one of these kinds of people, it is very important for me to be seen as a helpful person and I will make any sacrifice to preserve that image. Such persons need to be needed and, deep down, they are answering their own needs rather than those of another.
Obviously neither of these responses is appropriate and they are not the ones that Jesus made. It requires great sensitivity and discernment to know when we are required to show compassion by giving all the help we can, even at some inconvenience, and when we show equal compassion by making people stand on their own feet rather than resort to manipulating others in their dependence. I am not responsible for saving the whole world. I will have to watch many people going without my help. But there will be times when I am the only person who can help this person now. Recognising these moments needs a combination of honesty and firmness.
GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT There are times, like today, when Jesus immediately responds to the people’s needs. There are others when, in spite of their requests, he either withdraws to a solitary place alone or goes elsewhere (cf. Mark 1:35-38, John 6:15).
Another reason why we are often reluctant to give help is that we think we have nothing to give. As the day wore on the disciples became anxious about the crowd. “It is getting late, this is an isolated place, send them back to the towns for food,” the disciples urge Jesus. “There is no need for them to go; give them something to eat yourselves,” Jesus tells them. “But we have only five loaves and two fish,” they answer. Jesus is teaching them self-confidence and urging them to share the little they have. They will be surprised how far it will go. And, if we do the same, we can be pleasantly surprised too. We, like the disciples, are called again and again to be mediators between Jesus and others, offering the little we have with total generosity.
Jesus then took the bread and fish, raised his eyes to heaven (towards God his Father), and said the regular Jewish blessing on the food. He then began breaking the bread and gave it to his disciples to distribute. Lo and behold! The crowd “all ate as much as they wanted” and there were even 12 full baskets left over. The 12 baskets clearly represent the 12 tribes of Israel now under the 12 disciples who are part of the New Israel. They will become the 12 sources of God’s generous concern for his people.
Matthew says that there were about 5,000 men, not including women and children. This means, according to some commentators, that there could have been as many as 20,000-30,000 people present. They represent the people of Israel being fed, with echoes of the manna and quails during the years in the desert (Exodus) and the multiplying of oil and bread by Elisha in the Old Testament.
The food that Jesus gives is a clear symbol of all our needs being fulfilled and fulfilled in abundance. And the miracle itself is a symbol of the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity and sharing of the broken bread as a sign of a community that shares and provides in abundance for the needs of its members. Alas! our Eucharists are so often an empty symbol of the intended reality!
WHY SO MANY HUNGRY? If God really cares, why are so many needs still unfulfilled? Why is there so much hunger, so much loneliness, why are there so many without homes, without food, without education, without…? Can we really take the First Reading seriously? “Come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come!” Where does such a world exist? “Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk.”
The next sentence is much more to the point. “Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy” – especially if that money could be spent on bread for others and on needs that can be satisfied. “Listen, listen to me and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.” Yes, if we really listened to the Lord, especially to the Lord Jesus in the Gospel, we would discover that there are ways for everyone to have their needs satisfied in abundance.
Paul can say in the Second Reading, “nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph… For I am certain of this: neither death nor life…nothing that exists…can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Three lessons The Gospel and these two readings, then, are saying:
a. That God really cares about his people and that there is enough and more for everybody;
b. That the ups and downs of life, whether they are spiritual, emotional, physical, or material, whether they are personal tragedies or natural disasters, are basically unavoidable but are in no way a contradiction of God’s loving care for us. In fact, these things are in their own way necessary for us to grow in our awareness of where true peace and happiness lie;
c. That a great deal of God’s care and compassion devolves on our own shoulders. A great deal of the human suffering in the world has been caused by human agency and can be relieved by human agency. Jesus did not feed the crowd directly. He left that to his disciples. He still does. It is too easy to blame God, too easy to blame governments, too easy see these things as other people’s problems. But they are also ours, they are mine.
That is the meaning of the Eucharist we celebrate here today, namely, that as Christians we commit ourselves to share, to work with God in communicating his compassion to all. God is a caring person but, much of the time, he needs my co-operation to show people just how caring he really is.
NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 11 KGS 19:9A, 11-13A
At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD— but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire— but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14
R. (8) Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD — for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
READING 2 ROM 9:1-5
Brothers and sisters: I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
GOSPEL MT 14:22-33
After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”
Commentary on 1 Kings 19:9, 11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33
Today in the Gospel, we have a continuation of last week’s story about the feeding of thousands of people by Jesus in the desert. Immediately after the event, we are told that Jesus “made” the disciples get into the boat and go to the opposite shore while he himself sent the crowds away. Was there reluctance on their part to go? Certainly there is the implication that the disciples were not too willing to leave the scene. They were enjoying the reflected glory of being part of Jesus’ ‘miracle’ and the enthusiasm of the crowds for Jesus, ‘their’ Jesus. They were basking in the reputation of being partners with Jesus. Yet, it won’t be very long before they will be hiding, even denying under oath, ever having had connection with him.
Jesus himself, after having dismissed the crowds, “went up into the hills by himself to pray”. In John’s version of this story he tells us that the people, after being fed by Jesus, actually wanted to make him their king. They, like the disciples, have totally missed the meaning of what has happened.
Here indeed was a real source of temptation. Jesus could easily have convinced himself that here was a golden opportunity to get control of the crowds and ‘save’ them. They were so ready to follow him – it seemed. The world was at his feet. Is there not an echo here of one of the temptations in the desert after his baptism?
The devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them: and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’.
Instead, Jesus flees to the shelter of the mountains, not to have a panorama of the world’s kingdoms, but to pray to his Father and renew his purity of heart and his commitment to the Father’s way. His power will be exerted through love and service and not through domination, control and popular appeal. Jesus’ work is not to be seen in terms of crowd-pleasing miracles or supernatural powers. It is primarily for him – as it is for us – in the quality of his relationships: with God, with people and with himself. Jesus’ mission – and ours – gets its significance in a life of service, sharing and community building, in the ‘Kingdom-ising’ of our environment. It does not consist in having power over others, in becoming an idol of the crowds.
Having a hard time
The story now switches back to the disciples. They are far out on the lake by now, battling with a heavy sea and fighting a strong headwind. It is quite clear that here we are seeing a parable of the Church itself, represented by the disciples in their fragile boat surrounded by hostile winds and waves. It was the common experience of the Church during its first centuries and, in many parts of the world today, continues to be the case. It was a situation to create, then as now, much fear and anxiety.
Then, all of a sudden, they see Jesus approaching them walking on the lake. Far from feeling reassured, they become even more terrified, thinking him a ghost. It is a measure of their superstitious natures and, as such, a measure of the long way they have to go in exorcising such superstitions and replacing them with a genuine faith in God. One still meets a great deal of such irrational fears in people, including Christians, today. For instance, how many of us here would be comfortable walking alone through a large empty cemetery on a dark, moonless night? Even though it would probably be a lot safer than walking down one of our city streets at such a time!
No need to fear
Then out of wind and wave and terror comes a comforting voice:
Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.
The disciples need courage whose source is their confidence and trust in the protection of their Lord. Through the words “It is I” (literally, ‘I AM’, in Greek, ego eimi), Jesus identifies himself with the saving power of God himself. They are the words spoken to Moses from the burning bush. As such, there is no need for fear or anxiety in spite of the apparently threatening dangers around them.
Characteristically, Peter is the first to respond. He is the impulsive one, but he is also the group’s leader:
If it is really you, Lord, tell me to come to you across the water.
“Come,” says Jesus, inviting him to leave the shelter of his boat and go to where the wind and waves are. Peter starts to make his way to the Lord, who is in the wind and the waves, but his fear is too much and he begins to sink. Peter cries:
Lord, save me!
This cry echoed by Christians all down the ages who have felt that the world was ready to crush them.
There is something for us to reflect here: Jesus is not in the boat; he is in that hostile environment into which we often fear to enter and instead huddle in the security of our church. I think it is significant that Jesus is found outside the boat in the middle of the stormy sea, the world. And we have to go out there to meet him in spite of the dangers and possible setbacks. Too often we Christians spend much, if not all, of our time in the shelter of the boat, taking care of ourselves and neglecting those in the stormy sea who need to hear the words of life:
Man of little trust, why did you doubt?
How often has Jesus had to say those words to each one of us?
Peace
Jesus and Peter now step into the boat and the wind drops. There is peace and calm. In Mark’s version of this story, the disciples are simply amazed at the sudden change, but do not draw the obvious conclusion. In Matthew’s version, however, they understand and believe. They even anticipate Peter’s later confession (in chap 16)
Truly, you are the Son of God.
The conclusion, then, is that Jesus can also be found in the boat, but only when we also are ready to leave the shelter of the boat to find him in the “world”, that place which is at least indifferent and at its worst very hostile to the Christian vision.
Our own situation
All in all, today’s Gospel reflects problems in the early Church, problems which are not unknown to us today. From the inside there were always problems of unity, conflicting opinions, theologies and spiritualities. From the outside, there were persecutions and misunderstandings from both the Jews and the secular powers.
Paul, in the Second Reading, reflects what must have been something very painful to many Jews who had become followers of Christ, namely, the division and hostility of their fellow-Jews who had not converted. Even today, this relationship still causes pain.
Matthew also here features the special role of Peter, something he constantly stresses. Peter is the leader and so he is the one who steps out of the boat to go and meet Jesus in the midst of the storm. This surely is an image of the Church’s apostolic mission to reach out to find and make Christ present in the world, however hostile it may be. It is not the role of the Church to stay cowering in the shelter of their boat. One remembers the disciples after the death of Jesus hiding behind the locked doors. Pentecost soon changed all that and literally blew them out on a mission that would bring them and their successors to the remotest parts of the earth.
Of course, there are dangers in the world. And the Church, like Peter, is weak and vulnerable. But the Lord is there wherever we go and he will not allow his Church to sink beneath the waves. It has looked very often as if it might happen, but each time the Christian community has risen from the ashes stronger than before. One has only to think of the experiences of Christians in China over the past four centuries and especially in the last 60 years or so.
Jesus our peace
One important lesson of today’s readings is that, in our turbulent world (and much of the turbulence is in our own hearts), Jesus is the source of peace. Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper (John 14:27):
Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.
These words were spoken just before Jesus was to be arrested, tried and executed by his enemies. The “world” cannot provide peace in such a situation, but Jesus can and does. It is for us to learn how to find the Jesus who gives peace in the ups and downs, in the storms of our own lives.
It is put beautifully in today’s First Reading where Elijah is told:
Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord
And the Lord himself passes by. But he was not in the mountain-shaking and rock-shattering wind. He was not in the earthquake. He was not in the fire. He was, however, in the sound of a gentle breeze and Elijah knew that he was in the presence of the Lord. Jesus touches our cheeks with his gentle breezes every day, but we are too concerned about the buffeting winds, the earthquakes and the fires in our lives that attract both our attention and our fears.
Today’s readings, then, are saying two things to us:
There is never any need for fear and anxiety, for Jesus is always close to us and, no matter what may be happening in and around us, his peace is there for us to share. A Buddhist saying captures it: “Why worry? If I worry, I die. If I don’t worry, I die. Why worry?”
We have to reject the ambitions and dreams of the world and separate ourselves from them (as when Jesus went into the mountains to pray) but, at the same time, that world which both attracts and threatens is the arena where we are to live out our mission to build the Kingdom of God. We are called to be “not of the world”, a counter-witness to its ways, but to be “in the world”, as taste-giving salt and growth-giving leaven. We are to lead people to that moment when they can fall to the ground before Jesus present and active in their lives and say with full recognition: Truly, you are the Son of God.
TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 IS 56:1, 6-7
Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed. The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants— all who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
R. (4) O GOD, LET ALL THE NATIONS PRAISE YOU!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
READING 2 ROM 11:13-15, 29-32
Brothers and sisters: I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now disobeyed in order that, by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.
GOSPEL MT 15:21-28
At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.
Commentary on Isaiah 56:1,6-7; Romans 11:13-15,29-32; Matthew 15:21-28
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus entering non-Jewish territory, something he very seldom does. We find him in the district of Tyre and Sidon, two coastal cities on the Mediterranean coast (now in present-day Lebanon). Unlike some of the Jewish towns that are linked with Jesus and the Gospel which have disappeared or are in ruins, these two pagan towns still flourish.
A ‘pagan’ woman
Suddenly a Canaanite woman from that region comes up and begins shouting at Jesus. We need to realise that the Canaanites were the traditional enemies of the Jews. They were regarded as pagans and idolators and ritually unclean.
Her status does not discourage this women in her desperate need. Perhaps even as far as here, the reputation of Jesus was known. She cries out:
Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.
Whether it was really a demon or some illness which led to uncontrolled or uncontrollable behaviour is not really important. There were many sicknesses which were poorly understood at the time and which filled people with fear.
What is important is that her prayer expresses both helplessness and faith. Basically, all of us are also helpless and without God there is little that we can do by ourselves. Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper.
Without me, you can do nothing.
Her faith is expressed in the titles she gives Jesus: ‘Lord’ and ‘Son of David’. They indicate that she sees in Jesus someone above the ordinary – someone very special. And the title ‘Son of David’ has Messianic overtones.
In spite of that Jesus simply ignores her, as if she did not exist. Do we feel that way sometimes when we make a specially important petition of Jesus? Do we feel that he is very far away? That he is paying no attention? Do we feel like the disciples in the storm when Jesus was fast asleep in the boat?
Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? (Mark 4:38)
The disciples are no better. As the woman keeps shouting after them, they ask Jesus to:
Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.
They have no compassion. To them she is merely a nuisance, and a pagan nuisance as well. How often have we given in “charity” just to get rid of a bothersome beggar?
Jesus’ mission
Jesus’ reason for not listening to her is that:
I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
He seems to be saying that, since she is an outsider, her problem is of no concern to him. In fact, Jesus’ mission and work was almost entirely centred on his own people. The task of passing on his message to others would be left to his disciples. And, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles, they did not realise that at first. It took some special experiences before they realised that the Gentiles could also be filled with the Spirit of God and were being called to be followers of Jesus.
This had already been foretold by the prophet Isaiah in today’s First Reading:
…the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants,…these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their…offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
The woman’s perseverance
The woman is not discouraged by any of these responses. She comes and kneels before him, an act of worship, and prays simply:
Lord, help me.
Jesus’ answer seems quite shocking:
It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.
On another occasion Jesus told his disciples not to cast pearls before swine.
The term “dogs” was a common one for the Gentiles. Dogs were regarded by the Jews as unclean, because they would eat anything given to them, including pork, for instance. The Gentiles, in the eyes of the Jews, who were very particular about what was clean and unclean, were no better than dogs.
However, as has been pointed out, everything depends on the tone of voice with which Jesus uttered these words. They could have been spoken with arrogance, contempt and racial superiority. But that would be completely contrary to everything else we know about Jesus. It is more likely that it would have been said in a testing and joking way:
“You know very well, my dear woman, that in my community it is not right to take the children’s food and give it to the ‘dogs’!”
And she, totally unfazed and taking her cue from his tone of voice, throws back:
Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs [and that of course also means all of us!] eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
Perhaps there was even a little touch of playful satire on her part in saying “their masters’ table” – meaning “You people, of course, are superior to us”.
Now, Jesus is completely won over by her faith, her confidence and her wit:
Woman, great is your faith!
This is obvious from her tenacity. She will not take ‘No’ for an answer. Jesus’ response is almost inevitable:
Let it be done for you as you wish.
And her daughter was healed instantly.
Trust and prayer
There are a number of lessons from today’s reading. There is a need for total trust and confidence that Jesus really does care for us, in spite of indications to the contrary.
There is also the need for us to persist in prayer. We must realise that this does not always result in getting what we have asked for. It helps us to see more clearly what God wants for us and what really is the best for us. What we need most is not the carrying out of our own wishes, but having the peace and security that can only come from our being in total harmony with God’s will for us, so that his will and mine are identical – so that I want what he wants.
Today’s Gospel is an affirmation that God’s love and mercy are extended to all who call on him in faith and trust, no matter who they are or where they are.
As baptised members of the Christian community we have been given special privileges of knowledge and access to God’s love. But we have also serious responsibilities arising from this. One of these responsibilities is to make clear to others by the way we live, speak and act that God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s healing are for them also.
In God’s eyes there are no ‘dogs’. And the food on the Master’s table, the Lord’s Word and his Love – not just the crumbs – is for all without exception.
TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 IS 22:19-23
Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace: “I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8
R. (8BC) LORD, YOUR LOVE IS ETERNAL; DO NOT FORSAKE THE WORK OF YOUR HANDS.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple.
.
I will give thanks to your name,
because of your kindness and your truth:
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
READING 2 ROM 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
GOSPEL MT 16:13-20
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Commentary on Matthew 16:13-20
In today’s Gospel, we recall a high point in Jesus’ relationship with his disciples. It represents a quantum leap in their understanding of who he really is, and it took them quite a while to come to this point. Yet even here, as subsequent events in the rest of the Gospel clearly indicate, they still did not fully understand the implications of what they had just begun to realise. We will see a clear indication of this in next Sunday’s Gospel reading.
In a way, of course, today’s passage really is an expression of the faith of the early Church rather than just that of the disciples at the time of the event described. Mark, in particular, likes to emphasise the poor understanding of the disciples with regard to the identity and teaching of Jesus. The first person in his Gospel to recognise Jesus fully was a pagan soldier at the foot of the Cross (Mark 15:39). At that moment, Jesus’ disciples, his chosen followers, were nowhere to be seen.
Who do you say…
The passage today begins with Jesus asking his disciples who people think he is. Jesus calls himself “Son of Man” here, thus identifying himself with the Messianic figure in Daniel 7:13-14:
I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven…To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
In reply the disciples give various answers:
the prophet John the Baptist, executed recently by Herod and, in the person of Jesus, thought by some to have come back to life (see Luke 9:7);
the prophet Elijah, who went to heaven in a fiery chariot and was expected to return soon to earth as a sign of the imminent coming of the Messiah;
the prophet Jeremiah, who through his own experience of rejection and suffering, announced the rejection and suffering of the Messiah (note that only Matthew among the Synoptics mentions Jeremiah).
What is clear is that while Jesus is seen by the people as a prophet, a spokesperson for God, he is no more than that.
Then Jesus asks his disciples directly who they think he is. Peter, assuming his recognised leadership role in the group, replies:
You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
It is indeed a dramatic moment in their relationship with Jesus. For they have now acknowledged that their rabbi, their teacher and guide, is no less than the long-awaited Messiah, the anointed king of Israel (in the Greek, Messiah is translated as Christos, which means the ‘Anointed One’). It is a major breakthrough for them but, as the rest of the Gospel will show, they still have a long way to go in understanding fully just what ‘messiahship’ will mean for Jesus – and for them.
A happy man
Nevertheless, aware of their limited grasp of what they are saying, Jesus praises Peter:
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.
Only faith could have led Peter to say what he did. He needed faith to recognise the Saviour-King in the dusty human figure standing before him, so different surely from the images that most Jews would have had of their long-expected, all-conquering and nation-liberating leader. Only with God’s enlightenment could they see God’s presence in this carpenter from Galilee, their friend and teacher. Peter must have glowed with pride and this will partly explain his bitter disappointment and shock in the passage immediately following (see next Sunday’s readings).
Despite this moment of insight, Peter and the rest have a long way to go in fully knowing Jesus. We might say at this point that we are in exactly the same position. Perhaps for a long time we have recognised in Jesus the Son of God and our Lord, but we too have a long way to go in completely understanding and in accepting the full implications of being his followers.
Peter the Rock
There now follows a passage which will be the foundation for the authority given to the disciples and to Peter in particular in the post-Resurrection community. In response to Peter’s declaration of faith, Jesus now says:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…
In the English translation, the play on words here is lost. In the Greek, ‘Peter’ is Petros (Petros) and ‘rock’ is petra while, in the Aramaic language which Jesus and his disciples normally spoke, both words would be represented by kepa. Hence, Peter is called Cephas in some New Testament letters (see for example, Gal 2:11).
Peter is the rock, the foundation of the community which will carry the name and the authority of Jesus to the whole world. On him, together with his Apostolic companions as the faithful communicators of Jesus’ life and message, will be built the Church, the ekklesia, the assembly of God’s people. Note that in the four Gospels, this word (ekklesia) appears only in Matthew – here, and twice in Matthew 18:17:
If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church…
The term does not appear in Mark, Luke or John.
A promise for the future
Then there is the promise of endurance against all assaults of evil. A promise that has been remarkably kept through the centuries down to our own day. It is a testimony to the firmness of a foundation whose strength basically comes from Truth and Love. As long as these divinely originating qualities are in the Church, and any part of it, there is nothing to fear.
Peter is then given a special stewardship and responsibility for the community:
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…
We have spoken often in these weeks about the Kingdom. The Church is not itself the Kingdom but it does have the “keys”, in the sense of both authority and access, to the building of that Kingdom. Then he says:
…and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
There is a use of passive verbs in this verse (routinely used in Matthew) so that the name of God need not be explicitly mentioned to a Jewish audience very sensitive about the use of God’s name. God’s own authority passes through Jesus to the community he will leave behind. Whatever they decide corporately under the leadership of Peter and the Apostles will be acknowledged by God. They can do this because they will later be given the Spirit as Teacher and Protector and, through the same Spirit, Jesus will be with them forever. They will be the Body of Christ and when they speak as a body, Christ speaks.
A special kind of leadership
The leadership of Peter and his successors is not one of coercion and political power, but of example and service. As long as faith, hope, and love are strong in the community, it will survive and flourish. It is not just a matter of unquestioning obedience to the decrees of an institution, issued from some far-off headquarters.
Today we see in the pope the successor of Peter. He shares the same charism or gift of leadership, a leadership of service. Traditionally the popes have called themselves Servus servorum Dei, the ‘servant of the servants of God’. The pope is not a dictator with absolute powers as he is sometimes depicted. He is limited by the faith of the whole Church. He is not the originator of that faith; he does not decide what we should believe. Rather, he communicates to the Church at large what it already believes. He is the focal point of unity of that one faith, the unity in the Spirit. The pope is the servant of that one community united in one faith.
Point of unity
In a Church where there are now so many conflicting theologies and spiritualities, there has never been a greater need for a focal point, not of uniformity, but of Christian unity:
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
This is something which many of our Anglican and Lutheran brothers and sisters have become strongly aware of. It is something whose importance is so well realised by our Catholic brothers and sisters in parts of the world where they are as scattered and cut off from each other as they are.
The pope is our point of reference, whom we must always take into account, as we search for new understandings of what it means to be a disciple of Christ in a constantly changing world. He is the shepherd that keeps us in fellowship with Christians everywhere, but who must not stifle the creativity of the Spirit in living out the Gospel in such a huge variety of contexts. For we are simultaneously one Church and many churches.
For us here in our own church, our concern will be to remain in close union with fellow-disciples everywhere while, at the same time, living a Christian life in a way that most effectively will bring the spirit of the Kingdom among us in these challenging times.
TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 EZ 33:7-9
Thus says the LORD: You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me. If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die, ” and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) IF TODAY YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
READING 2 ROM 13:8-10
Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, ” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.
GOSPEL MT 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Commentary on Ezekiel 33:7-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20
We are reminded today that to belong to the Church is to belong to a community of brothers and sisters in Christ. This means that being a Christian is not a private, purely personal affair, although that is the way some people seem to behave. When God asked Cain, “Where is your brother?”, Cain answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The teaching of the Gospel is that indeed I am responsible for my brothers and sisters.
Not only that, our relationship with Jesus, with God, depends intimately on how we relate with other people – be they members of our own family or complete strangers:
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
And:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me…just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. (Matthew 25:40,45)
Many of us are reluctant to involve ourselves in other people’s affairs. Sometimes that attitude is good and wholesome but sometimes it is not. Our government, for instance, now frequently asks us to report on instances of abuse of which we may be aware. Such behaviour against defenceless people is something about which we need to be really concerned, to the point of taking appropriate action to protect the victims. If such things happen within the family it can be even more difficult to take action. It is not easy to see a father or mother brought away by the police or investigated by a social worker, even though it may be in the best interests of all concerned.
Community relations
The Gospel passage of today deals with such situations within the Christian community. The whole of Matthew chapter 18 is a discourse on mutual relations within the Christian community and, especially, what to do when divisions arise, as must inevitably happen. We are communities of sinners trying to be saints and there are many pitfalls on the way. In today’s passage we see first of all a three-stage procedure for dealing with a community member who has done “something wrong”. Presumably, it is some form of external behaviour which is harmful to the quality of the community’s witnessing to the Gospel.
The whole thrust of the passage is that we should all work towards reconciliation rather than punishment. There will also be a desire to keep the issue at as low a profile as possible. Sadly, we read regularly in our newspapers what happens when people drag their mutual grievances against each other to the law courts. So, the first stage is for the people concerned to solve the issue among themselves. If it works out at that level, that is the ideal situation – you have “won back” your brother or sister. “Won back” here is a Jewish technical term for conversion. For it is not enough that he merely stop his offensive behaviour, there also needs to be a genuine change of attitude and a genuine reconciliation with the offending person.
If the offender refuses to listen to his “brother”, then others should be brought in as confirming witnesses. And, if he refuses to listen to these, then “tell it to the community” – in Greek, ekklesia. ‘Community’ is here understood as the local church community because, in the thinking of the Christian Testament, each self-contained community is a ‘church’ (for example, Revelation 1:4-3:22, where letters are written to seven ‘churches’ or local communities).
Exclusion
In the last resort, if the offender still refuses to listen or to change, then:
…let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.
That is to say, let him be put out from the community and be regarded as an outsider. Obviously, this is a drastic and final step and to be taken not in a spirit of revenge or vindictiveness but out of real concern for the well-being of the whole community. It requires very sensitive discernment because it is easy to ‘get rid of’ someone who may in fact be telling the community some wholesome truths it needs to hear.
Many genuinely prophetic people have had this experience. It is easy to be too concerned about the “respectable image” of the community or being seen as in conflict with the established authorities. The only well-being that can justify such ‘excommunication’ is behaviour that is totally at variance with the community’s mission to be the Body of Christ and to be the witness of the Gospel message.
How, someone may ask, can this be squared with Jesus’ openness to sinners, including corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes, or with the story of the Prodigal Son? But Jesus’ reception of these people was not unconditional. It depended on their change of heart and the abandonment of their sinful ways. Jesus sat down with sinners, not because he liked them more than good people, but because he hoped to lead them back. When he forgave the woman taken in adultery, he told her to “sin no more”. The Prodigal Son was received with open arms after he had decided he no longer wanted to live his life of debauchery and, by his own decision, came back to his father.
The common good and the individual good
So, it is in the interests of both the community and of the individual that, if a person persists in anti-Christian behaviour, the person should be separated from the community. We practice this partly by not allowing a person in serious sin to receive the Eucharist. There is a serious contradiction between a person acting contrary to the Gospel and wanting to share in the Body of Christ, which has been wounded by his/her behaviour.
The situation, obviously, can be changed by a change in the attitude and behaviour of the wrongdoer. Once the person repents and converts, they will be – indeed must be – received back with joy:
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
These words also indicate that the church has the power, given it by God, to make a judgement on who is fit to belong to the Body of Christ, i.e. the church community. It is a necessary power to preserve the integrity of the community as a witness to the Gospel. It is a power which must be exerted only with loving concern for the well-being of a wrongdoer. That said, it is also a dangerous power which could be abused.
Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
Wherever Christians meet together in truth and love, whether it be for prayer, study, or decision-making, Jesus is present and Jesus speaks and acts. This is both a tremendous gift and also a great responsibility.
Centrality of love
And so it is that Paul in the Second Reading puts the emphasis on love. It contains all other Christian obligations:
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
To keep the commandments without love – and it is possible – is to become not another Jesus, but a Pharisee. If I really care in compassion for my neighbour, then I know that I am keeping the commandments and that I also am loving God. I have to look carefully at the needs of my brothers and sisters. If I see them hurting themselves or someone else, that is my business.
So the First Reading says:
If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.
I am my brother’s and my sister’s keeper. But not absolutely, for:
…if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
I have a responsibility to save my brother in sin, but I am not ultimately responsible for his salvation. The last choice will always be with him. There is no need, after one has done one’s best, to feel guilt over the evil behaviour of another.
Only path to salvation
It is easy to think that being a Catholic means being concerned with the relationship between God and me, that my duty is to “save my soul”. But, in fact, the only way to “save my soul” is by becoming a truly loving and caring person as part of a loving and caring community of people united in Christ. And sometimes that caring may involve bringing the brother/sister face to face with the loving demands of the Gospel. We do not help each other by turning a blind eye to behaviour which is clearly unchristian.
As a community we have a responsibility for each other’s well-being. We do not further the witness of a loving community when we, in false “charity”, ignore social problems such as drug-taking, alcoholism, compulsive gambling, violence in the home, discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities, racial exploitation and the like taking place in our parish community. It is not enough just to deal with these things in the privacy of “Confession” for, ultimately, reconciliation must be at the community level. And, as such, this is the responsibility of the community exercising its calling as the Body of Christ.
TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 JER 20:7-9
You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the LORD has brought me derision and reproach all the day. I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
R. (2B) MY SOUL IS THIRSTING FOR YOU, O LORD MY GOD.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you;
your right hand upholds me.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
READING 2ROM 12:1-2
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
GOSPEL MT 16:21-27
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Sir 27:30—28:7
Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
Reading 2 Rom 14:7-9
Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Gospel Mt 18:21-35
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."
Commentary on Readings
FORGIVENESS OF WRONGS done against us is something that many of us Christians find extremely difficult. We probably think Peter is extremely generous in suggesting that he should forgive his brother as many as seven times. Yet Jesus pushes it even further by saying, “Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.” In practice, this means an infinite number of times. It seems hopelessly idealistic and impractical. Yet, further reflection may help us realise that there is really no alternative for the Christian and the truly human person than to forgive – indefinitely.
The words of Jesus turn upside down the boast of Lamech in the book of Genesis. Lamech was the father of Noah, the man who built the ark and saved the human race and all the animals from the Flood.
Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’ (Genesis 4:23-24)
A bankrupt approach
This is the philosophy behind such groupings as triad societies, Mafia-type organizations, terrorists in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, to mention but a few. It is clearly an approach which does nothing except produce death, pain, grief and the seeds for more of the same. It is a way we see portrayed night after night on our television screens and which our young people devour in the comic books they read and the computer games they play.
But the words of Jesus also seem in conflict with the passage we had last Sunday about the “brother” in the Christian community who does wrong and refuses to reform. If he persists in his wrongdoing, he is not to be forgiven indefinitely. On the contrary, he is to be excluded from the community’s life. How are we to bring together this advice and Jesus’ urging to forgive “seventy-seven times”?
Jesus’ story
First, let us look at the parable which follows Jesus’ words. It is a parable about a senior official who has incurred a debt of 10,000 ‘talents’. One talent was already a very large amount of money. It is difficult to make a meaningful comparison in today’s currency but let us say, that, roughly, a talent was worth US$1,000. To say the servant owed 10,000 talents is to use the number in the way the Chinese and Japanese wish “10,000 years”, in other words, ‘without limit’. Jesus is saying this official owed a sky-high debt which he could never have any hope of paying back.
Yet this same official comes down heavily on a much lower official who owed him 100 denarii. A denarius was the equivalent of one day’s work for a labourer. Compared to what the senior official owed, 100 denarii was nothing. Yet, the lower official gets no mercy and is tossed, together with his whole family, into a debtor’s prison until the debt is paid (presumably by relatives or colleagues). When the king hears about this, the senior official himself gets thrown into prison. Given the amount of his debt, it is unlikely he would ever get out.
Gospel teaching
Both the words of Jesus and the parable linked with them throw us back to the Lord’s Prayer as it is presented in the Sermon on the Mount. In the ‘Our Father’ which we recite together in every Eucharist, we say: “Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.” Further commenting on these words, Matthew has Jesus say, “If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.” (Matthew 6: 12,14-15).
There are two very clear messages from both the parable and the words from the Sermon on the Mount:
– The first is that we dare not hold back forgiveness from those God forgives. And we know, from the Gospel, God’s attitude towards wrongdoers and his penchant for forgiveness.
– But the second message is that the divine patience is not infinite. God, as Jesus tells us to do, is ready to forgive 77 times. And, when it comes to the forgiveness of our own sins, we take this for granted. (Imagine if God were to say, “In your lifetime I will give you just five chances to repent and, after that you’ve had it.”) At the same time, there is a limit to the extent of God’s forgiveness in the sense that it is conditional. That condition is determined first, by our readiness to respond to his forgiveness through our repentance and conversion, and second, by our willingness to imitate him in practising forgiveness of those we feel have offended or hurt us.
Refusing forgiveness
Strange as it may seem, the all-powerful God cannot fully forgive the person to whom pardon is offered but who refuses it. Because ultimately, the problem is not just one of ‘forgiveness’ but also of ‘reconciliation’. And where there is no reconciliation or at least hope of reconciliation there cannot be forgiveness in the full sense.
God cannot just say a million times over to the sinner, “I forgive you.” Forgiveness on our part is not just to say, “I know you did something terrible but, because I am a practising Christian, I forgive you.” You may feel very good about talking in that way but it has not really solved the problem or healed the wound. My responsibility is not over by saying, “I forgive”, if the other person has not changed their attitude towards me in any way. One-sided forgiving can be a source of real smugness, “How good I am!” and further hurt, “I forgave but he/she continued to hate/hurt me!” At the same time, even with the best will in the world I cannot force another person to be reconciled with me. Ultimately, reconciliation is a personal decision on each side.
Forgiving in the full Christian sense is a form of loving and caring. The problem is that people’s actions towards us are seen as attacks on our vulnerability, our self-esteem. We become completely obsessed by what is happening to us and do not take time to reflect on what is behind the other person’s behaviour.
A hating or angry person is nearly always a person who is more hurting to his- or herself than the object of the hatred or anger. But because on my part there is no effort to understand what is happening to the other person, forgiveness, reconciliation and healing can never really get off the ground.
In the psychology school of Neuro-Linguistic Programming there is a saying, “People make the best choices available to them.” Sad to say, many have very poor choices available to them for one reason or another. People normally do not hate or hurt out of genuine malice for the most part. It can make a big difference to me and to them to try to understand why people act towards me in the way they do.
I may even come to be aware that I am partly responsible for their reactions. I can well ask myself, “What is it in me that makes this person act like this?” When I approach a mutual problem in this way, forgiveness and reconciliation become so much easier. I am going to feel much less hurt much more of the time. I am going to reach out in compassion to the hurts and weaknesses of others.
Sin and sinner
A person who is fully secure in the knowledge of being totally loved by God and of their own lovableness is not going to find forgiveness and reconciliation too difficult. Forgiving 77 times will not only seem not idealistic but simply the only reasonable thing to do. At the same time, like God and like the Christian community, forgiveness and reconciliation does not mean indefinite tolerance of evil and unjust behaviour. The king was perfectly ready to forgive the senior official but how could reconciliation take place when he behaved in such an abominable way to a brother? We can be ready to forgive the sinner indefinitely but we must fight against sin without counting the cost.
God and the Church can forgive the repentant sinner but they cannot condone unrepented behaviour that is a source of real evil and suffering. God cannot be reconciled with the sinner who chooses to stay in sin, nor can the Christian community fully incorporate a member who refuses reconciliation and healing of behaviour that offends against truth and love. It takes two to tango and also to effect a reconciliation.
With God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and with the individual Christian, forgiveness is infinitely available but only where a mutual healing of wounds is sought, only where there is a desire to have that change of mind and behaviour which puts an end to the sinful way.
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Sir 27:30—28:7
Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
Reading 2 Rom 14:7-9
Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Gospel Mt 18:21-35
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."
Commentary on Readings
FORGIVENESS OF WRONGS done against us is something that many of us Christians find extremely difficult. We probably think Peter is extremely generous in suggesting that he should forgive his brother as many as seven times. Yet Jesus pushes it even further by saying, “Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.” In practice, this means an infinite number of times. It seems hopelessly idealistic and impractical. Yet, further reflection may help us realise that there is really no alternative for the Christian and the truly human person than to forgive – indefinitely.
The words of Jesus turn upside down the boast of Lamech in the book of Genesis. Lamech was the father of Noah, the man who built the ark and saved the human race and all the animals from the Flood.
Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’ (Genesis 4:23-24)
A bankrupt approach
This is the philosophy behind such groupings as triad societies, Mafia-type organizations, terrorists in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, to mention but a few. It is clearly an approach which does nothing except produce death, pain, grief and the seeds for more of the same. It is a way we see portrayed night after night on our television screens and which our young people devour in the comic books they read and the computer games they play.
But the words of Jesus also seem in conflict with the passage we had last Sunday about the “brother” in the Christian community who does wrong and refuses to reform. If he persists in his wrongdoing, he is not to be forgiven indefinitely. On the contrary, he is to be excluded from the community’s life. How are we to bring together this advice and Jesus’ urging to forgive “seventy-seven times”?
Jesus’ story
First, let us look at the parable which follows Jesus’ words. It is a parable about a senior official who has incurred a debt of 10,000 ‘talents’. One talent was already a very large amount of money. It is difficult to make a meaningful comparison in today’s currency but let us say, that, roughly, a talent was worth US$1,000. To say the servant owed 10,000 talents is to use the number in the way the Chinese and Japanese wish “10,000 years”, in other words, ‘without limit’. Jesus is saying this official owed a sky-high debt which he could never have any hope of paying back.
Yet this same official comes down heavily on a much lower official who owed him 100 denarii. A denarius was the equivalent of one day’s work for a labourer. Compared to what the senior official owed, 100 denarii was nothing. Yet, the lower official gets no mercy and is tossed, together with his whole family, into a debtor’s prison until the debt is paid (presumably by relatives or colleagues). When the king hears about this, the senior official himself gets thrown into prison. Given the amount of his debt, it is unlikely he would ever get out.
Gospel teaching
Both the words of Jesus and the parable linked with them throw us back to the Lord’s Prayer as it is presented in the Sermon on the Mount. In the ‘Our Father’ which we recite together in every Eucharist, we say: “Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.” Further commenting on these words, Matthew has Jesus say, “If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.” (Matthew 6: 12,14-15).
There are two very clear messages from both the parable and the words from the Sermon on the Mount:
– The first is that we dare not hold back forgiveness from those God forgives. And we know, from the Gospel, God’s attitude towards wrongdoers and his penchant for forgiveness.
– But the second message is that the divine patience is not infinite. God, as Jesus tells us to do, is ready to forgive 77 times. And, when it comes to the forgiveness of our own sins, we take this for granted. (Imagine if God were to say, “In your lifetime I will give you just five chances to repent and, after that you’ve had it.”) At the same time, there is a limit to the extent of God’s forgiveness in the sense that it is conditional. That condition is determined first, by our readiness to respond to his forgiveness through our repentance and conversion, and second, by our willingness to imitate him in practising forgiveness of those we feel have offended or hurt us.
Refusing forgiveness
Strange as it may seem, the all-powerful God cannot fully forgive the person to whom pardon is offered but who refuses it. Because ultimately, the problem is not just one of ‘forgiveness’ but also of ‘reconciliation’. And where there is no reconciliation or at least hope of reconciliation there cannot be forgiveness in the full sense.
God cannot just say a million times over to the sinner, “I forgive you.” Forgiveness on our part is not just to say, “I know you did something terrible but, because I am a practising Christian, I forgive you.” You may feel very good about talking in that way but it has not really solved the problem or healed the wound. My responsibility is not over by saying, “I forgive”, if the other person has not changed their attitude towards me in any way. One-sided forgiving can be a source of real smugness, “How good I am!” and further hurt, “I forgave but he/she continued to hate/hurt me!” At the same time, even with the best will in the world I cannot force another person to be reconciled with me. Ultimately, reconciliation is a personal decision on each side.
Forgiving in the full Christian sense is a form of loving and caring. The problem is that people’s actions towards us are seen as attacks on our vulnerability, our self-esteem. We become completely obsessed by what is happening to us and do not take time to reflect on what is behind the other person’s behaviour.
A hating or angry person is nearly always a person who is more hurting to his- or herself than the object of the hatred or anger. But because on my part there is no effort to understand what is happening to the other person, forgiveness, reconciliation and healing can never really get off the ground.
In the psychology school of Neuro-Linguistic Programming there is a saying, “People make the best choices available to them.” Sad to say, many have very poor choices available to them for one reason or another. People normally do not hate or hurt out of genuine malice for the most part. It can make a big difference to me and to them to try to understand why people act towards me in the way they do.
I may even come to be aware that I am partly responsible for their reactions. I can well ask myself, “What is it in me that makes this person act like this?” When I approach a mutual problem in this way, forgiveness and reconciliation become so much easier. I am going to feel much less hurt much more of the time. I am going to reach out in compassion to the hurts and weaknesses of others.
Sin and sinner
A person who is fully secure in the knowledge of being totally loved by God and of their own lovableness is not going to find forgiveness and reconciliation too difficult. Forgiving 77 times will not only seem not idealistic but simply the only reasonable thing to do. At the same time, like God and like the Christian community, forgiveness and reconciliation does not mean indefinite tolerance of evil and unjust behaviour. The king was perfectly ready to forgive the senior official but how could reconciliation take place when he behaved in such an abominable way to a brother? We can be ready to forgive the sinner indefinitely but we must fight against sin without counting the cost.
God and the Church can forgive the repentant sinner but they cannot condone unrepented behaviour that is a source of real evil and suffering. God cannot be reconciled with the sinner who chooses to stay in sin, nor can the Christian community fully incorporate a member who refuses reconciliation and healing of behaviour that offends against truth and love. It takes two to tango and also to effect a reconciliation.
With God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and with the individual Christian, forgiveness is infinitely available but only where a mutual healing of wounds is sought, only where there is a desire to have that change of mind and behaviour which puts an end to the sinful way.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 55:6-9
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
R. (18a) The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
Reading 2 Phil 1:20c-24, 27a
Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Gospel Mt 20:1-16a
Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Commentary on Isaiah 55:6-9; Philippians 1:20-24,27; Matthew 20:1-16
Undoubtedly, a major theme running through the whole of the Old and New Testaments is that of ‘justice’. God is wholly just and we are called, both individually and corporately, to lives of justice also. The question, of course, is what do we mean by justice? What does the Scripture mean by justice? What is the justice of God? Some of the answers to these questions can be found in today’s Gospel passage. Reading this passage may call for some adjustment in our normal ways of thinking.
And this is just what the First Reading from Isaiah prepares us for:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Growing in Christ means a constant shifting of our conventional ways of thinking and sometimes the adjustments do not come easily. To have the mind of Christ means, like him, to “empty” ourselves. In our case, to empty ourselves of many of the convictions we take for granted.
Hiring workers
Today’s Gospel is the parable of the workers in the vineyard, or rather, the hiring of workers for a vineyard. The parable is linked with the passage immediately preceding. It is important to note that the divisions of our scriptures into chapters and verses were not done by the original writers. Sometimes these divisions are quite arbitrary and create unnatural breaks in the text. Because today’s passage begins a new chapter, we are inclined to overlook its relationship to what has gone just before in the previous chapter. To better understand context, it’s always useful when reading a Gospel passage to look both behind and ahead of the listed verses.
The end of chapter 19 is a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. This in turn followed the incident of the rich man, who was a devout Jew invited by Jesus to be a disciple. He declined because he could not let go of his material wealth. There follow the warnings by Jesus about material wealth as a real obstacle to being part of God’s Kingdom. The disciples, not yet fully convinced of this, still wonder what is in store for them as they have left all to follow Jesus. Jesus promises that they will have a very special place in his Kingdom and, even in this life, will be amply rewarded in having all their material and social needs fully met. And Jesus concludes by saying – no doubt with the rich man and his disciples in mind:
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. (Matt 19:30)
At all hours
When we see the following parable as related to the above, its meaning becomes very clear. The parable describes a vineyard owner going out several times during a day to get workers for his vineyard. He makes an agreement with each one of them for a wage of one denarius. This was the normal daily wage for a worker in Jesus’ time. The vineyard owner went out at 6 o’clock in the morning and again at 9, at noon and again at 3 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon. It was normal for workers to gather at a crossroads or a market place waiting to be hired. Each time the vineyard owner assures the workers he will give them a ‘just wage’:
I will pay you whatever is right.
With just one hour of work time remaining, the owner went out once more. He sees men waiting there and asks them:
Why are you standing here idle all day?
And they answer:
Because no one has hired us.
They were idle, not because of laziness but because no one wanted to employ them. The parable in general seems to put a value on work and on a right to work. It says something about the curse of chronic unemployment bedevilling so many societies today.
Complaints
At the end of the day, the steward or bailiff is instructed to pay out the wages. Echoing the words of Jesus in the previous passage, he is told to start paying the workers:
…beginning with the last and then going to the first.
Those who had come in at the last hour were paid their one denarius, as promised. However, when those who had been working since 6 o’clock in the morning were paid they were not at all happy to receive only one denarius. They complained:
These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
Their complaints are reminiscent of the “murmuring” of the Israelites against Moses and Aaron in the desert (Exod 16:3-8). Probably some of us feel a lot of sympathy for these early workers and think they got a raw deal.
Yet we do need to read carefully the reply of the vineyard owner, who clearly represents the Gospel view:
Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?
As was emphasised earlier, this is understood as a just wage for one full day of work. The workers had accepted this fully. The landowner continues:
Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?
There is an important lesson here about God’s justice. When seen from our often mathematical and narrow-minded viewpoint, it often looks like injustice. We tend to think that if a person can do more, he is a better person and should have a greater reward. Why, for instance, is there such a disparity between the income of a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, and a bus driver? Which of these, in fact, does more? Is this really just? Should a salary be based on what a person does or on what a person needs for a decent standard of living?
We even think that if we do more for God, he will somehow love us more and reward us more. That is very much at the background of today’s parable. For many of us, the workers were quite right to criticise their employer. They worked longer hours and should have got more money. But there is another way of looking at the situation.
God’s justice
First, doing more for God and for others does not mean that God will love us more. No matter what we do or do not do, he cannot love us more than he already does.
Second, God does not look at how much we do. He looks at our needs. Maybe we, in assessing the remuneration people get, should think along the same lines.
Some of the people in the Gospel, the “first” in today’s parable, thought that, because they had served the Law of the Lord, had over so many centuries “borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat”, God should love them in a special way. They were somehow better than others. Maybe there are some of us Catholics who think along the same lines.
But that is not the way God works. His disciples, the “last”, who have given up everything to be with him, will be the recipients of the same love and the same rewards. In fact, they may receive more in the sense that, unlike unbelieving Jews, they fully opened themselves to the love of God in following Jesus.
Our situation
And before we continue to side with the grumbling workers, it might help to remember our own situation. We ought to be very grateful that we have a God whose justice is so patently unjust. He loves Mary his Mother, he loves a St Teresa of Calcutta and he loves ME with exactly the same love. Is that just? Is that what I deserve? Should I complain, or should I bow down in humble thankfulness that I am treated so well, that as one of the “last” I get the same treatment as the “first”?
God loves us where we are now. He does not keep an account book with accumulated credits and debts. The saint can apostatise and distance himself totally from God – forever. The lifetime sinner can be converted on his deathbed. But we should remember that the bias, fortunately, is on the side of the sinner. The chances of someone who is truly in a close, loving relationship with God turning apostate is not very likely. It is not at all unlikely, however, for the compulsively religious person whose faith is built on some external, rigid legalism rather than on a tender, loving relationship with God and with others. For the really sinful person, there is always the hope that they will come face to face with the love of God and, after a lifetime of wrongdoing, say a big “Yes!” to Jesus.
This means that no matter how many times I fail, no matter how many times I do wrong, no matter how late in life I come to find Jesus, I am assured of the same welcome that the saints get. This is the “justice” of the shepherd who leaves the “good” sheep and spends hours of his time looking for the single one that wandered far from the flock. This is the “justice” of the father who organises a huge feast for the son that has just spent all his father’s money on high-living and debauchery, when nothing of the kind had ever been done for the dutiful son who stayed at home. We want to be careful about “knocking” God’s “justice”, especially when we ourselves are so much its beneficiaries.
God’s way, our way
Finally, if this is God’s way of proceeding, it is clearly meant to be our way also. Last Sunday’s Gospel spoke about the importance of forgiving others and being reconciled with them. We need also to learn how to accept people as they are and not to evaluate them just on what they can do, or because of their status in society, or their profession – but simply because they are brothers and sisters who need our love and our care. We need to learn how, as God does, to see people as they are now and not constantly drag in their past behaviours.
With the help of God, we can learn to understand and to follow his justice. Our ways can become his ways and our thoughts become his thoughts. We will find it is a wonderfully liberating experience.
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Ez 18:25-28
Thus says the LORD: You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!" Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (6a) Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not;
in your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
Reading 2 Phil 2:1-11
Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel Mt 21:28-32
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: "What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him."
Commentary on Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32
Today we are presented with another challenge by Jesus to the religious leaders of the people. It consists of a parable about two sons whose father operates a vineyard. He tells one to go and work there. The lad refuses, but later changes his mind and goes. The second one is also told to go. He agrees to do so, but in the end he does not. Jesus asks:
Which of the two did the will of his father?
They all agree that it was the one who at first would not go, but later did so.
In case there was any doubt, Jesus then clearly spells out the meaning of his story. Tax collectors and prostitutes, perhaps the most despised of all people from the religious leaders’ point of view, were making their way into the kingdom of God before the chief priests and the elders. In their eyes, it was a shocking and dreadfully insulting thing to say. As proof of what he says, Jesus reminds them that they refused to believe John the Baptist who “came to you in the way of righteousness” when he called people to repentance. On the other hand, the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. And, even after that, the priests and elders refused to do so. They were there watching, but felt that John’s words did not concern them.
Outrageous
In the eyes of the priests and elders, the idea that tax collectors and prostitutes should enter the kingdom before them was outrageous. The very idea that such evil and immoral people should take precedence over the religious leaders in God’s eyes would be totally unjust. It might have helped them to be reminded of what the prophet Ezekiel says in today’s First Reading:
…you say, the way of the Lord is unfair.
The Lord replies:
Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed, they shall die.
And the Lord also says:
…when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life.
Here Ezekiel is saying exactly the same thing as Jesus and it is something we all need to listen to carefully. It means, for instance, that a person who had lived a good life for a long time, but in the end turned bad would “die in his sin”. On the other hand, someone who had lived a very immoral life for a long time, but turned round and accepted God at the end would live.
Jesus is applying this, first of all, to his listeners. They and their ancestors had a long tradition of following God’s Law, but now, faced first with John the Baptist and then with Jesus, the Son of God, they refused to listen. On the other hand, Gentiles who had lived godless or idolatrous lives for generations are now turning to Jesus and opening themselves to his teaching and his healing power.
Again, as we have said elsewhere, it is not for us today to pass judgement on the religious and political leaders of Jesus’ own people. Rather, we have to see what this incident is saying to our own Christian lives here and now.
Two messages
There are two messages coming out loud and clear. On the one hand, we can never be complacent about our relationship with God. It is possible for any of us at any time to find ourselves falling away from our commitment to Jesus and to his Gospel. And God always accepts us where we are. If we are in union with him, things are well; if we have by our own choice become separated from him, he accepts that too. His love and his grace are always available, but they can be rejected and spurned – and we can “die in our sin”.
On the other hand, no matter how far we have strayed from God and Jesus in the Gospel, no matter how depraved we have become, it is never too late to turn back, and we can be absolutely sure that a warm, no-questions-asked welcome is waiting for us.
We remember the parables in Luke’s Gospel about the lost sheep and the lost (prodigal) son. It is the meaning of the dialogue between Jesus and Peter after the resurrection – “Do you love me…?” Three times Peter had, in pure fear, used oaths to deny he ever had any connection with Jesus. Now, repentant, chastened and humbled, he comes back. Not only is he forgiven, his mandate to lead the community remains intact. Peter’s repented sin, far from being a disqualification, will make him a far more understanding leader:
Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep”.
No punishment?
Is there no punishment for the sinner then? We can say that there is indeed. The sinner basically punishes himself. The punishment is built into the very sinfulness. This is what Ezekiel is saying today:
Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair?
It is not altogether uncommon to hear people complain that God is unfair to them. But God responds that a good person who violates his own integrity to do something evil dies in sin, precisely as a result of the evil he has done.
Our self-seeking, our hate, anger, aggression, violence, jealousy, resentments, our greed and avarice…all lead to isolation, loneliness, hostility with others and often to physical and mental stress and breakdowns. Sin, which is a refusal to respond to God loving us, brings its own inevitable punishment. Our sins often leave wounds which take a long time to heal. God does not need to punish us; we do that very well by our own choices.
Real source of sin
However, we need to identify where sin really lies. Sin is not just a violation of a rule or a law. It is a violation of our very nature. It is not just in the violation of certain rules and commandments. To be away from Sunday Mass is considered a sin? But why? Where is the sin? To act with violence, to steal, to fornicate, to lie, to be avaricious are regarded as sins. But why? Are they sins because the Church says they are? Because the priest in confession says they are? Because parents or other authority figures say they are? Because a list in a prayer book says they are?
Something is sinful because it is wrong, it is evil. Something is sinful because it denies love and respect for God and for the dignity, the rights and integrity of others. They are the sins not only of Catholics, but of anyone who does them. God, Truth and Love do not belong to any religion. And sin, as a violation of our needed relationship with God, Truth and Love, brings nothing but pain and loss. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
Dialogue of the deaf
Today’s gospel is clearly directed at the religious and civil leaders of the people in Jesus’ time. They spoke much about God and, in particular, how God was to be served by a strict observance of the Law. But it is clear they did not have the spirit that Jesus was communicating through his life and teaching. The spirit of love, compassion, caring and forgiveness for the weak and vulnerable. They also heard the teaching of Jesus but made no effort to carry it out. They excused themselves by challenging Jesus’ legal authority to do what he was doing. Because Jesus did not fit into the parameters of their legal world, they could not classify him and they rejected him.
On the other hand:
…the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
They certainly were not keeping God’s Law. They had said No to his commandments many times. But then they met Jesus and they experienced a radical transformation (Greek, metanoia) in their lives. They listened and they responded.
The chief priests and the elders are like the second son in the story. They say ‘Yes’ to obeying God but they do not listen to Jesus, the Son of God, or follow his instructions. The sinners, the outcasts of both Jewish and Gentile society, are like the first son. They do not obey God’s commands, they commit many sins, but later they accept the teaching of Jesus and become his followers.
What about me?
What is clear from this Gospel and from the First Reading is that God is primarily concerned with my present relationship to him. As far as the past is concerned, God has a very short memory…in fact, we might say he has no memory at all! This is the “injustice” of God that Ezekiel mentions. We remember the man who was crucified with Jesus on Calvary. He was a major criminal, a brigand, a robber, perhaps a murderer. There, in the very last moments of a life of murder and mayhem, he asks pardon and forgiveness:
Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.
Jesus’ reply comes instantly, without any qualifications whatsoever:
Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.
(Luke 23:42-43)
How unjust! How unfair! We are reminded of last week’s parable where the workers complained about the latecomers who were given a full wage.
However, it would not at all be a very good idea to think that I could live a life of total selfishness with the intention of making a last-minute deathbed conversion. Apart from the riskiness of such a gamble, such a decision would be quite short-sighted.
It is a totally false idea that to base one’s life on the Gospel is somehow to step outside the mainstream of human living and do something unnatural or ‘supernatural’. For believers and non-believers alike, this is probably the saddest misconception of all. On the contrary, it is the Gospel life vision that is totally human and totally in harmony with our deepest aspirations. If we want true fulfilment and happiness, it is this Way that has to be seized as soon as we become aware of it.
Emptying oneself
In the Second Reading we have the magnificent hymn about Jesus’ own spirit of service and selflessness. Paul says this in the context of a plea for greater unity in the Christian community at Philippi. In urging the Christians to serve each other’s needs with the deepest respect, he asks them to have the mind of Jesus himself, to think like he does. And he illustrates this by quoting what seems to have been an early Christian hymn. It speaks of the awesome dignity of Jesus as the Son of God. Yet Jesus did not emphasise this in his life among us. On the contrary he “emptied” himself and became just like us. He went further and took on the status of a slave and ultimately accepted human death, and the most shameful of all possible deaths, death as a convicted criminal on a cross, a barbaric form of execution.
If we were to be filled with that same spirit that Jesus had we would have nothing to fear. And what wonderful places our Christian communities would be: places of harmony and unity, of love and caring, of compassion and mutual support, of looking after each other’s needs. And, let us remember, it is never too late to start. Let’s begin today.
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 5:1-7
Let me now sing of my friend, my friend's song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do with my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!
Responsorial Psalm Ps 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
R. (Is 5:7a) The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
A vine from Egypt you transplanted;
you drove away the nations and planted it.
It put forth its foliage to the Sea,
its shoots as far as the River.
Why have you broken down its walls,
so that every passer-by plucks its fruit,
The boar from the forest lays it waste,
and the beasts of the field feed upon it?
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
O LORD, God of hosts, restore us;
if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.
Reading 2 Phil 4:6-9
Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Gospel Mt 21:33-43
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: "Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."
Commentary on Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43
Today’s parable is linked to last Sunday’s about the two sons sent to work in their father’s vineyard. One promised to go and work there, but he did not actually go. The other at first refused but later relented and went. The message of Jesus is clear (especially in the context of Matthew’s Gospel).
God’s people had disappointed their God. It was the formerly sinful Gentiles who took on the task of building the Kingdom. This should not be understood as anti-Jewish. On the contrary, this was being written by Christian Jews for Christian Jews and it must have been a painful thing for them to see and accept.
Poor tenants
Today we have a parable saying more or less the same thing. Strictly speaking, it is not a parable, but an allegory. A parable normally presents one lesson and the details are not relevant; while, in an allegory, each detail of the story has a symbolic meaning.
The message clearly is that God’s people have been poor tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. However, we read this not to sit in judgement on certain people in the past. We must be careful to be aware of the relevance of this parable for our own situation. We are not reading it for historical reasons but for reflection on our own lives and behaviour.
The Lord’s vineyard
Both the First Reading and the Gospel focus on the Lord’s vineyard, that is, the place where God’s people are to be found. At first, Jesus chose the Israelites to be his own people. He was with them on their wanderings in the desert on the way to “a land flowing with milk and honey”. The Lord asks in the First Reading:
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
But the response of the people/tenants in the vineyard was far from the expectations of the master of the vineyard:
When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield rotten grapes?
In Jesus’ story, the owner sends his servants to collect the harvest. Instead, the tenants seized, beat, stoned and even killed the owner’s messengers. This happened again and again. The message is clearly understood by Jesus’ hearers. The Lord had sent his prophets to remind his people of their duty to serve, to be a fruitful people. Yet, one by one, God’s messengers were rejected.
No respect even for the son
Finally, the owner’s own son was sent. The owner said:
They will respect my son.
But no. He also was seized, thrown out of the vineyard and killed. They could now take over the vineyard for themselves. It reminds one of the arrogance of our first parents who thought the knowledge of good and evil would give them power over God; of those who tried to build a tower that would reach right to the heavens. And the killing of the son “outside the city” is a clear reference to Jesus dying on the cross outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Called to the Lord’s vineyard
Today, we are God’s people. We are the tenants in the vineyard. Now he expects us to produce fruit, fruit that will endure. The obvious question for us to ask ourselves today is: How are we doing? How much better are we than the chief priests, the elders, the Scribes and the Pharisees? We are specially privileged, by baptism, to be called to work in the Lord’s vineyard. Each week we are invited to gather together to hear the Gospel message and to make it part of our lives. We are all called to be members, active members of the Body of Christ, the Christian community, the Church.
Many martyrs
How do we see this call? Do we find it a privilege, a blessing, or a troublesome burden? How well have we received the message of the Lord?
Over the centuries, how many prophets in our Christian communities have been rejected, abused and even killed? We think of Joan of Arc, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett and, in our own recent times, Bishop Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, the countless victims of violence all over our world.
All these martyrs have one thing in common. They were killed not by pagans, but by fellow-Christians, tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. We can hardly feel superior to the people Jesus is criticising in today’s Gospel. Isaiah’s words in the First Reading are so true. The Lord:
…expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!
In so many parts of the world, we do not have to go far to see the relevance of those words.
What kind of grapes?
Even so, we may feel we have not personally been part of any of this. Yet, what kind of grapes do we as a parish community produce? Are they sweet and luscious, or are they pinched and sour? Is our parish a real sign of Jesus’ presence and love in this part of our city? What kind of impact do we have?
Are we living out the words that Paul proposes to the Christians of Philippi in today’s Second Reading:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
And he goes on:
As for the things that you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them…
These last words are quite a challenge for all of us. But if we can live them out, then, says St Paul:
…the God of peace will be with you.
Parish vineyard
Our parish is our vineyard. It must not produce sour grapes that no one can eat. It must be open to the various ways the Lord speaks to it, whether those people are Church leaders or prophetic voices which may sometimes say things which are painful to hear.
There is always a temptation for a parish to become a security blanket for those who do not want to face up to the challenges facing every society. When that happens, it tends to cling to old, fixed ways of doing things and to resist change. People who propose changes that are necessary in serving a constantly changing society may be resisted and resisted very strongly. Each parish can find itself producing its core of “chief priests and elders” (who, by the way, may not be the clergy) who will make sure that prophetic voices (who may or may not be the clergy) and people with real vision will be effectively blocked.
It is just as easy for us in these times to fail to recognise the voice of God in the messengers he sends us, just as the Jewish authorities of Jesus’ time failed to recognise the Word of God in him. More than 100 years ago, Cardinal Newman said:
To live is to change; and to be perfect is to have changed often.
If we are not really making sure that our vineyard produces rich grapes, not only for us but for others, too, to enjoy, then we are falling short as “tenants”. It may well happen that the Lord would ask others to come and take our place.
If our church was closed down, sold off and turned into a dance hall, what real difference would it make to our district? Of course, we who come here regularly would miss it, but what of others who never step inside? Are we really concerned about that impact or do we think more of our own personal religious obligations and needs? Do we measure the quality of our parish by what goes on in our church building or by what happens when we leave it? Obviously, both are important but there cannot be one without the other.
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 25:6-10a
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken. On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
R. (6cd) I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
Reading 2 Phil 4:12-14, 19-20
Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Mt 22:1-14
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen."
Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-10: Philippians 4:12-14,19-20; Matthew 22:1-14
We have today another parable about the rejection of Jesus by the leaders of his own people. It is, as the others were, being addressed to the chief priests and elders of the people, the religious and civic leaders. The parable divides clearly into three distinct parts:
This is a parable about the Kingdom of God and about the people who will eventually belong to it. It is seen here under the aspect of a marriage feast for a king’s son. In the First Reading from Isaiah we have a graphic description of the great banquet that the Lord will prepare for his people. There will be rich food and fine wines; there will be neither mourning nor death:
The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth…
There will be exultation and rejoicing and:
It will be said on that day, “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
In the Gospel parable, the king sends out his servants, referring to the long line of prophets sent to the people of Israel calling them to love and service. Jesus says:…but they would not come…
Another batch of servants is sent out: Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner…everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet. When God calls there is always a sense of urgency. The only time to respond is now. I need always to be on the watch, but that is not what happens here. We are told that those invited were simply not interested. They reacted in two ways. Either they were too involved in their own worldly interests to be bothered or else they: …seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
This should remind us of the parable in last week’s readings about the absentee landlord sending messengers to collect the produce and the reception they got.
How many of us are guilty of the first way? To what extent, even right now, are we closed to calls from God because we are so tied up in all kinds of concerns and anxieties about things which do not really matter, or about things which cannot guarantee us any real fulfilment and happiness?
Then, after the treatment his messengers received, Jesus says: The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
This is strictly an historical interpolation by the evangelist and not really part of the original parable. It refers clearly to the sacking and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman imperial forces in the year AD 70 (the appearance of Matthew’s Gospel is usually set around AD 85). As for this second way, we still see in our own day God’s messengers being arrested, jailed, tortured and killed.
The highways and byways
With the refusal of those originally invited, the king once again repeats that the wedding is “ready”. There is an urgency to respond to the king’s call. The servants are now sent out, not to the houses of the wealthy and respectable, but to the “main streets”. These are near the gates and markets of a typical Middle East town where large crowds of ordinary people would gather. Here, they are the social and religious outcasts, tax collectors, prostitutes, all those in despised trades. No exceptions are made. All are invited, good and bad alike, until the wedding hall is filled.
There is now no “chosen people”, no elite. The Church calls all to its bosom. It is, and always will be, a Church of both saints and sinners. We need to remember that there will always be constant temptations to create first- and second-class tiers of membership, always temptations for the formation of elite groups, which are “different” and, by implication, “better”. It would be so nice to have a parish consisting only of totally dedicated Christians, but it would not be truly representative of the love of God reaching out to all. It would not be truly a ‘catholic’ church, a church for all.
Contradiction?
Having said all this, the last part of the parable seems a gross contradiction. It seems so unjust. Having gone out to the highways and byways to bring in all and sundry without exception, how can one justify tossing out someone because he does not have a “wedding garment”? Where was he expected to get it at such short notice? Yet, some reflection will reveal that it is really part of the same teaching.
The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus. Other people, Jewish outcasts and pagans, were invited to take their place at the banquet. However, it is not enough just to be present at the banquet. One was expected to come properly dressed and not in dirty and untidy clothes. This would show a total lack of respect for one’s fellow-guests.
While many, in fact all, are called to the banquet, they are expected to behave as wedding guests. In practical terms, while the Church opens wide its arms to the sinner, it expects that he make some effort to repent and be converted. It is not tolerable that he simply continue unabated in his sinful ways. That would not make any sense.
We have seen previously that, while Jesus went out of his way to be friendly with the tax collector and the prostitute, it was not a blanket acceptance of their ways but a means of calling them to conversion and change. In various statements across the Gospels, Jesus tells those he has healed: Your faith has made you whole…do not sin again…come, follow me.
The parable ends on a slightly pessimistic (or is it a realistic?) note: For many [i.e. all] are called, but few are chosen.
It is a sad fact that although everyone is being called to experience the love of God in their lives, relatively few will take the plunge and really try to taste that experience. The majority take what they regard as the safer path of looking for happiness in such activities as making money, building a career, indulging in sexual pleasures, rising in the social scale, surrounding themselves with material abundance. This is what people continue to do even though that path is strewn with disappointment and pain.
Setting standards
We saw, when discussing the readings of the 23rd Sunday, that the Church, too, can and indeed must set standards of participation in the life of the community if it is to remain a credible witness to the Gospel of Jesus and as the Body of Christ. The church could hardly accept as a full member of the community someone who was an unrepentant wrongdoer involved in murder and racketeering or a terrorist committed to continuing the killing of innocent people. For such people to stand with others at the table of the Eucharist would be altogether blasphemous and sacrilegious.
The wedding garment in the parable symbolises the wedding guest, whatever his past may have been, “putting on” Christ. Such a person, through Baptism, the sacrament by which one is given access to the wedding banquet of the Lord, has grown to be clothed in the spirit and teaching of Jesus. This is shown by the gradual transformation of that person’s life through the influence of Jesus as experienced in the Christian community.
Thanks for the invitation
In the light of all this, we might, first of all, express our deep thanks that we have been invited to the wedding banquet of our King. The knowledge and experience of God and Jesus that our faith and membership in the Church gives us should be the most precious gift in our lives. If that is not exactly how we feel, then perhaps we should ask God to give us a deeper understanding of just what Jesus can be for us in finding meaning and happiness in our lives.
Second, we might reflect today on just how “clean” our wedding garment really is. To what extent have we really offered ourselves in love and service to Jesus and to his people? To what extent could we be considered purely marginal members of our parish community? To what extent do we give clear witness of our values and beliefs both inside and outside the community? And we might take a closer look at our lives and see if there are any behaviours or activities which are quite at variance with the kind of life and relationships the Gospel expects of us. Can I in good conscience continue wearing my wedding garment or am I living a lie in doing so? Or, on the other hand, perhaps it’s time I put one on?
Third, we must never forget that, while as Church members we are expected to contribute actively to its life and witnessing, the forgiveness of God and of the community is always available whenever we express sorrow for betraying its ideals.
Today’s readings tell us that God has wonderful things in store for us. Everyone, no matter what kind of past they have had, receives the same invitation to sit down at God’s table. However, having initially answered the invitation, we cannot take things for granted. There is no room for complacency.
Almost more dangerous than being an obviously sinful person is being the “ordinary, run-of-the-mill Catholic”, the “Sunday” Catholic, the “I’m a good enough Catholic”, the “I’m a Catholic but not a fanatic about my religion”. These are all cop-outs. And it is not God, but ourselves who are the losers.
So let us pray that we may keep our wedding garments pure and spotless, that we become disciples who really hear and do the teaching of Jesus. Let us pray for a deeper faith and love and a better spirit of service and sense of responsibility to our community.
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 45:1, 4-6
Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I grasp, subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service, opening doors before him and leaving the gates unbarred: For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel, my chosen one, I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not. I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, there is no other.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10
R. (7b) Give the Lord glory and honor.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts.
Worship the LORD, in holy attire;
tremble before him, all the earth;
say among the nations: The LORD is king,
he governs the peoples with equity.
Reading 2 1 Thes 1:1-5b
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen. For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. .
Gospel Mt 22:15-21
The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Knowing their malice, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax." Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied, "Caesar's." At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Commentary on Isaiah 45:1,4-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5; Matthew 22:15-21
During past Sundays, we have seen Jesus attacking the religious leaders of his people for their failure to recognise in him the Word of God, the power of God, the compassionate love of God. All they could see was a man who broke their laws. Today, in the first of four challenges by different leaders, they hit back. Their plan was to get Jesus to discredit himself. The first challenge, in today’s Gospel, comes from the Pharisees. Their deviousness is seen in the delegation they sent – a mixture of their disciples (not themselves) and some Herodians.
It was a strange mixture because Pharisees and Herodians were bitterly opposed to each other. The Pharisees were rabid nationalists and totally anti-Roman; the Herodians were willing to collaborate with the Romans, hoping to benefit from it. In the language of today, they would be called “appeasers”. It was a perfect example of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Both sides hated each other, but they hated Jesus even more and both had scores to settle. Or did they hope by sending such a mixed delegation, Jesus would be thrown off the scent of their real purpose?
Their opening statement is clever and very flattering. They praise the utter honesty and integrity of Jesus. All of which was perfectly true. Jesus, in fact, is being praised as endowed with God’s own sense of truth and justice, totally impartial, with perhaps a bias for the poor, the weak and powerless.
And it is precisely in this strength of Jesus – telling it like it is without fear or favour – that they hope to entrap him.
Deceptively simple
After this flattering softening-up and linguistic foreplay comes the apparently straightforward question:
Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
In fact, this seemingly simple question addressed a red-hot issue. Palestine was a colony of Rome, a very unwilling and troublesome colony. The Jews hated the Romans, hated their brutality, their moral corruption, above all their godlessness. So, the nationalistic Pharisees felt that the taxes should not be paid to the oppressor. It was, one might say, an early version of “No taxation without representation”. On the contrary, for the Herodians, collaboration with the Romans was seen as beneficial.
Clearly it was a loaded question. If Jesus said taxes should not be paid, he would have pleased the Pharisees, but they could report him for sedition and have him arrested. If he said taxes should be paid, he might please the Herodians, but almost certainly he would lose all credibility with his own people.
The Jews believed that they had only one Lord and Ruler and that was their God. Taxes, or any form of submission, should only be made to him through offerings made in God’s Temple. Today’s First Reading from Isaiah makes it clear that Cyrus, one of the great kings of antiquity with enormous power and who had made vassals of the Jews, was seen as never more than an agent doing God’s work.
Hypocrisy
Jesus, of course, is perfectly aware of the dangers in giving a straight answer. He accuses them of gross hypocrisy in setting this trap. They have no desire to know the answer. They have their own answers already. Their only intention is to lay a trap for Jesus to hang himself with.
Jesus asks them to show him a coin. He asks to know whose image and what inscription are on it. The head was that of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor of the day. The inscription would have read, “Tiberius Caesar son of the divine Augustus, great high priest”. Caesar claimed not only political sovereignty, but also divine attributes. Worship of the emperor was seen as a test of loyalty to the not very religious central government, and would soon become a major issue for the early Christians as it was already for the Jews. For both groups, worship given to the Roman emperor could be nothing but idolatry. Even though, for some, it was seen only a matter of formality, Christians and Jews took it very seriously and many were martyred for their refusal to bow to the emperor. Even today in various parts of the world, there are Christians whose lives are in danger because of their faith when they refuse to acquiesce to the absolute power some governments have over their lives. The church must go “underground” for those Christians to worship.
A famous reply
Jesus then gives his famous answer:
Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.
The answer should not be understood cynically and in line with those who thought that no allegiance at all belongs to the ruling power (e.g. the anarchist line), nor, on the other hand, that a civil power has the right to demand total submission of its subjects. No state can claim to itself divine powers of absolute authority (e.g. atheistic dictatorships). All are subject to the higher demands of truth and justice and the inviolable dignity of the person centred in God.
We all are, in some way, the citizens of two kingdoms: citizens of the political territory where we live and citizens in God’s Kingdom. As Jesus says, they both require certain loyalties from us.
We all depend to a large extent on our civil government. In modern times very few people can supply their own water, electricity, telephone system. There are many other services which only a civil authority can provide, such as education, hospitals, roads, welfare services for the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and other vulnerable people.
It is obvious that if these are services are to continue and even be improved they require the cooperation and support of the community at large. We do this for the most part through paying taxes. Taxes are not just a necessary evil. In a just administration they are our contribution to making the services we take for granted available. In a just tax system, too, we help to spread more evenly the wealth of the community so that each one has access to what they need for a life of human dignity.
Supporting our community
There are many other ways, too, in which we can give our support to raising the quality of life in the community. All of this can be seen as giving to “Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”. One, unfortunately, does meet people whose only interest is in seeing what they can get out of the community for themselves with no intention of ever giving anything back.
But we are also citizens of God’s Kingdom. For much of the time, there is no conflict between “Caesar” and God but not always. We do sometimes, from the standpoint of the Gospel, have to criticise our government’s actions or non-actions. Sometimes we even have to refuse to obey our government. Even today, in some places in the world, Christians are forced to violate the immoral laws of their government. And this is not just in the so-called “third world” countries…we see it in the industrialized west as well. In the name of truth, justice and human dignity, sometimes there is simply no option.
And we need to realise that when we really love our country and its people, then we may have to stand in strong opposition to the authorities on certain issues. Of course, the authorities will try to present such people as traitors and a threat to the stability of the country. But such people, who show they care, often have a far greater love for their country than a so-called “silent majority”.
Two responsibilities
Today’s Gospel makes it very clear that we have two responsibilities: to the government of our country or territory and to God. Where both are in harmony there will be no conflict. Wherever there is immoral or unjust behaviour against people’s dignity and rights, then there has to be conflict.
Such conflict is not always bad. On the contrary, it is because of creative conflict that our society makes progress. Provided we always act in a positive and creative way, “but speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15), then the flawed kingdoms that men build can, in time, become the Kingdom of God. As a famous dissident – and martyr, St Thomas More, said:
The King’s good servant, but God’s first.
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Ex 22:20-26 Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. "If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
Reading 2 1 Thes 1:5c-10 Brothers and sisters: You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Gospel Mt 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
Commentary on Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40
“Love and do what you like” is a statement attributed to the great St Augustine. He did not say “Do what you like”, rather he said, “Love, and do what you like.” The word ‘love’ changes the meaning of the statement completely. We have a similar theme in today’s Gospel. It touches on the very heart of the Christian message and indeed of all human living.
We are at a stage in Matthew’s Gospel these weeks where Jesus is being challenged by various leading groups among the Jews. Jesus had just reduced a group of Sadducees to silence, much to the delight of their rivals, the Pharisees. Now it is some Pharisees who approach him with their own question, a question much debated among themselves: “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” Unlike other encounters, there is not necessarily any malice in this approach. As a Rabbi, influential with the crowds and known by many as someone with a mind of his own, they wanted to know Jesus’ opinion.
There were over 600 different laws, and much time was spent in arguing over trivial details of observance. This question is about getting to the very heart of the matter. Among so many laws, was there any one law which touched the core of people’s relationship with God? Was there one which summed up what the other laws were trying to say?
One plus one equals one
Jesus often answered people’s questions with one of his own but in this case he gives an answer. And he cites not one law but two. He first quotes the book of Deuteronomy which says:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deut 6:5)
Jesus says this is the “first and greatest commandment”. Probably Jesus’ hearers would have had no problem agreeing with that. He then goes on immediately to say:
And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
For Jesus’ listeners, this commandment would have been seen very much as a secondary requirement. And, as we know, the word “neighbour” could be taken in a highly restricted sense. The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke’s gospel indicates that Jesus had a very different understanding of who our neighbour is, although it is not raised here.
Concern for people
God’s special concern for people and not just for worship of Himself is already expressed in a telling sentence from today’s the First Reading, taken from the Book of Exodus. Compassion and sympathy are to be shown in particular to the stranger, the widow, the orphan:
If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry…
Further, money lent to the poor should not require interest; a garment taken as a pledge must be given back before sunset if that is all its owner has to cover himself with during the cold night:
If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry…
Undoubtedly many people would have felt little compunction in not doing these things to people they regarded of no account provided they themselves were fulfilling all their direct obligations of worship to God in terms of prayer, fasting, alms-giving and other ritual observances in temple, synagogue, and home. Jesus, echoing what the Old Testament already is saying, affirms that religious observance is not enough.
Jesus was making a significant change in linking these two commandments together as one and inseparable. From the rest of the New Testament, it is clear that one cannot love God without loving one’s brothers and sisters at the same time. Nor does one love others just for God’s sake or to please God or observe a commandment. One is expected to go much further. One does not go to God through others but one seeks, finds and loves God in others:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. (Matt 25:40)
Jesus identifies himself with the hungry and thirsty, with the naked, the sick and those in prison (irrespective of their crimes). Jesus identifies himself with those in most need of love and compassion. He is also to be loved in the leper (nowadays the victim of socially-transmitted diseases, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the homeless), the outcast – and even in the enemy who threatens me.
A way of life
These “commands” to love God and those around us are not really commands. Love is not love unless it is free and spontaneous. What Jesus proposes are not just commands or rules but a whole approach to life and to our relationship with others.
There is only one “commandment” consisting of two inseparable parts. The key word is “love” but there are really three loves involved: love of God, love of others and love of self. Ultimately, love of God, the source of all being and life, comes first. Then comes, as a natural outcome, love for all those in whom God dwells and whom God creates. Because they are the objects of his love, they must also be the objects of mine. Lastly, there is the love of self. I also am worthy of being loved.
Turning things round
Strangely enough, to implement these loves effectively, we may have to reverse the order to: love of self, leading to love others, leading finally to love of God.
In a way, the most basic love is love of myself. Today’s Gospel says:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On the one hand we might think this is an unnecessary command. What people do not love themselves, think about themselves, worry about their welfare? At the same time, we have been taught many times to not be loving ourselves, to not be selfish and self-centred. And it seems that a great many people do not really love themselves very much at all. Quite a number actually hate themselves and a large number have a low level of self-esteem. They do not like very much what they see in the mirror.
Many secretly dislike themselves and would dread people getting to know them as they see themselves. Why do we spend so much money on clothes, make-up, appearance, image? The cosmetics business is a huge industry involving billions of dollars. Why do so many chase various status symbols to show that they have “arrived”? The part of the city in which I live, the model of my car, my clothes and accessories – all carefully chosen to enhance my image and make me look better than I feel I really am. So much of advertising is directed to this inner fear.
Why are we afraid to let others know what we are really like? Why are we so shy to stand up in front of a crowd or ask questions at a meeting or make a speech? Why do people go around looking for status symbols that will make them seem more important in society?
We know the obsession of many people for “famous brands”. A man got a suit made (cheaply) in Bangkok and when he went to collect it, the tailor pulled open a drawer with all the most famous labels. “Which one would you like?” he asked. So the man walks out wearing a cheap suit but with the prestigious label conspicuously sewn to the cuff. Did he walk taller because of that? What about the phoney expensive-brand watches they sell on Hong Kong’s sidewalks?
Why do so many try to be one of the crowd? Why do so many escape into alcohol and drugs? Why do so many, especially the young, even destroy themselves by taking their own lives? In a world of plenty, of endless means of entertainment and pleasure, why is the level of teenage suicides so high? Ultimately, it is because so many people inside do not or cannot love themselves – and sadly, they think that no one else really loves or could love them either.
Loving others
If we have difficulty loving ourselves, it will be difficult to reach out in love to others. We will be too busy worrying whether others are loving us, or at least the facade we present to others. And indeed that is the case. Individualism is rampant. Freedom means “doing one’s own thing” and to hell with everyone else, except for that small number around them who enhance their self-esteem.
It even affects the way we often behave in church, having very little sense of community. How many of the people around you – at church or in your neighborhood – do you know? And what have you ever done for any of them? And what have they ever done for you?
When I love myself, I accept myself totally as I am, recognising both my good qualities and my deficiencies and making no effort to hide them from others. I do not really mind what people think of me. That is really their problem, not mine. And, because of that, I have plenty of time to think of them and their needs. Then I have the freedom to reach out and be concerned with the well-being of others. In short, I can begin to love my neighbour as I love myself and because I love myself.
Loving God
And then there is the question of loving God. Saying “I love you God” is one of the easiest things in the world. But it is difficult to speak realistically of loving God, if I have no real experience of what love is, or of loving and being loved by people. Only then can I begin to see that God is present in all truly loving experiences. It has been said, “wherever there is love, there is God.” My whole life can be lived in a sea of love, given and received.
Then the commandment of Jesus begins to be realised. I begin to be aware that when I am being deeply loved by another person, it is in fact also God’s love that I am experiencing. “Where there is love, there is God” – all real love is a manifestation of God’s presence.
Most of the time, God shows his love for me through the people that enter my life. He loves me when they love me; and I am loving him when I love them. In the end, there are not three kinds of love but only one.
This person – this me – with all my strengths and weaknesses, this person with whom I have learnt to be perfectly comfortable, lives a life of loving and being loved. At the centre of it all is the source of all love – God.
Finally, we need to say that this love is not necessarily an emotional and romantic love. It is a love, as the First Reading indicates, which involves treating every single person with deep respect, with justice, with compassion. It reaches out even to those who behave badly or wish to harm me. It is a deepdown desire that wishes that every person experience what is the very best for them. It is a way of relating to people that helps them also to become more caring and loving – of themselves, of others, and of God. As Paul tells the Thessalonians today:
…you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord…
That is the core of all evangelisation. It is not just a question of “converting” people and getting them to the baptismal font to become Catholic. It is rather gently to lead them so that they find the God who loves them and find God in loving those around them.
What I am to myself becomes what I am to others and vice versa. And together we all go to God as he comes to us – in love.
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Mal 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10
A great King am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If you do not listen, if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and of your blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts. I, therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people, since you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your decisions. Have we not all the one father? Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?
Responsorial Psalm Ps 131:1, 2, 3
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
Reading 2 1 Thes 2:7b-9, 13
Brothers and sisters: We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us. You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.
Gospel Mt 23:1-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Commentary on Malachi 1:14 – 2:2,8-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9,13; Matthew 23:1-12
We are coming very to near the end of the Church year. We are also coming to the end of Matthew’s Gospel where there is a growing conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his people. Although there is no conflict with the ordinary people who are delighted and amazed at the words and actions of Jesus. The readings today contain serious attacks on the religious leadership.
The prophet Malachi in the First Reading says:
You have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction…so I make you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction.
A mixed group
It is important to note that, in the Gospel, Jesus is not making an attack on all the Pharisees and all spiritual leaders. We know that there were some very good Pharisees. Generally speaking, the Pharisees were among the most observant and devout of Jews.
Nicodemus, the man who came to see Jesus by night, was a Pharisee. It was he, too, who arranged to have Jesus buried after his death on the cross. Another highly revered Pharisee was Gamaliel, who urged caution in acting against the disciples of Jesus preaching the Gospel:
I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God! (Acts 5:38-39)
What Jesus was attacking was not specific people so much as a certain arrogant and hypocritical way of thinking and acting, of which some people in his time were guilty.
Three points
Jesus attacks this mentality in three areas. First, he says the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees should be followed because they are simply handing on the truths of their faith. But their behaviour is a different matter altogether; this should not be imitated. They create a double standard – they say one thing and do another.
The attitude of “Do as I say; not as I do” is something all authority figures, be they parents or priests, politicians or policemen, can sometimes find themselves having in practice. We sometimes tell the young or those ‘under’ us not to do something “because I am telling you” like that in itself is a sufficient reason.
Real authority is not the exercise of power, but of enabling people to do and be what they are called to do and be. It is a matter not of overpowering, but of empowering.
This attitude affects not only religious leaders of all times and places, but also politicians who make our laws and do not keep them; teachers who give conflicting messages to their students; above all, parents who create double standards by forbidding their children to do what they have no hesitation in doing themselves. Worse still, are those leaders – religious, political, educational or parental – who impose heavy obligations but then do nothing to help in their being carried out.
The second criticism is of those in authority who claim special privileges: the wearing of special and distinct uniforms, the expectation that they are deserving of certain perks – not having to pay for certain services, company car, executive dining room, even special toilets!
We all remember the elaborate clothes bishops used to wear implying a certain sacred quality. Things are simpler nowadays and often bishops are indistinguishable from priests (and, even in some countries, from lay people). Priests, in turn, could in the past use the ‘collar’ to expect special treatment; now many dress like everyone else. And there is a clear message there about status and power.
And third, there is the question of titles. There are religious leaders who insist on being addressed by their proper titles: Your Eminence, Your Grace, Monsignor or even Father. In political life and the social scene, great store is often set on titles before one’s name or letters after it. In some cases, large sums of money were offered to acquire these things.
Only one Lord
The point Jesus makes is that only God himself, as the source of all life, has the right to titles of Lordship or authority. And, only those are truly great who are totally at the service of their brothers and sisters.
You are not great because you wear special clothes.
You are not great because someone carries a cross or a mace in front of you.
You are not great because people step back to let you go first.
You are not great because you arrive in a chauffeur-driven limousine or appear regularly in the media.
You are great when, whoever you are, you use your God-given talents to benefit the people around you. If you are not doing that you are not great in any sense of the word.
It is easy to read today’s Gospel and start pointing fingers at others, but it is important that we see how it applies in my own life. The Gospel is always addressed to me. And today I need to hear what it is saying to me now.
Of course, I can point a criticising finger at all the officials I know, political, religious or otherwise, but am I so different? How often do I stand on ceremony? How touchy am I about how people treat me, especially if I have some title or responsibility, even if I am ‘just’ that of a parent or schoolteacher? Respect cannot be demanded, but only earned.
Like loving mothers
In today’s Second Reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul speaks of himself and other Church leaders acting:
like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children…
And, they were ready not only to hand on the Gospel (that is not so difficult), but their “own selves”. And, unlike the Pharisees and their like, Paul wanted in no way to be a burden on any one. God’s message then comes across as a living power for those who believe. The Gospel should never come across as a burden. On the contrary, it is meant to produce a liberating experience, a lifting of burdens.
The Pharisees acted as if their teaching was their own and they expected people to honour them. Paul, however, in today’s reading tells the Thessalonians that his teaching is not really his:
You received the word of God that you heard from us you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.
It is similar for parents, priests and teachers. We are only channels of God’s Word and his Truth. We never grasp it fully and we are simply stewards handing it on. The only power is the power of the Word itself, the power of Truth and of Love.
So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.
That is what service means. As long as we have our health and energy, each of us should do our best not to be a burden on others. When we truly try hard to offer what we have for the well-being of others we are not likely to be such a burden. As we have said before, when everyone is giving, then everyone is receiving. It is a beautiful way to live but it is not the way of our rat-race, competitive society which thinks only of “How much can I get?”
Fragile vessels
Those we serve need to be aware that what we communicate does not originate from us. We are, in Paul’s image, ‘fragile vessels of clay’. There is no need for us to claim that we embody fully in ourselves the ideals of Christ we try to share with others. There is a vulnerability and weakness in all parents, priests, teachers and other authority figures that we need to admit to openly.
The Church itself is to some extent responsible for placing unrealistic expectations of moral perfection on our clergy. In the past especially, they were presented somehow as different from “ordinary” people; they lived on a higher plane of humanity from the rest. When their ‘feet of clay’ are revealed, there is shock and disillusion and scandal. But scandal is very much in the eye and expectations of the beholder. Parents and teachers too can have the same problem – not to mention politicians, doctors, lawyers, social workers and the like.
We all like to surround ourselves with a certain aura, but it is not the reality. What is difficult to tolerate is the hypocrisy which Jesus so rightly attacks, and of which we are all at one time or another guilty.
When we put ourselves on a pedestal of authority, we are in danger of being knocked down. When, following the advice of Jesus, we realise that real greatness is in offering ourselves in service as a brother/sister to brothers/sisters, then we are likely to meet support, understanding and cooperation in bringing people closer to God. For such people, the loneliness at the top will never be a problem.
Children can perfectly understand the weakness of their parents, and adults the foibles of their leaders. What they really resent is any form of pretence or phoniness and especially double standards.
We are all given different responsibilities in our community and some of these responsibilities are more demanding or require special qualifications or talent. But, the greater the responsibility towards a greater number of people, the greater our ability and qualifications, the greater is the demand to serve the needs of one’s community.
Maybe a political leader needs a driver for his or her car, or to go from A to B by plane or helicopter. But these should be seen, not as “perks” to shore up one’s “dignity”, but as necessary means to carry out more effectively the leader’s mission of service to the people. But these should be seen, not as “perks” to shore up his “dignity”, but as necessary for him to carry out more effectively his mission of service to his people. And the same is to be said for a bishop, a priest or the father and mother of a family.
Today’s Gospel, addressed to all of us, calls for integrity and honesty, where there is no pulling of rank, no demand for respect or privilege or a hearing, no double standards, but a deep sense of equality and mutual respect, a desire to serve, to share what we have and are for the benefit all.
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Wis 6:12-16
Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire; Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. For taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence, and whoever for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
I will remember you upon my couch,
and through the night-watches I will meditate on you:
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
Reading 2 1 Thes 4:13-18
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words. or Gospel Mt 25:1-13 Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
Commentary on Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
The approaching end of the liturgical year regularly brings the usual warnings about being prepared. We know that in the very early Church the Christians believed that Christ’s Second Coming, and therefore the end of the world, would come very soon, even in their lifetime. By the time the gospels were put in written form, however, this began to seem less likely. Does that mean that the warnings about readiness can be put aside? Because, for the most of us, it is presumably purely academic to wonder when the end of our universe or of our planet will take place. We are not likely to be around when it happens.
What is much more practical, however, is the end of our own world – the end of our own time here on earth. That is anything but an academic consideration. That is the one reality of our future that we can be absolutely certain about. And we know very well – although we often prefer not to think about it – that it can happen at any time and in any place. Today’s readings bring us face to face with this reality, this fact. They ask us the question: Am I ready? And they imply consideration of a second question: How can I be ready?
The ten bridesmaids
In today’s passage from Matthew, Jesus tells a parable, partially an allegory, about something which would be very familiar to his Palestinian readers – a village marriage. Apparently ten girls would be asked to accompany the bride as she awaited the arrival of the bridegroom. The problem was that they had no idea when the bridegroom would turn up and, when it got dark, they would need to have lighted lamps. If the bride’s companions were caught unawares, if they were not around when the bridegroom came, they could be locked out or left behind.
Imagery drawn from marriage was a traditional way to describe the relationship between God and his people. When asked why his disciples, unlike those of John the Baptist, did not fast, Jesus replied:
The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? (Matt 9:15)
And, a few weeks back, on the 28th Sunday, we saw Jesus tell the parable of the guests invited to the marriage feast of a father’s son.
The ten young women represent disciples of Jesus, as they await his coming. On the basis of what happens later on, five are described as wise or sensible and five as foolish. Their wisdom here consists in their taking prudent steps to do what they need to do in order to come face to face with their Lord.
However, the bridegroom is long in coming. The early expectation of the Second Coming has not been realised. All – both the sensible ones who brought a sufficient supply of oil as well as those who did not – “became drowsy and slept”. Thus it seems that being fully awake at every single moment is not the point, but rather the overall readiness when the time comes to respond.
God of surprises
Then, right in the middle of the night, the cry goes up:
Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.
Our God is a God of surprises. You never know how or when he is going to appear. For some, it is a long-awaited and long-desired announcement; for others, it creates alarm. For those well stocked with the oil of loving service to their brothers and sisters, the cry is one that fills them with joy and anticipation. One thinks of Paul saying:
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain…yet I cannot say which I will choose. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. (Philippians 1:21-23)
For those who have squandered the gifts they have been given, the announcement fills them with dread. We might feel that the “wise” young women were rather selfish in refusing to share their oil with the “foolish” in such a critical situation. However, the parables of Jesus normally are making one point taken from some common experience of daily life. The focus is on that one point and other details are not part of it. Another example might be the parable of the dishonest steward who falsified all his employer’s accounts so that he could make sure of future employment for himself. Jesus, who was obviously not condoning this man’s behaviour, only used it as an example of how even a bad person can take prudent steps to guarantee his future.
We can also say in the context of today’s parable that the “oil” of loving service is not strictly speaking transferable to others. Our preparedness to meet the Lord is something that is ultimately only our responsibility. No one can say “Yes” to Christ on my behalf. And, this means that those baptised in infancy also have at some stage to say “Yes”, on the basis of their own faith, to Jesus as their Lord. So, while the foolish young women went off to make up for lost and wasted time, “those who were ready” went into the wedding hall and “the door was closed”. All are invited, but not all get inside. All are called, but few are among the chosen ones. This is not due to any partiality on the bridegroom’s part, but because of the tardiness of some in responding to the invitation. The closed door means that access to Jesus is not automatic or to be altogether taken for granted. And that is precisely the warning in today’s readings.
I do not know you
The foolish young women eventually get back with their necessary supplies of oil and find the door shut in their face, and they say:
Lord, Lord, open to us.
In reply, they hear the most terrible words God could speak to us:
Truly I tell you, I do not know you.
In other words, “I invited you to be part of my wedding, but you have never been with me. You have been asleep or you have been going your own way.”
In an emergency there are some things we can borrow from others at short notice. But to be ready to meet Jesus, to have fully accepted his Gospel vision as part of our life, to walk hand in hand with him is not something we can suddenly wake up to and say, “Give it to me now!” By then, it is just too late. Let us pray, then, today for that wisdom which knows where the real secrets of life and success are.
The First Reading tells us to be constantly on the watch for Lady Wisdom:
One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for she will be found sitting at the gate.
Not only that:
…she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths and meets them in every thought.
The truly wise person is the one who has not waited until “some time in the future” to make Jesus fully part of their life. For quite a number of Christians it seems that setting up a career and making money are more important priorities than making the Gospel a major part of their lives. It is a risky investment. If there ever was a blue chip for life, it is Jesus and the way of life he offers us in the Gospel. So many pass it up. They are indeed foolish.
The only way
The truly wise person builds his life on Jesus as the Way, on Jesus as Truth and Life, not only for the future but for here and now. The Gospel, understood and adopted, is the only programme that can guarantee fulfilment and happiness right away. The others all depend on an uncertain future.
Such a wise person lives each day in the light of Jesus’ vision. Such people find him in the most ordinary experiences of daily living – in the people they meet, in the events that take place, in the situations in which they meet, in the events that take place, in the situations in which they find themselves. Jesus is no stranger to them. He can bring many surprises, but he is never unexpected. When they eventually hear the final call, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”, they are not worried. They are happy and more than ready to meet an old friend face to face.
It is not a question of taking a gamble on making a last-minute confession on your deathbed. A surprising number of people do not die in their beds. It is a question rather of what I plan to do this very day and every day. There is absolutely no better way to prepare for the final call than, first, to put it completely out of one’s head, and, second, to learn to spend each and every day in the company of Jesus:
I am with you always… (Matt 28:20)
There are two short prayers which we may find useful to be said at any time as we go through our day:
Lord, grant that all my thoughts, intentions, actions and responses may be directed solely to your love and service this day.
Help me, Lord, to seek, to find, and to respond to you in every person and every experience of this day.
If these prayers really reflect the fabric of my daily living, then let the bridegroom come when he will – I am ready. Instead of knocking at his door, I will find that he comes to knock at mine. Jesus says:
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. (Rev 3:20)
Today he is certainly going to knock at my door. Will I be in when he does?
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She obtains wool and flax and works with loving hands. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle. She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy. Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her a reward for her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R. (cf. 1a) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
Reading 2 1 Thes 5:1-6
Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, "Peace and security, " then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.
Gospel Mt 25:14-30
Jesus told his disciples this parable: "A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one-- to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money. "After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, 'Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, 'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.' His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"
Commentary on Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20,30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30
This is, in effect, the last ordinary Sunday of the Church year. Next week, the 34th Sunday, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. And again, as last week, we are reminded not just of the end of the liturgical year but of the end of all things and the preparations we need to make.
Last week, the story of the ten bridesmaids waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom, was about constant readiness for the final coming of Christ. Today’s Mass is rather about the preparations we need to make.
The Second Reading reminds us that the Day of the Lord will come “like a thief in the night”, when we least expect it, when we are least ready:
…we are not of the night or of darkness. So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
And what should we be doing while we are wide awake (and, hopefully, sober!) in anticipation of the Lord’s coming?
The First Reading suggests that we should be as diligent and industrious as a loyal and faithful wife. A perfect wife, Proverbs says, “is far more precious than jewels”. She is hardworking, mainly for her family, but she also:
…opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
Her value is not in her charm or her beauty, but in her wisdom, that is, in her awareness of where the real priorities in life lie.
The Gospel passage, however, goes further in pinpointing the ultimate purpose of our activities. It is the Parable of the Talents. Literally, one talent was a very large sum of money, equivalent to thousands of dollars today. The parable contains words of advice for the interim period between Christ’s resurrection and his final return. It urges a responsible use of the goods the Master has entrusted to us so that we may be ready to face him when he calls us to account.
Distribution of talents
We see in the parable an employer entrusting his property to each of three servants to administer while he is away. They are not given the same amount and this implies that they have different abilities, or ‘talents’ as we would say today. It is also implied that different returns are expected from different abilities. People are not competing against each other, only against themselves.
The first two, of whom one received five talents and one received two talents, traded with what they had been given and doubled their capital. The third, however, the one who received the least:
…went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
In the Greek text, the word used for “gained” or “made” was used in religious contexts for winning converts. Thus the parable suggests that we are talking about the kind of “profit” a Christian is meant to be aiming at, which has nothing to do with dollars and cents. The man, therefore, who dug his single talent into a hole was guilty of keeping it purely for himself and not risking its exposure to others who could have benefited from his efforts.
“After a long time”, suggesting the long period between Jesus’ resurrection and his coming again, the employer returns to call his servants to account. He is very pleased with the first two who had done so well as to double their original capital. Because they had shown such trustworthiness and a willingness to take risks over what was relatively little, they could now be confidently entrusted with much more. They could enter the “joy of [their] master”, namely the Kingdom of God.
The third man came forward and sheepishly offered his single talent. He had been afraid of his master and said:
Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.
The employer is very angry. At the very least, the money could have been put in a bank and earned a modicum of interest. As it was, it produced absolutely nothing. One is reminded here of the branches on the vine which have no fruit and get thrown into the fire. In terms of the Gospel, it speaks of the Christian, who may be very devout, but who makes no contribution whatever to the life of the Christian community or to its mandate to give witness to the Gospel before the world (something that can be far more risky than commercial trading).
Four points
Discussing this passage, William Barclay makes four useful points:
God gives each person different gifts: Despite our tendencies always to compare ourselves with others, the actual number and quality is not important. We are only asked to make full use of what we have been uniquely given, and to use them for the benefit of the community as a whole. When everyone does that, the community is enriched.
Our work is never completed: When the first two servants showed how much they had earned, they were not told they could sit back and rest. No, because of their trustworthiness, even greater responsibilities were given to them:
For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance…
The one who will be punished is the one who does nothing: The man with one talent did not lose it. He did not do anything at all with it. If he had tried and failed, he would have met compassion and forgiveness. The image of the master as a “harsh man” only emphasises that, if with such a person one should make an effort, all the more should one try where a loving, understanding and compassionate God is concerned. Even the person with one miserable talent has something to offer to others. It is a sober warning that it is not just those who do evil deeds who will lose out, but also those who have no positively good works to show. Saying “But I didn’t do anything!” will not get one off the hook!
For to all those who have, more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away:
It seems rather unfair, like robbing the poor to pay the rich. But Jesus is rather saying that those who share generously the gifts they have been given are likely to find themselves constantly enriched. Those who jealously preserve what they have been given, hoard it and go into their shell in fear of the outside world are likely to shrivel up and die. Those who save their lives, will lose it; those who share generously what they have with others, will find themselves immeasurably enriched. It is the law of the Gospel; it also a law of life which many of us, in practice, find hard to believe.
Refusal to change
It is in this context that another interpretation has been given to the parable. Namely, that it is a criticism of a religious tradition which refuses to develop. This is a constant phenomenon of all religions, including our own. Many of the Jews in Jesus’ time jealously protected the Law and tradition. They were opposed to any change or any development. In the process, they forgot the original spirit of the Law and naturally were opposed to Jesus, who constantly criticised this stance. In our Church today, there are people who do not want to change anything, who want to go back to the old ways of doing things. They want to bury the Spirit of God in the napkin of tradition. They want old wine in old wineskins. This is not the way to Life.
Finally, we need to spend some time reflecting – and how about today – on what particular talents or gifts God has given us. Some of us are clearly very gifted but there is no one, absolutely no one, who can say they have been gifted with nothing. And we can ask ourselves how are we using our particular gifts in the service of our Christian community and the wider society? Any other use of them is to bury them in a napkin and render them unproductive. If we were to die today and met Jesus and he asked us:
How did you use the gifts and talents I gave you? Who benefited and how from those gifts?
What would we be able to say in reply?
And the Master is going to come back, “like a thief in the night”, so we need to be ready. If you have buried that talent or used it in only selfish ways, get out there quickly and get it working for the Kingdom.
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Reading 1 Ez 34:11-12, 15-17
Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly. As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose.
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
Reading 2 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28
Brothers and sisters: Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
Gospel Mt 25:31-46
Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Commentary on Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26,28; Matthew 25:31-46
Today is the thirty-fourth and final Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we will start a new year with the First Sunday in Advent. As is the custom now, on this last Sunday of the year, we celebrate the feast of Jesus Christ our King. All during the past year we have been hearing the Gospel read to us and reflected on in Sunday (and weekday) homilies. Perhaps we have done some prayer reflection of our own. Today somehow sums up all that we have been hearing. The Jesus we have watched going around the towns of Galilee, Samaria and Judea, the Jesus we have watched teaching, healing, consoling, liberating is our Lord and King. He is the visible presence of God in our midst.
Contrasting images
There are two very contrasting images of Christ presented to us in today’s readings. In the Second Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians Paul presents a powerful and awesome picture of Christ as Lord and King. As all have died because of the fall of Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. Christ is presented as the all-powerful ruler to whom every other power and authority must eventually give way:
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Christ represents life, life in all its fullness. And that life he wants to share with every single person.
The gentle shepherd
The other two readings, however, give a very different picture of God and Jesus, who is his visible incarnation. The First Reading presents God as a shepherd. We know that sheep, which are brought out onto hillsides to graze, can wander far in search of the best grass. This would be especially true in the arid hills of Palestine. Not only that, there will be sheep belonging to other shepherds out on the same hills and they can get mixed up with each other. The shepherd then spends considerable time looking after his own straying sheep and bringing them back.
God sees himself as such a shepherd:
I myself will search for my sheep and will sort them out.
As shepherds sort out their flocks
when they are among scattered sheep,
so I will sort out my sheep.
I will rescue them from all the places
to which they have been scattered
on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strays,
and I will bind up the injured,
and I will strengthen the weak…
Jesus himself will pick up this image and will call himself the Good Shepherd. He will also compare God’s concern for the sinner with a shepherd who leaves behind ninety-nine good sheep to go in search of even one which has gone astray and got lost.
God’s bias
But there are others who will not be so well treated:
…the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
God is biased. He is biased against those who exploit the weaker and poorer members in their society. Justice for God is not just based on moral rectitude. It is rather based on an equitable sharing and access to the resources available and necessary for a life of dignity and self-respect.
We remember parable of the rich man clothed in purple and dining sumptuously every day. At the foot of his table sat a poor man, covered in sores, his wounds licked by dogs, who longed to have even the crumbs that fell from the table. Perhaps the rich man went to the temple regularly, perhaps he observed all the festivals and requirements of his religion. But he did nothing for the man at his feet. And that was his sin: he did nothing. And that in some ways is the greatest sin of all.
Standards of judgement
And that is precisely the point in the Gospel reading for today. The scene is the final judgement. Incidentally, this is not to be taken in too literal a sense. It is the meaning behind the scene which we are to focus on. It would be a worthless piece of speculation to imagine our encounter with God as taking place in any particular way analogous to life on earth. One wonders, too, if there is any real validity to the distinction sometimes made between the “particular” and the “general” judgements. The images of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with hosts of angels are typical biblical images pointing to God’s awesome greatness and transcendence, and are not descriptions of some visual experience we might expect to have.
There will be two kinds of people coming for judgement, described respectively as ‘sheep’ and ‘goats’, the good guys and the bad guys. And how are the good and the bad guys to be distinguished from each other? It is quite obvious that both groups are very surprised at the criteria that Jesus presents.
Speaking first to the sheep, Jesus says:
Come, you who are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world,
for I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.
Surprised reaction
The sheep are clearly very surprised. This is obviously not what they were expecting to hear. One gets the impression that they hardly remember doing these things, although definitely they had done at least some of them. And certainly they do not remember ever doing anything of the kind for Jesus:
Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food
or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you
or naked and gave you clothing?
And when was it that we saw you sick
or in prison and visited you?
Were they even more surprised at the answer they got? And the King responds to them:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.
Then turning to the goats, whom he calls “accursed”, he condemns them for not doing any of the things he mentioned above and for not recognising Jesus in their brothers and sisters.
There are a number of things to notice here:
none of the things Jesus mentions are religious in nature
there is no mention whatever of any commandments being observed or violated
people are condemned not for doing actions which were morally wrong, but for not doing anything at all
the actions are done (or not done) to Jesus and not just for Jesus. In other words, Jesus is truly present in every person I meet. I am not just nice to this person (whom I may not care about very much) in order to do a “good act” which Jesus will reward and add to my bank account of “good works”. People cannot be used – even for spiritual purposes.
The really “good” Christian
To sum up, Jesus is saying that, if I wish to be counted among the sheep, then I must be an actively loving person, irrespective of the response I get to my love. This is the way God loves me. It is not enough just to fulfil obligations, religious or otherwise. It won’t do to say, “I am a good enough Catholic”. I am expected to keep going out of my way and reach out in love especially to those in need – the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the poor and naked, the sick and those in prison. It does not matter how they got sick (illness because of a sexually promiscuous lifestyle, overindulgence in alcohol or nicotine…) or why they are in prison (murder, rape, terrorism…). These people are especially to be loved because they are the most in need of having their lives turned round.
This is the King I am called to serve. And the way he wants to be served is for me to be filled with care and compassion for brothers and sisters everywhere, and especially for those who are furthest from him and those who are not experiencing the abundance with which he has filled this world. I serve by loving those who are materially, socially, psychologically, morally and spiritually poor.
The picture of the Judgement in the Gospel is not meant to fill us with fear and trembling. No, it is a challenge not about the future, but about today. The surest way to guarantee that I will be numbered among the sheep is for me to become right now a loving, caring, tolerant, accepting person:
Help me, Lord, to seek and find and respond to you
in every person and in every experience of this day.
Grant, Lord, that all my thoughts,
intentions, actions and responses may directed solely
to your love and service this day.
Reading 1IS 8:23—9:3
First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (4a) Teach me your ways, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble his way.
Reading 21 COR 1:10-13, 17
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you. I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.
Gospel MT 4:12-23 OR 4:12-17
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.
Commentary
THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT PARTS in today’s Gospel reading:
a. Jesus, the light of the nations and the fulfillment of Hebrew Testament prophecies.
b. A call to total conversion, to live in that light
c. Early responses to the call.
After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus moves up north to Galilee. It is his home province. It is where he will begin his public life.
John’s “arrest”
A note about John’s “arrest”. The verb in the original Greek is paradidomi (), which literally means to “hand over”. This is a theme word which goes right through the Gospel:
John the Baptist was handed over – and executed (by King Herod)
Jesus was handed over – and executed (by both Jews and Gentiles – he died for all)
Many of Jesus’ disciples were handed over – and some were executed (mainly by Gentiles).
And this “handing over” has been happening to disciples ever since and down to our own day. Paradoxically, persecution can always be the expected result of living the Gospel of truth and love.
At the consecration during every Eucharist, the celebrant says: “Take this all of you and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.” “Given up” is perhaps a less than ideal translation of the Latin tradetur which means “will be handed over” and is the Latin equivalent of the Greek verb paradidomi. So, in the Eucharist, the Body of Christ is also “handed over” to us. And we, in turn, collectively as the Body of Christ in the Christian community are expected to continue that handing over of ourselves in the service of the Gospel and the promotion of the Kingdom.
Nazareth Matthew says that Jesus left his home town of Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town in Galilee, which, he tells us, is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee “in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali”. This reminds the evangelist of a prophecy from Isaiah which Matthew now sees being fulfilled.
At this time Galilee did not seem an obvious choice for the Messiah’s mission. It was regarded as a ‘remote’ province. (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”, Nathanael asked with some surprise and cynicism.) It was a rebellious region where even Jews were not noted for their observance of the Law.
Yet the prophecy suggests that the Light of the World is to be found in Galilee. Galilee, of all places, is to be the light of the nations? Not for nothing do we speak of a “God of surprises”!
But it is precisely in this Galilean town of Capernaum that Jesus, the Messiah, begins his mission. His preaching is summed up in one deceptively simple sentence: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” ‘Preaching’ would be better translated ‘proclaiming’, making an announcement of Good News.
Good News
What is this “good news”? The Greek eu-angelion (’), from which comes the Latin evangelium, is translated into modern English as “gospel”. This is a variant of the earlier ‘God-Spel’ or ‘good news’.
And what is this good news? The Good News is that the “Kingdom of Heaven” is near. “Kingdom of Heaven” can be a very misleading term. To many, it may be identified with “heaven”, the “place up there” where we hope to go to after death, if we have behaved ourselves.
In fact, it is important to be aware that the term in this context has far less to do with a future life than with our life here in this world. The other gospels speak more directly of the “kingdom of God” which, in fact, is what Matthew also means. However, Matthew’s gospel was written for a Christian community consisting primarily of converted Jews. In their tradition, they were very reluctant ever to use the name of God directly and so Matthew throughout his gospel speaks of God in indirect ways. One way is to use the term “heaven” or to use the passive voice of a verb, e.g. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them.” He does not say by whom they are forgiven but God is clearly understood.
Again, “kingdom” for us suggests the territory ruled over by a king. The Greek word the evangelists use is basileia () from the word basileus () which means a king. Basileia is better translated as ‘rule’, ‘reign’ or ‘kingship’. It indicates more the power of being a king than the place over which one is king. To be in the kingdom, then, is not to be in a particular place, either in this life or the next. Rather it is to be living one’s life – wherever we are – under the loving power of God. It is to be in a relationship of loving submission to one’s God and Lord and to be in an environment where values like truth, love, compassion, justice, freedom, commmunity, and peace prevail.
‘Repent!’ The way to enter that relationships is, in Jesus’ words, to “repent”. This is the response to Jesus’ call. ‘Repent’ usually means to be sorry for, to regret some wrong actions we have done in the past. Jesus, however, is asking for much more than that. It is a call, not to wipe out the past, which is really not possible, but for a change of direction from now on and into the future. The Greek word which is rendered by many translations as ‘repent’ is metanoia, (). This word implies a radical change in one’s thinking; it means looking at life in a completely new way, making what is now sometimes called a ‘paradigm shift’. This new way of seeing life is spelt out through the whole of the Christian Testament.
It is only when we begin to make this radical change that we begin to become part of that Kingdom, that we begin effectively to come under the influence of God’s power in our lives. We begin to see things the way God sees them and our behaviour changes accordingly.
The call is not just to be sorry for past sins and not to do them any more. There has to be a complete change of direction, a deep involvement in doing God’s work. That work involves working with others for an end to poverty and destitution, to hunger and joblessness, to communal and religious hatred, to rampant greed, ambition and shameless consumerism and to create a world of love and care – the special attributes of God.
The kingdom has not yet arrived. There is still much to be done – right here where we live.
And it is a message not just for Catholics or Christians but for people everywhere. The Kingdom goes far beyond the boundaries of the Church and the Kingdom is being realised in many ways in places where Christianity has yet to penetrate. About 80 percent of the world’s population does not know the Gospel of Jesus but that does not mean that the values of the Kingdom are absent. We must learn not to see Christianity or Catholicism in sectarian terms – ‘them’ and ‘us’. The message of Jesus is a vision of life for all humanity and should be communicated as such.
First partners
After his preaching, Jesus finds the first partners for his work. They are not Pharisees or Scribes, not scholars or influential members of the community but fishermen, who may have been quite illiterate. (In the sense that they could not read or write, although they may well have been steeped in the oral tradition of their Jewish faith – knowing their Hebrew Testament much better than most of us know our New Testament!)
It is significant that the call takes place right in their working place. The initiative for the call comes from Jesus. “I chose you, you did not choose me.”
For them it means a metanoia, a complete break in their lifestyle. There is a complete letting go.
“Immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus.” They put their total trust in Jesus, leaving behind their only means of livelihood, not knowing where it would all lead. Jesus himself had already taken this step in leaving Nazareth, his family and his livelihood as a carpenter.
From now on their life would consist not in worrying what they could get and keep but in service to their brothers and sisters, especially those in greatest need.
At the same time there is no evidence that they lived in destitution or want. Leaving the tools of the only way of life they had known was to choose to lead a simple lifestyle, only having those things necessary for their sustenance and their work, the new work Jesus was calling them to do.
Their security now came from the new lifestyle they were inaugurating, life in a mutually supporting community, where the needs of each one were taken care of. This, in effect, brought a life of greater material, emotional and social security than is found in our individualistic, competitive, rat-race style of survival.
One great family
They separated from their families not because they did not love them but because, as disciples of Jesus, they realised they belonged to a much larger family. They were learning not only to love their own but to love especially all who were in need of love, care and compassion.
In the beginning, their first concern may be family members (early on, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law) but later on they will give priority to those in greater need, non-family members, foreigners, total strangers, even enemies. To follow Jesus is to belong to a much bigger family.
In the Second Reading, too, Paul warns against divisions in the Christian family. It seems that the Christians in Corinth were dividing into factions and identifying themselves with various community leaders: “I am for Paul”, “I am for Cephas (Peter)”; even “I am for Christ”. It is clear that such divisions are harmful. All can only be for one person, the One who suffered, died and rose for them, the One in whose name all of them were baptised – Jesus their Lord.
We have, unfortunately, many such divisions among Christians today – “I am a Catholic”, “I am an Anglican… a Lutheran… a Methodist… a Presbyterian…” The list is, alas, endless. This is not the kind of family that Jesus intended. Such a dysfunctional family is not in a good position to give effective witness to the Good News of truth and love and fellowship which Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper (John 17).
Today’s call is asking us not just to fit Jesus into our chosen way of living but to fit ourselves into his vision of life. In doing so, we are not making a sacrifice; we are on to a sure winner where we can only gain.Second Sunday in Ordinary Time-A
Reading 1 IS 49:3, 5-6
The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, that Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength! It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
to do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!"
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
Reading 2 1 COR 1:1-3
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel JN 1:29-34
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him,but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
Commentary
TODAY WE BEGIN again the Sundays in the Ordinary Season of the year. On most Sundays, we will be following the gospel of Matthew. However, today’s Gospel reading is from John.Our readings speak about two things:
– the identity of Jesus, and
– the mission of Jesus.
We need to know who Jesus is, if we want to be his disciples. We also need to know what his mission is, if we want to be good disciples. Because a good disciple is also an apostle. By definition, a disciple is a follower; an apostle is the bearer of a message from a superior. The Christian disciple not only follows the Gospel of Jesus but also helps others to hear and accept it.
Who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus? We see him today simultaneously in the role of Lord and Servant. Today’s Gospel speaks about Jesus being baptised by John the Baptist. As Jesus approaches, John announces to some of his own disciples: “There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Why is Jesus called by this strange title, the Lamb of God? It refers back to the origins of the great Jewish feast of the Passover. According to the tradition, God had been urging the Pharaoh to let God’s people leave Egypt. There had been a series of plagues but each time Pharaoh reneged on his promise to do so. The final and most terrible plague involved the slaying of every firstborn child in Egypt.
In order that the Israelites might not be punished, they were told to smear the doorposts of their houses with the blood of a lamb. When God’s angel struck, he passed over the blood-painted houses of the Israelites and their children were spared. They had, in effect, been saved by the blood of the lamb.
Pharaoh acknowledged defeat and finally said he would let the Israelites go. (He will go back on his word once more and with disastrous results for him.) On the night before the Israelites left, under the leadership of Moses, they had a final meal which included the eating of a roast lamb. (The same lamb whose blood had been painted on the doorposts of the house.) The lamb then becomes the sign and symbol of the liberation of God’s people from slavery and oppression.
This great event of the Exodus, the Going Out, was and is commemorated in the Passover meal which Jesus celebrated with his disciples at the Last Supper and which is still celebrated by Jews worldwide. (The Passover meal is now also being observed unofficially by many groups of Catholics and other Christians during Holy Week.)
Jesus the eternal Lamb
But for us – and this is John the Baptist’s meaning – Jesus is the new Lamb which brings freedom and liberation from the oppression of evil and sin. He sacrifices himself to take away our sins.
Through his death he liberates us. It is no coincidence that Jesus’ sacrificial death took place at the Passover. He is the new Pasch; he is the Lamb who both sacrifices himself and is sacrificed to liberate us. And it is his Blood poured out that is the sign of our salvation.
Jesus can do this because he is at the same time our Lord and our Servant. Because he is our Lord, he can take away our sins; because he is a servant, he sacrifices his life for us. And he is not only our servant, he is our friend. As he told his disciples at the Last Supper, the greatest love a person can show is to sacrifice one’s life for one’s friends and he insists that his disciples are his friends not servants. Even more, Jesus is our Brother.
Jesus and John
John the Baptist also speaks of Jesus in the same way. He says: “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.” Now we know that John and Jesus are related. And we know, from Luke’s gospel, that John is older than Jesus by about six months, yet he says that Jesus ranks above him and existed before him.
John appears first proclaiming the Kingdom of God. But Jesus precedes John in dignity and status. Because, before John was even conceived in his mother’s womb, Jesus, the Word of God, already existed.
So John says, “I did not know him”. How come he does not know his own cousin, although he makes clear statements about him? Why does he not know his cousin? Of course, he knows Jesus while at the same time he does not know him. For at first he did not know the real identity of Jesus. Jesus is not only his younger relative. Jesus is his Lord and his God.
Son of God
When did John know? When, he says, he “saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself [at first] did not know him but the one who sent me to baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit’.”
And then he makes his declaration of faith: “I myself have seen and have given witness that this is the Son of God.” Jesus is Lord and God. (In this first chapter of his gospel, John gives all of Jesus’ titles: Word, Son of the Father, Lamb of God, Son of God, Messiah [the Christ], Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Joseph, King of Israel, Son of Man.)
And yet, this Jesus Lord is standing in the river water, together with many sinners. He is God but he has come to serve us, to love us, to liberate us, to mingle with us, to be one of us. And he asks us to work with him in the same way – to be in the world and to serve the world, to serve all as brothers and sisters.
Jesus as servant The First Reading also speaks of Jesus as servant. “Israel, you are my servant.” The Lord “formed me in the womb to be his servant”. And what is the work of this servant? His work is to “bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him…” (In the Reading it is Isaiah who is being spoken to but the words clearly are now applied to Jesus – and by implication also to us.)
But it is not enough to bring just the Jews back to God. “It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel…” Much more, as Isaiah continues: “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus is the Light of the whole world. He wants every single person to experience his salvation.
He wants every single person to enter the Kingdom of God. He wants every person to experience the truth, the love and the freedom of the Gospel. The mission of Jesus is to bring all the people of the world back to God, their Creator, their Beginning and their End.
Our common mission
The mission of Jesus is also our mission. We cannot be good disciples of Jesus if we are not also good apostles. To be a good Christian necessarily entails being a good evangeliser. Our duty is not only to save our own souls and “go to heaven”. Our duty is also to share our faith with others, help them to know Jesus and his Gospel, and to experience directly the love of God.
Where can we do this? In our homes and families, in our working places, in the area covered by our parish.
Let us pray that God will help us to work together with Jesus to establish his Kingdom in the whole world and especially in that part of it where we live out our lives.
Sunday of Week 4 of Advent
Click here for the readings on Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25
WE ARE NOW on the eve of the birth of Jesus. In today’s Gospel, Matthew tells us how this came about. His account is totally different from that of Luke. The only thing in common with both accounts are the central ideas that:
– Jesus is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and
– Joseph and Mary are the parents of Jesus.
In both accounts there is an angelic appearance: in one case to Mary and in the other to Joseph. Mary is told – in Luke’s gospel – that she is to bear a son. When she says that she is still a virgin, she is told that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and her child will be the Son of God. In Joseph’s case, he is told – in Matthew’s gospel – not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife because the child with whom she is pregnant is from the Spirit of God. The stories are different but the central message is the same. Mary is the mother of the Child but Joseph is not the father.
Jewish weddings
Jewish weddings involved three stages. First, there was the engagement. This was often prearranged by the parents or a matchmaker while the couple were still young children. Marriages were primarily seen as the union of families and the continuing of the family line. They were not primarily unions of love, as we expect today. Of course, in the course of time husband and wife could become deeply bonded by a genuine love and caring for each other. But it was procreation, especially the bearing of sons, that was the first priority. So we see in Old Testament times how cursed women felt who could not bear sons for their husband and his family.
Love might or might not come later; it was secondary. And it was only relatively recently that the Catholic Church itself put the two ends of marriage – love and procreation – as equally important. It took quite a while in the Church for the idea that a deep Christian love could be expressed through sexual intercourse, that it involved a deep mutual giving of one’s whole self to the spouse and that it was not just a regrettable but unavoidable means to procreate.
Joseph’s dilemma
Later came the betrothal. This was a legally binding relationship lasting for one year. During this period the couple lived apart and had no sexual relations. If either party did not want at this stage to go through with the marriage, there had to be a divorce. And the penalty for having sexual relations with a betrothed virgin was stoning to death for both. The third stage was the marriage itself.
We can see then Joseph’s serious dilemma, not to mention his feeling of shock, when he found that his betrothed was already pregnant and not by him. It seemed an open and shut case of adultery.
And imagine the feelings of Mary herself in this position! How was she to explain that she was pregnant by the power of God? Who would believe a story like that? If Joseph felt outraged and betrayed, one would understand. Most men would have planned vengeance at such an insult to their manliness and the possibility of becoming the laughing stock of the other men in the village.
But Joseph was not an ordinary person. He was a “righteous” man. And he must have seen in Mary more than an ordinary person too. He did not want to expose her openly. To do so would have made her liable to the severest punishment. But at the very least the Mosaic law required a man to divorce his wife under such circumstances. This was Joseph’s duty and he was going to observe it.
But compassion for his bride (extraordinary in the circumstances and in that culture) led him to want to break off the engagement quietly that is, before a minimum of two witnesses and without pressing charges.
The angel’s message
Just then the angel appears to him telling him to go through with the marriage. The child has been conceived by the power of God’s Spirit. No other man is involved. The son is to be called ‘Jesus’, which means ‘Saviour’ because his mission is to save his people from their estrangement with God.
As a descendant of David, Joseph will become the legal father of Jesus the Messiah. And Jesus will be called later in the Gospel, “Son of David”. As Paul puts it in the Second Reading today: he, Paul, is preaching the gospel “concerning [God’s] Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”.
In many ways, Joseph is a reflection of Joseph in the Hebrew Testament, the son of Jacob who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. He was also a righteous man, influenced by dreams and forced into exile in Egypt.
Fulfilment of scripture
Eleven times altogether in his gospel Matthew indicates how events in the life of Jesus are fulfilments of Hebrew Testament promises. Here he quotes the prophet Isaiah (using the Greek Septuagint text): “Look, the virgin (Greek parthenos, parqenos; Hebrew alma, young girl of marriageable age) shall conceive and bear a son.” The child will be called Emmanuel, which Matthew explains as meaning “God with us”. Jesus will be the very presence of God the Father in our world. As John says in his Prologue: “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us” (John 1:14). God is with us and is one of us. And this presence does not end with the Resurrection.
Before Jesus leaves his disciples at the Ascension, his last words (in Matthew’s Gospel) are: “I am with you always – to the very end of time” (Matt 28:20). Right down to the present, Jesus continues to be Emmanuel. And that is why we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus 2,000 years on. Through his Body, the Church, the Christian community, Jesus continues to be visibly present in word and action. This Eucharist is our sacramental celebration of that presence, a presence in every single one of us here.
The effectiveness of that presence depends on our conscious union with Jesus and with the vision of his Gospel lived out in our daily lives. Let Jesus be really re-born in each one of us this Christmas.
First Sunday of Advent (A)
Click here for the Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44
A NEW YEAR in the Church’s calendar begins today. Happy new year to all!
This period is appropriately called “Advent”. It comes from the Latin word adventus which simply means ‘coming’. But whose coming are we talking about? Obviously we are beginning to prepare to remember God coming to be a human being among us, with us and like us. And yet, although the Scripture for today does speak of the coming of God, it makes no mention of the coming of Christ as Christmas.
Actually, at this time we can speak of three comings of God. The first, is when Jesus, the Son of God came to be born in the stable at Bethlehem. But today’s Mass also speaks of the final coming of Jesus at the end of the world. And there is still a third kind of coming we need to be aware of, namely, when God enters our lives every day. Every single experience can be an opportunity to make contact with God. And we are reminded of that ongoing contact with God especially in the celebration of the sacraments, including this Eucharist.
Preparing for the end
Today’s Mass actually says very little about the first coming of Jesus or, about his birth in Bethlehem. The Scripture readings rather emphasise our need to prepare for the final coming of Jesus, whether that means the end of the world as we know it or of the end of our own individual lives.
The First Reading invites us to go with God. It says, “Let us go together to the Temple of God.” Of course, we know that for us Jesus himself is the real Temple of God. And, because of that, the body of the Christian community united with Christ its Head is also God’s Temple. And we go to him and with him because “he will teach us his ways that we may walk in his paths”. He will show us the way for us to follow on our pilgrimage through life, the way that will lead us to meet him on that last day on earth.
A final coming
The Second Reading and the Gospel emphasise that we must prepare for that final coming of Jesus, whatever form it is going to take. The first coming of Jesus in Bethlehem is to help us prepare for this final coming.
We really need this warning. On the one hand, we do not like to think too much about how or when we will leave this world. But it is a fact. It is the one future fact of our lives of which we can be absolutely certain. There are people who are very afraid to die and who do not even want the subject raised. Today’s Scripture wants to remind us of the final purpose of our lives.
Many of us are like the people mentioned in today’s Gospel: “Before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing till the flood came and swept them all away…” These people were doing very ordinary things. Exactly the same things that we do. But they were so busy doing them that they failed to give any thought to where their lives were ultimately leading and what was the goal of that life.
They were very busy, just like us. Maybe they were very successful, maybe they made a lot of money, maybe they made wonderful marriages, had lots of exciting experiences… But, in the end, they were not ready for the most important appointment of their lives. The question is: how ready am I right now?
Maybe you think: “I don’t have to worry. I had my medical check-up the other day and the doctor said I have the heart of a teenager.” But how many teenagers end up as statistics on the death toll on our roads every year? For them, death is something which happens to other people, to old and sick people.
We sometimes think that the busier we are the better. (We even like to say, “The devil finds work for idle hands to do.”) We work for today, for tomorrow, for next month, for next year, for our future, for our children’s future… But what about our real future? Our future with God? What preparations are we making for that future?
One taken, one left
So the Gospel today says, “Of two men in the fields, one is taken, one is left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.” This could mean that one is taken away by a natural or personal disaster (an earthquake or a heart attack) and the other left untouched. Or it could mean that God takes one away to himself and abandons the other. In either event, the basic meaning is the same. Two men, two women on the outside apparently the same, doing the same work. And yet there is an important difference between them. One is prepared and one is not.
Of course, in our daily lives we have to work, cook food, earn our living, take care of our families… but we must also prepare for the final call. That is the most basic reality of our lives. If we forget that, all our other success is actually failure. Let us remember the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so busy about good things, about taking care of others but it was Mary who was in the right place, in touch with the centre of meaning, the Word made flesh.
And we do not know when the Lord will come. “If the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into…” And, in many ways, it is a blessing that we do not know the day nor the hour. On the one hand, if we did know, we could be filled with a terrible anxiety knowing what the final blow was going to be or, on the other hand, we would let our lives go completely to pot knowing that we could straighten everything out at the last minute. In either case, our world would become a terrible place in which to live. So it is a question of being ready for any eventuality. “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming…”
How prepare?
The obvious question to ask is, How are we to prepare? St Paul today in the Second Reading has some advice. “Let us give up all the things we tend to do under cover of darkness and live decently as people do in the daytime.” I guess there are dark areas in all of our lives. Things we do, things we say, things we think, the indulging of our lower and self-centred appetites; things which we would not like other people to know about because they are quite wrong. They do no good to me or to others.
Instead, we need to develop our relations with God and with our brothers and sisters based on a caring and unconditional love for all. We need to learn how to find God, to find Jesus in every person, in every experience. We need to respect every person as the image of God. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves, to love everyone just as Jesus loved us.
If, in our words and actions, our daily lives are full of the spirit of Jesus, then we have prepared. We do not need to be anxious about the future or what will happen to us. Concentrate on today, on the present hour, the present situation and respond to it in truth and love and the future will take care of itself. Then we do not have to fear no matter when Jesus makes his final call. Because we know he is going to say: “Come, my friend. I want to call you now; I want to share with you my life that never ends.” And we will respond: “Yes, Lord, I am ready. I have been waiting for you all this time.” It will be an encounter, not of strangers, but of two old friends.
Sunday of Week 2 of Advent
Click here for the Redings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12
LAST SUNDAY’S READINGS focused on the final goal and meaning of our lives. It is the reason for the coming of Christ among us. Today we begin to look more directly at the coming of God’s Son in our midst as a preparation for that final coming. The central figure in today’s Gospel is John the Baptist.
But, first, we need to look at the powerful passage from Isaiah in the First Reading. It is in two parts:
a. The first is a picture of the perfect King. He is a descendant of Jesse, who was the father of King David, and clearly points to Jesus. He is full of the Spirit of God and enjoys the special gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, insight, counsel, power, knowledge and a deep sense of reverence for God. When Jesus is baptised we will see that Spirit coming down on him in all its fullness.
b. The second part is a picture of the age this King will inaugurate. It is a regime of justice and peace, free from danger or fear. This is the ultimate goal of the Reign of God, a goal we have not yet realised but which, with the help of our King, we have great hope of reaching.
We read this, of course, in today’s Mass in the context of Advent and Christmas. There is a real challenge for us to identify with this programme in word and action. Strange as it may seem, God expects our co-operation in carrying it out.
A true prophet
But now to John the Baptist, a great figure in his own right and a true prophet in the Jewish tradition with a message from God. We know he had a large following of disciples and many people came out to the desert to hear him speak. He performed a ritual in water by which people expressed sorrow for their sinful lives and turned back to God. That ritual was called baptism.
In some ways the role of John was not unlike that of Jesus, yet, in other ways, very different.
Like Jesus, John preached a message of repentance. ‘Repentance’ here, as elsewhere in the New Testament, translates the Greek word metanoia (metanoia). It is much more than just being sorry for the past. It involves a deep and radical change in one’s thinking and behaviour. ‘Radical conversion’ would be a better rendering than ‘repentance’, which somehow implies simply going back to one’s past but without the sin.
Like Jesus, too, John will be rejected, persecuted, ‘handed over’ and finally executed for his courageous defence of truth and justice.
But there are also clear differences between John and Jesus. This was not least in their lifestyles. John lived a severely ascetical life as a hermit in the desert. People came out to him; he did not go to them. Jesus, on the other hand, is seen as a socialiser living mainly in cities and towns. He goes out of his way to mix with all kinds: rich and poor, religious and secular, good and bad. Nor does he hesitate to enjoy the hospitality of their houses. Yet, through it all, Jesus enjoys a high level of personal freedom, at home with all but manipulated by none. Totally in contact with the world but not tainted or influenced by its weaknesses.
Not equals
John emphasises that Jesus outranks him completely. He is not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. He is simply preparing the way for the Messiah, the Christ, the Saviour King. Jesus, on the other hand, is the Way.
John’s baptism was an individual expression of a desire to come back from sin to God, to return to a faithful following of the Law. The baptism of Jesus, on the other hand, comes with the “Holy Spirit and fire”. It inaugurates a special relationship with Jesus, through which the baptised person becomes incorporated into the very Body of Christ, becomes, as it were, a very extension of Christ himself. It involves not just personal reformation but becoming involved in the remaking of the whole world, bringing the whole world into the Reign of God.
Two kinds of people
Two kinds of people were coming out to see John. There were ordinary people, genuine penitents, looking for reconciliation with God. There were also Pharisees and Sadducees. However, these came out, not to express sorrow for sin, but to test John’s orthodoxy and observance of the Law.
John has little time for them. He sees them just as much in need of repentance and conversion as anyone else. They are not to think that, simply because they are descendants of Abraham, their salvation is assured. It is not birth, race, religious affiliation, education, social status, or financial clout that makes us friends of God but our awareness of our total dependence on him for everything we need. Salvation only comes to those who give themselves totally into God’s hands and make his will their own. No one is saved simply by being born a Law-abiding Jew, as the Pharisees seemed to think, any more than being baptised into the Christian Church alone brings salvation. Much more is expected. Jesus later on will say that those who presume they are God’s people but without the actions to prove it will have to give way to tax collectors and prostitutes, who, because they reformed, will go into the Kingdom first.
Matthew is not just lashing out at some Jewish leaders. The words of John today are primarily directed to ourselves, to the Pharisee and Sadducee in each one of us. Our most dangerous enemy is complacency: “I’m a good enough Catholic. I’m not perfect, of course, I’m not a religious fanatic but I keep the basics of my religion. I’m OK.” Where our relationships with God are concerned, to stay in the same place is to go backwards.
More than history
If we have such a casual attitude to the demands of our faith, we may look on Advent and Christmas as merely memories of past historical events. But Advent means “coming” and, if this season is to be meaningful, there has to be a genuine coming of Jesus into our lives both as individuals and as community. It is a time to remind ourselves of our constant need for metanoia.
If John the Baptist were to come among us today, what would he tell us? What would he warn us against? As we come to the end of another calendar year (and the beginning of the Church year) where do we need conversion and change in our lives? How can we and our families give better witness to the Christian message? What changes are called for in the way our parish gives corporate witness to the Gospel? The celebration of Advent calls for a serious consideration of these questions.
We are probably well into preparations for the celebration of Christmas. But what preparations have I made for the time afterwards, for the year that is ahead? Will Jesus be really part of my life? Will he really be entering my life in a special way at this time? Are his concerns my concerns? Namely, a desire that I be of service to others, that I work with others to build a better society, founded on love and justice and an equitable sharing of resources.
“Peace (and justice) on earth to those who are God’s friends” needs to become not just the song of the angels but a programme for me and my community.
Sunday of Week 3 of Advent
Click here for the readings on Isaiah 35:1-6; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
TODAY USED TO BE CALLED “Gaudete Sunday” from the first word of the Entrance Song in Latin. Gaudete means ‘Rejoice!’ Formerly, as some of us can still remember, Advent was a much stricter penitential season. During three days of this week there was fast and abstinence. This was known as “Quarter Tense” because it occurred four times in the year. However, this Sunday was intended to be a relaxing break reminding us of the celebrations soon to come. As a symbol of this, the penitential violet of the vestments may be softened to a kind of pink, or rose colour. (There is a similar Sunday in the middle of Lent.)
On the one hand, a penitential mood is an appropriate way to prepare ourselves to welcome the coming of the Lord. And, though we may not have fasting, many parishes will organise Penitential Services with the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the days leading up to Christmas. At the same time, it is difficult not to feel some excitement as we anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ coming among us.
Full of joy
So, the Mass text and readings today are full of joy, especially the Entrance Song, the Opening Prayer and the First Reading from Isaiah.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice!” is the cry of the Entrance Antiphon. Why? Because “the Lord is near”.
The Opening Prayer asks that we, “who look forward to the birthday of Christ, experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving.”
In the First Reading the prophet goes overboard with excitement and enthusiasm:
Let the wilderness and dry lands exult,
let the wasteland rejoice and bloom…
let it rejoice and sing for joy.
And the reason for all this?
They shall see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God.
And is it just a matter of being able to see him? No, for
Look! your God is coming… He is coming to save you!
Salvation means bringing healing, wholeness and holiness as we become closely united to him. This healing, wholeness and holiness is depicted graphically:
The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed,
then the lame shall leap like a deer
and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy.
These words, as we will see below, will be applied explicitly to Jesus who brought this healing and wholeness into so many people’s lives.
However, we should not confine this healing only to the physical. It will also include healing on the emotional, social and spiritual levels. We are not made whole until harmony and wellbeing flows through our whole self.
The One who is to come
All this is closely linked to today’s Gospel. We find ourselves, in Matthew’s Gospel, at the mid-point in Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist had already been arrested. He had accused King Herod of doing something immoral, namely, marrying his brother’s wife while his brother was still living.
While in prison, John hears about Jesus and sends some of his disciples with a question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Whether John really wanted to know or whether it was really for the benefit of his disciples is not clear. After all, John had already proclaimed Jesus at the River Jordan and said he was not worthy to unloose the thongs of Jesus’ sandals. “The one who is to come” is, of course, the long-expected Messiah.
How does Jesus answer? As so often happens, he does not respond directly to the question but quotes the prophet Isaiah using the passage which is our First Reading for today. “Go back and tell John what you hear and see: the blind see again, and the lame walk and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News/Gospel is preached to the poor.”
This exactly describes what Jesus has been doing. It also exactly conforms to what Isaiah said about the time of the Messiah. Jesus in effect is saying “Yes, I am the one who is to come. I am the Messiah, the Christ, the Saviour King of Israel.”
Still waiting
While the Gospel speaks of the Messiah already here, we at this very time are, in a sense, still waiting in anticipation. Jesus, of course, is already present and working through his Body, the Christian community, the Church. But he still has to come more fully into our own lives. As the Opening Prayer suggests, we need to “experience the joy of salvation” – that power of healing and wholeness which Jesus can bring into our lives. This is something each one of us has to do and what we as a community also have to do. I feel that there are still many, including Christians, who have not yet experienced the deep joy of becoming whole in Christ.
For most of us, the transformation into becoming “another Christ” takes time. We need the advice of James in the Second Reading: “Be patient.” As he says, “How patiently [the farmer] waits for the precious fruit of the ground until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains!”
One of the greatest
John the Baptist is presented by Jesus as one of the greatest persons ever born. Yet he missed the privilege being born into the age of Christ, a privilege that has been made available to us. We could do well to emulate John in preparing ourselves for Jesus to become really part of our lives.
John was strong. He was a man of integrity. He was not one of the rich and famous. He was no pop star – all sound and no substance. He would never have made a glamorous icon for Hello magazine. Yet many people went out to hear him, to be challenged by him, to have their lives radically changed by his words.
Actually, our Christian vocation is similar to his. We are called to prepare the way for Jesus to come into our own hearts but also to prepare other people’s hearts so that they, too, may “experience the joy of salvation”, that healing, wholeness and holiness we all long for and which alone gives real meaning to our lives. Christmas is a time of gifts – both giving and receiving. Let us make sure that among the gifts we offer to others is some of the Christian joy which we ourselves have received.
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1SIR 15:15-20
If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him. Immense is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing. The eyes of God are on those who fear him; he understands man’s every deed. No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.
Reading 2 1 COR 2:6-10
Brothers and sisters: We speak a wisdom to those who are mature, not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for, if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Responsorial Psalm PS 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34R. (1b)
Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
Be good to your servant, that I may live
and keep your words.
Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Instruct me, O LORD, in the way of your statutes,
that I may exactly observe them.
Give me discernment, that I may observe your law
and keep it with all my heart.
Gospel MT 5:17-37 OR 5:20-22A, 27-28, 33-34A, 37
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
“It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife - unless the marriage is unlawful - causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,' and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”
Commentary on Sirach 15:15-20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37
THE FIRST CHRISTIANS were all Jews. In the beginning they continued to observe many of their traditional customs e.g. about circumcision, about clean and unclean food. They went to the Temple in Jerusalem to pray. But very soon, non-Jews (Gentiles) also became Christians and these did not have to observe some of the traditions of the Jews. But the Jewish Christians felt uncomfortable about this. When they became Christians did they have to abandon traditions, which were so much part of both their religious and social life? It became a very serious issue in the Apostolic Church.
Matthew’s gospel, from which today’s passage comes, was written primarily for Jewish Christians and today’s reading – and indeed the whole of this gospel – can be seen as words of encouragement for them. Throughout his gospel, Matthew constantly uses the Old Testament to show that the life of Jesus is not a breakaway from past Jewish traditions but that it is a continuation of all that was foretold by the prophecies of the Hebrew Testament. The life and teaching of Jesus is not to be seen as a new religion; Jesus’ life is the natural development of the story of salvation. And Jesus is the climax of that story, because Jesus is the Messiah king and saviour for whom the Jews had been waiting for such a long time. (In that sense, our Bible is really only one book.)
The Law and Jesus
So in today’s Gospel Matthew emphasises the relation between Jewish Law and the teaching of Jesus. Matthew reassures his readers that Jesus has not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to bring them to completion. So, in a sense, the Law still has force. “Until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”
On the other hand, there is much in Jesus’ teaching that is completely new. He did not abolish the Law but he introduced a completely new way of thinking. He did not abolish or change the Law but went far beyond its literal requirements. For Jesus, just to keep the Law externally is not enough. To be a disciple of Christ, the foundation of our lives must go deeper – to a mutual love. To keep the Law without love is like having a body without a soul. Literally to keep the Law of God and of the Church is not the same as being a good disciple of Jesus. “If your virtue goes no deeper than the Scribes and the Pharisees [who were perfect observers of the letter of the Law], then you will never enter the Kingdom of God,” Jesus says today.
The Scribes and the Pharisees kept the Law and the Commandments very carefully. But Jesus would say that, though they observed the external requirements of the Law, they did not have the spirit which is the foundation of the Law: to love God and to love the neighbour as oneself. Clearly, this teaching would have made much more impact on a Jewish audience but, even in our Christian lives, it is possible for people to have a very mechanical notion of what is good behaviour. This is revealed often in the way we “go to confession”.
Six examples
To help us understand his meaning Jesus gives six striking examples and, in today’s Gospel, we have four of them. In these four examples Jesus helps us to understand that, to be one of his disciples, it is not enough simply to keep what the Law tells us to do. We do not keep the Law through our behaviour but through our basic attitudes, our basic values.
When the Pharisees kept the Law they wanted to obey God but very often they neglected the needs of others. It was their own “perfection” they were mainly concerned about (just as we can be exclusively concerned about being in a “state of grace”). Even now, some people in confession are sorry because their sins offend God or are instances of personal failure but often they show little awareness of how their sins hurt other people.
For Jesus, we cannot separate our relationship with God and our relationship with people. If we cannot find God in our brothers and sisters, we cannot say that we really love God. “As often as you did not do it to them, you did not do it to me.” Or in the words of the First Letter of John: “If you refuse to love, you must remain dead; to hate your brother is to be a murderer” (1 John 3:15).
Do not kill
The first example from the Law that Jesus gives is, “Do not kill.” But Jesus says we must not even get angry or use insulting words with others. What Jesus is saying is that we must deeply respect the dignity and rights of every person, a person who is unconditionally loved by God and for whom Jesus will sacrifice his life. And if we do not respect our brothers and sisters deep within our heart, we cannot say we respect God. So if I am going to the Temple to pray (a religious act of worship) and I remember I have offended someone, I should go and reconcile with my brother first and only then make my offering in the Temple. Otherwise, my prayers and offering are of no real value.
Life and worship cannot be separated: each influences the other. Yet, how often do we piously go to Mass when we have deeply hurt another person and need to reconcile with him or her? We cannot say we love Jesus if we are hurting others.
That is the meaning of the sign of peace which we share with others before sharing in the communion. And, where possible, it would be great to make a point of giving the sign of peace sincerely to a person with whom we have a problem, a person we may criticise or dislike, or someone who is a foreigner or a complete stranger. If we cannot do this, we may question the genuineness and integrity of our communion.
Do not commit adultery
“You must not commit adultery.” Adultery occurs when there are sexual relations between two people, of whom at least one is already married. In Jewish Law there were very serious penalties for this. We remember the woman who was brought to Jesus to be stoned to death, because that was what the Law demanded. Jesus, however, says you can commit adultery in your thoughts (and nobody knows about it – except you).
Again Jesus is saying that, apart from our external actions, our basic attitude is paramount. We cannot just use another person just as an object to give us pleasure. We cannot use another person like a toy. When that happens both are degraded. Real love is completely different. Real respect is completely different. And adultery is wrong not so much because it is a sexual act outside marriage but because it is an act of serious injustice to the innocent married partner and seriously injures the marriage relationship. It is a serious breach of trust and fidelity.
No divorce
The Law also says, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” In Jesus’ time, it was relatively easy to divorce. If a husband became sexually attracted to another woman, he could just make an official declaration that he was divorcing his wife. It could be for very trivial reasons. She could do nothing. She had no say in the matter.
It was legal but, according to Jesus, it was against the dignity and the rights of the wife. It was legal but it was both selfish and unjust. It was legal but also immoral. For Jesus, it is not enough for something to be legal. It must also be good. It must also be an expression of love and justice. That is something we need to remember. Immoral acts are not less moral because they do not happen to be against the law or because I am no longer a practising Catholic.
It would seem that Jesus is dealing here with divorce for selfish reasons. In our time, divorce is often the result of a marriage having irretrievably broken down. In Jesus’ time, love or happiness had very little to do with marriage. It was governed by the laws and by tradition and was seen primarily as the bringing together of two families with the purpose of producing heirs. The matter is more complex in our own time and we have also to distinguish between obtaining a civil divorce (which Catholics can do) and having a second sacramental marriage (which, under the present legislation, Catholics may not do). And there are other issues involved in the question of divorce but they can be dealt with more fully when we deal with the question later (27th Sunday, Year B)
No false swearing
“Don’t swear falsely! Carry out what you vow.” It was common in Jesus’ time for people to guarantee the truth of what they said by making a solemn oath before God. Jesus’ point is that a good Christian does not have to swear at all, because a true Christian is a reliable and totally honest person. He or she is a person of integrity. Such people can be trusted when they speak. They don’t have to give external guarantees. Their ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ means exactly what is said and there are no mental reservations. It is a pleasure to meet people like that, who are totally transparent and have nothing to hide.
Catholics and the law
There are not a few Catholics who feel that if they just keep the Commandments they are good Catholics. They often like to ask, “Is this a sin?”, that is, is it against the law? Is it a mortal sin or is it a venial sin? If it is “only” a venial sin, then I can do it.
But true Christians do not ask whether something is legal or illegal. They love God, they love Jesus, they love their brothers and sisters. Their only concern is how they can serve and love them more and more. They want to work with Jesus and with his brothers and sisters to build the Kingdom of God. No matter how much they do, they know they can still love more and do more and be more.
It is not then a question of law; it is not a question of what I have to do. It is a question of how much more I can do, how much more I want to do. The requirements of the law are way behind.
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 LV 19:1-2, 17-18
The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy. “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”
Responsorial Psalm PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Reading 2 1 COR 3:16-23
Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy. Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: God catches the wise in their own ruses, and again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
Gospel MT 5:38-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Commentary on Lev 19:1-2, 17-18; 1 Cor 3:16-23 and Matthew 5:38-48
TODAY’S MASS SPEAKS of the essence of holiness. And why should we be holy? We should be holy, because God himself is holy and we have been created in his image. But what is holiness? Does it consist in saying many prayers? In spending long hours in the church? The First Reading today says it consists negatively, in not hating your own kind, and positively, in loving one’s neighbour as oneself. It is taken for granted that we normally act in our own self-interest. However, the Gospel says we are to act equally in our neighbour’s interest as well. Because, in the long run, it is also in our own long-term interest not just in our future life but here on earth.
No vengeance
In the Gospel, as Jesus continues to teach his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, he again reminds his hearers that more is expected of his disciples than was laid down in the Old Testament. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.” That sounds like a command to take vengeance. On the contrary, it was a counsel of self-restraint — only hurt your opponent to the same degree that he/she hurts you and no more. Also, retaliation could only be authorised by a court. In our own time, it is not unusual to see people take vengeance far beyond the hurt that was done to them.
The non-violent approach
But Jesus proposes a quite different approach. “Do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile…” What an impractical recipe! How could any self-respecting person follow such wimpish advice? Aren’t we taught that to be a man you don’t take things lying down, you give as good as you get, and even more…?
Yet, is it really wimpish? Who is the really strong person: the one who lashes out in anger or the one who remains fully in control of himself? The one who refuses to be brought down to the same level as his attacker?
Three examples
Let us look at three examples of the Gospel in action:
a. The Jesuit writer John Powell tells of a man who used to buy his newspaper from a man who always treated him rudely. One day a friend saw this and asked the man why he put up with such behaviour. The man replied, “Why should two of us be rude? Why should I allow another person to manipulate my feelings?”
b. In the film “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Gregory Peck plays the part of a white lawyer defending a black man accused (wrongly, as it turns out) of rape. One day one of the white townspeople comes up to Peck and spits in his face to express his disgust at a white man defending a “nigger” who raped a white woman. Peck stands there dignified and silent and slowly wipes the spit from his cheek. He says nothing; he does nothing. But it is clear which of the two men has lost his dignity. (And, of course, it turns out that it was a white man who raped the girl.)
Example of Jesus
c. Jesus before his accusers. During his trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was struck on the cheek and accused of insolence. How did he respond? Did he turn the other cheek? Not exactly. Did he hit back? No. He simply said, “If I have done any wrong, tell me what it is. If not, why do you strike me?” There is no anger, no vindictiveness, no abuse. He simply speaks to his accusers in quiet, reasonable terms in a totally non-violent way. He retains his dignity while they lose theirs in violence and abuse. He does not cringe before them; in fact, he stands up to them.
Let us make it very clear. In the way in which Jesus understands it, turning the other cheek is not weakness; it requires tremendous inner strength and security. We do not see much of that kind of strength from the macho characters on our TV screens. There the slightest offence is to be replied to in a hail of bullets and bombs. But, as we know from the various flashpoints around the world, it is bound to fail. It has failed in Northern Ireland; it is failing in Israel; it has failed between India and Pakistan. And there are countless other examples.
Dealing with enemies
But Jesus is not finished yet. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the pagans do the same?”
Is Jesus out of his mind? Does he really expect genuine, red-blooded human beings to react this way to hostility and violence? How can we possibly love people who do us harm, whom we know to be evil, wicked and corrupt? Are we really to love the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, to love the terrorist, the sexual abuser…?
Problem of love
The problem here is the word ‘love’. Generally speaking, to say we love a person is to have warm feelings of affection towards them or even to be in love with them. Is Jesus asking me to have the same feelings for my life companion as for some terrible human monster? The answer is unequivocally, NO!
‘To love’ in the Gospel context here means to ‘wish the wellbeing of’. It is a unilateral, unconditional desire for the deepest wellbeing of another person. It does not ask me ‘to be in love with’, to have warm feelings for someone who is doing me and others serious harm. That would be ridiculous. But we can sincerely wish the wellbeing of those who harm or persecute us. We pray that they may change, not just for our sake but also for their own. We pray that from hating, hurting people they become loving and caring people.
Most in need
Far from being unreasonable to pray for such people, there are no people who need our prayers more. On the other hand, to hate them in return is simply to make ourselves just the way they are, to reduce ourselves to their level. And we see what happens in our world when hate and violence are returned by hate and violence.
The canker of hate
Nothing eats away at our innards more than resentment, anger, hatred and violence. Sometimes we think we can punish people by hating them but it is we ourselves, not they, who are the real victims.And, of course, it is in our attitude to hostile and misbehaving people that the genuineness of our concern for people is really tested. As Jesus says, it is easy to care for the people who are close to us, who are good to us. To paraphrase the Gospel, even terrorists love terrorists. The Mafia is known for its loyalty to its members – but not to anyone else.
Perfection
The passage concludes with Jesus saying, “Be perfect, then, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This obviously is an ideal, a goal to be aimed at. And the perfection intended is not total perfection but rather to aim at that total impartiality of a God who extends his providential care and love equally to all. In the dry, searing heat of the Middle East, all, good and bad, have to endure the burning sun and enjoy the gentle, cooling rain. God stretches out his caring love to all, good and bad, and he does not love the bad less than the good. So, if we want to identify with Him, we have no right whatever to withdraw our love, that is, our desire for wholeness, from a single person. Whether a person returns our love or God’s love is their problem and their loss.
Pie in the sky
Let us not, then, just see this teaching of Jesus as pie in the sky, something that is hopelessly ideal. If we reflect on it, we will begin to see that this is the only reasonable way for us to deal with people both for our own personal growth and fulfilment and as contributing also to that of others. Jesus is not asking us to do something impossible and unreasonable but to open our eyes and see what is the only really sensible way to live and relate with the people around us.
And why should we treat other people with such reverence and concern? Because, as St Paul says today, “you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy and you are that temple” — and so is that person next to me right now. Here Paul is speaking specifically of Christians who form the Body of Christ but, in other ways, every single person is made in the image of the Creator and God is present in some way there.
God’s presence
All in all we are being called on to recognise and respond to God’s presence in every single person and creature that we meet. Irrespective of how they behave. And that is true even when the person acts in ways totally contrary to God’s way. In fact, it is precisely then that the God in me has to reach out and affirm the God in the other. Mutual violence only weakens God’s presence in both of us. Paradoxically, the worse a person behaves, the more that one is crying out to be loved and cared for.
At the beginning, we said that the theme of today’s readings was ‘holiness’. Perhaps we now have some idea just where real holiness is to be found.
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1Ex 19:2-6a
In those days, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai and pitched camp.While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain,
Moses went up the mountain to God. Then the LORD called to him and said, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5
R. (3c) We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
The LORD is good:
his kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Reading 2 Romans 5:6-11
Brothers and sisters: Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Gospel Matthew 9:36—10:8
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1JER 20:10-13
Jeremiah said: “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!’ All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. ‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.’ But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion. O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause. Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!”
Responsorial Psalm PS 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35R. (14c)
Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my children,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;
in your great mercy turn toward me.
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!’‘
Reading 2 ROM 5:12-15
Brothers and sisters: Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned— for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come. But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.
Gospel MT 10:26-33
Jesus said to the Twelve: “Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 ZEC 9:9-10
Thus says the LORD: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm PS 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14
R. (cf. 1) I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
.
Reading 2 ROM 8:9, 11-13
Brothers and sisters: You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Gospel MT 11:25-30
At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Commentary
There are two apparently contradictory sides to the Gospel. On the one hand, there are very radical demands made on us in the following of Jesus. An example of these ‘hard sayings’ was the Gospel of last Sunday:
Anyone who prefers father or mother…son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me…
Luke’s Gospel in particular emphasises the absolute and unconditional demands made of the Christian disciple.
Before making the decision of becoming a disciple of Christ, sit down and count the cost because:
…whoever does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:33)
Following Christ is all or nothing, you cannot at the same time serve God and long for material possessions and all the things that money can buy.
Yet that passage from Luke is followed immediately by chapter 15 and the three stories of God’s longing to bring back the sinner: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost (prodigal) son. In other words, another side of the Gospel speaks with equal emphasis of God’s warmth, compassion and his desire for reconciliation with the weak and the sinful.
Finding the balance
So if you found last week’s readings rather demanding, they need to be balanced against the passages into today’s Mass. It would be wrong to come down too much on either side. The Gospel still calls for total giving of self, not as the denial of that self, but as the only way to find one’s true self. At the same time, our God is a God of infinite patience and compassion as we stumble along in our efforts to unite ourselves fully with him.
The theme of today’s readings is very much one of peace and consolation. The First Reading from the prophet Zechariah speaks of a king entering Jerusalem riding on a young donkey. The scene is one of humility but also of peace. He rides on a placid donkey rather than on a prancing war horse. This is confirmed later in the words:
He will banish [war] chariots from Ephraim and [war] horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished.
Our king is a king of peace: He will proclaim peace for the nations.
He is a king of peace, not just in the sense of an external absence of violence but of a deep, inner peace, shalom. Jesus, who is identified with the king in Zechariah’s passage, also brings peace. He is the Prince of Peace (Jesus also brings the “sword”, but this is not contradictory, as we will see below):
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest .
Through the tough times
Whatever demands Jesus may make on our following of him, he wants to be at all times truly a source of comfort, of consolation and of forgiveness and reconciliation. Whatever demands life may be making on us, he is there too to be called on. When we are in difficulties and pain, we can ask him to take them away. He may not always do so, but we can expect him to restore our peace. For we need to remember that Jesus is not to be seen as an escape from our problems. Sometimes he will give us peace not from our pain, but within our pain. There can be the danger that we expect Jesus or his Mother or some other saint or the Church to be there to wave a magic wand that wipes away all our problems, all difficulties, all obstacles.
Jesus’ own life is an excellent example. In the garden of Gethsemane, faced with imminent arrest, torture and execution, he did not want to have to go through it. This is a perfectly normal human reaction to the threat of death. Anything else would be very strange. Yet one sometimes hears people speak as if Jesus actually wanted to go through all those terrible experiences.
Jesus begged his Father to spare him going through this appalling ordeal. He prayed:Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me…
But then, at the end of his prayer, he prayed: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. (Matt 26:39)
The Father was silent, and his will was clear. Jesus should face what is coming. And, when sometime later, Jesus rises from his prayer, he is a very different person. From that moment on and for the rest of his Passion experience he reveals nothing but quiet dignity and strength in the face of all kinds of abuse and humiliations.
He is full of an inner peace, which had come once he had said that total ‘Yes’ to his Father. His prayer in the garden had been answered, although not in the way he originally requested.
Here we might say we have the two sides of the Gospel coming together. On the one hand, Jesus makes that absolute and total surrender of himself into God’s hands but, at the same time, experiences the “rest” that comes to those who “labour and are overburdened”.
Paul’s experience
There is a similar example from the life of Paul. He had some kind of (physical?) ailment which was a source of great distress to him. He felt that it was a serious hindrance to his work of proclaiming the Gospel. He says:
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
And, he says, God answered his prayer, but again not in the way he had asked. He was told:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.
His ailment, far from being an obstruction to preaching the Gospel, in fact made the power of Christ more visible. From then on, Paul, far from wanting his problem to be removed, says:
I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
He begins to realise that: When I am weak, then I am strong.
And Paul found peace. He had learnt, as we need to do, that “God writes straight with crooked lines”.
How different from the way we sometimes approach God, or Jesus, or Mary! “God, give me this…God, I must have this or I can’t go on…Not your will, O Lord, but mine be done! My will be done in heaven as I am trying to get it done on earth!” Everything is upside down. It is not surprising, then, that such prayers seem to go unanswered.
There are some things which can be changed in life, and it is up to us to do the changing, mainly by changing ourselves. There are other things which cannot be changed and need to be accepted and lived with. Peace comes from saying a sincere Yes to what is clearly God’s will in our life. This will of God is most often made known by the realities by which we are surrounded. Peace comes when I want, really want, what God wants – when God’s will and mine coincide. This is not passive fatalism; it is an active and joyful response.
Sharing the yoke
So Jesus says today: Shoulder my yoke…and you will find rest…Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
A yoke we think of as a heavy (and very burdensome, even painful) piece of wood laid on the shoulders of an ox. But, because of the yoke, the ox can pull the weight of the cart behind it more easily. It is a burden which is also a help. The words of Jesus often seem, at first sight, to be very burdensome.
‘These are hard sayings; who can take them?’…After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. (John 6:60,66)
Yet, in fact, once understood, we know that there can be no other way of living in true freedom and peace.
There is still another way of understanding the image of the yoke. Think of it as a double yoke, where two oxen can work together better. We now have a lovely image of Jesus and ourselves yoked together, pulling together. “Shoulder my yoke” then becomes “Share my yoke”. Where I go, he goes along with me, pulling together with me and making it all the easier.
There is really no conflict between the two sides of the Gospel. There is only one Jesus, only one Gospel. We are called to be with Jesus all the way, accepting his life vision, his standards, his values – unconditionally. This calls for the simplicity and openness of children rather than intellectual sophistication. Accepting Jesus all the way is not intended as a burden, but as a source of comfort, peace, liberation and joy.
Happy are those who carry the “burden”, the yoke of the Gospel. Jesus has the secret of living well. Is it not time that we Christians discovered this wonderful secret and began to share it with others?
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1IS 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
R. (LK 8:8) THE SEED THAT FALLS ON GOOD GROUND WILL YIELD A FRUITFUL HARVEST.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R.
Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
R.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R.
The fields are garmented with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain.
They shout and sing for joy.
READING 2 ROM 8:18-23
Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
GOSPEL MT 13:1-23 OR 13:1-9
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Commentary on Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
There are three distinct parts in today’s Gospel: parable, interlude, and explanation of the parable. A way of looking at this division is to regard the parable as being close to the actual words of Jesus. This is followed by a theological ‘interlude’ on “hearing” and finally there is an interpretation of the parable possibly emanating from the early Church and, in effect, producing a related but distinct lesson or message.
In the parable itself, the emphasis is on God (the sower) who works and produces results. The interpretation of the parable puts the emphasis more on us (the soil) and the ways in which we can respond. The interlude or comment in between gives the key to our response and subsequent fertility of the seed.
God’s munificence
The parable has strong links with the First Reading from Isaiah. In both we are told that God shares his abundance with us and his plans will not be frustrated. God’s creative and nurturing work is compared with rain and snow falling on the earth and not returning until it has given moisture,
…making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating.
In the parable, it is true that the seed falls many times on inhospitable soil, but some will undoubtedly fall on rich soil and produce an abundant harvest. Says the Lord in Isaiah:
So, the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in was it was sent to do
.
This is clearly a message of hope for communities which may at times be discouraged by the meagre results of their evangelisation efforts. We are reading here from Matthew 13. The whole chapter consists of “parables of the Kingdom”. They all say in different ways that the Kingdom of God, in spite of its tiny and weak beginnings, will be established for it is “like a treasure hidden in a field” or “a pearl of great price”. Once discovered, all else is given up in order to be part of it.
In the whole of Scripture God’s word is not just a spoken word. It is a doing word, a creating, life-giving word. It is like a life-bearing seed. Where do we encounter that word? If we are sufficiently sensitive, we encounter it unceasingly in every experience of our lives, whether that experience is joyful or sad, a success or a failure, pleasant or painful.
There is clearly, of course, for us one place in particular where God’s word is more clearly experienced and that is in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is the Word of God. Everything that Jesus said, everything that Jesus did, was God communicating to us through him. Not just his teaching but his whole life, from the hidden years of Nazareth through his public life to his death and resurrection – in all of this Jesus was, and is for us today, the Word of God.
Barren soil
And yet, as in the parable, much of that Word fell on barren soil. Many refused to hear or to see (hence so many cases of deafness and blindness in the Gospel). Even Jesus’ closest disciples did not provide, at first, very promising soil. Jesus’ life and mission seemed to end in tragic and dismal failure. There was not a single disciple in sight. His enemies laughed and mocked him. And yet…it was precisely at that moment as the seed “fell into the ground and died” (see John 12:24) that the Word of God began to take root in people’s hearts. Beginning, like the tiny mustard seed, like the small amount of yeast in a large batch of dough, the seed, the Word of God, began to grow and flourish against all odds.
The word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
As with Jesus himself, so with us today we need to be reminded that God’s plans will not be frustrated, that the Kingdom will be established.
Listen, anyone who has ears!
Why speak in parables?
The part that follows contains some apparently alarming words. Is Jesus saying that he spoke in parables so that only his inner circle would understand and that the rest be left in darkness? That hardly makes sense. It does provide a bridge to the interpretation of the parable to follow. There seems, especially in the quotation from Isaiah, a heavy sarcasm. Those who see but never understand; those who hear and hear but never get the message. Why? Not because they are stupid, but because they basically do not want to. If they saw, if they really heard, they might be converted, they might have to change their ways radically – and that is the last thing they want to do. In the context of Matthew’s gospel, these words seem particularly directed at those of his people who rejected Jesus, but it applies to all who close their ears in prejudice and fear.
But to his disciples and followers Jesus says:
Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!
Many before Jesus’ time longed to see and hear but never got the privilege of Jesus’ followers.
The key word today is ‘hear’. It is a very scriptural word and contains essentially four elements:
· to listen with a totally open and unconditional mind;
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
· to understand what one hears;
· to accept and appropriate fully what one understands;
· to have this acceptance flow out into our behaviour.
One can listen, but not understand, one can understand without accepting, and one can accept without implementing. All four are necessary for conversion and healing. All four are necessary for full hearing.
Different responses
All of this leads naturally into the third part: an interpretation of the parable on the level of different kinds of hearing. Some seed falls on the path. There is no soil here. There is no prospect of the seed taking root. Ears and eyes are closed and unreceptive to the Word of God.
The seed falls on rocky ground in the field where there is a thin layer of soil. The seed takes root and begins to grow, but soon gets burnt up by lack of water and the heat of the sun. It is like those Christians who, after baptism or after a retreat or some spiritual experience, have a great rush of enthusiasm for God but, under the slightest pressure, soon run out of steam and fall away. Probably there was no real hearing, no real understanding and hence no real commitment. This group, in the text, may be referring to people who became baptised Christians in the early Church, and were full of enthusiasm until faced with persecution for their faith. They caved in and gave up.
What is my response?
Some seed also falls on soil where there are many weeds and thorns. As it grows, it gets smothered by the competing plants. This we might call the “having your cake and eating it” response. I do want to be a good Christian, but I also want to have all the things that the world around me thinks important, even if they are in conflict with the Gospel vision. It won’t work. We cannot at the same time totally serve God and be a part of the materialistic, consumerist, hedonistic, “success”-hungry world. Probably a very large number of us, in varying degrees, belong in this category. As a result, the Church’s work in building the Kingdom is severely hampered.
Finally, some of the seed falls in rich, nutritious soil. This soil is like the:
…man who hears and understands [the Word of God]
He is the one “who yields a harvest” in varying degrees of abundance.
In the long run, as we said at the beginning, the work of God cannot be frustrated either by threats from society or from within the Christian community. But what matters for me as I hear this Scripture is to be aware that I, as this individual, can refuse to provide the fertile patch of soil for God’s Word to take deep root. God’s plan as a whole will succeed, but it is up to me to be part of that plan. I personally can say No or Not yet or Yes, but…I can, like many of the people that Jesus knew, resist the radical change of view that conversion entails. In the process I will also miss out, of course, on the deep healing that the Word of God can bring into my life and, with the healing, a sense of liberation, happiness and peace.
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1IS 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
R. (LK 8:8) THE SEED THAT FALLS ON GOOD GROUND WILL YIELD A FRUITFUL HARVEST.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R.
Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
R.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R.
The fields are garmented with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain.
They shout and sing for joy.
READING 2 ROM 8:18-23
Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
GOSPEL MT 13:1-23 OR 13:1-9
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Commentary on Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
There are three distinct parts in today’s Gospel: parable, interlude, and explanation of the parable. A way of looking at this division is to regard the parable as being close to the actual words of Jesus. This is followed by a theological ‘interlude’ on “hearing” and finally there is an interpretation of the parable possibly emanating from the early Church and, in effect, producing a related but distinct lesson or message.
In the parable itself, the emphasis is on God (the sower) who works and produces results. The interpretation of the parable puts the emphasis more on us (the soil) and the ways in which we can respond. The interlude or comment in between gives the key to our response and subsequent fertility of the seed.
God’s munificence
The parable has strong links with the First Reading from Isaiah. In both we are told that God shares his abundance with us and his plans will not be frustrated. God’s creative and nurturing work is compared with rain and snow falling on the earth and not returning until it has given moisture,
…making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating.
In the parable, it is true that the seed falls many times on inhospitable soil, but some will undoubtedly fall on rich soil and produce an abundant harvest. Says the Lord in Isaiah:
So, the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in was it was sent to do
.
This is clearly a message of hope for communities which may at times be discouraged by the meagre results of their evangelisation efforts. We are reading here from Matthew 13. The whole chapter consists of “parables of the Kingdom”. They all say in different ways that the Kingdom of God, in spite of its tiny and weak beginnings, will be established for it is “like a treasure hidden in a field” or “a pearl of great price”. Once discovered, all else is given up in order to be part of it.
In the whole of Scripture God’s word is not just a spoken word. It is a doing word, a creating, life-giving word. It is like a life-bearing seed. Where do we encounter that word? If we are sufficiently sensitive, we encounter it unceasingly in every experience of our lives, whether that experience is joyful or sad, a success or a failure, pleasant or painful.
There is clearly, of course, for us one place in particular where God’s word is more clearly experienced and that is in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is the Word of God. Everything that Jesus said, everything that Jesus did, was God communicating to us through him. Not just his teaching but his whole life, from the hidden years of Nazareth through his public life to his death and resurrection – in all of this Jesus was, and is for us today, the Word of God.
Barren soil
And yet, as in the parable, much of that Word fell on barren soil. Many refused to hear or to see (hence so many cases of deafness and blindness in the Gospel). Even Jesus’ closest disciples did not provide, at first, very promising soil. Jesus’ life and mission seemed to end in tragic and dismal failure. There was not a single disciple in sight. His enemies laughed and mocked him. And yet…it was precisely at that moment as the seed “fell into the ground and died” (see John 12:24) that the Word of God began to take root in people’s hearts. Beginning, like the tiny mustard seed, like the small amount of yeast in a large batch of dough, the seed, the Word of God, began to grow and flourish against all odds.
The word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
As with Jesus himself, so with us today we need to be reminded that God’s plans will not be frustrated, that the Kingdom will be established.
Listen, anyone who has ears!
Why speak in parables?
The part that follows contains some apparently alarming words. Is Jesus saying that he spoke in parables so that only his inner circle would understand and that the rest be left in darkness? That hardly makes sense. It does provide a bridge to the interpretation of the parable to follow. There seems, especially in the quotation from Isaiah, a heavy sarcasm. Those who see but never understand; those who hear and hear but never get the message. Why? Not because they are stupid, but because they basically do not want to. If they saw, if they really heard, they might be converted, they might have to change their ways radically – and that is the last thing they want to do. In the context of Matthew’s gospel, these words seem particularly directed at those of his people who rejected Jesus, but it applies to all who close their ears in prejudice and fear.
But to his disciples and followers Jesus says:
Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!
Many before Jesus’ time longed to see and hear but never got the privilege of Jesus’ followers.
The key word today is ‘hear’. It is a very scriptural word and contains essentially four elements:
· to listen with a totally open and unconditional mind;
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
· to understand what one hears;
· to accept and appropriate fully what one understands;
· to have this acceptance flow out into our behaviour.
One can listen, but not understand, one can understand without accepting, and one can accept without implementing. All four are necessary for conversion and healing. All four are necessary for full hearing.
Different responses
All of this leads naturally into the third part: an interpretation of the parable on the level of different kinds of hearing. Some seed falls on the path. There is no soil here. There is no prospect of the seed taking root. Ears and eyes are closed and unreceptive to the Word of God.
The seed falls on rocky ground in the field where there is a thin layer of soil. The seed takes root and begins to grow, but soon gets burnt up by lack of water and the heat of the sun. It is like those Christians who, after baptism or after a retreat or some spiritual experience, have a great rush of enthusiasm for God but, under the slightest pressure, soon run out of steam and fall away. Probably there was no real hearing, no real understanding and hence no real commitment. This group, in the text, may be referring to people who became baptised Christians in the early Church, and were full of enthusiasm until faced with persecution for their faith. They caved in and gave up.
What is my response?
Some seed also falls on soil where there are many weeds and thorns. As it grows, it gets smothered by the competing plants. This we might call the “having your cake and eating it” response. I do want to be a good Christian, but I also want to have all the things that the world around me thinks important, even if they are in conflict with the Gospel vision. It won’t work. We cannot at the same time totally serve God and be a part of the materialistic, consumerist, hedonistic, “success”-hungry world. Probably a very large number of us, in varying degrees, belong in this category. As a result, the Church’s work in building the Kingdom is severely hampered.
Finally, some of the seed falls in rich, nutritious soil. This soil is like the:
…man who hears and understands [the Word of God]
He is the one “who yields a harvest” in varying degrees of abundance.
In the long run, as we said at the beginning, the work of God cannot be frustrated either by threats from society or from within the Christian community. But what matters for me as I hear this Scripture is to be aware that I, as this individual, can refuse to provide the fertile patch of soil for God’s Word to take deep root. God’s plan as a whole will succeed, but it is up to me to be part of that plan. I personally can say No or Not yet or Yes, but…I can, like many of the people that Jesus knew, resist the radical change of view that conversion entails. In the process I will also miss out, of course, on the deep healing that the Word of God can bring into my life and, with the healing, a sense of liberation, happiness and peace.
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1WIS 12:13, 16-19
There is no god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned. For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all. For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity. But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.
Responsorial Psalm PS 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16
R. (5a) Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn toward me, and have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
Reading 2 ROM 8:26-27
Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.
Gospel MT 13:24-43 OR 13:24-30
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Commentary on Wisdom 12:13.16-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43
Today sees a continuation of last Sunday’s Gospel reading from chapter 13 of Matthew on the parables of the Kingdom. Matthew in these parables speaks consistently of the “kingdom of heaven” and it could be, for some people, a misleading phrase because it seems to refer to the after-life, an other-world future existence.
In fact, as has been mentioned in a number of previous commentaries, Jesus and the Gospel are speaking very emphatically about the world in which are living NOW. The Kingdom represents the kind of world that God, through Jesus, wants to see realised among us here on earth. We pray for it daily in the Lord’s Prayer:
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…
And it will only come about in so far as we co-operate and work together with Jesus, here and now.
Why, then, does Matthew speak of the “kingdom of heaven”? We need to remember that this gospel is written mainly for a Jewish readership. Out of respect, the Jews did not like to use the name of God directly. “Heaven” then is a euphemism for “God”. And Matthew uses other devices to avoid mentioning God’s name directly e.g. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven” (i.e. by God), or “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (i.e. from God). Mark, on the other hand, writing for a different readership, has no problems speaking about the “kingdom of God”.
Nature of the ‘Kingdom’
“Kingdom” in the Gospel does not refer to a place, either here or hereafter. The Greek word, basileia, better translated as ‘kingship’, or ‘reign’, or ‘rule’, so some translations speak of the ‘Reign of God’. The Kingdom is primarily an environment, it is a set of relationships, it is a situation where God’s values prevail. And what are God’s values? In practice, they are the deepest human values and aspirations as mirrored in the life of Jesus, who is himself the revelation of God to us in accessible human form. These values include truth, love, compassion, justice, a sense of solidarity with all other human beings, a sense of trust in other, a deep respect for the dignity of every other human person, a holistic concept of human growth and development. And, of course, all these are seen in the light of God, who is their Ultimate Source. It is to be like him and with him that we live according to these values. They, with and through Jesus, are our link with Him.
People who, individually and collectively, try to live these values belong, with Jesus, to the Kingdom of God. They are united with the rule of God in trying to build a world we would all like to see happen. It is very much something for the here and now. It is basically the vocation of the Church, and therefore the vocation of every parish community and of every member of that community. At the same time, we need to recognise that the Kingdom and the Church are not co-terminous (see the parable below). The Kingdom extends beyond the Church. There certainly are people, who may not explicitly know Christ or express allegiance to Christ, who yet live the ideals and the values of the Kingdom in their lives. Individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi or the Dalai Lama are examples from the recent past. On the other hand, we cannot say we belong to the Kingdom simply because we are baptised Church members, but only in so far as the vision of the Kingdom is an effective factor of our daily living.
Weeds and wheat
In today’s Gospel reading we have three images or parables of the Kingdom at work among us. The first is the parable of the weeds among the wheat. The Kingdom of God clearly calls for people of the highest ideals and great generosity. It also calls for a great measure of tolerance, patience and understanding in seeing the Kingdom become a reality. The conversion of our societies into Kingdom-like communities is a very gradual process. There is always the danger that, when people try to take God or the good life seriously, they become elitist. We Christians, simply as Christians, can feel superior to people of other religions or none. As Catholics we can talk disparagingly of Anglicans, Protestants, Evangelicals. And even among Catholics, members of charismatic groups, Legionaries, Bible study groups, social action groups can see themselves as ‘superior’ to ‘ordinary’ Catholics who ‘only’ go to Mass on Sundays. And the Sunday mass-goers are a cut above those who only appear at the Christmas midnight Mass.
And, in general, we ‘decently moral people’ are ahead of the ‘thugs’, ‘louts’ and other ‘undesirables’ in our society. ‘Thugs’ and ‘louts’ may be descriptive, but they are also words of intolerance. We sanctimoniously set ourselves up as judges of others. It is a trend which is increasingly being found in our daily media, and they presumably reflect the interests and values of readers and viewers (among whom one can, alas, find “good” Catholics).
Living side by side
Hence, today’s parable far from being remote touches on deep areas in the lives of all of us. The parable is saying that people who are filled with the vision and values of God and Jesus must learn to live side by side with a whole spectrum of people who, in varying degrees, do not yet share or live this vision and these values. This applies to differences between Christians and non-Christians but also within Christian communities themselves. We are – and always will be – a sinful Church. To pretend that we are anything else is a lie. It is not the healthy who need the physician Jesus, but the sinners and tax collectors – you and me.
We can go even further. Each one of us is a combination of wheat and weeds. In each one of us there are elements of the Kingdom and elements that are deeply opposed to it. Paul recognised that struggle within himself (see Romans 7:21-25). So we need to learn how to be tolerant with our own weaknesses. God told Paul that it was precisely through his weaknesses that he could reveal his glory:
My power is made perfect in [your] weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
The coming of the Kingdom then is not going to be a neat and tidy process. And experience again and again confirms that fact, whenever we try to bring out change and reforms in any community.
Small beginnings
The next two parables point to two other characteristics of the Kingdom. The parable of the mustard seed shows that the work of the Kingdom has tiny beginnings, whether we are talking of the fledgling Church which Christ established or any newly established Kingdom-inspired movement today. And wherever the vision of the Kingdom becomes truly rooted, it will experience certain and inevitable growth.
Why? Because the vision of the Kingdom is not a narrow, religious one but an expression of the deepest aspirations of all human beings. At its beginnings the Church, as the instrument for the building of the Kingdom, must have felt it faced a daunting task. Its tiny communities were scattered all over Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. Waves of persecution and hostility followed each other in a determined effort to wipe them out. But they prevailed as Truth, Love and Justice must in the end always prevail. Even so, the “weeds” of opposition will always be present.
An element of growth
In the third parable, the Kingdom is compared to a small amount of yeast in a large batch of dough. Its presence cannot be easily detected – for it is totally blended with and part of its environment – as a good Kingdom community should be. At the same time, it has an energy of its own which produces a remarkable influence of growth in the whole. Perhaps part of our Christian problem is that we are too exclusively concerned with the growth (or even the survival) of the Church in general, or of our little corner of the Church, and not sufficiently with the growth and well-being of the whole community to which we belong.
God’s Kingship in the here and now
To sum up, each of the three parables is saying something specific about the development of God’s Kingdom among us:
- It is going to be, on the whole, a messy business in which the good and bad, the strong and the weak, the clean and the corrupt, will rub shoulder to shoulder both inside the Church and its communities and outside it. To try to create islands of absolute integrity is not realistic and is even self-defeating.
- No matter how small the beginnings, if we are faithful to the spirit and values of the Kingdom, we can be sure that apparently difficult obstacles, threats and even dangers can be overcome.
- A Kingdom-community, even though very small, can exert a real influence on the growth of the environment of which it is fully a part and be instrumental in spreading Kingdom values as the accepted values.
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 11 KGS 3:5, 7-12
The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon answered: “O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request. So God said to him: “Because you have asked for this— not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right— I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
R. (97A) LORD, I LOVE YOUR COMMANDS.
I have said, O LORD, that my part
is to keep your words.
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Let your kindness comfort me
according to your promise to your servants.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
For I love your command
more than gold, however fine.
For in all your precepts I go forward;
every false way I hate.
Wonderful are your decrees;
therefore I observe them.
The revelation of your words sheds light,
giving understanding to the simple.
READING 2 ROM 8:28-30
Brothers and sisters: We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified.
GOSPEL MT 13:44-52 OR 13:44-46
Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”
Commentary on 1 Kings 3:5.7-12: Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52
WE HAVE TODAY the third and final set of readings centred on the parables of the Kingdom from Matthew chapter 13. If you have not read last week’s reflections you might like to go back and refresh your memory on what is understood here by the Kingdom of “heaven” (i.e. of God).
We are again presented today with three parables, two of which are closely linked in meaning but with slight differences. The people of Jesus’ time would have understood them all very easily. They were drawn from scenes of everyday life with which they were perfectly familiar.
The first and second parables are in effect saying that to know God and to live according to the Gospel are the most precious things in life. Through Jesus and the Gospel we come to know and understand what is the real meaning of life, what are the most important things in life.
Discovering a treasure
In the first parable Jesus compares entering the Kingdom to a man who finds treasure in a field. We need to remember that in those days, ordinary people did not have banks. Only the rich had access to places where their possessions were secure. If ordinary people did have valuable things, the simplest and safest thing was to hide them under the ground. Of course, because of war or some other unforeseen calamity, they might have to leave a place suddenly and not be able to take their belongings with them. They might not be able to return or they might die before they could do so. Someone else, then, might stumble on their treasure and, according to Jewish law, the finder could regard it as his own.
In this parable, the man comes across the treasure but the field where it is hidden does not belong to him. He sells everything he has in order to get ownership of the field and hence of its buried treasure. The idea obviously is that when one really discovers Jesus and his vision of life everything else becomes secondary. In the service of the Kingdom there are no half measures and in that service there is a special kind of liberating joy. This was Paul’s experience: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8) and again “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 2:21).
To have a personal relationship with Christ and to have made his view of life one’s own is the most beautiful, the most precious thing in the world. It is not enough, of course, just to say this; one must personally experience it as a fact – as many have done and many, unfortunately, have never really tried to do.
In search of treasure
The second parable is similar. A businessman is looking for fine pearls. When he finds the one he wants, he sells everything else he has in order to acquire it.
A slight, if significant, difference has been pointed out between the two stories. For, in the first, the man was not actually looking for the treasure. Perhaps he found it while digging the ground or ploughing the field, that is, in the course of his ordinary working day. Jesus – and the real meaning of Jesus — may come to me unexpectedly through some daily experience. Many people have described their conversion to Christ as happening in such an unexpected way. There is a need, as the Gospel constantly urges, for us to be ready whenever and however Jesus comes into our lives.
In the second parable, however, the man is on the lookout for the “pearl of great price”. He knows it must exist and he uses all his energies to find it. Although we are baptised Christians, we still need to pursue constantly the true and full meaning of the Gospel which can escape us for many years. We always need to understand more, to love more, to serve more.
Example of Solomon
It is in this context that we can take a look at the First Reading from the First Book of Kings. The young King Solomon is told by God, “Ask what you would like me to give you.” It is a question that Jesus sometimes asks in the Gospel and he is asking it of me in today’s Mass. How am I going to answer? What do I most want to have or to be right now? We can make a good guess at what a lot of people, including ourselves, would be likely to ask. For many it would be likely to have some connection with money or material security. What did Solomon ask for? “Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between God and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?”
In other words, he asked for wisdom and discernment. Wisdom is much more than knowing a lot of things or having prestigious university degrees. Being endowed with wisdom is much more than being just a morally very good person. Wisdom gives an in-sight into what is truly important in life, an awareness of the meaning and purpose of living, of what really matters. It is an understanding of where our real wellbeing and happiness lies. That is indeed a pearl of great price, price-less in every sense of the word.
Wisdom as seeing
Solomon did not ask for wealth, or power, although these things came to him. He did not ask just to have things, or to have obstacles in his life removed. He asked to be able to see. A constant theme running through the Gospel is the healing of blind people and of the incurable blindness of those who thought they could see. The true disciple is the one who begs Jesus, “Lord, that I may see.” The one who sees is the one who has wisdom. The one who has wisdom knows how to cope with the situations of life whether they bring ease or difficulty, pain or joy.
This is what Solomon asked for and this is what God gave him. “Since you have asked for this and not asked for long life for yourself or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for a discerning judgement for yourself, here and now I do what you ask. I give you a heart wise as none before you has had and none will have after you.” And, of course, the ‘wisdom of Solomon’ is a by-word down to our day.
This is the treasure hidden in a field for which a man sells everything to have. This is the fine pearl for which a merchant sells everything he owns in order to get it. The ability to see is what opens the door to the Kingdom of God, that world of interlocking relationships between God, human beings and our world which brings to all security, happiness and peace. For here there is truth, here there is love and caring, here there is freedom and peace.
For much of the time, we are chasing false treasures, mainly money, status and pleasure. For much of the time we are locked into the past – full of nostalgia or regrets, or focused on the future – not yet achieved longings and desires, or depressing fears and anxieties. Meanwhile the enriching present passes us by and the treasure is never discovered and the really valuable pearl is never found.
A mixed bag
This brings us to the third parable today. While the first and second parables speak of the total commitment and dedication which are the ideal of every follower of Christ, this third parable helps to put our two feet firmly back on the ground. While the ideals are valid and still beckon us, they must not lead us into any form of elitism. This parable reminds us that the Church and even the Kingdom in the process of its evolution is full of all kinds of people. Our Church is a Church of both saints and sinners. And we might say it is primarily for sinners. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). The role of the Church is to accept into its bosom “the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame” (Luke 14:21) and lead them to the treasure and the pearl of great price.
The lesson of this parable is similar to that of the weeds growing up with the wheat, namely, that the kingdom is a mixed body of saints and sinners (good and rotten fish). There will be always be a temptation on the part of some who feel they are more “faithful” to separate themselves from the “bad eggs”, from the weeds, but Jesus is here telling us that that is the work of God in his own good time. In the meantime, it is for us to learn to be tolerant, compassionate and understanding of those who seem to fall far below the requirements of the Gospel and the Kingdom. And, as we said in discussing the parable of the weeds, there are very few of us who are not, in the one person, a mixture of the good and the rotten. If there are some who clearly do fall by the wayside we can sincerely say, with Saint Augustine, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”
Judgment is for later. Right now, it is for us to use the time given to us to go in search of the treasure and the pearl of great price, of the gift to be able to identify, with Jesus, the really true, the good and the beautiful, and to help others too in the same search.
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 IS 55:1-3
Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
R. (CF. 16) THE HAND OF THE LORD FEEDS US; HE ANSWERS ALL OUR NEEDS.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
READING 2 ROM 8:35, 37-39
Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. .
GOSPEL MT 14:13-21
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
COMMENTARY FROM SACRED SPACE.COM
THE GOSPEL TODAY OPENS with Jesus withdrawing to a “lonely” place with his disciples. We are told that this happened on receiving the news of John the Baptist’s execution. We know that Galilee in those times was quite heavily populated and Jesus had become already a well-known figure. What was the reason for this withdrawal? It could have been to provide a period of rest and reflection for Jesus and his disciples, a time for the disciples to be taught by Jesus. However, a more obvious reason was to avoid possible danger after the execution of John the Baptist. It is worth noting that Jesus had no streak of recklessness nor did he go out of his way to court opposition or suffering. Several times the Gospel records Jesus prudently getting out of the public eye when things were getting too hot.
DEEP COMPASSION However, on this occasion, Jesus and his companions were observed slipping away. So while they made for the other side of the lake by boat, “the people…leaving the towns, went after him on foot”. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was faced with a large crowd of people. His immediate reaction was one of deep compassion and he began to heal the sick among them. This contrasts with Mark’s version where Jesus’ compassion leads to teaching the crowds. The healing, of course, in its own way was a kind of teaching, as the teaching was also a kind of healing. Jesus’ aim was always to restore people to wholeness in body and spirit. That is the meaning of salvation.
We might reflect ourselves at this juncture on how we react to sudden and unexpected calls on our time and energy. Are we always filled with compassion for those who ask for help? Especially if those asking are strangers or people we do not particularly like? How many real opportunities for bringing some wholeness into a person’s life have been lost because a request was made in conflict with plans that I had made, not least religious plans? (Remember the priest and Levite who ignored the mugging victim on the road to Jericho because they were on the way to the Temple?)
There are two reactions possible to calls for help. On the one hand, I can completely ignore such calls when they conflict with what I have planned to do. In this case, I always put my own perceived needs first and I am not going to put myself out for others. Once this gets known, you won’t often be asked for help but it is hardly the Christ-like response.
On the other hand, I may be one of those persons who cannot say No. In which case, I put aside what I have planned and go to help the person, even though I do not want to do so, and may feel highly resentful. On the outside I will be all smiles while on the inside I am in knots of anger and frustration. The final outcome of this kind of response is “burnout”. If I am one of these kinds of people, it is very important for me to be seen as a helpful person and I will make any sacrifice to preserve that image. Such persons need to be needed and, deep down, they are answering their own needs rather than those of another.
Obviously neither of these responses is appropriate and they are not the ones that Jesus made. It requires great sensitivity and discernment to know when we are required to show compassion by giving all the help we can, even at some inconvenience, and when we show equal compassion by making people stand on their own feet rather than resort to manipulating others in their dependence. I am not responsible for saving the whole world. I will have to watch many people going without my help. But there will be times when I am the only person who can help this person now. Recognising these moments needs a combination of honesty and firmness.
GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT There are times, like today, when Jesus immediately responds to the people’s needs. There are others when, in spite of their requests, he either withdraws to a solitary place alone or goes elsewhere (cf. Mark 1:35-38, John 6:15).
Another reason why we are often reluctant to give help is that we think we have nothing to give. As the day wore on the disciples became anxious about the crowd. “It is getting late, this is an isolated place, send them back to the towns for food,” the disciples urge Jesus. “There is no need for them to go; give them something to eat yourselves,” Jesus tells them. “But we have only five loaves and two fish,” they answer. Jesus is teaching them self-confidence and urging them to share the little they have. They will be surprised how far it will go. And, if we do the same, we can be pleasantly surprised too. We, like the disciples, are called again and again to be mediators between Jesus and others, offering the little we have with total generosity.
Jesus then took the bread and fish, raised his eyes to heaven (towards God his Father), and said the regular Jewish blessing on the food. He then began breaking the bread and gave it to his disciples to distribute. Lo and behold! The crowd “all ate as much as they wanted” and there were even 12 full baskets left over. The 12 baskets clearly represent the 12 tribes of Israel now under the 12 disciples who are part of the New Israel. They will become the 12 sources of God’s generous concern for his people.
Matthew says that there were about 5,000 men, not including women and children. This means, according to some commentators, that there could have been as many as 20,000-30,000 people present. They represent the people of Israel being fed, with echoes of the manna and quails during the years in the desert (Exodus) and the multiplying of oil and bread by Elisha in the Old Testament.
The food that Jesus gives is a clear symbol of all our needs being fulfilled and fulfilled in abundance. And the miracle itself is a symbol of the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity and sharing of the broken bread as a sign of a community that shares and provides in abundance for the needs of its members. Alas! our Eucharists are so often an empty symbol of the intended reality!
WHY SO MANY HUNGRY? If God really cares, why are so many needs still unfulfilled? Why is there so much hunger, so much loneliness, why are there so many without homes, without food, without education, without…? Can we really take the First Reading seriously? “Come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come!” Where does such a world exist? “Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk.”
The next sentence is much more to the point. “Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy” – especially if that money could be spent on bread for others and on needs that can be satisfied. “Listen, listen to me and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.” Yes, if we really listened to the Lord, especially to the Lord Jesus in the Gospel, we would discover that there are ways for everyone to have their needs satisfied in abundance.
Paul can say in the Second Reading, “nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph… For I am certain of this: neither death nor life…nothing that exists…can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Three lessons The Gospel and these two readings, then, are saying:
a. That God really cares about his people and that there is enough and more for everybody;
b. That the ups and downs of life, whether they are spiritual, emotional, physical, or material, whether they are personal tragedies or natural disasters, are basically unavoidable but are in no way a contradiction of God’s loving care for us. In fact, these things are in their own way necessary for us to grow in our awareness of where true peace and happiness lie;
c. That a great deal of God’s care and compassion devolves on our own shoulders. A great deal of the human suffering in the world has been caused by human agency and can be relieved by human agency. Jesus did not feed the crowd directly. He left that to his disciples. He still does. It is too easy to blame God, too easy to blame governments, too easy see these things as other people’s problems. But they are also ours, they are mine.
That is the meaning of the Eucharist we celebrate here today, namely, that as Christians we commit ourselves to share, to work with God in communicating his compassion to all. God is a caring person but, much of the time, he needs my co-operation to show people just how caring he really is.
NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 11 KGS 19:9A, 11-13A
At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD— but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire— but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14
R. (8) Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD — for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
READING 2 ROM 9:1-5
Brothers and sisters: I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
GOSPEL MT 14:22-33
After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”
Commentary on 1 Kings 19:9, 11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33
Today in the Gospel, we have a continuation of last week’s story about the feeding of thousands of people by Jesus in the desert. Immediately after the event, we are told that Jesus “made” the disciples get into the boat and go to the opposite shore while he himself sent the crowds away. Was there reluctance on their part to go? Certainly there is the implication that the disciples were not too willing to leave the scene. They were enjoying the reflected glory of being part of Jesus’ ‘miracle’ and the enthusiasm of the crowds for Jesus, ‘their’ Jesus. They were basking in the reputation of being partners with Jesus. Yet, it won’t be very long before they will be hiding, even denying under oath, ever having had connection with him.
Jesus himself, after having dismissed the crowds, “went up into the hills by himself to pray”. In John’s version of this story he tells us that the people, after being fed by Jesus, actually wanted to make him their king. They, like the disciples, have totally missed the meaning of what has happened.
Here indeed was a real source of temptation. Jesus could easily have convinced himself that here was a golden opportunity to get control of the crowds and ‘save’ them. They were so ready to follow him – it seemed. The world was at his feet. Is there not an echo here of one of the temptations in the desert after his baptism?
The devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them: and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’.
Instead, Jesus flees to the shelter of the mountains, not to have a panorama of the world’s kingdoms, but to pray to his Father and renew his purity of heart and his commitment to the Father’s way. His power will be exerted through love and service and not through domination, control and popular appeal. Jesus’ work is not to be seen in terms of crowd-pleasing miracles or supernatural powers. It is primarily for him – as it is for us – in the quality of his relationships: with God, with people and with himself. Jesus’ mission – and ours – gets its significance in a life of service, sharing and community building, in the ‘Kingdom-ising’ of our environment. It does not consist in having power over others, in becoming an idol of the crowds.
Having a hard time
The story now switches back to the disciples. They are far out on the lake by now, battling with a heavy sea and fighting a strong headwind. It is quite clear that here we are seeing a parable of the Church itself, represented by the disciples in their fragile boat surrounded by hostile winds and waves. It was the common experience of the Church during its first centuries and, in many parts of the world today, continues to be the case. It was a situation to create, then as now, much fear and anxiety.
Then, all of a sudden, they see Jesus approaching them walking on the lake. Far from feeling reassured, they become even more terrified, thinking him a ghost. It is a measure of their superstitious natures and, as such, a measure of the long way they have to go in exorcising such superstitions and replacing them with a genuine faith in God. One still meets a great deal of such irrational fears in people, including Christians, today. For instance, how many of us here would be comfortable walking alone through a large empty cemetery on a dark, moonless night? Even though it would probably be a lot safer than walking down one of our city streets at such a time!
No need to fear
Then out of wind and wave and terror comes a comforting voice:
Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.
The disciples need courage whose source is their confidence and trust in the protection of their Lord. Through the words “It is I” (literally, ‘I AM’, in Greek, ego eimi), Jesus identifies himself with the saving power of God himself. They are the words spoken to Moses from the burning bush. As such, there is no need for fear or anxiety in spite of the apparently threatening dangers around them.
Characteristically, Peter is the first to respond. He is the impulsive one, but he is also the group’s leader:
If it is really you, Lord, tell me to come to you across the water.
“Come,” says Jesus, inviting him to leave the shelter of his boat and go to where the wind and waves are. Peter starts to make his way to the Lord, who is in the wind and the waves, but his fear is too much and he begins to sink. Peter cries:
Lord, save me!
This cry echoed by Christians all down the ages who have felt that the world was ready to crush them.
There is something for us to reflect here: Jesus is not in the boat; he is in that hostile environment into which we often fear to enter and instead huddle in the security of our church. I think it is significant that Jesus is found outside the boat in the middle of the stormy sea, the world. And we have to go out there to meet him in spite of the dangers and possible setbacks. Too often we Christians spend much, if not all, of our time in the shelter of the boat, taking care of ourselves and neglecting those in the stormy sea who need to hear the words of life:
Man of little trust, why did you doubt?
How often has Jesus had to say those words to each one of us?
Peace
Jesus and Peter now step into the boat and the wind drops. There is peace and calm. In Mark’s version of this story, the disciples are simply amazed at the sudden change, but do not draw the obvious conclusion. In Matthew’s version, however, they understand and believe. They even anticipate Peter’s later confession (in chap 16)
Truly, you are the Son of God.
The conclusion, then, is that Jesus can also be found in the boat, but only when we also are ready to leave the shelter of the boat to find him in the “world”, that place which is at least indifferent and at its worst very hostile to the Christian vision.
Our own situation
All in all, today’s Gospel reflects problems in the early Church, problems which are not unknown to us today. From the inside there were always problems of unity, conflicting opinions, theologies and spiritualities. From the outside, there were persecutions and misunderstandings from both the Jews and the secular powers.
Paul, in the Second Reading, reflects what must have been something very painful to many Jews who had become followers of Christ, namely, the division and hostility of their fellow-Jews who had not converted. Even today, this relationship still causes pain.
Matthew also here features the special role of Peter, something he constantly stresses. Peter is the leader and so he is the one who steps out of the boat to go and meet Jesus in the midst of the storm. This surely is an image of the Church’s apostolic mission to reach out to find and make Christ present in the world, however hostile it may be. It is not the role of the Church to stay cowering in the shelter of their boat. One remembers the disciples after the death of Jesus hiding behind the locked doors. Pentecost soon changed all that and literally blew them out on a mission that would bring them and their successors to the remotest parts of the earth.
Of course, there are dangers in the world. And the Church, like Peter, is weak and vulnerable. But the Lord is there wherever we go and he will not allow his Church to sink beneath the waves. It has looked very often as if it might happen, but each time the Christian community has risen from the ashes stronger than before. One has only to think of the experiences of Christians in China over the past four centuries and especially in the last 60 years or so.
Jesus our peace
One important lesson of today’s readings is that, in our turbulent world (and much of the turbulence is in our own hearts), Jesus is the source of peace. Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper (John 14:27):
Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.
These words were spoken just before Jesus was to be arrested, tried and executed by his enemies. The “world” cannot provide peace in such a situation, but Jesus can and does. It is for us to learn how to find the Jesus who gives peace in the ups and downs, in the storms of our own lives.
It is put beautifully in today’s First Reading where Elijah is told:
Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord
And the Lord himself passes by. But he was not in the mountain-shaking and rock-shattering wind. He was not in the earthquake. He was not in the fire. He was, however, in the sound of a gentle breeze and Elijah knew that he was in the presence of the Lord. Jesus touches our cheeks with his gentle breezes every day, but we are too concerned about the buffeting winds, the earthquakes and the fires in our lives that attract both our attention and our fears.
Today’s readings, then, are saying two things to us:
There is never any need for fear and anxiety, for Jesus is always close to us and, no matter what may be happening in and around us, his peace is there for us to share. A Buddhist saying captures it: “Why worry? If I worry, I die. If I don’t worry, I die. Why worry?”
We have to reject the ambitions and dreams of the world and separate ourselves from them (as when Jesus went into the mountains to pray) but, at the same time, that world which both attracts and threatens is the arena where we are to live out our mission to build the Kingdom of God. We are called to be “not of the world”, a counter-witness to its ways, but to be “in the world”, as taste-giving salt and growth-giving leaven. We are to lead people to that moment when they can fall to the ground before Jesus present and active in their lives and say with full recognition: Truly, you are the Son of God.
TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 IS 56:1, 6-7
Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed. The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants— all who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
R. (4) O GOD, LET ALL THE NATIONS PRAISE YOU!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
READING 2 ROM 11:13-15, 29-32
Brothers and sisters: I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now disobeyed in order that, by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.
GOSPEL MT 15:21-28
At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.
Commentary on Isaiah 56:1,6-7; Romans 11:13-15,29-32; Matthew 15:21-28
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus entering non-Jewish territory, something he very seldom does. We find him in the district of Tyre and Sidon, two coastal cities on the Mediterranean coast (now in present-day Lebanon). Unlike some of the Jewish towns that are linked with Jesus and the Gospel which have disappeared or are in ruins, these two pagan towns still flourish.
A ‘pagan’ woman
Suddenly a Canaanite woman from that region comes up and begins shouting at Jesus. We need to realise that the Canaanites were the traditional enemies of the Jews. They were regarded as pagans and idolators and ritually unclean.
Her status does not discourage this women in her desperate need. Perhaps even as far as here, the reputation of Jesus was known. She cries out:
Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.
Whether it was really a demon or some illness which led to uncontrolled or uncontrollable behaviour is not really important. There were many sicknesses which were poorly understood at the time and which filled people with fear.
What is important is that her prayer expresses both helplessness and faith. Basically, all of us are also helpless and without God there is little that we can do by ourselves. Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper.
Without me, you can do nothing.
Her faith is expressed in the titles she gives Jesus: ‘Lord’ and ‘Son of David’. They indicate that she sees in Jesus someone above the ordinary – someone very special. And the title ‘Son of David’ has Messianic overtones.
In spite of that Jesus simply ignores her, as if she did not exist. Do we feel that way sometimes when we make a specially important petition of Jesus? Do we feel that he is very far away? That he is paying no attention? Do we feel like the disciples in the storm when Jesus was fast asleep in the boat?
Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? (Mark 4:38)
The disciples are no better. As the woman keeps shouting after them, they ask Jesus to:
Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.
They have no compassion. To them she is merely a nuisance, and a pagan nuisance as well. How often have we given in “charity” just to get rid of a bothersome beggar?
Jesus’ mission
Jesus’ reason for not listening to her is that:
I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
He seems to be saying that, since she is an outsider, her problem is of no concern to him. In fact, Jesus’ mission and work was almost entirely centred on his own people. The task of passing on his message to others would be left to his disciples. And, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles, they did not realise that at first. It took some special experiences before they realised that the Gentiles could also be filled with the Spirit of God and were being called to be followers of Jesus.
This had already been foretold by the prophet Isaiah in today’s First Reading:
…the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants,…these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their…offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
The woman’s perseverance
The woman is not discouraged by any of these responses. She comes and kneels before him, an act of worship, and prays simply:
Lord, help me.
Jesus’ answer seems quite shocking:
It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.
On another occasion Jesus told his disciples not to cast pearls before swine.
The term “dogs” was a common one for the Gentiles. Dogs were regarded by the Jews as unclean, because they would eat anything given to them, including pork, for instance. The Gentiles, in the eyes of the Jews, who were very particular about what was clean and unclean, were no better than dogs.
However, as has been pointed out, everything depends on the tone of voice with which Jesus uttered these words. They could have been spoken with arrogance, contempt and racial superiority. But that would be completely contrary to everything else we know about Jesus. It is more likely that it would have been said in a testing and joking way:
“You know very well, my dear woman, that in my community it is not right to take the children’s food and give it to the ‘dogs’!”
And she, totally unfazed and taking her cue from his tone of voice, throws back:
Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs [and that of course also means all of us!] eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
Perhaps there was even a little touch of playful satire on her part in saying “their masters’ table” – meaning “You people, of course, are superior to us”.
Now, Jesus is completely won over by her faith, her confidence and her wit:
Woman, great is your faith!
This is obvious from her tenacity. She will not take ‘No’ for an answer. Jesus’ response is almost inevitable:
Let it be done for you as you wish.
And her daughter was healed instantly.
Trust and prayer
There are a number of lessons from today’s reading. There is a need for total trust and confidence that Jesus really does care for us, in spite of indications to the contrary.
There is also the need for us to persist in prayer. We must realise that this does not always result in getting what we have asked for. It helps us to see more clearly what God wants for us and what really is the best for us. What we need most is not the carrying out of our own wishes, but having the peace and security that can only come from our being in total harmony with God’s will for us, so that his will and mine are identical – so that I want what he wants.
Today’s Gospel is an affirmation that God’s love and mercy are extended to all who call on him in faith and trust, no matter who they are or where they are.
As baptised members of the Christian community we have been given special privileges of knowledge and access to God’s love. But we have also serious responsibilities arising from this. One of these responsibilities is to make clear to others by the way we live, speak and act that God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s healing are for them also.
In God’s eyes there are no ‘dogs’. And the food on the Master’s table, the Lord’s Word and his Love – not just the crumbs – is for all without exception.
TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 IS 22:19-23
Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace: “I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8
R. (8BC) LORD, YOUR LOVE IS ETERNAL; DO NOT FORSAKE THE WORK OF YOUR HANDS.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple.
.
I will give thanks to your name,
because of your kindness and your truth:
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
READING 2 ROM 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
GOSPEL MT 16:13-20
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Commentary on Matthew 16:13-20
In today’s Gospel, we recall a high point in Jesus’ relationship with his disciples. It represents a quantum leap in their understanding of who he really is, and it took them quite a while to come to this point. Yet even here, as subsequent events in the rest of the Gospel clearly indicate, they still did not fully understand the implications of what they had just begun to realise. We will see a clear indication of this in next Sunday’s Gospel reading.
In a way, of course, today’s passage really is an expression of the faith of the early Church rather than just that of the disciples at the time of the event described. Mark, in particular, likes to emphasise the poor understanding of the disciples with regard to the identity and teaching of Jesus. The first person in his Gospel to recognise Jesus fully was a pagan soldier at the foot of the Cross (Mark 15:39). At that moment, Jesus’ disciples, his chosen followers, were nowhere to be seen.
Who do you say…
The passage today begins with Jesus asking his disciples who people think he is. Jesus calls himself “Son of Man” here, thus identifying himself with the Messianic figure in Daniel 7:13-14:
I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven…To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
In reply the disciples give various answers:
the prophet John the Baptist, executed recently by Herod and, in the person of Jesus, thought by some to have come back to life (see Luke 9:7);
the prophet Elijah, who went to heaven in a fiery chariot and was expected to return soon to earth as a sign of the imminent coming of the Messiah;
the prophet Jeremiah, who through his own experience of rejection and suffering, announced the rejection and suffering of the Messiah (note that only Matthew among the Synoptics mentions Jeremiah).
What is clear is that while Jesus is seen by the people as a prophet, a spokesperson for God, he is no more than that.
Then Jesus asks his disciples directly who they think he is. Peter, assuming his recognised leadership role in the group, replies:
You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
It is indeed a dramatic moment in their relationship with Jesus. For they have now acknowledged that their rabbi, their teacher and guide, is no less than the long-awaited Messiah, the anointed king of Israel (in the Greek, Messiah is translated as Christos, which means the ‘Anointed One’). It is a major breakthrough for them but, as the rest of the Gospel will show, they still have a long way to go in understanding fully just what ‘messiahship’ will mean for Jesus – and for them.
A happy man
Nevertheless, aware of their limited grasp of what they are saying, Jesus praises Peter:
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.
Only faith could have led Peter to say what he did. He needed faith to recognise the Saviour-King in the dusty human figure standing before him, so different surely from the images that most Jews would have had of their long-expected, all-conquering and nation-liberating leader. Only with God’s enlightenment could they see God’s presence in this carpenter from Galilee, their friend and teacher. Peter must have glowed with pride and this will partly explain his bitter disappointment and shock in the passage immediately following (see next Sunday’s readings).
Despite this moment of insight, Peter and the rest have a long way to go in fully knowing Jesus. We might say at this point that we are in exactly the same position. Perhaps for a long time we have recognised in Jesus the Son of God and our Lord, but we too have a long way to go in completely understanding and in accepting the full implications of being his followers.
Peter the Rock
There now follows a passage which will be the foundation for the authority given to the disciples and to Peter in particular in the post-Resurrection community. In response to Peter’s declaration of faith, Jesus now says:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…
In the English translation, the play on words here is lost. In the Greek, ‘Peter’ is Petros (Petros) and ‘rock’ is petra while, in the Aramaic language which Jesus and his disciples normally spoke, both words would be represented by kepa. Hence, Peter is called Cephas in some New Testament letters (see for example, Gal 2:11).
Peter is the rock, the foundation of the community which will carry the name and the authority of Jesus to the whole world. On him, together with his Apostolic companions as the faithful communicators of Jesus’ life and message, will be built the Church, the ekklesia, the assembly of God’s people. Note that in the four Gospels, this word (ekklesia) appears only in Matthew – here, and twice in Matthew 18:17:
If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church…
The term does not appear in Mark, Luke or John.
A promise for the future
Then there is the promise of endurance against all assaults of evil. A promise that has been remarkably kept through the centuries down to our own day. It is a testimony to the firmness of a foundation whose strength basically comes from Truth and Love. As long as these divinely originating qualities are in the Church, and any part of it, there is nothing to fear.
Peter is then given a special stewardship and responsibility for the community:
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…
We have spoken often in these weeks about the Kingdom. The Church is not itself the Kingdom but it does have the “keys”, in the sense of both authority and access, to the building of that Kingdom. Then he says:
…and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
There is a use of passive verbs in this verse (routinely used in Matthew) so that the name of God need not be explicitly mentioned to a Jewish audience very sensitive about the use of God’s name. God’s own authority passes through Jesus to the community he will leave behind. Whatever they decide corporately under the leadership of Peter and the Apostles will be acknowledged by God. They can do this because they will later be given the Spirit as Teacher and Protector and, through the same Spirit, Jesus will be with them forever. They will be the Body of Christ and when they speak as a body, Christ speaks.
A special kind of leadership
The leadership of Peter and his successors is not one of coercion and political power, but of example and service. As long as faith, hope, and love are strong in the community, it will survive and flourish. It is not just a matter of unquestioning obedience to the decrees of an institution, issued from some far-off headquarters.
Today we see in the pope the successor of Peter. He shares the same charism or gift of leadership, a leadership of service. Traditionally the popes have called themselves Servus servorum Dei, the ‘servant of the servants of God’. The pope is not a dictator with absolute powers as he is sometimes depicted. He is limited by the faith of the whole Church. He is not the originator of that faith; he does not decide what we should believe. Rather, he communicates to the Church at large what it already believes. He is the focal point of unity of that one faith, the unity in the Spirit. The pope is the servant of that one community united in one faith.
Point of unity
In a Church where there are now so many conflicting theologies and spiritualities, there has never been a greater need for a focal point, not of uniformity, but of Christian unity:
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
This is something which many of our Anglican and Lutheran brothers and sisters have become strongly aware of. It is something whose importance is so well realised by our Catholic brothers and sisters in parts of the world where they are as scattered and cut off from each other as they are.
The pope is our point of reference, whom we must always take into account, as we search for new understandings of what it means to be a disciple of Christ in a constantly changing world. He is the shepherd that keeps us in fellowship with Christians everywhere, but who must not stifle the creativity of the Spirit in living out the Gospel in such a huge variety of contexts. For we are simultaneously one Church and many churches.
For us here in our own church, our concern will be to remain in close union with fellow-disciples everywhere while, at the same time, living a Christian life in a way that most effectively will bring the spirit of the Kingdom among us in these challenging times.
TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 EZ 33:7-9
Thus says the LORD: You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me. If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die, ” and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) IF TODAY YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
READING 2 ROM 13:8-10
Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, ” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.
GOSPEL MT 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Commentary on Ezekiel 33:7-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20
We are reminded today that to belong to the Church is to belong to a community of brothers and sisters in Christ. This means that being a Christian is not a private, purely personal affair, although that is the way some people seem to behave. When God asked Cain, “Where is your brother?”, Cain answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The teaching of the Gospel is that indeed I am responsible for my brothers and sisters.
Not only that, our relationship with Jesus, with God, depends intimately on how we relate with other people – be they members of our own family or complete strangers:
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
And:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me…just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. (Matthew 25:40,45)
Many of us are reluctant to involve ourselves in other people’s affairs. Sometimes that attitude is good and wholesome but sometimes it is not. Our government, for instance, now frequently asks us to report on instances of abuse of which we may be aware. Such behaviour against defenceless people is something about which we need to be really concerned, to the point of taking appropriate action to protect the victims. If such things happen within the family it can be even more difficult to take action. It is not easy to see a father or mother brought away by the police or investigated by a social worker, even though it may be in the best interests of all concerned.
Community relations
The Gospel passage of today deals with such situations within the Christian community. The whole of Matthew chapter 18 is a discourse on mutual relations within the Christian community and, especially, what to do when divisions arise, as must inevitably happen. We are communities of sinners trying to be saints and there are many pitfalls on the way. In today’s passage we see first of all a three-stage procedure for dealing with a community member who has done “something wrong”. Presumably, it is some form of external behaviour which is harmful to the quality of the community’s witnessing to the Gospel.
The whole thrust of the passage is that we should all work towards reconciliation rather than punishment. There will also be a desire to keep the issue at as low a profile as possible. Sadly, we read regularly in our newspapers what happens when people drag their mutual grievances against each other to the law courts. So, the first stage is for the people concerned to solve the issue among themselves. If it works out at that level, that is the ideal situation – you have “won back” your brother or sister. “Won back” here is a Jewish technical term for conversion. For it is not enough that he merely stop his offensive behaviour, there also needs to be a genuine change of attitude and a genuine reconciliation with the offending person.
If the offender refuses to listen to his “brother”, then others should be brought in as confirming witnesses. And, if he refuses to listen to these, then “tell it to the community” – in Greek, ekklesia. ‘Community’ is here understood as the local church community because, in the thinking of the Christian Testament, each self-contained community is a ‘church’ (for example, Revelation 1:4-3:22, where letters are written to seven ‘churches’ or local communities).
Exclusion
In the last resort, if the offender still refuses to listen or to change, then:
…let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.
That is to say, let him be put out from the community and be regarded as an outsider. Obviously, this is a drastic and final step and to be taken not in a spirit of revenge or vindictiveness but out of real concern for the well-being of the whole community. It requires very sensitive discernment because it is easy to ‘get rid of’ someone who may in fact be telling the community some wholesome truths it needs to hear.
Many genuinely prophetic people have had this experience. It is easy to be too concerned about the “respectable image” of the community or being seen as in conflict with the established authorities. The only well-being that can justify such ‘excommunication’ is behaviour that is totally at variance with the community’s mission to be the Body of Christ and to be the witness of the Gospel message.
How, someone may ask, can this be squared with Jesus’ openness to sinners, including corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes, or with the story of the Prodigal Son? But Jesus’ reception of these people was not unconditional. It depended on their change of heart and the abandonment of their sinful ways. Jesus sat down with sinners, not because he liked them more than good people, but because he hoped to lead them back. When he forgave the woman taken in adultery, he told her to “sin no more”. The Prodigal Son was received with open arms after he had decided he no longer wanted to live his life of debauchery and, by his own decision, came back to his father.
The common good and the individual good
So, it is in the interests of both the community and of the individual that, if a person persists in anti-Christian behaviour, the person should be separated from the community. We practice this partly by not allowing a person in serious sin to receive the Eucharist. There is a serious contradiction between a person acting contrary to the Gospel and wanting to share in the Body of Christ, which has been wounded by his/her behaviour.
The situation, obviously, can be changed by a change in the attitude and behaviour of the wrongdoer. Once the person repents and converts, they will be – indeed must be – received back with joy:
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
These words also indicate that the church has the power, given it by God, to make a judgement on who is fit to belong to the Body of Christ, i.e. the church community. It is a necessary power to preserve the integrity of the community as a witness to the Gospel. It is a power which must be exerted only with loving concern for the well-being of a wrongdoer. That said, it is also a dangerous power which could be abused.
Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
Wherever Christians meet together in truth and love, whether it be for prayer, study, or decision-making, Jesus is present and Jesus speaks and acts. This is both a tremendous gift and also a great responsibility.
Centrality of love
And so it is that Paul in the Second Reading puts the emphasis on love. It contains all other Christian obligations:
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
To keep the commandments without love – and it is possible – is to become not another Jesus, but a Pharisee. If I really care in compassion for my neighbour, then I know that I am keeping the commandments and that I also am loving God. I have to look carefully at the needs of my brothers and sisters. If I see them hurting themselves or someone else, that is my business.
So the First Reading says:
If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.
I am my brother’s and my sister’s keeper. But not absolutely, for:
…if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
I have a responsibility to save my brother in sin, but I am not ultimately responsible for his salvation. The last choice will always be with him. There is no need, after one has done one’s best, to feel guilt over the evil behaviour of another.
Only path to salvation
It is easy to think that being a Catholic means being concerned with the relationship between God and me, that my duty is to “save my soul”. But, in fact, the only way to “save my soul” is by becoming a truly loving and caring person as part of a loving and caring community of people united in Christ. And sometimes that caring may involve bringing the brother/sister face to face with the loving demands of the Gospel. We do not help each other by turning a blind eye to behaviour which is clearly unchristian.
As a community we have a responsibility for each other’s well-being. We do not further the witness of a loving community when we, in false “charity”, ignore social problems such as drug-taking, alcoholism, compulsive gambling, violence in the home, discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities, racial exploitation and the like taking place in our parish community. It is not enough just to deal with these things in the privacy of “Confession” for, ultimately, reconciliation must be at the community level. And, as such, this is the responsibility of the community exercising its calling as the Body of Christ.
TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
READING 1 JER 20:7-9
You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the LORD has brought me derision and reproach all the day. I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALMPS 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
R. (2B) MY SOUL IS THIRSTING FOR YOU, O LORD MY GOD.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you;
your right hand upholds me.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
READING 2ROM 12:1-2
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
GOSPEL MT 16:21-27
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Sir 27:30—28:7
Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
Reading 2 Rom 14:7-9
Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Gospel Mt 18:21-35
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."
Commentary on Readings
FORGIVENESS OF WRONGS done against us is something that many of us Christians find extremely difficult. We probably think Peter is extremely generous in suggesting that he should forgive his brother as many as seven times. Yet Jesus pushes it even further by saying, “Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.” In practice, this means an infinite number of times. It seems hopelessly idealistic and impractical. Yet, further reflection may help us realise that there is really no alternative for the Christian and the truly human person than to forgive – indefinitely.
The words of Jesus turn upside down the boast of Lamech in the book of Genesis. Lamech was the father of Noah, the man who built the ark and saved the human race and all the animals from the Flood.
Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’ (Genesis 4:23-24)
A bankrupt approach
This is the philosophy behind such groupings as triad societies, Mafia-type organizations, terrorists in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, to mention but a few. It is clearly an approach which does nothing except produce death, pain, grief and the seeds for more of the same. It is a way we see portrayed night after night on our television screens and which our young people devour in the comic books they read and the computer games they play.
But the words of Jesus also seem in conflict with the passage we had last Sunday about the “brother” in the Christian community who does wrong and refuses to reform. If he persists in his wrongdoing, he is not to be forgiven indefinitely. On the contrary, he is to be excluded from the community’s life. How are we to bring together this advice and Jesus’ urging to forgive “seventy-seven times”?
Jesus’ story
First, let us look at the parable which follows Jesus’ words. It is a parable about a senior official who has incurred a debt of 10,000 ‘talents’. One talent was already a very large amount of money. It is difficult to make a meaningful comparison in today’s currency but let us say, that, roughly, a talent was worth US$1,000. To say the servant owed 10,000 talents is to use the number in the way the Chinese and Japanese wish “10,000 years”, in other words, ‘without limit’. Jesus is saying this official owed a sky-high debt which he could never have any hope of paying back.
Yet this same official comes down heavily on a much lower official who owed him 100 denarii. A denarius was the equivalent of one day’s work for a labourer. Compared to what the senior official owed, 100 denarii was nothing. Yet, the lower official gets no mercy and is tossed, together with his whole family, into a debtor’s prison until the debt is paid (presumably by relatives or colleagues). When the king hears about this, the senior official himself gets thrown into prison. Given the amount of his debt, it is unlikely he would ever get out.
Gospel teaching
Both the words of Jesus and the parable linked with them throw us back to the Lord’s Prayer as it is presented in the Sermon on the Mount. In the ‘Our Father’ which we recite together in every Eucharist, we say: “Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.” Further commenting on these words, Matthew has Jesus say, “If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.” (Matthew 6: 12,14-15).
There are two very clear messages from both the parable and the words from the Sermon on the Mount:
– The first is that we dare not hold back forgiveness from those God forgives. And we know, from the Gospel, God’s attitude towards wrongdoers and his penchant for forgiveness.
– But the second message is that the divine patience is not infinite. God, as Jesus tells us to do, is ready to forgive 77 times. And, when it comes to the forgiveness of our own sins, we take this for granted. (Imagine if God were to say, “In your lifetime I will give you just five chances to repent and, after that you’ve had it.”) At the same time, there is a limit to the extent of God’s forgiveness in the sense that it is conditional. That condition is determined first, by our readiness to respond to his forgiveness through our repentance and conversion, and second, by our willingness to imitate him in practising forgiveness of those we feel have offended or hurt us.
Refusing forgiveness
Strange as it may seem, the all-powerful God cannot fully forgive the person to whom pardon is offered but who refuses it. Because ultimately, the problem is not just one of ‘forgiveness’ but also of ‘reconciliation’. And where there is no reconciliation or at least hope of reconciliation there cannot be forgiveness in the full sense.
God cannot just say a million times over to the sinner, “I forgive you.” Forgiveness on our part is not just to say, “I know you did something terrible but, because I am a practising Christian, I forgive you.” You may feel very good about talking in that way but it has not really solved the problem or healed the wound. My responsibility is not over by saying, “I forgive”, if the other person has not changed their attitude towards me in any way. One-sided forgiving can be a source of real smugness, “How good I am!” and further hurt, “I forgave but he/she continued to hate/hurt me!” At the same time, even with the best will in the world I cannot force another person to be reconciled with me. Ultimately, reconciliation is a personal decision on each side.
Forgiving in the full Christian sense is a form of loving and caring. The problem is that people’s actions towards us are seen as attacks on our vulnerability, our self-esteem. We become completely obsessed by what is happening to us and do not take time to reflect on what is behind the other person’s behaviour.
A hating or angry person is nearly always a person who is more hurting to his- or herself than the object of the hatred or anger. But because on my part there is no effort to understand what is happening to the other person, forgiveness, reconciliation and healing can never really get off the ground.
In the psychology school of Neuro-Linguistic Programming there is a saying, “People make the best choices available to them.” Sad to say, many have very poor choices available to them for one reason or another. People normally do not hate or hurt out of genuine malice for the most part. It can make a big difference to me and to them to try to understand why people act towards me in the way they do.
I may even come to be aware that I am partly responsible for their reactions. I can well ask myself, “What is it in me that makes this person act like this?” When I approach a mutual problem in this way, forgiveness and reconciliation become so much easier. I am going to feel much less hurt much more of the time. I am going to reach out in compassion to the hurts and weaknesses of others.
Sin and sinner
A person who is fully secure in the knowledge of being totally loved by God and of their own lovableness is not going to find forgiveness and reconciliation too difficult. Forgiving 77 times will not only seem not idealistic but simply the only reasonable thing to do. At the same time, like God and like the Christian community, forgiveness and reconciliation does not mean indefinite tolerance of evil and unjust behaviour. The king was perfectly ready to forgive the senior official but how could reconciliation take place when he behaved in such an abominable way to a brother? We can be ready to forgive the sinner indefinitely but we must fight against sin without counting the cost.
God and the Church can forgive the repentant sinner but they cannot condone unrepented behaviour that is a source of real evil and suffering. God cannot be reconciled with the sinner who chooses to stay in sin, nor can the Christian community fully incorporate a member who refuses reconciliation and healing of behaviour that offends against truth and love. It takes two to tango and also to effect a reconciliation.
With God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and with the individual Christian, forgiveness is infinitely available but only where a mutual healing of wounds is sought, only where there is a desire to have that change of mind and behaviour which puts an end to the sinful way.
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Sir 27:30—28:7
Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
Reading 2 Rom 14:7-9
Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Gospel Mt 18:21-35
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."
Commentary on Readings
FORGIVENESS OF WRONGS done against us is something that many of us Christians find extremely difficult. We probably think Peter is extremely generous in suggesting that he should forgive his brother as many as seven times. Yet Jesus pushes it even further by saying, “Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.” In practice, this means an infinite number of times. It seems hopelessly idealistic and impractical. Yet, further reflection may help us realise that there is really no alternative for the Christian and the truly human person than to forgive – indefinitely.
The words of Jesus turn upside down the boast of Lamech in the book of Genesis. Lamech was the father of Noah, the man who built the ark and saved the human race and all the animals from the Flood.
Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’ (Genesis 4:23-24)
A bankrupt approach
This is the philosophy behind such groupings as triad societies, Mafia-type organizations, terrorists in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, to mention but a few. It is clearly an approach which does nothing except produce death, pain, grief and the seeds for more of the same. It is a way we see portrayed night after night on our television screens and which our young people devour in the comic books they read and the computer games they play.
But the words of Jesus also seem in conflict with the passage we had last Sunday about the “brother” in the Christian community who does wrong and refuses to reform. If he persists in his wrongdoing, he is not to be forgiven indefinitely. On the contrary, he is to be excluded from the community’s life. How are we to bring together this advice and Jesus’ urging to forgive “seventy-seven times”?
Jesus’ story
First, let us look at the parable which follows Jesus’ words. It is a parable about a senior official who has incurred a debt of 10,000 ‘talents’. One talent was already a very large amount of money. It is difficult to make a meaningful comparison in today’s currency but let us say, that, roughly, a talent was worth US$1,000. To say the servant owed 10,000 talents is to use the number in the way the Chinese and Japanese wish “10,000 years”, in other words, ‘without limit’. Jesus is saying this official owed a sky-high debt which he could never have any hope of paying back.
Yet this same official comes down heavily on a much lower official who owed him 100 denarii. A denarius was the equivalent of one day’s work for a labourer. Compared to what the senior official owed, 100 denarii was nothing. Yet, the lower official gets no mercy and is tossed, together with his whole family, into a debtor’s prison until the debt is paid (presumably by relatives or colleagues). When the king hears about this, the senior official himself gets thrown into prison. Given the amount of his debt, it is unlikely he would ever get out.
Gospel teaching
Both the words of Jesus and the parable linked with them throw us back to the Lord’s Prayer as it is presented in the Sermon on the Mount. In the ‘Our Father’ which we recite together in every Eucharist, we say: “Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.” Further commenting on these words, Matthew has Jesus say, “If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.” (Matthew 6: 12,14-15).
There are two very clear messages from both the parable and the words from the Sermon on the Mount:
– The first is that we dare not hold back forgiveness from those God forgives. And we know, from the Gospel, God’s attitude towards wrongdoers and his penchant for forgiveness.
– But the second message is that the divine patience is not infinite. God, as Jesus tells us to do, is ready to forgive 77 times. And, when it comes to the forgiveness of our own sins, we take this for granted. (Imagine if God were to say, “In your lifetime I will give you just five chances to repent and, after that you’ve had it.”) At the same time, there is a limit to the extent of God’s forgiveness in the sense that it is conditional. That condition is determined first, by our readiness to respond to his forgiveness through our repentance and conversion, and second, by our willingness to imitate him in practising forgiveness of those we feel have offended or hurt us.
Refusing forgiveness
Strange as it may seem, the all-powerful God cannot fully forgive the person to whom pardon is offered but who refuses it. Because ultimately, the problem is not just one of ‘forgiveness’ but also of ‘reconciliation’. And where there is no reconciliation or at least hope of reconciliation there cannot be forgiveness in the full sense.
God cannot just say a million times over to the sinner, “I forgive you.” Forgiveness on our part is not just to say, “I know you did something terrible but, because I am a practising Christian, I forgive you.” You may feel very good about talking in that way but it has not really solved the problem or healed the wound. My responsibility is not over by saying, “I forgive”, if the other person has not changed their attitude towards me in any way. One-sided forgiving can be a source of real smugness, “How good I am!” and further hurt, “I forgave but he/she continued to hate/hurt me!” At the same time, even with the best will in the world I cannot force another person to be reconciled with me. Ultimately, reconciliation is a personal decision on each side.
Forgiving in the full Christian sense is a form of loving and caring. The problem is that people’s actions towards us are seen as attacks on our vulnerability, our self-esteem. We become completely obsessed by what is happening to us and do not take time to reflect on what is behind the other person’s behaviour.
A hating or angry person is nearly always a person who is more hurting to his- or herself than the object of the hatred or anger. But because on my part there is no effort to understand what is happening to the other person, forgiveness, reconciliation and healing can never really get off the ground.
In the psychology school of Neuro-Linguistic Programming there is a saying, “People make the best choices available to them.” Sad to say, many have very poor choices available to them for one reason or another. People normally do not hate or hurt out of genuine malice for the most part. It can make a big difference to me and to them to try to understand why people act towards me in the way they do.
I may even come to be aware that I am partly responsible for their reactions. I can well ask myself, “What is it in me that makes this person act like this?” When I approach a mutual problem in this way, forgiveness and reconciliation become so much easier. I am going to feel much less hurt much more of the time. I am going to reach out in compassion to the hurts and weaknesses of others.
Sin and sinner
A person who is fully secure in the knowledge of being totally loved by God and of their own lovableness is not going to find forgiveness and reconciliation too difficult. Forgiving 77 times will not only seem not idealistic but simply the only reasonable thing to do. At the same time, like God and like the Christian community, forgiveness and reconciliation does not mean indefinite tolerance of evil and unjust behaviour. The king was perfectly ready to forgive the senior official but how could reconciliation take place when he behaved in such an abominable way to a brother? We can be ready to forgive the sinner indefinitely but we must fight against sin without counting the cost.
God and the Church can forgive the repentant sinner but they cannot condone unrepented behaviour that is a source of real evil and suffering. God cannot be reconciled with the sinner who chooses to stay in sin, nor can the Christian community fully incorporate a member who refuses reconciliation and healing of behaviour that offends against truth and love. It takes two to tango and also to effect a reconciliation.
With God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and with the individual Christian, forgiveness is infinitely available but only where a mutual healing of wounds is sought, only where there is a desire to have that change of mind and behaviour which puts an end to the sinful way.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 55:6-9
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
R. (18a) The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
Reading 2 Phil 1:20c-24, 27a
Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Gospel Mt 20:1-16a
Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Commentary on Isaiah 55:6-9; Philippians 1:20-24,27; Matthew 20:1-16
Undoubtedly, a major theme running through the whole of the Old and New Testaments is that of ‘justice’. God is wholly just and we are called, both individually and corporately, to lives of justice also. The question, of course, is what do we mean by justice? What does the Scripture mean by justice? What is the justice of God? Some of the answers to these questions can be found in today’s Gospel passage. Reading this passage may call for some adjustment in our normal ways of thinking.
And this is just what the First Reading from Isaiah prepares us for:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Growing in Christ means a constant shifting of our conventional ways of thinking and sometimes the adjustments do not come easily. To have the mind of Christ means, like him, to “empty” ourselves. In our case, to empty ourselves of many of the convictions we take for granted.
Hiring workers
Today’s Gospel is the parable of the workers in the vineyard, or rather, the hiring of workers for a vineyard. The parable is linked with the passage immediately preceding. It is important to note that the divisions of our scriptures into chapters and verses were not done by the original writers. Sometimes these divisions are quite arbitrary and create unnatural breaks in the text. Because today’s passage begins a new chapter, we are inclined to overlook its relationship to what has gone just before in the previous chapter. To better understand context, it’s always useful when reading a Gospel passage to look both behind and ahead of the listed verses.
The end of chapter 19 is a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. This in turn followed the incident of the rich man, who was a devout Jew invited by Jesus to be a disciple. He declined because he could not let go of his material wealth. There follow the warnings by Jesus about material wealth as a real obstacle to being part of God’s Kingdom. The disciples, not yet fully convinced of this, still wonder what is in store for them as they have left all to follow Jesus. Jesus promises that they will have a very special place in his Kingdom and, even in this life, will be amply rewarded in having all their material and social needs fully met. And Jesus concludes by saying – no doubt with the rich man and his disciples in mind:
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. (Matt 19:30)
At all hours
When we see the following parable as related to the above, its meaning becomes very clear. The parable describes a vineyard owner going out several times during a day to get workers for his vineyard. He makes an agreement with each one of them for a wage of one denarius. This was the normal daily wage for a worker in Jesus’ time. The vineyard owner went out at 6 o’clock in the morning and again at 9, at noon and again at 3 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon. It was normal for workers to gather at a crossroads or a market place waiting to be hired. Each time the vineyard owner assures the workers he will give them a ‘just wage’:
I will pay you whatever is right.
With just one hour of work time remaining, the owner went out once more. He sees men waiting there and asks them:
Why are you standing here idle all day?
And they answer:
Because no one has hired us.
They were idle, not because of laziness but because no one wanted to employ them. The parable in general seems to put a value on work and on a right to work. It says something about the curse of chronic unemployment bedevilling so many societies today.
Complaints
At the end of the day, the steward or bailiff is instructed to pay out the wages. Echoing the words of Jesus in the previous passage, he is told to start paying the workers:
…beginning with the last and then going to the first.
Those who had come in at the last hour were paid their one denarius, as promised. However, when those who had been working since 6 o’clock in the morning were paid they were not at all happy to receive only one denarius. They complained:
These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
Their complaints are reminiscent of the “murmuring” of the Israelites against Moses and Aaron in the desert (Exod 16:3-8). Probably some of us feel a lot of sympathy for these early workers and think they got a raw deal.
Yet we do need to read carefully the reply of the vineyard owner, who clearly represents the Gospel view:
Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?
As was emphasised earlier, this is understood as a just wage for one full day of work. The workers had accepted this fully. The landowner continues:
Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?
There is an important lesson here about God’s justice. When seen from our often mathematical and narrow-minded viewpoint, it often looks like injustice. We tend to think that if a person can do more, he is a better person and should have a greater reward. Why, for instance, is there such a disparity between the income of a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, and a bus driver? Which of these, in fact, does more? Is this really just? Should a salary be based on what a person does or on what a person needs for a decent standard of living?
We even think that if we do more for God, he will somehow love us more and reward us more. That is very much at the background of today’s parable. For many of us, the workers were quite right to criticise their employer. They worked longer hours and should have got more money. But there is another way of looking at the situation.
God’s justice
First, doing more for God and for others does not mean that God will love us more. No matter what we do or do not do, he cannot love us more than he already does.
Second, God does not look at how much we do. He looks at our needs. Maybe we, in assessing the remuneration people get, should think along the same lines.
Some of the people in the Gospel, the “first” in today’s parable, thought that, because they had served the Law of the Lord, had over so many centuries “borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat”, God should love them in a special way. They were somehow better than others. Maybe there are some of us Catholics who think along the same lines.
But that is not the way God works. His disciples, the “last”, who have given up everything to be with him, will be the recipients of the same love and the same rewards. In fact, they may receive more in the sense that, unlike unbelieving Jews, they fully opened themselves to the love of God in following Jesus.
Our situation
And before we continue to side with the grumbling workers, it might help to remember our own situation. We ought to be very grateful that we have a God whose justice is so patently unjust. He loves Mary his Mother, he loves a St Teresa of Calcutta and he loves ME with exactly the same love. Is that just? Is that what I deserve? Should I complain, or should I bow down in humble thankfulness that I am treated so well, that as one of the “last” I get the same treatment as the “first”?
God loves us where we are now. He does not keep an account book with accumulated credits and debts. The saint can apostatise and distance himself totally from God – forever. The lifetime sinner can be converted on his deathbed. But we should remember that the bias, fortunately, is on the side of the sinner. The chances of someone who is truly in a close, loving relationship with God turning apostate is not very likely. It is not at all unlikely, however, for the compulsively religious person whose faith is built on some external, rigid legalism rather than on a tender, loving relationship with God and with others. For the really sinful person, there is always the hope that they will come face to face with the love of God and, after a lifetime of wrongdoing, say a big “Yes!” to Jesus.
This means that no matter how many times I fail, no matter how many times I do wrong, no matter how late in life I come to find Jesus, I am assured of the same welcome that the saints get. This is the “justice” of the shepherd who leaves the “good” sheep and spends hours of his time looking for the single one that wandered far from the flock. This is the “justice” of the father who organises a huge feast for the son that has just spent all his father’s money on high-living and debauchery, when nothing of the kind had ever been done for the dutiful son who stayed at home. We want to be careful about “knocking” God’s “justice”, especially when we ourselves are so much its beneficiaries.
God’s way, our way
Finally, if this is God’s way of proceeding, it is clearly meant to be our way also. Last Sunday’s Gospel spoke about the importance of forgiving others and being reconciled with them. We need also to learn how to accept people as they are and not to evaluate them just on what they can do, or because of their status in society, or their profession – but simply because they are brothers and sisters who need our love and our care. We need to learn how, as God does, to see people as they are now and not constantly drag in their past behaviours.
With the help of God, we can learn to understand and to follow his justice. Our ways can become his ways and our thoughts become his thoughts. We will find it is a wonderfully liberating experience.
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Ez 18:25-28
Thus says the LORD: You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!" Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (6a) Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not;
in your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.
Reading 2 Phil 2:1-11
Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel Mt 21:28-32
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: "What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him."
Commentary on Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32
Today we are presented with another challenge by Jesus to the religious leaders of the people. It consists of a parable about two sons whose father operates a vineyard. He tells one to go and work there. The lad refuses, but later changes his mind and goes. The second one is also told to go. He agrees to do so, but in the end he does not. Jesus asks:
Which of the two did the will of his father?
They all agree that it was the one who at first would not go, but later did so.
In case there was any doubt, Jesus then clearly spells out the meaning of his story. Tax collectors and prostitutes, perhaps the most despised of all people from the religious leaders’ point of view, were making their way into the kingdom of God before the chief priests and the elders. In their eyes, it was a shocking and dreadfully insulting thing to say. As proof of what he says, Jesus reminds them that they refused to believe John the Baptist who “came to you in the way of righteousness” when he called people to repentance. On the other hand, the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. And, even after that, the priests and elders refused to do so. They were there watching, but felt that John’s words did not concern them.
Outrageous
In the eyes of the priests and elders, the idea that tax collectors and prostitutes should enter the kingdom before them was outrageous. The very idea that such evil and immoral people should take precedence over the religious leaders in God’s eyes would be totally unjust. It might have helped them to be reminded of what the prophet Ezekiel says in today’s First Reading:
…you say, the way of the Lord is unfair.
The Lord replies:
Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed, they shall die.
And the Lord also says:
…when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life.
Here Ezekiel is saying exactly the same thing as Jesus and it is something we all need to listen to carefully. It means, for instance, that a person who had lived a good life for a long time, but in the end turned bad would “die in his sin”. On the other hand, someone who had lived a very immoral life for a long time, but turned round and accepted God at the end would live.
Jesus is applying this, first of all, to his listeners. They and their ancestors had a long tradition of following God’s Law, but now, faced first with John the Baptist and then with Jesus, the Son of God, they refused to listen. On the other hand, Gentiles who had lived godless or idolatrous lives for generations are now turning to Jesus and opening themselves to his teaching and his healing power.
Again, as we have said elsewhere, it is not for us today to pass judgement on the religious and political leaders of Jesus’ own people. Rather, we have to see what this incident is saying to our own Christian lives here and now.
Two messages
There are two messages coming out loud and clear. On the one hand, we can never be complacent about our relationship with God. It is possible for any of us at any time to find ourselves falling away from our commitment to Jesus and to his Gospel. And God always accepts us where we are. If we are in union with him, things are well; if we have by our own choice become separated from him, he accepts that too. His love and his grace are always available, but they can be rejected and spurned – and we can “die in our sin”.
On the other hand, no matter how far we have strayed from God and Jesus in the Gospel, no matter how depraved we have become, it is never too late to turn back, and we can be absolutely sure that a warm, no-questions-asked welcome is waiting for us.
We remember the parables in Luke’s Gospel about the lost sheep and the lost (prodigal) son. It is the meaning of the dialogue between Jesus and Peter after the resurrection – “Do you love me…?” Three times Peter had, in pure fear, used oaths to deny he ever had any connection with Jesus. Now, repentant, chastened and humbled, he comes back. Not only is he forgiven, his mandate to lead the community remains intact. Peter’s repented sin, far from being a disqualification, will make him a far more understanding leader:
Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep”.
No punishment?
Is there no punishment for the sinner then? We can say that there is indeed. The sinner basically punishes himself. The punishment is built into the very sinfulness. This is what Ezekiel is saying today:
Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair?
It is not altogether uncommon to hear people complain that God is unfair to them. But God responds that a good person who violates his own integrity to do something evil dies in sin, precisely as a result of the evil he has done.
Our self-seeking, our hate, anger, aggression, violence, jealousy, resentments, our greed and avarice…all lead to isolation, loneliness, hostility with others and often to physical and mental stress and breakdowns. Sin, which is a refusal to respond to God loving us, brings its own inevitable punishment. Our sins often leave wounds which take a long time to heal. God does not need to punish us; we do that very well by our own choices.
Real source of sin
However, we need to identify where sin really lies. Sin is not just a violation of a rule or a law. It is a violation of our very nature. It is not just in the violation of certain rules and commandments. To be away from Sunday Mass is considered a sin? But why? Where is the sin? To act with violence, to steal, to fornicate, to lie, to be avaricious are regarded as sins. But why? Are they sins because the Church says they are? Because the priest in confession says they are? Because parents or other authority figures say they are? Because a list in a prayer book says they are?
Something is sinful because it is wrong, it is evil. Something is sinful because it denies love and respect for God and for the dignity, the rights and integrity of others. They are the sins not only of Catholics, but of anyone who does them. God, Truth and Love do not belong to any religion. And sin, as a violation of our needed relationship with God, Truth and Love, brings nothing but pain and loss. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
Dialogue of the deaf
Today’s gospel is clearly directed at the religious and civil leaders of the people in Jesus’ time. They spoke much about God and, in particular, how God was to be served by a strict observance of the Law. But it is clear they did not have the spirit that Jesus was communicating through his life and teaching. The spirit of love, compassion, caring and forgiveness for the weak and vulnerable. They also heard the teaching of Jesus but made no effort to carry it out. They excused themselves by challenging Jesus’ legal authority to do what he was doing. Because Jesus did not fit into the parameters of their legal world, they could not classify him and they rejected him.
On the other hand:
…the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
They certainly were not keeping God’s Law. They had said No to his commandments many times. But then they met Jesus and they experienced a radical transformation (Greek, metanoia) in their lives. They listened and they responded.
The chief priests and the elders are like the second son in the story. They say ‘Yes’ to obeying God but they do not listen to Jesus, the Son of God, or follow his instructions. The sinners, the outcasts of both Jewish and Gentile society, are like the first son. They do not obey God’s commands, they commit many sins, but later they accept the teaching of Jesus and become his followers.
What about me?
What is clear from this Gospel and from the First Reading is that God is primarily concerned with my present relationship to him. As far as the past is concerned, God has a very short memory…in fact, we might say he has no memory at all! This is the “injustice” of God that Ezekiel mentions. We remember the man who was crucified with Jesus on Calvary. He was a major criminal, a brigand, a robber, perhaps a murderer. There, in the very last moments of a life of murder and mayhem, he asks pardon and forgiveness:
Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.
Jesus’ reply comes instantly, without any qualifications whatsoever:
Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.
(Luke 23:42-43)
How unjust! How unfair! We are reminded of last week’s parable where the workers complained about the latecomers who were given a full wage.
However, it would not at all be a very good idea to think that I could live a life of total selfishness with the intention of making a last-minute deathbed conversion. Apart from the riskiness of such a gamble, such a decision would be quite short-sighted.
It is a totally false idea that to base one’s life on the Gospel is somehow to step outside the mainstream of human living and do something unnatural or ‘supernatural’. For believers and non-believers alike, this is probably the saddest misconception of all. On the contrary, it is the Gospel life vision that is totally human and totally in harmony with our deepest aspirations. If we want true fulfilment and happiness, it is this Way that has to be seized as soon as we become aware of it.
Emptying oneself
In the Second Reading we have the magnificent hymn about Jesus’ own spirit of service and selflessness. Paul says this in the context of a plea for greater unity in the Christian community at Philippi. In urging the Christians to serve each other’s needs with the deepest respect, he asks them to have the mind of Jesus himself, to think like he does. And he illustrates this by quoting what seems to have been an early Christian hymn. It speaks of the awesome dignity of Jesus as the Son of God. Yet Jesus did not emphasise this in his life among us. On the contrary he “emptied” himself and became just like us. He went further and took on the status of a slave and ultimately accepted human death, and the most shameful of all possible deaths, death as a convicted criminal on a cross, a barbaric form of execution.
If we were to be filled with that same spirit that Jesus had we would have nothing to fear. And what wonderful places our Christian communities would be: places of harmony and unity, of love and caring, of compassion and mutual support, of looking after each other’s needs. And, let us remember, it is never too late to start. Let’s begin today.
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 5:1-7
Let me now sing of my friend, my friend's song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do with my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!
Responsorial Psalm Ps 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
R. (Is 5:7a) The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
A vine from Egypt you transplanted;
you drove away the nations and planted it.
It put forth its foliage to the Sea,
its shoots as far as the River.
Why have you broken down its walls,
so that every passer-by plucks its fruit,
The boar from the forest lays it waste,
and the beasts of the field feed upon it?
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
O LORD, God of hosts, restore us;
if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.
Reading 2 Phil 4:6-9
Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Gospel Mt 21:33-43
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: "Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."
Commentary on Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43
Today’s parable is linked to last Sunday’s about the two sons sent to work in their father’s vineyard. One promised to go and work there, but he did not actually go. The other at first refused but later relented and went. The message of Jesus is clear (especially in the context of Matthew’s Gospel).
God’s people had disappointed their God. It was the formerly sinful Gentiles who took on the task of building the Kingdom. This should not be understood as anti-Jewish. On the contrary, this was being written by Christian Jews for Christian Jews and it must have been a painful thing for them to see and accept.
Poor tenants
Today we have a parable saying more or less the same thing. Strictly speaking, it is not a parable, but an allegory. A parable normally presents one lesson and the details are not relevant; while, in an allegory, each detail of the story has a symbolic meaning.
The message clearly is that God’s people have been poor tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. However, we read this not to sit in judgement on certain people in the past. We must be careful to be aware of the relevance of this parable for our own situation. We are not reading it for historical reasons but for reflection on our own lives and behaviour.
The Lord’s vineyard
Both the First Reading and the Gospel focus on the Lord’s vineyard, that is, the place where God’s people are to be found. At first, Jesus chose the Israelites to be his own people. He was with them on their wanderings in the desert on the way to “a land flowing with milk and honey”. The Lord asks in the First Reading:
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
But the response of the people/tenants in the vineyard was far from the expectations of the master of the vineyard:
When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield rotten grapes?
In Jesus’ story, the owner sends his servants to collect the harvest. Instead, the tenants seized, beat, stoned and even killed the owner’s messengers. This happened again and again. The message is clearly understood by Jesus’ hearers. The Lord had sent his prophets to remind his people of their duty to serve, to be a fruitful people. Yet, one by one, God’s messengers were rejected.
No respect even for the son
Finally, the owner’s own son was sent. The owner said:
They will respect my son.
But no. He also was seized, thrown out of the vineyard and killed. They could now take over the vineyard for themselves. It reminds one of the arrogance of our first parents who thought the knowledge of good and evil would give them power over God; of those who tried to build a tower that would reach right to the heavens. And the killing of the son “outside the city” is a clear reference to Jesus dying on the cross outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Called to the Lord’s vineyard
Today, we are God’s people. We are the tenants in the vineyard. Now he expects us to produce fruit, fruit that will endure. The obvious question for us to ask ourselves today is: How are we doing? How much better are we than the chief priests, the elders, the Scribes and the Pharisees? We are specially privileged, by baptism, to be called to work in the Lord’s vineyard. Each week we are invited to gather together to hear the Gospel message and to make it part of our lives. We are all called to be members, active members of the Body of Christ, the Christian community, the Church.
Many martyrs
How do we see this call? Do we find it a privilege, a blessing, or a troublesome burden? How well have we received the message of the Lord?
Over the centuries, how many prophets in our Christian communities have been rejected, abused and even killed? We think of Joan of Arc, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett and, in our own recent times, Bishop Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, the countless victims of violence all over our world.
All these martyrs have one thing in common. They were killed not by pagans, but by fellow-Christians, tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. We can hardly feel superior to the people Jesus is criticising in today’s Gospel. Isaiah’s words in the First Reading are so true. The Lord:
…expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!
In so many parts of the world, we do not have to go far to see the relevance of those words.
What kind of grapes?
Even so, we may feel we have not personally been part of any of this. Yet, what kind of grapes do we as a parish community produce? Are they sweet and luscious, or are they pinched and sour? Is our parish a real sign of Jesus’ presence and love in this part of our city? What kind of impact do we have?
Are we living out the words that Paul proposes to the Christians of Philippi in today’s Second Reading:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
And he goes on:
As for the things that you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them…
These last words are quite a challenge for all of us. But if we can live them out, then, says St Paul:
…the God of peace will be with you.
Parish vineyard
Our parish is our vineyard. It must not produce sour grapes that no one can eat. It must be open to the various ways the Lord speaks to it, whether those people are Church leaders or prophetic voices which may sometimes say things which are painful to hear.
There is always a temptation for a parish to become a security blanket for those who do not want to face up to the challenges facing every society. When that happens, it tends to cling to old, fixed ways of doing things and to resist change. People who propose changes that are necessary in serving a constantly changing society may be resisted and resisted very strongly. Each parish can find itself producing its core of “chief priests and elders” (who, by the way, may not be the clergy) who will make sure that prophetic voices (who may or may not be the clergy) and people with real vision will be effectively blocked.
It is just as easy for us in these times to fail to recognise the voice of God in the messengers he sends us, just as the Jewish authorities of Jesus’ time failed to recognise the Word of God in him. More than 100 years ago, Cardinal Newman said:
To live is to change; and to be perfect is to have changed often.
If we are not really making sure that our vineyard produces rich grapes, not only for us but for others, too, to enjoy, then we are falling short as “tenants”. It may well happen that the Lord would ask others to come and take our place.
If our church was closed down, sold off and turned into a dance hall, what real difference would it make to our district? Of course, we who come here regularly would miss it, but what of others who never step inside? Are we really concerned about that impact or do we think more of our own personal religious obligations and needs? Do we measure the quality of our parish by what goes on in our church building or by what happens when we leave it? Obviously, both are important but there cannot be one without the other.
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 25:6-10a
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken. On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
R. (6cd) I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
Reading 2 Phil 4:12-14, 19-20
Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Mt 22:1-14
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen."
Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-10: Philippians 4:12-14,19-20; Matthew 22:1-14
We have today another parable about the rejection of Jesus by the leaders of his own people. It is, as the others were, being addressed to the chief priests and elders of the people, the religious and civic leaders. The parable divides clearly into three distinct parts:
- two invitations sent out to the intended guests;
- a general call to all kinds of outcasts;
- some criteria set for taking part in the feast.
This is a parable about the Kingdom of God and about the people who will eventually belong to it. It is seen here under the aspect of a marriage feast for a king’s son. In the First Reading from Isaiah we have a graphic description of the great banquet that the Lord will prepare for his people. There will be rich food and fine wines; there will be neither mourning nor death:
The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth…
There will be exultation and rejoicing and:
It will be said on that day, “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
In the Gospel parable, the king sends out his servants, referring to the long line of prophets sent to the people of Israel calling them to love and service. Jesus says:…but they would not come…
Another batch of servants is sent out: Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner…everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet. When God calls there is always a sense of urgency. The only time to respond is now. I need always to be on the watch, but that is not what happens here. We are told that those invited were simply not interested. They reacted in two ways. Either they were too involved in their own worldly interests to be bothered or else they: …seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
This should remind us of the parable in last week’s readings about the absentee landlord sending messengers to collect the produce and the reception they got.
How many of us are guilty of the first way? To what extent, even right now, are we closed to calls from God because we are so tied up in all kinds of concerns and anxieties about things which do not really matter, or about things which cannot guarantee us any real fulfilment and happiness?
Then, after the treatment his messengers received, Jesus says: The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
This is strictly an historical interpolation by the evangelist and not really part of the original parable. It refers clearly to the sacking and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman imperial forces in the year AD 70 (the appearance of Matthew’s Gospel is usually set around AD 85). As for this second way, we still see in our own day God’s messengers being arrested, jailed, tortured and killed.
The highways and byways
With the refusal of those originally invited, the king once again repeats that the wedding is “ready”. There is an urgency to respond to the king’s call. The servants are now sent out, not to the houses of the wealthy and respectable, but to the “main streets”. These are near the gates and markets of a typical Middle East town where large crowds of ordinary people would gather. Here, they are the social and religious outcasts, tax collectors, prostitutes, all those in despised trades. No exceptions are made. All are invited, good and bad alike, until the wedding hall is filled.
There is now no “chosen people”, no elite. The Church calls all to its bosom. It is, and always will be, a Church of both saints and sinners. We need to remember that there will always be constant temptations to create first- and second-class tiers of membership, always temptations for the formation of elite groups, which are “different” and, by implication, “better”. It would be so nice to have a parish consisting only of totally dedicated Christians, but it would not be truly representative of the love of God reaching out to all. It would not be truly a ‘catholic’ church, a church for all.
Contradiction?
Having said all this, the last part of the parable seems a gross contradiction. It seems so unjust. Having gone out to the highways and byways to bring in all and sundry without exception, how can one justify tossing out someone because he does not have a “wedding garment”? Where was he expected to get it at such short notice? Yet, some reflection will reveal that it is really part of the same teaching.
The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus. Other people, Jewish outcasts and pagans, were invited to take their place at the banquet. However, it is not enough just to be present at the banquet. One was expected to come properly dressed and not in dirty and untidy clothes. This would show a total lack of respect for one’s fellow-guests.
While many, in fact all, are called to the banquet, they are expected to behave as wedding guests. In practical terms, while the Church opens wide its arms to the sinner, it expects that he make some effort to repent and be converted. It is not tolerable that he simply continue unabated in his sinful ways. That would not make any sense.
We have seen previously that, while Jesus went out of his way to be friendly with the tax collector and the prostitute, it was not a blanket acceptance of their ways but a means of calling them to conversion and change. In various statements across the Gospels, Jesus tells those he has healed: Your faith has made you whole…do not sin again…come, follow me.
The parable ends on a slightly pessimistic (or is it a realistic?) note: For many [i.e. all] are called, but few are chosen.
It is a sad fact that although everyone is being called to experience the love of God in their lives, relatively few will take the plunge and really try to taste that experience. The majority take what they regard as the safer path of looking for happiness in such activities as making money, building a career, indulging in sexual pleasures, rising in the social scale, surrounding themselves with material abundance. This is what people continue to do even though that path is strewn with disappointment and pain.
Setting standards
We saw, when discussing the readings of the 23rd Sunday, that the Church, too, can and indeed must set standards of participation in the life of the community if it is to remain a credible witness to the Gospel of Jesus and as the Body of Christ. The church could hardly accept as a full member of the community someone who was an unrepentant wrongdoer involved in murder and racketeering or a terrorist committed to continuing the killing of innocent people. For such people to stand with others at the table of the Eucharist would be altogether blasphemous and sacrilegious.
The wedding garment in the parable symbolises the wedding guest, whatever his past may have been, “putting on” Christ. Such a person, through Baptism, the sacrament by which one is given access to the wedding banquet of the Lord, has grown to be clothed in the spirit and teaching of Jesus. This is shown by the gradual transformation of that person’s life through the influence of Jesus as experienced in the Christian community.
Thanks for the invitation
In the light of all this, we might, first of all, express our deep thanks that we have been invited to the wedding banquet of our King. The knowledge and experience of God and Jesus that our faith and membership in the Church gives us should be the most precious gift in our lives. If that is not exactly how we feel, then perhaps we should ask God to give us a deeper understanding of just what Jesus can be for us in finding meaning and happiness in our lives.
Second, we might reflect today on just how “clean” our wedding garment really is. To what extent have we really offered ourselves in love and service to Jesus and to his people? To what extent could we be considered purely marginal members of our parish community? To what extent do we give clear witness of our values and beliefs both inside and outside the community? And we might take a closer look at our lives and see if there are any behaviours or activities which are quite at variance with the kind of life and relationships the Gospel expects of us. Can I in good conscience continue wearing my wedding garment or am I living a lie in doing so? Or, on the other hand, perhaps it’s time I put one on?
Third, we must never forget that, while as Church members we are expected to contribute actively to its life and witnessing, the forgiveness of God and of the community is always available whenever we express sorrow for betraying its ideals.
Today’s readings tell us that God has wonderful things in store for us. Everyone, no matter what kind of past they have had, receives the same invitation to sit down at God’s table. However, having initially answered the invitation, we cannot take things for granted. There is no room for complacency.
Almost more dangerous than being an obviously sinful person is being the “ordinary, run-of-the-mill Catholic”, the “Sunday” Catholic, the “I’m a good enough Catholic”, the “I’m a Catholic but not a fanatic about my religion”. These are all cop-outs. And it is not God, but ourselves who are the losers.
So let us pray that we may keep our wedding garments pure and spotless, that we become disciples who really hear and do the teaching of Jesus. Let us pray for a deeper faith and love and a better spirit of service and sense of responsibility to our community.
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 45:1, 4-6
Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I grasp, subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service, opening doors before him and leaving the gates unbarred: For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel, my chosen one, I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not. I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, there is no other.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10
R. (7b) Give the Lord glory and honor.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts.
Worship the LORD, in holy attire;
tremble before him, all the earth;
say among the nations: The LORD is king,
he governs the peoples with equity.
Reading 2 1 Thes 1:1-5b
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen. For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. .
Gospel Mt 22:15-21
The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Knowing their malice, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax." Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied, "Caesar's." At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Commentary on Isaiah 45:1,4-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5; Matthew 22:15-21
During past Sundays, we have seen Jesus attacking the religious leaders of his people for their failure to recognise in him the Word of God, the power of God, the compassionate love of God. All they could see was a man who broke their laws. Today, in the first of four challenges by different leaders, they hit back. Their plan was to get Jesus to discredit himself. The first challenge, in today’s Gospel, comes from the Pharisees. Their deviousness is seen in the delegation they sent – a mixture of their disciples (not themselves) and some Herodians.
It was a strange mixture because Pharisees and Herodians were bitterly opposed to each other. The Pharisees were rabid nationalists and totally anti-Roman; the Herodians were willing to collaborate with the Romans, hoping to benefit from it. In the language of today, they would be called “appeasers”. It was a perfect example of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Both sides hated each other, but they hated Jesus even more and both had scores to settle. Or did they hope by sending such a mixed delegation, Jesus would be thrown off the scent of their real purpose?
Their opening statement is clever and very flattering. They praise the utter honesty and integrity of Jesus. All of which was perfectly true. Jesus, in fact, is being praised as endowed with God’s own sense of truth and justice, totally impartial, with perhaps a bias for the poor, the weak and powerless.
And it is precisely in this strength of Jesus – telling it like it is without fear or favour – that they hope to entrap him.
Deceptively simple
After this flattering softening-up and linguistic foreplay comes the apparently straightforward question:
Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
In fact, this seemingly simple question addressed a red-hot issue. Palestine was a colony of Rome, a very unwilling and troublesome colony. The Jews hated the Romans, hated their brutality, their moral corruption, above all their godlessness. So, the nationalistic Pharisees felt that the taxes should not be paid to the oppressor. It was, one might say, an early version of “No taxation without representation”. On the contrary, for the Herodians, collaboration with the Romans was seen as beneficial.
Clearly it was a loaded question. If Jesus said taxes should not be paid, he would have pleased the Pharisees, but they could report him for sedition and have him arrested. If he said taxes should be paid, he might please the Herodians, but almost certainly he would lose all credibility with his own people.
The Jews believed that they had only one Lord and Ruler and that was their God. Taxes, or any form of submission, should only be made to him through offerings made in God’s Temple. Today’s First Reading from Isaiah makes it clear that Cyrus, one of the great kings of antiquity with enormous power and who had made vassals of the Jews, was seen as never more than an agent doing God’s work.
Hypocrisy
Jesus, of course, is perfectly aware of the dangers in giving a straight answer. He accuses them of gross hypocrisy in setting this trap. They have no desire to know the answer. They have their own answers already. Their only intention is to lay a trap for Jesus to hang himself with.
Jesus asks them to show him a coin. He asks to know whose image and what inscription are on it. The head was that of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor of the day. The inscription would have read, “Tiberius Caesar son of the divine Augustus, great high priest”. Caesar claimed not only political sovereignty, but also divine attributes. Worship of the emperor was seen as a test of loyalty to the not very religious central government, and would soon become a major issue for the early Christians as it was already for the Jews. For both groups, worship given to the Roman emperor could be nothing but idolatry. Even though, for some, it was seen only a matter of formality, Christians and Jews took it very seriously and many were martyred for their refusal to bow to the emperor. Even today in various parts of the world, there are Christians whose lives are in danger because of their faith when they refuse to acquiesce to the absolute power some governments have over their lives. The church must go “underground” for those Christians to worship.
A famous reply
Jesus then gives his famous answer:
Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.
The answer should not be understood cynically and in line with those who thought that no allegiance at all belongs to the ruling power (e.g. the anarchist line), nor, on the other hand, that a civil power has the right to demand total submission of its subjects. No state can claim to itself divine powers of absolute authority (e.g. atheistic dictatorships). All are subject to the higher demands of truth and justice and the inviolable dignity of the person centred in God.
We all are, in some way, the citizens of two kingdoms: citizens of the political territory where we live and citizens in God’s Kingdom. As Jesus says, they both require certain loyalties from us.
We all depend to a large extent on our civil government. In modern times very few people can supply their own water, electricity, telephone system. There are many other services which only a civil authority can provide, such as education, hospitals, roads, welfare services for the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and other vulnerable people.
It is obvious that if these are services are to continue and even be improved they require the cooperation and support of the community at large. We do this for the most part through paying taxes. Taxes are not just a necessary evil. In a just administration they are our contribution to making the services we take for granted available. In a just tax system, too, we help to spread more evenly the wealth of the community so that each one has access to what they need for a life of human dignity.
Supporting our community
There are many other ways, too, in which we can give our support to raising the quality of life in the community. All of this can be seen as giving to “Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”. One, unfortunately, does meet people whose only interest is in seeing what they can get out of the community for themselves with no intention of ever giving anything back.
But we are also citizens of God’s Kingdom. For much of the time, there is no conflict between “Caesar” and God but not always. We do sometimes, from the standpoint of the Gospel, have to criticise our government’s actions or non-actions. Sometimes we even have to refuse to obey our government. Even today, in some places in the world, Christians are forced to violate the immoral laws of their government. And this is not just in the so-called “third world” countries…we see it in the industrialized west as well. In the name of truth, justice and human dignity, sometimes there is simply no option.
And we need to realise that when we really love our country and its people, then we may have to stand in strong opposition to the authorities on certain issues. Of course, the authorities will try to present such people as traitors and a threat to the stability of the country. But such people, who show they care, often have a far greater love for their country than a so-called “silent majority”.
Two responsibilities
Today’s Gospel makes it very clear that we have two responsibilities: to the government of our country or territory and to God. Where both are in harmony there will be no conflict. Wherever there is immoral or unjust behaviour against people’s dignity and rights, then there has to be conflict.
Such conflict is not always bad. On the contrary, it is because of creative conflict that our society makes progress. Provided we always act in a positive and creative way, “but speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15), then the flawed kingdoms that men build can, in time, become the Kingdom of God. As a famous dissident – and martyr, St Thomas More, said:
The King’s good servant, but God’s first.
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Ex 22:20-26 Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. "If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
R. (2) I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
Reading 2 1 Thes 1:5c-10 Brothers and sisters: You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Gospel Mt 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
Commentary on Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40
“Love and do what you like” is a statement attributed to the great St Augustine. He did not say “Do what you like”, rather he said, “Love, and do what you like.” The word ‘love’ changes the meaning of the statement completely. We have a similar theme in today’s Gospel. It touches on the very heart of the Christian message and indeed of all human living.
We are at a stage in Matthew’s Gospel these weeks where Jesus is being challenged by various leading groups among the Jews. Jesus had just reduced a group of Sadducees to silence, much to the delight of their rivals, the Pharisees. Now it is some Pharisees who approach him with their own question, a question much debated among themselves: “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” Unlike other encounters, there is not necessarily any malice in this approach. As a Rabbi, influential with the crowds and known by many as someone with a mind of his own, they wanted to know Jesus’ opinion.
There were over 600 different laws, and much time was spent in arguing over trivial details of observance. This question is about getting to the very heart of the matter. Among so many laws, was there any one law which touched the core of people’s relationship with God? Was there one which summed up what the other laws were trying to say?
One plus one equals one
Jesus often answered people’s questions with one of his own but in this case he gives an answer. And he cites not one law but two. He first quotes the book of Deuteronomy which says:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deut 6:5)
Jesus says this is the “first and greatest commandment”. Probably Jesus’ hearers would have had no problem agreeing with that. He then goes on immediately to say:
And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
For Jesus’ listeners, this commandment would have been seen very much as a secondary requirement. And, as we know, the word “neighbour” could be taken in a highly restricted sense. The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke’s gospel indicates that Jesus had a very different understanding of who our neighbour is, although it is not raised here.
Concern for people
God’s special concern for people and not just for worship of Himself is already expressed in a telling sentence from today’s the First Reading, taken from the Book of Exodus. Compassion and sympathy are to be shown in particular to the stranger, the widow, the orphan:
If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry…
Further, money lent to the poor should not require interest; a garment taken as a pledge must be given back before sunset if that is all its owner has to cover himself with during the cold night:
If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry…
Undoubtedly many people would have felt little compunction in not doing these things to people they regarded of no account provided they themselves were fulfilling all their direct obligations of worship to God in terms of prayer, fasting, alms-giving and other ritual observances in temple, synagogue, and home. Jesus, echoing what the Old Testament already is saying, affirms that religious observance is not enough.
Jesus was making a significant change in linking these two commandments together as one and inseparable. From the rest of the New Testament, it is clear that one cannot love God without loving one’s brothers and sisters at the same time. Nor does one love others just for God’s sake or to please God or observe a commandment. One is expected to go much further. One does not go to God through others but one seeks, finds and loves God in others:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. (Matt 25:40)
Jesus identifies himself with the hungry and thirsty, with the naked, the sick and those in prison (irrespective of their crimes). Jesus identifies himself with those in most need of love and compassion. He is also to be loved in the leper (nowadays the victim of socially-transmitted diseases, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the homeless), the outcast – and even in the enemy who threatens me.
A way of life
These “commands” to love God and those around us are not really commands. Love is not love unless it is free and spontaneous. What Jesus proposes are not just commands or rules but a whole approach to life and to our relationship with others.
There is only one “commandment” consisting of two inseparable parts. The key word is “love” but there are really three loves involved: love of God, love of others and love of self. Ultimately, love of God, the source of all being and life, comes first. Then comes, as a natural outcome, love for all those in whom God dwells and whom God creates. Because they are the objects of his love, they must also be the objects of mine. Lastly, there is the love of self. I also am worthy of being loved.
Turning things round
Strangely enough, to implement these loves effectively, we may have to reverse the order to: love of self, leading to love others, leading finally to love of God.
In a way, the most basic love is love of myself. Today’s Gospel says:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On the one hand we might think this is an unnecessary command. What people do not love themselves, think about themselves, worry about their welfare? At the same time, we have been taught many times to not be loving ourselves, to not be selfish and self-centred. And it seems that a great many people do not really love themselves very much at all. Quite a number actually hate themselves and a large number have a low level of self-esteem. They do not like very much what they see in the mirror.
Many secretly dislike themselves and would dread people getting to know them as they see themselves. Why do we spend so much money on clothes, make-up, appearance, image? The cosmetics business is a huge industry involving billions of dollars. Why do so many chase various status symbols to show that they have “arrived”? The part of the city in which I live, the model of my car, my clothes and accessories – all carefully chosen to enhance my image and make me look better than I feel I really am. So much of advertising is directed to this inner fear.
Why are we afraid to let others know what we are really like? Why are we so shy to stand up in front of a crowd or ask questions at a meeting or make a speech? Why do people go around looking for status symbols that will make them seem more important in society?
We know the obsession of many people for “famous brands”. A man got a suit made (cheaply) in Bangkok and when he went to collect it, the tailor pulled open a drawer with all the most famous labels. “Which one would you like?” he asked. So the man walks out wearing a cheap suit but with the prestigious label conspicuously sewn to the cuff. Did he walk taller because of that? What about the phoney expensive-brand watches they sell on Hong Kong’s sidewalks?
Why do so many try to be one of the crowd? Why do so many escape into alcohol and drugs? Why do so many, especially the young, even destroy themselves by taking their own lives? In a world of plenty, of endless means of entertainment and pleasure, why is the level of teenage suicides so high? Ultimately, it is because so many people inside do not or cannot love themselves – and sadly, they think that no one else really loves or could love them either.
Loving others
If we have difficulty loving ourselves, it will be difficult to reach out in love to others. We will be too busy worrying whether others are loving us, or at least the facade we present to others. And indeed that is the case. Individualism is rampant. Freedom means “doing one’s own thing” and to hell with everyone else, except for that small number around them who enhance their self-esteem.
It even affects the way we often behave in church, having very little sense of community. How many of the people around you – at church or in your neighborhood – do you know? And what have you ever done for any of them? And what have they ever done for you?
When I love myself, I accept myself totally as I am, recognising both my good qualities and my deficiencies and making no effort to hide them from others. I do not really mind what people think of me. That is really their problem, not mine. And, because of that, I have plenty of time to think of them and their needs. Then I have the freedom to reach out and be concerned with the well-being of others. In short, I can begin to love my neighbour as I love myself and because I love myself.
Loving God
And then there is the question of loving God. Saying “I love you God” is one of the easiest things in the world. But it is difficult to speak realistically of loving God, if I have no real experience of what love is, or of loving and being loved by people. Only then can I begin to see that God is present in all truly loving experiences. It has been said, “wherever there is love, there is God.” My whole life can be lived in a sea of love, given and received.
Then the commandment of Jesus begins to be realised. I begin to be aware that when I am being deeply loved by another person, it is in fact also God’s love that I am experiencing. “Where there is love, there is God” – all real love is a manifestation of God’s presence.
Most of the time, God shows his love for me through the people that enter my life. He loves me when they love me; and I am loving him when I love them. In the end, there are not three kinds of love but only one.
This person – this me – with all my strengths and weaknesses, this person with whom I have learnt to be perfectly comfortable, lives a life of loving and being loved. At the centre of it all is the source of all love – God.
Finally, we need to say that this love is not necessarily an emotional and romantic love. It is a love, as the First Reading indicates, which involves treating every single person with deep respect, with justice, with compassion. It reaches out even to those who behave badly or wish to harm me. It is a deepdown desire that wishes that every person experience what is the very best for them. It is a way of relating to people that helps them also to become more caring and loving – of themselves, of others, and of God. As Paul tells the Thessalonians today:
…you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord…
That is the core of all evangelisation. It is not just a question of “converting” people and getting them to the baptismal font to become Catholic. It is rather gently to lead them so that they find the God who loves them and find God in loving those around them.
What I am to myself becomes what I am to others and vice versa. And together we all go to God as he comes to us – in love.
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Mal 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10
A great King am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If you do not listen, if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and of your blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts. I, therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people, since you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your decisions. Have we not all the one father? Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?
Responsorial Psalm Ps 131:1, 2, 3
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
Reading 2 1 Thes 2:7b-9, 13
Brothers and sisters: We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us. You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.
Gospel Mt 23:1-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Commentary on Malachi 1:14 – 2:2,8-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9,13; Matthew 23:1-12
We are coming very to near the end of the Church year. We are also coming to the end of Matthew’s Gospel where there is a growing conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his people. Although there is no conflict with the ordinary people who are delighted and amazed at the words and actions of Jesus. The readings today contain serious attacks on the religious leadership.
The prophet Malachi in the First Reading says:
You have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction…so I make you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction.
A mixed group
It is important to note that, in the Gospel, Jesus is not making an attack on all the Pharisees and all spiritual leaders. We know that there were some very good Pharisees. Generally speaking, the Pharisees were among the most observant and devout of Jews.
Nicodemus, the man who came to see Jesus by night, was a Pharisee. It was he, too, who arranged to have Jesus buried after his death on the cross. Another highly revered Pharisee was Gamaliel, who urged caution in acting against the disciples of Jesus preaching the Gospel:
I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God! (Acts 5:38-39)
What Jesus was attacking was not specific people so much as a certain arrogant and hypocritical way of thinking and acting, of which some people in his time were guilty.
Three points
Jesus attacks this mentality in three areas. First, he says the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees should be followed because they are simply handing on the truths of their faith. But their behaviour is a different matter altogether; this should not be imitated. They create a double standard – they say one thing and do another.
The attitude of “Do as I say; not as I do” is something all authority figures, be they parents or priests, politicians or policemen, can sometimes find themselves having in practice. We sometimes tell the young or those ‘under’ us not to do something “because I am telling you” like that in itself is a sufficient reason.
Real authority is not the exercise of power, but of enabling people to do and be what they are called to do and be. It is a matter not of overpowering, but of empowering.
This attitude affects not only religious leaders of all times and places, but also politicians who make our laws and do not keep them; teachers who give conflicting messages to their students; above all, parents who create double standards by forbidding their children to do what they have no hesitation in doing themselves. Worse still, are those leaders – religious, political, educational or parental – who impose heavy obligations but then do nothing to help in their being carried out.
The second criticism is of those in authority who claim special privileges: the wearing of special and distinct uniforms, the expectation that they are deserving of certain perks – not having to pay for certain services, company car, executive dining room, even special toilets!
We all remember the elaborate clothes bishops used to wear implying a certain sacred quality. Things are simpler nowadays and often bishops are indistinguishable from priests (and, even in some countries, from lay people). Priests, in turn, could in the past use the ‘collar’ to expect special treatment; now many dress like everyone else. And there is a clear message there about status and power.
And third, there is the question of titles. There are religious leaders who insist on being addressed by their proper titles: Your Eminence, Your Grace, Monsignor or even Father. In political life and the social scene, great store is often set on titles before one’s name or letters after it. In some cases, large sums of money were offered to acquire these things.
Only one Lord
The point Jesus makes is that only God himself, as the source of all life, has the right to titles of Lordship or authority. And, only those are truly great who are totally at the service of their brothers and sisters.
You are not great because you wear special clothes.
You are not great because someone carries a cross or a mace in front of you.
You are not great because people step back to let you go first.
You are not great because you arrive in a chauffeur-driven limousine or appear regularly in the media.
You are great when, whoever you are, you use your God-given talents to benefit the people around you. If you are not doing that you are not great in any sense of the word.
It is easy to read today’s Gospel and start pointing fingers at others, but it is important that we see how it applies in my own life. The Gospel is always addressed to me. And today I need to hear what it is saying to me now.
Of course, I can point a criticising finger at all the officials I know, political, religious or otherwise, but am I so different? How often do I stand on ceremony? How touchy am I about how people treat me, especially if I have some title or responsibility, even if I am ‘just’ that of a parent or schoolteacher? Respect cannot be demanded, but only earned.
Like loving mothers
In today’s Second Reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul speaks of himself and other Church leaders acting:
like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children…
And, they were ready not only to hand on the Gospel (that is not so difficult), but their “own selves”. And, unlike the Pharisees and their like, Paul wanted in no way to be a burden on any one. God’s message then comes across as a living power for those who believe. The Gospel should never come across as a burden. On the contrary, it is meant to produce a liberating experience, a lifting of burdens.
The Pharisees acted as if their teaching was their own and they expected people to honour them. Paul, however, in today’s reading tells the Thessalonians that his teaching is not really his:
You received the word of God that you heard from us you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.
It is similar for parents, priests and teachers. We are only channels of God’s Word and his Truth. We never grasp it fully and we are simply stewards handing it on. The only power is the power of the Word itself, the power of Truth and of Love.
So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.
That is what service means. As long as we have our health and energy, each of us should do our best not to be a burden on others. When we truly try hard to offer what we have for the well-being of others we are not likely to be such a burden. As we have said before, when everyone is giving, then everyone is receiving. It is a beautiful way to live but it is not the way of our rat-race, competitive society which thinks only of “How much can I get?”
Fragile vessels
Those we serve need to be aware that what we communicate does not originate from us. We are, in Paul’s image, ‘fragile vessels of clay’. There is no need for us to claim that we embody fully in ourselves the ideals of Christ we try to share with others. There is a vulnerability and weakness in all parents, priests, teachers and other authority figures that we need to admit to openly.
The Church itself is to some extent responsible for placing unrealistic expectations of moral perfection on our clergy. In the past especially, they were presented somehow as different from “ordinary” people; they lived on a higher plane of humanity from the rest. When their ‘feet of clay’ are revealed, there is shock and disillusion and scandal. But scandal is very much in the eye and expectations of the beholder. Parents and teachers too can have the same problem – not to mention politicians, doctors, lawyers, social workers and the like.
We all like to surround ourselves with a certain aura, but it is not the reality. What is difficult to tolerate is the hypocrisy which Jesus so rightly attacks, and of which we are all at one time or another guilty.
When we put ourselves on a pedestal of authority, we are in danger of being knocked down. When, following the advice of Jesus, we realise that real greatness is in offering ourselves in service as a brother/sister to brothers/sisters, then we are likely to meet support, understanding and cooperation in bringing people closer to God. For such people, the loneliness at the top will never be a problem.
Children can perfectly understand the weakness of their parents, and adults the foibles of their leaders. What they really resent is any form of pretence or phoniness and especially double standards.
We are all given different responsibilities in our community and some of these responsibilities are more demanding or require special qualifications or talent. But, the greater the responsibility towards a greater number of people, the greater our ability and qualifications, the greater is the demand to serve the needs of one’s community.
Maybe a political leader needs a driver for his or her car, or to go from A to B by plane or helicopter. But these should be seen, not as “perks” to shore up one’s “dignity”, but as necessary means to carry out more effectively the leader’s mission of service to the people. But these should be seen, not as “perks” to shore up his “dignity”, but as necessary for him to carry out more effectively his mission of service to his people. And the same is to be said for a bishop, a priest or the father and mother of a family.
Today’s Gospel, addressed to all of us, calls for integrity and honesty, where there is no pulling of rank, no demand for respect or privilege or a hearing, no double standards, but a deep sense of equality and mutual respect, a desire to serve, to share what we have and are for the benefit all.
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Wis 6:12-16
Resplendent and unfading is wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire; Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. For taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence, and whoever for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
I will remember you upon my couch,
and through the night-watches I will meditate on you:
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
Reading 2 1 Thes 4:13-18
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words. or Gospel Mt 25:1-13 Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
Commentary on Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
The approaching end of the liturgical year regularly brings the usual warnings about being prepared. We know that in the very early Church the Christians believed that Christ’s Second Coming, and therefore the end of the world, would come very soon, even in their lifetime. By the time the gospels were put in written form, however, this began to seem less likely. Does that mean that the warnings about readiness can be put aside? Because, for the most of us, it is presumably purely academic to wonder when the end of our universe or of our planet will take place. We are not likely to be around when it happens.
What is much more practical, however, is the end of our own world – the end of our own time here on earth. That is anything but an academic consideration. That is the one reality of our future that we can be absolutely certain about. And we know very well – although we often prefer not to think about it – that it can happen at any time and in any place. Today’s readings bring us face to face with this reality, this fact. They ask us the question: Am I ready? And they imply consideration of a second question: How can I be ready?
The ten bridesmaids
In today’s passage from Matthew, Jesus tells a parable, partially an allegory, about something which would be very familiar to his Palestinian readers – a village marriage. Apparently ten girls would be asked to accompany the bride as she awaited the arrival of the bridegroom. The problem was that they had no idea when the bridegroom would turn up and, when it got dark, they would need to have lighted lamps. If the bride’s companions were caught unawares, if they were not around when the bridegroom came, they could be locked out or left behind.
Imagery drawn from marriage was a traditional way to describe the relationship between God and his people. When asked why his disciples, unlike those of John the Baptist, did not fast, Jesus replied:
The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? (Matt 9:15)
And, a few weeks back, on the 28th Sunday, we saw Jesus tell the parable of the guests invited to the marriage feast of a father’s son.
The ten young women represent disciples of Jesus, as they await his coming. On the basis of what happens later on, five are described as wise or sensible and five as foolish. Their wisdom here consists in their taking prudent steps to do what they need to do in order to come face to face with their Lord.
However, the bridegroom is long in coming. The early expectation of the Second Coming has not been realised. All – both the sensible ones who brought a sufficient supply of oil as well as those who did not – “became drowsy and slept”. Thus it seems that being fully awake at every single moment is not the point, but rather the overall readiness when the time comes to respond.
God of surprises
Then, right in the middle of the night, the cry goes up:
Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.
Our God is a God of surprises. You never know how or when he is going to appear. For some, it is a long-awaited and long-desired announcement; for others, it creates alarm. For those well stocked with the oil of loving service to their brothers and sisters, the cry is one that fills them with joy and anticipation. One thinks of Paul saying:
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain…yet I cannot say which I will choose. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. (Philippians 1:21-23)
For those who have squandered the gifts they have been given, the announcement fills them with dread. We might feel that the “wise” young women were rather selfish in refusing to share their oil with the “foolish” in such a critical situation. However, the parables of Jesus normally are making one point taken from some common experience of daily life. The focus is on that one point and other details are not part of it. Another example might be the parable of the dishonest steward who falsified all his employer’s accounts so that he could make sure of future employment for himself. Jesus, who was obviously not condoning this man’s behaviour, only used it as an example of how even a bad person can take prudent steps to guarantee his future.
We can also say in the context of today’s parable that the “oil” of loving service is not strictly speaking transferable to others. Our preparedness to meet the Lord is something that is ultimately only our responsibility. No one can say “Yes” to Christ on my behalf. And, this means that those baptised in infancy also have at some stage to say “Yes”, on the basis of their own faith, to Jesus as their Lord. So, while the foolish young women went off to make up for lost and wasted time, “those who were ready” went into the wedding hall and “the door was closed”. All are invited, but not all get inside. All are called, but few are among the chosen ones. This is not due to any partiality on the bridegroom’s part, but because of the tardiness of some in responding to the invitation. The closed door means that access to Jesus is not automatic or to be altogether taken for granted. And that is precisely the warning in today’s readings.
I do not know you
The foolish young women eventually get back with their necessary supplies of oil and find the door shut in their face, and they say:
Lord, Lord, open to us.
In reply, they hear the most terrible words God could speak to us:
Truly I tell you, I do not know you.
In other words, “I invited you to be part of my wedding, but you have never been with me. You have been asleep or you have been going your own way.”
In an emergency there are some things we can borrow from others at short notice. But to be ready to meet Jesus, to have fully accepted his Gospel vision as part of our life, to walk hand in hand with him is not something we can suddenly wake up to and say, “Give it to me now!” By then, it is just too late. Let us pray, then, today for that wisdom which knows where the real secrets of life and success are.
The First Reading tells us to be constantly on the watch for Lady Wisdom:
One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for she will be found sitting at the gate.
Not only that:
…she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths and meets them in every thought.
The truly wise person is the one who has not waited until “some time in the future” to make Jesus fully part of their life. For quite a number of Christians it seems that setting up a career and making money are more important priorities than making the Gospel a major part of their lives. It is a risky investment. If there ever was a blue chip for life, it is Jesus and the way of life he offers us in the Gospel. So many pass it up. They are indeed foolish.
The only way
The truly wise person builds his life on Jesus as the Way, on Jesus as Truth and Life, not only for the future but for here and now. The Gospel, understood and adopted, is the only programme that can guarantee fulfilment and happiness right away. The others all depend on an uncertain future.
Such a wise person lives each day in the light of Jesus’ vision. Such people find him in the most ordinary experiences of daily living – in the people they meet, in the events that take place, in the situations in which they meet, in the events that take place, in the situations in which they find themselves. Jesus is no stranger to them. He can bring many surprises, but he is never unexpected. When they eventually hear the final call, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”, they are not worried. They are happy and more than ready to meet an old friend face to face.
It is not a question of taking a gamble on making a last-minute confession on your deathbed. A surprising number of people do not die in their beds. It is a question rather of what I plan to do this very day and every day. There is absolutely no better way to prepare for the final call than, first, to put it completely out of one’s head, and, second, to learn to spend each and every day in the company of Jesus:
I am with you always… (Matt 28:20)
There are two short prayers which we may find useful to be said at any time as we go through our day:
Lord, grant that all my thoughts, intentions, actions and responses may be directed solely to your love and service this day.
Help me, Lord, to seek, to find, and to respond to you in every person and every experience of this day.
If these prayers really reflect the fabric of my daily living, then let the bridegroom come when he will – I am ready. Instead of knocking at his door, I will find that he comes to knock at mine. Jesus says:
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. (Rev 3:20)
Today he is certainly going to knock at my door. Will I be in when he does?
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She obtains wool and flax and works with loving hands. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle. She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy. Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her a reward for her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R. (cf. 1a) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
Reading 2 1 Thes 5:1-6
Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, "Peace and security, " then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.
Gospel Mt 25:14-30
Jesus told his disciples this parable: "A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one-- to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money. "After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, 'Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, 'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.' His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"
Commentary on Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20,30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30
This is, in effect, the last ordinary Sunday of the Church year. Next week, the 34th Sunday, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. And again, as last week, we are reminded not just of the end of the liturgical year but of the end of all things and the preparations we need to make.
Last week, the story of the ten bridesmaids waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom, was about constant readiness for the final coming of Christ. Today’s Mass is rather about the preparations we need to make.
The Second Reading reminds us that the Day of the Lord will come “like a thief in the night”, when we least expect it, when we are least ready:
…we are not of the night or of darkness. So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
And what should we be doing while we are wide awake (and, hopefully, sober!) in anticipation of the Lord’s coming?
The First Reading suggests that we should be as diligent and industrious as a loyal and faithful wife. A perfect wife, Proverbs says, “is far more precious than jewels”. She is hardworking, mainly for her family, but she also:
…opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
Her value is not in her charm or her beauty, but in her wisdom, that is, in her awareness of where the real priorities in life lie.
The Gospel passage, however, goes further in pinpointing the ultimate purpose of our activities. It is the Parable of the Talents. Literally, one talent was a very large sum of money, equivalent to thousands of dollars today. The parable contains words of advice for the interim period between Christ’s resurrection and his final return. It urges a responsible use of the goods the Master has entrusted to us so that we may be ready to face him when he calls us to account.
Distribution of talents
We see in the parable an employer entrusting his property to each of three servants to administer while he is away. They are not given the same amount and this implies that they have different abilities, or ‘talents’ as we would say today. It is also implied that different returns are expected from different abilities. People are not competing against each other, only against themselves.
The first two, of whom one received five talents and one received two talents, traded with what they had been given and doubled their capital. The third, however, the one who received the least:
…went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
In the Greek text, the word used for “gained” or “made” was used in religious contexts for winning converts. Thus the parable suggests that we are talking about the kind of “profit” a Christian is meant to be aiming at, which has nothing to do with dollars and cents. The man, therefore, who dug his single talent into a hole was guilty of keeping it purely for himself and not risking its exposure to others who could have benefited from his efforts.
“After a long time”, suggesting the long period between Jesus’ resurrection and his coming again, the employer returns to call his servants to account. He is very pleased with the first two who had done so well as to double their original capital. Because they had shown such trustworthiness and a willingness to take risks over what was relatively little, they could now be confidently entrusted with much more. They could enter the “joy of [their] master”, namely the Kingdom of God.
The third man came forward and sheepishly offered his single talent. He had been afraid of his master and said:
Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.
The employer is very angry. At the very least, the money could have been put in a bank and earned a modicum of interest. As it was, it produced absolutely nothing. One is reminded here of the branches on the vine which have no fruit and get thrown into the fire. In terms of the Gospel, it speaks of the Christian, who may be very devout, but who makes no contribution whatever to the life of the Christian community or to its mandate to give witness to the Gospel before the world (something that can be far more risky than commercial trading).
Four points
Discussing this passage, William Barclay makes four useful points:
God gives each person different gifts: Despite our tendencies always to compare ourselves with others, the actual number and quality is not important. We are only asked to make full use of what we have been uniquely given, and to use them for the benefit of the community as a whole. When everyone does that, the community is enriched.
Our work is never completed: When the first two servants showed how much they had earned, they were not told they could sit back and rest. No, because of their trustworthiness, even greater responsibilities were given to them:
For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance…
The one who will be punished is the one who does nothing: The man with one talent did not lose it. He did not do anything at all with it. If he had tried and failed, he would have met compassion and forgiveness. The image of the master as a “harsh man” only emphasises that, if with such a person one should make an effort, all the more should one try where a loving, understanding and compassionate God is concerned. Even the person with one miserable talent has something to offer to others. It is a sober warning that it is not just those who do evil deeds who will lose out, but also those who have no positively good works to show. Saying “But I didn’t do anything!” will not get one off the hook!
For to all those who have, more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away:
It seems rather unfair, like robbing the poor to pay the rich. But Jesus is rather saying that those who share generously the gifts they have been given are likely to find themselves constantly enriched. Those who jealously preserve what they have been given, hoard it and go into their shell in fear of the outside world are likely to shrivel up and die. Those who save their lives, will lose it; those who share generously what they have with others, will find themselves immeasurably enriched. It is the law of the Gospel; it also a law of life which many of us, in practice, find hard to believe.
Refusal to change
It is in this context that another interpretation has been given to the parable. Namely, that it is a criticism of a religious tradition which refuses to develop. This is a constant phenomenon of all religions, including our own. Many of the Jews in Jesus’ time jealously protected the Law and tradition. They were opposed to any change or any development. In the process, they forgot the original spirit of the Law and naturally were opposed to Jesus, who constantly criticised this stance. In our Church today, there are people who do not want to change anything, who want to go back to the old ways of doing things. They want to bury the Spirit of God in the napkin of tradition. They want old wine in old wineskins. This is not the way to Life.
Finally, we need to spend some time reflecting – and how about today – on what particular talents or gifts God has given us. Some of us are clearly very gifted but there is no one, absolutely no one, who can say they have been gifted with nothing. And we can ask ourselves how are we using our particular gifts in the service of our Christian community and the wider society? Any other use of them is to bury them in a napkin and render them unproductive. If we were to die today and met Jesus and he asked us:
How did you use the gifts and talents I gave you? Who benefited and how from those gifts?
What would we be able to say in reply?
And the Master is going to come back, “like a thief in the night”, so we need to be ready. If you have buried that talent or used it in only selfish ways, get out there quickly and get it working for the Kingdom.
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Reading 1 Ez 34:11-12, 15-17
Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly. As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose.
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
Reading 2 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28
Brothers and sisters: Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
Gospel Mt 25:31-46
Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Commentary on Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26,28; Matthew 25:31-46
Today is the thirty-fourth and final Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we will start a new year with the First Sunday in Advent. As is the custom now, on this last Sunday of the year, we celebrate the feast of Jesus Christ our King. All during the past year we have been hearing the Gospel read to us and reflected on in Sunday (and weekday) homilies. Perhaps we have done some prayer reflection of our own. Today somehow sums up all that we have been hearing. The Jesus we have watched going around the towns of Galilee, Samaria and Judea, the Jesus we have watched teaching, healing, consoling, liberating is our Lord and King. He is the visible presence of God in our midst.
Contrasting images
There are two very contrasting images of Christ presented to us in today’s readings. In the Second Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians Paul presents a powerful and awesome picture of Christ as Lord and King. As all have died because of the fall of Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. Christ is presented as the all-powerful ruler to whom every other power and authority must eventually give way:
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Christ represents life, life in all its fullness. And that life he wants to share with every single person.
The gentle shepherd
The other two readings, however, give a very different picture of God and Jesus, who is his visible incarnation. The First Reading presents God as a shepherd. We know that sheep, which are brought out onto hillsides to graze, can wander far in search of the best grass. This would be especially true in the arid hills of Palestine. Not only that, there will be sheep belonging to other shepherds out on the same hills and they can get mixed up with each other. The shepherd then spends considerable time looking after his own straying sheep and bringing them back.
God sees himself as such a shepherd:
I myself will search for my sheep and will sort them out.
As shepherds sort out their flocks
when they are among scattered sheep,
so I will sort out my sheep.
I will rescue them from all the places
to which they have been scattered
on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strays,
and I will bind up the injured,
and I will strengthen the weak…
Jesus himself will pick up this image and will call himself the Good Shepherd. He will also compare God’s concern for the sinner with a shepherd who leaves behind ninety-nine good sheep to go in search of even one which has gone astray and got lost.
God’s bias
But there are others who will not be so well treated:
…the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
God is biased. He is biased against those who exploit the weaker and poorer members in their society. Justice for God is not just based on moral rectitude. It is rather based on an equitable sharing and access to the resources available and necessary for a life of dignity and self-respect.
We remember parable of the rich man clothed in purple and dining sumptuously every day. At the foot of his table sat a poor man, covered in sores, his wounds licked by dogs, who longed to have even the crumbs that fell from the table. Perhaps the rich man went to the temple regularly, perhaps he observed all the festivals and requirements of his religion. But he did nothing for the man at his feet. And that was his sin: he did nothing. And that in some ways is the greatest sin of all.
Standards of judgement
And that is precisely the point in the Gospel reading for today. The scene is the final judgement. Incidentally, this is not to be taken in too literal a sense. It is the meaning behind the scene which we are to focus on. It would be a worthless piece of speculation to imagine our encounter with God as taking place in any particular way analogous to life on earth. One wonders, too, if there is any real validity to the distinction sometimes made between the “particular” and the “general” judgements. The images of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with hosts of angels are typical biblical images pointing to God’s awesome greatness and transcendence, and are not descriptions of some visual experience we might expect to have.
There will be two kinds of people coming for judgement, described respectively as ‘sheep’ and ‘goats’, the good guys and the bad guys. And how are the good and the bad guys to be distinguished from each other? It is quite obvious that both groups are very surprised at the criteria that Jesus presents.
Speaking first to the sheep, Jesus says:
Come, you who are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world,
for I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.
Surprised reaction
The sheep are clearly very surprised. This is obviously not what they were expecting to hear. One gets the impression that they hardly remember doing these things, although definitely they had done at least some of them. And certainly they do not remember ever doing anything of the kind for Jesus:
Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food
or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you
or naked and gave you clothing?
And when was it that we saw you sick
or in prison and visited you?
Were they even more surprised at the answer they got? And the King responds to them:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.
Then turning to the goats, whom he calls “accursed”, he condemns them for not doing any of the things he mentioned above and for not recognising Jesus in their brothers and sisters.
There are a number of things to notice here:
none of the things Jesus mentions are religious in nature
there is no mention whatever of any commandments being observed or violated
people are condemned not for doing actions which were morally wrong, but for not doing anything at all
the actions are done (or not done) to Jesus and not just for Jesus. In other words, Jesus is truly present in every person I meet. I am not just nice to this person (whom I may not care about very much) in order to do a “good act” which Jesus will reward and add to my bank account of “good works”. People cannot be used – even for spiritual purposes.
The really “good” Christian
To sum up, Jesus is saying that, if I wish to be counted among the sheep, then I must be an actively loving person, irrespective of the response I get to my love. This is the way God loves me. It is not enough just to fulfil obligations, religious or otherwise. It won’t do to say, “I am a good enough Catholic”. I am expected to keep going out of my way and reach out in love especially to those in need – the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the poor and naked, the sick and those in prison. It does not matter how they got sick (illness because of a sexually promiscuous lifestyle, overindulgence in alcohol or nicotine…) or why they are in prison (murder, rape, terrorism…). These people are especially to be loved because they are the most in need of having their lives turned round.
This is the King I am called to serve. And the way he wants to be served is for me to be filled with care and compassion for brothers and sisters everywhere, and especially for those who are furthest from him and those who are not experiencing the abundance with which he has filled this world. I serve by loving those who are materially, socially, psychologically, morally and spiritually poor.
The picture of the Judgement in the Gospel is not meant to fill us with fear and trembling. No, it is a challenge not about the future, but about today. The surest way to guarantee that I will be numbered among the sheep is for me to become right now a loving, caring, tolerant, accepting person:
Help me, Lord, to seek and find and respond to you
in every person and in every experience of this day.
Grant, Lord, that all my thoughts,
intentions, actions and responses may directed solely
to your love and service this day.