Monday of Week 14 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Matthew 9:18-26
There is a great contrast in the way Matthew tells this double story compared to that told by Mark (Mark 5:21-43). Matthew strips it down to the bare details. The twenty-three verses that Mark needs are reduced here to nine. Matthew makes no mention of the large crowd that was following Jesus, only that his disciples are present. He concentrates on Jesus and on what Jesus does and says.
A synagogue official approaches Jesus and says that his daughter has just died. He is in fact the head of the synagogue, and in Mark and Luke we learn that his name is Jairus. In Mark’s version, the girl is seriously ill and dies only later in the story. The man says to Jesus:
…come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.
It is an extraordinary act of faith in the power of Jesus. Up to this he had not brought anyone back from the dead.
As Jesus and his disciples were on the way to the house, a woman who had suffered from a bleeding problem for twelve years unobtrusively touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.
If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.
Again, we are presented with a deep faith and trust in Jesus’ power.
This was really the only way this unfortunate woman could approach Jesus with other people around. Her bleeding was not only a physical ailment. It also involved ritual uncleanness, and she was not supposed to be in close contact with people. If they had known, they might have done something terrible to her. Nor, for the same reason, could she approach Jesus openly about her problem, so she quietly touched the hem of his robe. She trusted that that would be enough and she was right.
Jesus, realising she had touched his garment, turned and said kindly:
Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.
And the bleeding stopped instantly.
We now go back to the original story. As Jesus and his disciples approach the house, they find a large crowd of mourners, many of them wailing and weeping in the fashion still common in West, South and East Asia. Jesus tells them all to:
Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.
Hearing this, the crowd laughed at him. Whether the girl was actually dead or was simply in some kind of death-like coma does not really matter. As far as everyone there was concerned, she was dead.
Jesus went into the house, took the girl by the hand and she “got up”. There are overtones of resurrection in the words “got up”.
In both these stories, using the literary device of ‘inclusion’ (one story wrapped inside another), we have a common theme of Jesus as Lord of life. It is Matthew’s way of saying what we read in John:
I am the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25)
That life is to be understood in the fullest possible sense, involving the physical, social, intellectual and spiritual aspects.
In one story, the girl is not only given back her physical life, but is restored to the bosom of her family and all that means. In the other story, not only is the woman’s haemorrhage stopped, but she can be fully reinstated into normal relationships with the people around her. She is in a very real sense made whole again. Let us today pray for Jesus to heal us and make us whole—the wholeness that is holiness, the holiness that is wholeness.
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4 January – Gospel
Commentary on John 1:35-42
Today we have an introductory encounter between Jesus and his first disciples. The context is somewhat different from that in the other Gospels, and it is a very meaningful passage that describes the revelation of Jesus to Andrew and Peter (in that order).
The passage opens again with the words, “The next day…”. John the Baptist is there with two of his own disciples. Just then, Jesus walked by. This is a common feature of Jesus in the Gospel, and it reminds us that Jesus also walks by us so many times in our ordinary day. Are we aware of that? And how do we respond? As Jesus passed by, John says:
Look, here is the Lamb of God!
Perhaps the disciples had already heard what John had said about the Lamb, and so they began walking after Jesus. They are not yet disciples, but were more moved by a kind of curiosity about this man.
We will be told later in the account that one of the men was Andrew. But who was the other? A tradition likes to think it was John. Very likely it is the ‘Beloved Disciple’—not yet called that because his or her discipleship is just beginning. As such, it could have been anyone. It could be a man or a woman. So why not put oneself there with Andrew and share the experience with him? It makes this passage very meaningful if we do so.
At that point Jesus turned, saw them walking behind him, and asked:
What are you looking for?
It would be good for us to hear Jesus asking that question of us too. We think we are following Jesus in our Christian life, but have we ever felt that we have been asked that fundamental question: “What are you looking for?” And indeed what am I looking for in my life, or from God? It is good to realise that God asks me that question. We often tend to think that it should be the other way round, that we should be asking God what he wants from us. But the answer to the first question is very revealing. Our answers could be very trivial, or very self-centred, or very altruistic. The answer to the question tells me a lot about where I stand with God, with other people, and with myself. If my life depended on it, what would I ask of God? And my life in the fullest sense does depend on it.
How did these two men answer Jesus’ question? They asked him one of their own:
Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are you staying?
Now, of course, that can be taken at face value in the sense of asking Jesus where his residence was. But in this Gospel, it has a much deeper meaning. Where does Jesus stay? ‘Stay’ is a key word in John’s Gospel and translates as the Greek verb menein.
Where can Jesus be found? He is not in any one place—he can be found anywhere. Later on, Jesus will tell his disciples that he stays in the Father, and that he also stays in them. Again, we need to reflect on the answer to this question. Where do I think Jesus stays? Where can I find him in my life? In what places, in what people, in what situations? Is he only to be found in the tabernacles of our churches? As we read through the Gospels we will find that Jesus is to be found in many places, some of them quite surprising.
What is Jesus’ answer to their question? He says to them:
Come and see.
It is the only way they will find out. Knowing where Jesus stays is not to be found in theology or catechism books or in listening to theoretical lectures. The only way we can know where Jesus stays is by personal experience of meeting him where he is. That is something which everyone can do, and it is something we need to be doing all the time. The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said it this way:
The world is charged with the grandeur of God…
There is in fact no place, person or situation where he cannot be found.
So the two men went with Jesus and they stayed with him. They went and they saw. What did they see? We are not told, but we do know the outcome of their experience. It was that the experience of staying with Jesus was something that simply had to be shared with others. One of the two men was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He went to his brother and said:
We have found the Messiah!
They had discovered the true identity of this Jesus. And then Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, who said:
You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas…
Here we have a perfect example of evangelisation. Andrew himself finds Jesus, stays with him, comes to know who he is, and then goes to bring his brother to share the experience. It was another “Come and see” situation and Peter, the fisherman, was hooked! It is also worth noting that Peter, who would become the leader of the new community after Jesus left them, was not called directly by Jesus, but by his brother.
How many people, who could do great things for Jesus and the Kingdom, are waiting for me to bring them to Jesus? I should also reflect with gratitude on the many people who have brought me in so many ways to a deeper personal knowledge of Jesus.
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Thursday of Week 1 of Lent – Gospel
Commentary on Matthew 7:7-12
Today’s readings are about prayer, and specifically, prayer of petition. The Gospel reading sounds marvellous:
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find…
It seems all I have to do is pray for something and I will get what I ask for. And yet, we all know from experience, that is simply not true. I pray to win the lottery, but don’t even get one of the minor prizes. I pray for the recovery of a person with cancer, but the person dies. What is happening? Is Jesus telling lies? Are there some hidden conditions of which we are not aware?
I believe the answer lies in the second half of the passage. First, Jesus asks whether a father would offer a stone to his son asking for bread, or whether a snake would be offered instead of a fish.
If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
In other words, if we human beings, in spite of our shortcomings, care for the well-being of our children, then surely God, who is all good, will be infinitely more caring. The problem is not that God does not answer our prayers; the difficulty is that we tend to ask for the wrong things. We do not give a child a sharp knife to play with even though, when we refuse to do so, he throws a temper tantrum and gets angry with us. A good parent, of course, will try to give the child something else which satisfies the child’s real need at the moment.
Jesus is saying that God will give “good things” to those who ask. In fact, as Jesus says elsewhere (Matt 6:8), God already knows all our needs so it is not necessary to tell him. Then why pray at all? The purpose of prayer is for us to become more deeply aware of what our real needs are.
The things we ask for in prayer can be very revealing of our relationship with God and with others. It can be very revealing of our values and our wants (which are very different from our needs). The deepest prayer of petition will be to ask God to give us those things which most benefit our long-term well-being, those things which will bring us closer to him and help us to interact in truth and love with those around us. It is a prayer to be the kind of person we ought to be. It is difficult to see that prayer not being answered.
It may be useful for us to look at the prayer of petition of Jesus in the garden and how it was answered. Paul, in the second letter to the Corinthians also shares an experience of petitionary prayer which he made (2 Cor 12:7-10) and the surprising answer that he got.
Today’s Gospel passage ends with the so-called Golden Rule:
In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Note that it is expressed positively rather than negatively and that makes a considerable difference. The negative version can be observed by doing nothing at all—not so the positive version. Although it is a separate saying, it can be linked with what Jesus says about petitionary prayer. If we expect God to be kind and generous to us, surely we are expected to be equally kind and generous to those who come asking our help.
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Monday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Our reading again comes from the second of the three discourses of Moses which form the major part of Deuteronomy. Today’s passage comes from the last part of the discourse. It is a beautiful call for the people of Israel to be filled with the very spirit of their God.
Moses’ question to the people is:
…what does the Lord your God require of you?
He himself gives the beautiful answer:
Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.
He tells them that they are living in a world where everything above, on and below the earth belongs to Yahweh and comes from him:
…heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it…
“Heaven of heavens” is a Hebrew superlative meaning the highest of heavens.
Yet, out of all he has made in his mysterious ways, the Lord “set his heart in love on your ancestors alone”.
He chose their ancestors to be his own in a special way. This love extends to their descendants down to the present day.
The sign of their belonging to God is their circumcision, but they must go further and circumcise their hearts and be resistant to the Lord’s call no longer. Circumcision was the outer sign of belonging to God’s people, but that was not enough. The bonding must reach deep down into the heart. It cannot stop at a merely external physical badge; membership brings spiritual obligations with it.
So, Jeremiah says:
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts… (Jer 4:4)
The “uncircumcised” heart is closed and unreceptive to God’s grace and guidance. Elsewhere the Scripture speaks also of “uncircumcised” ears (Jer 6:10) which are closed to the voice of God and “uncircumcised” lips, which do not speak well.
Moses then gives a wonderful description of God:
…the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.
So the Israelites must imitate their God in loving the stranger, because they themselves were once strangers in Egypt. Here, God asks them to extend their concern beyond their own people.
Their total allegiance must be to this God. He is the one they must fear and serve; to him they must hold firm; in his name only will they make their oaths. He is the one they must praise, the one who did these great and terrible things of which they themselves were witnesses. This can refer to all the wonders that happened before they left Egypt, the happenings at Mount Sinai and the many other signs of God’s power they experienced in their 40 years of wanderings.
And although their ancestors—Jacob and his family—were only 70 persons when they went down to Egypt (as described at the end of Genesis), their numbers are now as many as “the stars in heaven”, thus fulfilling the promise made so long ago to Abraham when his wife was still barren and he had no heir and no prospect of one. Moses is emphasising that their being God’s chosen people is not just a privilege to be exploited, but a responsibility which calls for even greater accountability.
We are moving now into the spirituality of the prophets. In the earlier times of hardship, the Israelites were more concerned with justice for themselves and looking for the end of a life of suffering. Now, with better times, they can begin to look around them, because with better times—as so often happens—comes social inequality.
The emphasis, too, on loving God is moving from focusing on God alone and the observance of law to a greater sensitivity to the needs of those around us, including the total stranger and the outsider. The Gospel will make it abundantly clear that there can be no love of God which does not include loving other people.
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Friday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Haggai 1:15—2:9
In today’s reading, we have another exhortation from the prophet to the returned exiles in Jerusalem. It is a message from God through the mouth of the prophet and directed especially to Zerubbabel, the governor of the city, and Joshua, the high priest. It begins:
In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai…
It is more than a year after the first prophecy—October 17, 520 BC (which we read about yesterday) and the last day of the feast of Tabernacles. It was on this feast that Solomon had dedicated the original Temple (1 Kings 8:1-2). It was also a time to celebrate the summer harvest, though for the returned exiles the crops have been meagre (a sign of God’s displeasure at the people’s reluctance to get to work on the rebuilding of the Temple).
In speaking to Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, and the Remnant of Israel, Haggai is to ask them:
Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?
It was possible that some of the older exiles, even including Haggai himself, had actually seen Solomon’s magnificent Temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians some 66 years earlier. In any case, others would have heard parents or elders talk nostalgically about its glories. Haggai had asked if any of them had seen “this house” (i.e. the Temple) in its former glory. He was referring to the new building which was seen as a continuation of Solomon’s Temple. And what did they see in the new building? Almost nothing. That is because after the foundations had been laid, no further work had been done
But now Yahweh, through his prophet, urges Zerubbabel, Joshua and all the returned exiles to have courage and get to work on completing the Temple building because Yahweh is with them. David had given his son Solomon similar words of encouragement in the building of his Temple. Haggai is to tell them:
…take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt.
The same God who helped Solomon build his Temple will empower Zerubbabel and the people. Similarly, the Spirit of God had rested on Moses and the 70 elders as they led the people out of Egypt and through the desert.
Then comes a prophecy proper:
For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land…
For Haggai, God is the sole master of history. While the prophet is foretelling the disaster which is to introduce the new era, the world is temporarily at peace under the rule of Darius. The imminent worldwide catastrophe and the rebuilding of the Temple will herald the messianic age. From the later period of Ezekiel’s preaching onward, the Temple became, as here, a dominant messianic theme.
The prophet’s words are an announcement of the coming of God’s judgement on the nations—which the fall of Persia to Alexander the Great (333-330 BC) will foreshadow. The Letter to the Hebrews (12:26-27) links this verse to the judgment of the nations at the second coming of Christ. The background for the shaking of the nations here and in subsequent verses is the judgment on Egypt at the Red Sea:
I am about to shake the heavens and the earth and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall fall, every one by the sword of a comrade.
(Hag 2:21-22)
The prophet continues with the word of Yahweh:
I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with splendor…The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts.
“Splendor” can refer to material splendor, or to the glory and presence of God. The latter connects the glory of the Lord with the cloud that filled the sanctuary. When Christ came to the earthly Temple, God’s presence was evident as never before. When Jesus was brought to the Temple for the first time as an infant to be presented to his Father, he was met by the holy man Simeon who spoke of the Child as:
…a light for revelation to the gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel. (Luke 2:32)
Haggai’s speaking of the future filling of the Temple with glory points ultimately to Christ who will enter it several times during his life—each time making a significant statement about himself and his mission for his Father. Ultimately, though, as he dies on the Cross, the glory will leave the Temple, the veil of the Holy of Holies will be thrown open to reveal an emptiness. From now on, God has a special presence in his new Temple, the Body of his Risen Son.
“The Lord of hosts” says:
The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former…in this place I will give prosperity…
The Temple now has become a focal point of messianic hope, a hope realised in Jesus. It is in this same second Temple of Zerubbabel, though restorations had been made by King Herod, that Jesus will teach. And that is why this temple will enjoy greater glory than Solomon’s Temple because the longed-for Messiah would be present there.
In our own Catholic faith, we have magnificent churches, some of them among the greatest artistic achievements of the human race. And yet, when it comes to glory, they are no whit greater than the straw-roofed hut in some mission station. For the glory comes not from the building, but from the Presence in the tabernacle and from the community, which as the Body of Christ celebrates its Eucharist there. The church building is holy because God’s people make it so and not the other way round. It is only as holy as they are.
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Saturday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 16:9-15
Yesterday we saw Jesus give the example of a corrupt, but astute manager who took effective steps to guarantee his future employment. Today he goes on to warn us about our own use of material things.
We are to use “dishonest wealth” in such a way that we “make friends” for ourselves (our most important friend being God!). When this approach fails us (as it ultimately will), we hope that a “welcome…into the eternal homes” will be ours. We are reminded of how the crafty steward in the parable ensured his future.
In the mind of Luke, the friends we should be making are the poor and needy, who will be on our side before God’s judgement seat because we had “invested” our wealth in them. As we read in Matthew:
…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)
Earlier we saw a good example of a man who had made so much money out of his harvest that he sat back to enjoy the rest of his life—which ended that very night. That is not the way to ‘make friends’ with one’s material goods. In one sense, there is nothing wrong with having a lot of money. Rather, it is how we use those riches that is the question:
Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much…
In other words, if we can be trusted with the material goods that come into our lives, and use them to build the Kingdom of God, to create a more just and equitable society, then we can be trusted with something much greater, to live forever face to face with our God.
If, then, you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?
And again:
…if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
And that reminds us that the material goods that come into our lives (no matter how they may have been acquired) do not belong absolutely to us. Everything on this earth belongs to all. We are only the stewards of what has come into our possession, and we will be judged on how we make use of it. On our use will depend to a large extent our receiving the one thing that will really become our own, the unending happiness that God wishes us to have in company with him.
That leads obviously to the next warning, that we cannot at the same time give ourselves totally to God and become slaves of money and the material. We saw that in the case of the rich man who wanted to follow Jesus. He was the slave of his possessions and so could not surrender his life to Jesus. Many of us think we can, and we try to compromise but, to give ourselves to God completely, we must become free of the lure of money and the acquisition of material things. It does not mean we do not have money or material things, but what we do have is ultimately used for God’s love and service and the love and service of our brothers and sisters.
On hearing all this, the Pharisees, whom Luke calls “lovers of money”, mocked Jesus for what they felt was unrealistic idealism.
There are many today who would echo their views, but those who have taken Jesus’ words to heart know that what he says is true. We have seen this in the lives of some people in our own time. And sadly, we have also seen the opposite. Some, with all their money, and fame and luxurious living, are missing something precious—the freedom to give and share their whole self with those who are destitute:
…for what is prized by humans is an abomination in the sight of God.
The opposite is also true. On which side do I find myself?
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Fourth day in the Octave of Christmas – Feast of the Holy Innocents – Reading
Commentary on 1 John 1:5-2:2 (more…)
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Tuesday of Week 2 of Advent – First Reading
Commentary on Isaiah 40:1-11
Today we begin a series of readings from what is known as ‘The Book of Consolation’. It consists of chapters 40 to 55 of Isaiah, and its unknown author is referred to as ‘Second Isaiah’. He is writing much later, at the end of the Jews’ exile in Babylon, and speaks with confidence of their returning to Jerusalem. The name ‘Consolation’ comes from the first words of today’s reading:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Comfort (“console” in some translations) is the prevailing theme of this section compared to the more threatening prophecies of the first 40 chapters.
The opening part is actually a cantata for several voices. The time of suffering in exile is coming to an end:
…she has served her term…
The return to Jerusalem is seen as a new Exodus. The exile was seen as a punishment for Israel’s sin and infidelity. There is now to be an end of punishment and suffering:
…her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
The Jewish people were punished both by exile and by being treated as slaves and mercenaries of the conquering power. Next is written:
A voice cries…
The identity of the voice obeying the order to “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her” is left unknown, but during this Advent season, it will be applied to John the Baptist who announces the coming of the Saviour:
…prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
It was the custom in Babylonia, where the Jews were exiled, for triumphal “ways” to be made ready for the coming of a god or a victorious king. People would go ahead to prepare this way. John the Baptist will fulfil that role, but it is for each one of us as well to prepare the way for Christ to come into the lives of those who do not yet know or accept him. During Advent we will reflect on just how each one of us can do that most effectively.
As we approach Christmas, we can ask ourselves what are the obstacles in our lives preventing the coming of Jesus into our hearts? In the reading, the “way” is the road by which God’s people will make their new exodus back to their home country. It is a road with all obstacles removed, and an occasion when:
…the glory of the Lord will be revealed.
It will be revealed by the return of God’s people to their own land, but as we read this passage in Advent, ultimately, the glory of the redeeming God will be seen in Jesus Christ and in all those who live by his Spirit. This is what we are preparing for during this time.
The voice commands again: “Cry out” and the prophet asks, “What shall I cry?” The answer comes:
All flesh is grass;
their constancy [beauty] is like the flower of the field.
The greatness and beauty of the Babylonian empire—like all empires—is coming to an end. It is going to be replaced by that of Persia, which itself will in time disappear, as has every empire since. Only:
…the word of our God will stand forever.
This is the God in whom the Israelites have put their trust, and he will not disappoint them. It is a message that Jerusalem is to proclaim to all the people. God’s message is never to be kept to oneself. This is a time to shout from the mountain tops. Shout without fear:
Here is your God!
That is what it is all about. Jesus, our God, is coming. It is for us to remind people as to why we have all those lights and celebrations…all those preparations we are now making for Christmas…all those gifts we are buying or hoping to get…all that food and drink we will put away. What will be left in the days and months that follow? What will we take from Christmas that will still be around in March, in June, in September?
Jesus comes as a God of power, subduing all things before him. But it is a very special kind of power.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms
and carry them in his bosom
and gently lead the mother sheep.
What a beautiful image of our all-powerful God! What tenderness is expressed here! It is one that Jesus will develop and he, too, will call himself the “Good Shepherd” (see Matt 18:12-14; John 10:11-18). And it will not be a coincidence that the first people to pay homage at the stable in Bethlehem will be shepherds.
Christmas is a time when many people come back to church, if only for one day. Is not this the time for them to be reminded that this is the God we believe in—the God that we all need to know?
We all need to hear the words of today’s Gospel, spoken by that gentle Shepherd:
…it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. (Matt 18:14)
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Wednesday of Week 2 of Advent – First Reading
Commentary on Isaiah 40:25-31
We continue our reading from the ‘Book of Consolation’ or ‘Second Isaiah’. Does God seem far away at times? Today’s reading invites us to go outside some clear night and look at the skies. Thousands of stars, each one a mighty sun, can be seen and they are only a tiny fraction of the uncountable number of stars in our universe. Imagine the greatness of the God who is creator and master of all these and who calls each single one by name!
However, far away from home and living in bitter exile, God’s people wonder if their God has forgotten about them. They seem to be comparing their God with the gods of their captors; their God is letting them down.
The people cry out in pain, asking why:
My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God?
Yet God is fully aware of his people’s situation and he will soon show his love and power as they return to their homeland:
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
Even young people, with all their energy, can run out of steam:
…and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted…
But not those who wait for the Lord:
…for the Lord shall renew their strength [and]
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
The reading is a message for all those who feel that life is working against them. Some can sympathise with the words of the song:
“Into each life some rain must fall but too much is falling in mine…”
It must certainly have been the feeling of the Israelites as they languished far from home in a hostile and cruel land. And yet, their deliverance is very close.
The coming of Jesus for which we are now preparing makes the same promise and offers the same invitation in today’s Gospel:
Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matt 11:28)
Jesus reaffirms what Isaiah says, that we have a caring and tireless God who takes care of his own when he says:
I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(Matt 11:29)
Jesus does not promise painlessness, nor does he promise to take away every yoke, but he will share the burden with us. What Jesus does is to help us go through the pain, because he knows what we go through. He experienced a level of pain in his own life which we are not likely ever to have to face.
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Thursday of Week 2 of Advent – First Reading
Commentary on Isaiah 41:13-20
Again today, we continue reading from ‘The Book of Consolation’. The Jews are coming to the end of their period of exile in Babylon, and today we have a message of encouragement. God is coming to help—to redeem his people. For us during Advent, the message points clearly to Jesus, our Redeemer and Saviour. The theme of today’s reading is that God will protect Israel against its enemies and meet its needs in the desert wilderness. Israel’s enemies will vanish, the empire of Babylon will be no more, but God’s people will continue under his loving protection.
Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
you maggot Israel!
Israel seems so insignificant when seen in comparison with its powerful conquerors. But it is a deceptive weakness, as there is a Strength on their side.
The prophet tells the people that God, “the Holy One of Israel” is their “Redeemer”. The word in Hebrew originally refers to the nearest male relative who will avenge the blood of someone who has been murdered. He is also the one who pays off a debt, and frees the debtor from prison; his duty is to protect the defenceless.
Leviticus (25:47-55) also speaks of a situation where a person has to sell himself to a foreigner. He can be ‘redeemed’, that is, bought back by a brother or uncle or cousin or any other relative (note that the word ‘redeemer’ comes from the Latin redemptor, meaning ‘someone who buys back’).
‘Redeemer’ then comes to refer to God as one who protects the oppressed and who liberates his people. The word is used frequently in this sense in Second Isaiah. The word then was applied to Jesus, who is the Redeemer and Liberator of us all.
Far from being weak, God tells his people:
I will make of you a threshing sledge…
Just as the emperor Cyrus reduced his enemies (including the Babylonians) to dust (Isa 41:2), so too Israel will deal with its enemies:
…you shall thresh the mountains [i.e. their powerful enemies] and crush them…
For the Israelites, good times are coming as they leave their place of exile and return to their homeland. This is symbolised in the provision of an abundance of water—the formation of rivers and lakes. It is reminiscent of Moses, who produced water from the rock for Israelites during the Exodus. The desert is thus transformed by all kinds of magnificent trees. Some of these trees are named later in connection with the adornment of God’s sanctuary. Acacia wood was used for the tabernacle. In Isaiah chapter 55, we are told that pine and myrtle replace thorns and briers.
In fact, King Cyrus, who crushed the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, is seen as an instrument doing God’s work. Through all these manifestations, the writer foresees the coming of the Messianic age:
…so that all may see and know,
all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Commenting on this text, the Christian Community Bible rightly describes that the Israelites, depressed by their exile experience, are being reminded to stop looking back at the ‘good old days’ of their glorious past and to look forward to a promising future:
“For centuries the Jews had looked upon their past, always expanding the memory of the wonders worked by God in their departure from Egypt. Now, they must look to the future. This time, a new departure is being prepared from Babylon, and it will be accompanied by wonders greater than those of the first Exodus.”
We, too, as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, need to remember that our celebration is not just a nostalgic look at the past, but a renewal of hope and energy in working for the building of the Kingdom in the year ahead.
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