Tuesday of Week 32 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 17:7-10

Today we have another warning from Luke (and one which is only found in his Gospel) about complacency. As we read this parable we must be careful—as with many of the others—not to confuse matters by dragging in issues which are anachronistic. Jesus asks:

Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’.

Would we invite him to sit down, have his supper and take a good rest?

Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’?

Would we even express gratitude to a servant who was only doing what was expected of him?

Here, let us temporarily put aside our current understanding of workers’ rights, democracy and the evils and long-lasting repercussions of slavery of every kind. No one in Jesus’ time, either an employer or a slave, would have thought for a moment of questioning what he is saying. At the same time, we might remember Jesus saying that watchful servants will be welcomed by their master who will make them sit down and will wait personally on them (see Luke 12:37), and that Jesus washed his disciples’ feet as an example of service.

What we are dealing with here is our relationship with God. The point Jesus is making is that God need never be grateful to us for anything we do for him. No matter how much we do for him, we can never put him in our debt. Everything we give to God (or to God through others) is simply giving back to him a small portion of what he has already given us. It is well said in Preface IV for Weekday Masses:

You have no need of our praise, yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift. Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to your greatness, but makes us grow in your grace.

God can never be in our debt. He can never be under any obligation to us. Perhaps that is what some of the Pharisees thought. They believed that, because they kept the Law perfectly, God owed them salvation. We see that in the scene of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the Temple, where the Pharisee’s prayer gives the impression that God should be deeply grateful to have, among so many negligent people, such a good person as himself.

We can do the same thing ourselves when, for instance, we think that by saying certain prayers or performing certain acts (like novenas, indulgences and pilgrimages), God should jump to attention and do what we are telling him to do or give us what we are asking for.

All our living out of the gospel is not a compliment paid to God. On the contrary, we can never be grateful enough to him for showing us the way to truth, love, freedom and happiness which Jesus taught us, and for giving us the grace to walk in his Way. With God, all our giving is only an imperfect and partial giving back.

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Tuesday of Week 2 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Hebrews 6:10-20

The source of all our security is in the oath God has made to all humankind and whose pledge is in Jesus our High Priest, who has gone before us and on our behalf. Today’s reading begins with words of encouragement to the Hebrews, who are having problems in remaining faithful to their Christian commitment. On the one hand, they are to realise that God is not unmindful of all the good things they have done, and the love they have shown in their service of their fellow Christians. This may include material help given to another church, perhaps the church in Jerusalem which was often in need.

At the same time, he urges them to maintain their former earnestness:

…so that you may not become sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

He wants them to follow in the footsteps of those who have maintained their fidelity and shown patience in times of difficulty. Paul, in his letters, often encourages people to be “imitators”, to model themselves on outstanding Christians. Paul even suggests that they be imitators of himself.

The author then goes on to use the example of Abraham as one who believed in God’s promise to him and was not disappointed. God had sworn in his own name (for there was no other by whom he could swear an oath) that Abraham would be blessed and that his descendants would be great in number. They would be:

…as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. (Gen 22:17)

This promise seemed impossible of fulfilment when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only legitimate son, Isaac. Only when, in a great act of trust in God, he proceeded to prepare his son for sacrifice, did God stay his hand. Abraham’s total submission in faith to God had been convincingly demonstrated. Later in the Letter, there is a much longer discussion of faith.

When human beings swear by an oath, they do so by someone greater than themselves and, in normal circumstances, an oath solemnly made is taken as a final guarantee. When God wanted to show that his promise to the heirs of Abraham was genuine, he too guaranteed it with an oath.

So the Hebrew Christians are protected by these two unassailable guarantees—God’s promise and his confirming oath. With such a backing, their hope in their future with God is made sure and firm. And it is made more sure by the backing of our High Priest, a backing which reaches right to God’s presence. This is all expressed in a Temple image:

We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Actually, the anchor as a symbol of hope is not normally found in Scripture, but was common in the culture of Greece and Rome as a symbol of stability. It became a symbol of hope in Christian iconography of the 2nd century AD.

The image is of the Jerusalem Temple, where the high priest once a year, on the solemn Day of Atonement, penetrated beyond the veil or curtain of the Holy of Holies where God was believed to be present, and offered sacrifice on behalf of the people. Jesus, our High Priest and “forerunner on our behalf”, penetrates the veil of Heaven, where God dwells in inaccessible glory. There he intercedes on our behalf. The imagery here anticipates a much longer discussion of the tabernacle later in the Letter.

In our time, Jesus is still our High Priest. In every Eucharist, we celebrate and remember with thanksgiving the supreme offering he made of himself on our behalf. And we, too, are full of faith and hope that the promises made in the Gospel will become a reality in our own lives—provided we open ourselves fully to them.

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Thursday of Week 2 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Hebrews 7:25—8:6

Today’s reading shows again the contrast between the high priests of the Law and Christ our High Priest. The Hebrew Christians (to whom the Letter is addressed) are being reminded, once again, that the Jesus Christ they are threatening to abandon in favour of the old Temple-based worship is on a far superior level.

In the two verses immediately preceding today’s reading, the author reminds his readers that the former priests were many in number because they died off and had to be replaced. Christ, however, holds his priesthood permanently because he endures forever. Hence (and it is here that our reading begins) he is able for all time to be a source of salvation for us because his intercession on our behalf is never-ending.

And it is totally:

…fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners [in their sinfulness], and exalted above the heavens.

In this, Christ is totally different from the Levitical priests. Perhaps it also indicates Jesus’ superiority over Melchizedek. Christ does not need to offer sacrifices every day for the sins of the people and for his own sins. Parenthetically, daily sacrifice is nowhere mentioned in the Mosaic Law. The high priest was only expected to offer sacrifice on the Day of Atonement “because of their transgressions, all their sins” (see Leviticus chap 16).

Jesus made one sacrifice for the whole world and for all time, a sacrifice that does not need to be repeated. The Levitical priests offered animals in sacrifice, but our High Priest makes the unique offering of his totally sin-less self, a single offering that was once for all time.

The Jewish Law appointed:

…as high priests humans [men], who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

The fulfilment of God’s oath regarding the priesthood of Melchizedek (“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”, Ps 110:4) makes the Son of God the perfect priest forever.

As we enter chapter 8, the superiority of Christ as High Priest is further emphasised. According to the New Jerusalem Bible:

“The argument so far has been to prove that what Christ is, i.e., an eternal and perfect priest, is superior to what the Levitical priests are, since they are mortals and sinners. Now the argument goes on to show that what Christ does is equally superior to what the Levitical priests do: Christ’s sanctuary is better because it is in heaven, while the one on earth is only a copy of it, and the covenant brought by the mediation of Christ is a better covenant.”

Our High Priest is not in a temple made by human hands. Rather, he:

…is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.

Before the building of the Temple by Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant, representing the presence of Yahweh among his people, was housed in a special tent or tabernacle. God dwells in an altogether superior “Holy of Holies”, and it is there that Christ has access to his Father on an equal and permanent level.

“True” here means “real” in contradistinction to a mere “sketch and shadow”, as the earthly sanctuary is described. The idea that the earthly sanctuary is a shadowy reflection of a heavenly model may be derived from the Platonic concept of a real world of which our observable world is merely a shadow (Plato’s famous cave).

Further, the role of every priest is to offer gifts and sacrifices, and our Priest also has something to offer. But if he were on earth, he would not be a priest in the ordinary human sense, because the priests only made offerings in accordance with the Law, that is, for the sins of the people and their own sins. Christ’s offering, on the other hand, is made purely on our behalf. He does not need to make sacrifice for himself. On the contrary, he is the Perfect Offering, pleasing to the Father.

In addition, the priests make their offering in a sanctuary that is only a pale shadow of the heavenly sanctuary where God dwells. When Moses was about to erect the tent or tabernacle (in which the Ark of the Covenant was placed), he was told by Yahweh to make it exactly according to the instructions he was given on Mount Sinai. As such, it had all the limitations of human workmanship. The use of the present tense here leads some to believe that the Temple was still standing and functioning, and that these words must have been written prior to 70 AD when Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed by the emperor Titus (an event commemorated in the Arch of Titus still to be seen in the Roman Forum).

But Christ as Priest has been given a much higher form of ministry and is the mediator between God and us of a new and better covenant—a covenant which is being carried out according to better promises. All in all, then, how can the Hebrew Christians be thinking of going back to the old dispensation when the new one with Jesus Christ is on a totally different level and can do so much more for them?

It is for us to remember that we, too, are sharers in this new dispensation. Let us thank Christ for the gift of the Church, for his Living Word and for the many ways in which our lives are nourished by our adherence to our High Priest.

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Friday of Week 2 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Hebrews 8:6-13

Jesus, with a far higher ministry, is the mediator of a new and better covenant between God and his people.  A large part of today’s reading is taken up with a passage from the prophet Jeremiah, as confirmation of the writer’s argument about the superiority of the new covenant made through Jesus Christ.

The reading opens by stating that Jesus has obtained a better ministry than that of the Levitical priesthood and is the mediator of a better covenant, that is, the covenant that was sealed between God and us by the sacrificial death of Jesus.

The Christ is the only perfect mediator because he is truly human and truly divine.  He is the one and only true intermediary between God and the human race.  He unites and reconciles them.  Through him comes God’s love and complete revelation.  And, in heaven, he continues to intercede for those who remain faithful to him.

The author further adds that, if the first covenant had been without fault or defect, it would not need to have been replaced.  But God did find fault with it, and that is confirmed by the long quotation from the prophet Jeremiah which immediately follows (from Jer 31:31-34).  The author follows the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Some discrepancies with the official text may be because the author was working from a different version or because he deliberately altered the text himself.

The NIV Study Bible summarizes how the pre-eminence of the new covenant lies in its superior benefits:

1. God’s laws will become inner principles which will enable his people to delight in doing his will;
2. God and his people will have an intimate fellowship;
3. Sinful ignorance of God will be removed forever;
4. Forgiveness of sin will be an everlasting reality.

The passage from Jeremiah begins with the prophet’s quoting Yahweh’s words in which the Lord says that he is going to establish a new covenant with the houses of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and Judah (the Southern Kingdom).  This new covenant will be different from the one that was made through Moses on Mount Sinai:

…when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.

There is need now for a new covenant because the people, in not observing the first covenant, became distanced from the Lord.  A reading of the books of Samuel and Kings affords abundant evidence of the people’s infidelity to Yahweh and the Law.

This new covenant will be a covenant in the heart and not just in outward behaviour, such as the observance of external rules and rituals:

I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts…

And then comes the covenant promise:

…I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.

It is an agreement to be kept by both sides.

From then on, there will be no need for people to teach each other, saying “Know the Lord.”  This is because, by their observance of the covenant and the mutual relationship it implies, they will already know their Lord in the way that really matters—finding and serving him in every area of their lives.

Furthermore, God will show compassion for their past sins and even forget them entirely.  This idea is central to the new covenant.  As we know from Jesus in the Gospel, God only sees us as we are at the present moment.  Where our past is concerned, he has a very bad memory!

Then the Hebrews’ author resumes his message.  In speaking of a “new covenant”, it is clear that the old one is now obsolete:

…what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear.

Again, the argument is clear: what are the ‘Hebrews’ thinking of by wanting to go back to a way of life that has lost its validity for them?

We, too, need to remain faithful and vigilant in our commitment to Jesus as our link with God our loving Father. For us, too, it is what goes on in our heart that matters more than what we just do on the outside.

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Tuesday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Although Paul in yesterday’s reading praised the Thessalonians for the depth of their faith whose reputation had spread far and wide, he recalls today some of the difficulties he faced at first in bringing the gospel message to the city. 

Paul had experienced such great opposition in Thessalonica that he and Silas had to be secretly escorted from the city (Acts 17:1-10).  This came on top of the humiliating experiences he had in Philippi where he and Silas were, as a result of false accusations, arrested, flogged and thrown into prison (from which they were rescued by an earthquake!). It is probably the memory of these experiences which underlies his words today recalling his selflessness in preaching the gospel to them, his affection for them, and the pleasant relationships he has with them now.

He begins by saying that they themselves know his visit to the Thessalonians has not been without effect. The local church could refute accusations of insincerity which seem to have been levelled against Paul by certain hostile elements. In spite of the terrible abuse, including imprisonment, which he and Silas endured at Philippi, God still gave them the courage to preach the gospel fearlessly to the Thessalonians, even though they met with opposition there also.

When they first arrived, Paul made some converts among the Jews and a larger number among the Greeks, but his activities aroused the anger and indignation of many Jews, who did not like Paul presenting Jesus as the Messiah.  These stirred up a riot in the city.  The result was that Jason, a supporter of Paul, and his family were seized, while Paul and his companion Silas had to be hurriedly taken away to another town.

Paul now assures the Thessalonians that his exhortations do not come from any deceit or impure motives or trickery.  The Greek word for ‘trickery’ was originally used of bait for catching fish and came to be used of any sort of cunning used for personal gain.

On the contrary, Paul and companions have God’s approval to be entrusted with the proclamation of the gospel and that is the basis of their preaching—to please God and not human beings.  For it is God who “tests our hearts”. In fact, they have never been motivated either by a desire to be flattered or for personal gain.  They have never sought any special honours either from the Thessalonians or anyone else, even though they could have insisted on their own dignity and prestige as apostles and messengers of Christ, or that materially they could have expected to have been fed and kept at the Thessalonians’ expense.  Although Paul strongly believed that those preaching the gospel had the right to be supported by the communities they visited, he himself preferred to be self-supporting.

On the contrary, he says that they live a simple life and their concern is only those they serve:

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.

At the same time, he and his co-workers are treating the Thessalonians with the greatest gentleness:

But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.

What is always so striking is how Paul can see the hand of Christ in all that happens to him and his sheer unstoppable enthusiasm in sharing the gospel message with others, whatever the obstacles.  This was because the message was not just something he was handing on; it had entered the very fibre of his being.  As he will say elsewhere:

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)

Would that each one of us could say the same!  We cannot be preachers of the gospel until it is fully absorbed into our very selves.  It cannot be just a set of doctrines which we hold to be true.  We need the burning enthusiasm of Paul.

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Friday of Week 12 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 8:1-4

The two chapters (8 and 9) following the Sermon on the Mount include a long list of miracles (ten altogether) performed by Jesus. They are seen as a confirmation of his authority to teach because they are so obviously the work of God himself. The man who can do these things also has the right to be heard and followed.

The first story is the cure of a leper. It is told with the usual brevity and lack of detail characteristic of Matthew (compare with Mark’s version, 1:40-45). A leper begs to be healed. His faith and trust in Jesus is revealed by his saying:

Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

Jesus replies:

I am willing.

And he cures him instantly. We may note the simplicity of Jesus’ act. In this, the healing miracles of Jesus contrast with the fantastic stories from the Hellenistic world and those sometimes attributed to Jewish rabbis.

But Jesus’ miracles also differ because of the spiritual and symbolic meaning attached to them. They often have the quality of a parable, and frequently the words that accompany the miracle are of greater significance. Such is true in this case, where the healing of the leper has wider ramifications as indicated below.

While compassion is many times the motive behind a miracle, most often they are seen as strengthening a person’s faith. Jesus, too, is very selective in the miracles he performs and often demands secrecy from the beneficiary. Jesus does not want to be the centre of any sensational wonder-working. It will be the miracle of his resurrection that will be the really determining factor of who he is.

Soon, we will see Jesus sending out his disciples to proclaim the Kingdom and giving them his own powers of healing. Their mandate will be to do the same work that Jesus has been doing. The 10 miracles recounted in chapters 8 and 9 will be the kind of thing that the missionary successors of Jesus will also do.

After the healing, Jesus then instructs the man, in accordance with the requirements of the law, to go to the Temple to get a certificate from the priests as proof of his return to health. Only with this official documentation will he be allowed to re-enter society.

The leper was a particularly unfortunate person in ancient society. It was known that through contact with a leprous person one could contract the disease, so they were kept isolated from the rest of society. There was, of course, no known cure and the person’s body just gradually rotted away.

What was probably more tragic was the fact that many people with other kinds of similar-looking skin diseases, which were not at all infectious, could be branded as lepers and condemned to the same policy of isolation. The healing of the leper by Jesus was then much more than a physical healing. It meant that the man could be fully re-integrated into normal society.

In our time, the leper can be a symbol for all those who are marginalised by our societies for one reason or another—foreigners; people of a different colour or culture, or gender, or religion; those with addictions—to drugs or alcohol, wealth or power, or pornography; victims of sexually transmitted diseases…the list could go on and on.

We Christians have a special responsibility to be agents of healing to re-integrate such people and accept them fully as brothers and sisters.

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Monday of Week 1 of Advent – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 8:5-11

The Gospel describes the story of the centurion who came to Jesus, asking that his servant be healed. When presented with the unexpected level of faith this gentile soldier had:

Jesus…was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will take their places at the banquet with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven…”

The Kingdom which Jesus comes to proclaim is for all peoples everywhere. It is the central message of Christmas. This is not just a time for celebration and for parties. The birth of the Prince of Peace in the poverty of the stable is a challenge to us to carry on his work among God’s children everywhere.

Jesus has not failed. It is we who have done so little to carry on what he began. Advent is a time for us to reflect on the real meaning of God’s coming to live and work among us, and on the responsibility of his followers to carry on the work of making the Kingdom a reality for all.

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Thursday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Joshua 3:7-11,13-17

We move on now to the next phase in the history of Israel. We begin reading the book of Joshua. It is the first of the so-called historical books which include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. They are also known as the ‘Early Prophets’.

The book of Joshua falls into three parts:

1. the conquest of the promised land (chaps 1-12);
2. the partition of the territory among the tribes (chaps 13-21);
3. the last days of Joshua, especially his last discourse and the assembly at Shechem (chaps 22-24).

Joshua is the link with the previous five books and takes up where Deuteronomy left off. He was the leader, chosen by Moses and accepted by the people, to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.

Today’s reading comes from chapter 3, which describes the miraculous crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land. It is reminiscent of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds when the Israelites escaped from Egypt. Then it was the command of Moses which drove back the sea. Here it is the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant in which were the tables of the Law, representing the presence and power of God, which stop the river in its flow and allowed all the Israelites to cross in safety.

As the reading opens we hear Yahweh speak to Joshua:

This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.

Joshua will be made great in the eyes of the people so that they will know that, as with Moses in the past, God is with Joshua now. A major purpose for God’s intervening wondrously in the crossing of the Jordan was to validate the leadership of Joshua. With a miraculous event so much like that of the Sea of Reeds crossing, Joshua’s position as the Lord’s servant would be shown to be comparable to that of Moses.

Joshua is then told to give an order to the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant. When they reached the banks of the Jordan, they were to stop in the river itself. Speaking to the Israelites, he told them to gather together and listen to the words of Yahweh their God. There was going to be a sign by which they would know that the living God was with them and that he was going to drive out the Canaanites before them (as well as the Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites).

The manner by which God is about to bring Israel across the Jordan River, the watery boundary of the Promised Land, will bring assurance that the one true God is with them and that he will surely dislodge the present inhabitants of Canaan. Two fundamental issues are at stake:

1. Who is the true and mighty God—the God of Israel or the god on whom the Canaanites depend (Baal, who was believed to reign as king among the gods because he had triumphed over the sea-god)? By opening the way through the flooded Jordan, the Lord would show both Israel and the Canaanites that he is Lord over the waters (as he was at the “Red Sea”, at the Flood and at Creation) and that he is able to establish his own order in the world.
2. Who has the rightful claim to the land—the Lord or the Canaanites? By passing safely through the Jordan at the head of his army, the Lord showed the rightness of his claim on the land. In the ancient Near East a common way for obtaining the judicial verdict of the gods was by compelling the accused to submit to trial by water ordeal. Usually this involved casting him into a river (if the accused drowned, the gods had found him guilty; if not, the gods had declared him innocent).

In Israel, however, another form of water ordeal was practiced. Significantly, the Lord would enter the Jordan first (in the Ark with the priests) and then remain there until his whole army had crossed safely over. Thus his claim to the land was vindicated before the eyes of all who heard about it. And it was Yahweh’s claim, not Israel’s. The Israelites came through the Jordan only with him and as his army, “baptised” to his service. It was a message intended not only for the Israelites, but for the residents of Canaan as well and they would understand the symbols very well.

Now Joshua tells the people:

…the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan.

As the people left their tents to cross the river, the priests with the Ark went ahead of them. As soon as the priests carrying the Ark put their feet into the waters of the Jordan:

…the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off.

What Joshua foretold immediately took place. Zarethan was also near the entrance of the River Jabbok, which flows into the Jordan on its east bank.

And this happened even though at that time of the year, the harvest season, the river was in spate. The harvest season in the lower Jordan valley was towards the end of March and the beginning of April, when the grain and other crops that grew during the rainy season of winter were reaped. The crossing took place “on the 10th day of the first month” of the Hebrew year, which began with the first new moon after the spring equinox. At this time of the year the Jordan would be swollen as a result of the winter rains and the melting snow from Mount Hermon.

The Hebrew for ‘heap’ twice used here can also be found in the poetic accounts of the Sea of Reeds crossing. The sudden damming of the river could have been caused by a landslide, as has happened on other occasions. According to an Arab historian, something similar happened in AD 1267; landslides dammed the river in this area (Adama-Damieh) for several hours. And, as recently as 1927, a blockage of the water in this area was recorded that lasted over 20 hours.

Nevertheless, the miraculous element of the event is not diminished, because God, who foretold it (Jos 3:13), also caused it to take place at precisely the right moment (Jos 3:15), whether or not he used natural forces to accomplish his will. Similarly, the drying up of the Sea of Reeds has been attributed to the effects of an earthquake in the Mediterranean, perhaps accompanied by a tsunami. Meanwhile, the lower reaches of the river flowing into the Sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, and the Dead Sea were completely cut off from the upper waters.

The people now crossed the river near to Jericho. As they did so, the priests carrying the Ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the river bed, while the whole of Israel crossed on dry ground until every single person had completed the crossing. The priests stood firm on dry land, signifying that the Lord himself remained in the place of danger until all Israel had crossed the Jordan.

This whole operation has the approval and protection of Yahweh. It is the fulfilment of the solemn promise he made to provide a home for a wandering people. It brings to closure the epic saga which began with the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and the Hebrew people escaping to freedom and now ends with another water crossing and the entry into the long-awaited Promised Land.

The Jerusalem Bible shows the links between the two events:

“There is a deliberate parallelism between the narratives of the crossing of the Jordan and entry into Canaan and the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt. The editor himself calls attention to it (3:7): Yahweh halts the Jordan just as he dried up the Sea of Reeds; the Ark of Yahweh leads the Israelites as did the pillar of cloud or of fire; Joshua plays the part that Moses played in the Exodus; and just as the adults of the Exodus period were circumcised, so in their turn are their desert-born children; the manna that had served Israel in the desert ceases as soon as the Israelites enter Canaan and the Passover is celebrated in Gilgal after the second ‘crossing’ as it had been celebrated in Egypt before the first. The parallelism between the events at the beginning and the end of the Exodus produces at the departure from Egypt a water miracle analogous to the water miracles at the crossing of the Jordan. As the Passion and Resurrection of Christ spiritually renew the events of the Exodus, so Joshua, who gave the events of the Exodus their physical fulfilment, was regarded by some Fathers as an ante-type of Jesus, who has the same name (Joshua is another form of the name Jesus and means ‘God saves’)”.

In the liturgy of the Catholic and other Christian churches, these water crossings are seen as anticipatory symbols of the saving waters of Baptism. They are recalled especially during the liturgy of the Easter Vigil when the baptismal water is blessed. Let us remember today our own Baptism and how its meaning is symbolised in our daily life as a follower of Christ.

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Saturday of Week 13 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 9:14-17

Today’s reading follows on yesterday’s challenge of Jesus by some Pharisees. On that occasion they asked why Jesus was eating with sinners and outcasts. Now they go one step further and ask why he is eating at all. They put forward the example of John the Baptist and his disciples who used to fast regularly. Jews were only required to fast one day in the year, on the feast of the Atonement. However, like the Pharisees, it seems that John’s disciples used to observe fasts which were not prescribed by the Law in the hope that their extra devotion would bring about an early coming of the Kingdom.

Jesus answers their question in two ways. First he says that people do not fast when they are in the company of the bridegroom. That is a time for celebration. By implication, of course, Jesus is the groom. As long as he is around, it would be inappropriate for his disciples to fast. However, he says a time will come when the groom is no longer with them, and then there will be reasons to fast.

His second answer is more profound and takes the form of two examples. It does not make sense to repair an old piece of clothing with a patch of new cloth. The new cloth, being much tougher, will, under stress, only cause the older cloth to tear. In the second example, he says that it is not wise to put new wine into old wineskins. Wine was kept in containers made of leather. Because new wine was still fermenting and expanding, it needed to be put in new leather bags which were still elastic and could expand with the wine. The old bags would be already stretched, and new wine would only cause them to burst. Then both the wine would be lost and the bags ruined.

What did Jesus mean by these images? He was giving a clear message to his critics. Jesus’ ideas were like new wine or new cloth. They could not be fitted into old containers. People like the Pharisees were trying to fit Jesus’ teaching and his ideas into their ways of thinking, but that would not work.

Clearly, the old garment and the old wineskins represent the elements of Mosaic Law that were to be reinterpreted and “fulfilled” by Jesus’ new teachings. The new cloth and the new wine, then, are the spirit of the Kingdom as proclaimed by Jesus—the new order that Jesus was initiating—what we would now call a paradigm shift, a radically new understanding of how God was to be loved and served.

So John’s disciples wanted to know, for example, why Jesus was not fasting—because in their book, a Jew fasted, and a pious Jew fasted more often. But Jesus did not measure religion by external actions like fasting or keeping other requirements of the Law (such as washing hands before eating). For him, religion was a matter of the inner spirit, as we saw in his deeper interpretations of the Law during the Sermon on the Mount.

Over the centuries the Church has moved its position in many areas as it reaches a deeper understanding of the faith and how it is to be lived in a changing world. Such a movement took place with the Second Vatican Council. It involved much more than external changes (like having the Mass in the vernacular instead of Latin). It involved a whole new way of seeing our faith and our place as Christians in the world.

Even today, there are still people who try to live in the post-Vatican II Church with a pre-Vatican II mentality. It is like trying to squeeze new wine into old wineskins. It is a source of much friction and misunderstanding in many Christian communities. We all have an obligation both to enter fully into the mind of Christ as presented in the New Testament, and to enter into the mind of the Church in this post-Vatican II era.

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Saturday of Week 14 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 10:24-33

We continue Jesus’ apostolic discourse to his Apostles and all those who do the work of evangelisation. He reminds them very clearly that they can expect no better treatment than he himself received as:

A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master…

All in all, Christians are to show no surprise at violence and abuse against them. But at times, it can be hard to understand. However, if they treated the Master and Lord in this way, his followers can expect no better treatment. If the Master is called the Prince of Devils, how much more those of his family! Remember what Jesus had said earlier:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness… (Matt 5:10)

Much of Jesus’ teaching to his disciples was done quietly and away from the crowds. He frequently told both people he cured and demons not to speak about him. Even his disciples were not to reveal his identity as Messiah. People at that stage were not ready and could have misinterpreted the true meaning of his teaching.

Also, his message could not be fully understood until he had completed his mission through his passion, death and resurrection. Only that would put his teaching into its proper context. But in the course of time, it will be all made public.

Later on it will be the duty of his disciples to deliver the message in its entirety and without fear. The Christian community, although consisting of initiates with a way of life that is not always understood by outsiders, has no secrets. The ‘mysteries’ that Paul and others speak of are truths, previously unknown, which have been revealed. They are not like those of the so-called ‘mystery religions’ of the time or of secretive societies in our own. The message of Christ is to be made known to all in its entirety, even in hostile environments.

Some of those who proclaim the Gospel are going to be threatened even with losing their lives—a fact that is testified to by a long list of martyrs (martyr, Greek for ‘witness’) over the centuries. Jesus is saying that physical death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. It is a reality we are all going to have to face sooner or later anyway. Far worse than physical death is the loss of one’s soul—the death of one’s integrity. There are some values which transcend our physical survival. To betray such a value in order to live a bit longer is to lose one’s soul. Many, many martyrs have clearly understood this.

Jesus is telling us that, even though we may, as he himself did, lose our lives, he will be with us. To be unfaithful to our deepest beliefs and convictions is a fate worse than death. 

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