Tuesday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Ezra 6:7-8,12,14-20
In spite of the proclamation which King Cyrus had made about the return of the Jews to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple, they met with many difficulties, especially from the Samaritans who were living there.
Today we find ourselves in chapter 6. Cyrus has been replaced by another great Persian king, Darius. He orders a search for a document deposited in the treasuries of Babylon which confirms an order that had been given by Cyrus for work to begin on the Temple.
It includes some instructions on the design of the temple building; the cost of building is to come from the royal treasury; and the gold and silver articles which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken were to be returned. Then the governor of Transeuphrates (that is, the part of the Persian Empire to the west of the River Euphrates) and his assistants are told to stay away from the site and (our reading begins at this point).
King Darius ordered:
…let the work on this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.
The Jews have full permission to rebuild the Temple on its original site. But the central government will provide help. In fact, the cost of the construction is to be paid in full from the royal revenue, from taxes collected in Transeuphrates and without interruption.
It was a consistent policy of Persian kings to help restore sanctuaries in their empire. For example, a memorandum concerning the rebuilding of the Jewish temple at Elephantine was written by the Persian governors of Judah and Samaria. Also from non-Biblical sources, we learn that Cyrus repaired temples at Uruk (now Warka, Iraq) and that Cambyses, successor to Cyrus, gave funds for the temple at Sais in Egypt. The temple of Amun in the Khargah Oasis was rebuilt by order of Darius.
Darius then pledges in the name of the God who lives in Jerusalem (not his god) that he will overthrow the king of any people who dares to defy this decree and destroy that Temple of God in Jerusalem.
The Transeuphrates governor followed the king’s instructions to the letter and:
…the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished their building by command of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia…
In fact, work on the Temple had made little progress, not only because of opposition from people like the neighbouring Samaritans, but also because of the preoccupation of the returnees with building their own homes. Because they were placing their own interests first, God sent them famine as a judgment. However, spurred on by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, and under the leadership of Zerubbabel, governor of Jerusalem, and Joshua, the high priest, a new effort was begun.
The reference to Artaxerxes seems out of place, because he did not contribute to the rebuilding of the Temple at this time. He may have been inserted here since he contributed to the work of the Temple at a later date under Ezra (7:21-24).
The Temple was finally completed on the 23rd day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. By our calendar that would be April 1, 515 BC. This Temple, remodelled by Herod the Great (see John 2:20), was in use for 585 years and was destroyed by the Romans under the rule of Titus in 70 AD, never again to be rebuilt.
The New International Version Study Bible makes the following observation about the ‘new’ Temple:
“Almost 70 years after its destruction, the renewed work on the Temple had begun on Sept 21, 520 (Hag 1:15), and sustained effort had continued for almost three and a half years. According to Haggai (2:3), the older members who could remember the splendour of Solomon’s temple were disappointed when they saw the smaller size of Zerubbabel’s temple (see Ezr 3:12). Yet in the long run the second temple, though not as grand as the first, enjoyed a much longer life. The general plan of the second temple was similar to that of Solomon’s, but the Most Holy Place was left empty because the Ark of the Covenant had been lost through the Babylonian conquest. According to Josephus, on the Day of Atonement the high priest placed his censer on the slab of stone that marked the former location of the ark. The Holy Place was furnished with a table for the bread of the Presence, the incense altar, and one [seven-branched] lampstand (see 1 Macc 1:21-22; 4:49-51) instead of Solomon’s ten [lampstands] (1 Kings 7:49).”
After the construction was complete:
The people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.
The ‘rest of the returned exiles’ is the Remnant spared by God and now returned from exile. It was the leaders of those who had returned from exile that were responsible for the completion of the Temple. “Dedication” translates the Aramaic word hanukkah. The Jewish holiday in December that celebrates the recapture of the Temple from the Seleucid kings and its re-dedication (165 BC) is also known as ‘Hanukkah’, but is the celebration of a different dedication from Ezra’s.
The dedication of the Temple was celebrated with a spectacular sacrifice of animals:
They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
The numbers seem huge yet pale in comparison with services in the reign of Solomon, Hezekiah and Josiah, when the animals were numbered in thousands rather than hundreds.
The priests were then installed in their orders and the Levites in their positions for ministry in the Temple, following the instructions of Moses (e.g. Exod 9; Lev 8). The priests were divided into 24 divisions, each of which served at the Temple for a week at a time (see also in Luke 1:8, how the angel spoke to Zechariah in the Temple announcing the birth of John the Baptist, when it was the turn of his ‘order’ to function). In 1962 fragments of a synagogue inscription listing the 24 divisions were found at Caesarea.
The returned exiles also celebrated their first Passover after 70 years on the traditional date, 14th day of the first month (Nisan). It would have been about April 21, 516 BC. And, in preparation for this celebration, the Levites had all purified themselves so that they could make the Passover sacrifice for their brothers, the priests, and for themselves. This also explains why the priest and the Levite passed by on the other side in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37). They were on their way to the Temple in Jerusalem and their ritual purity took priority over their helping a brother lying injured (and bleeding) on the roadside. For Jesus the needs of the brother are the first priority. That is why the stranger and outsider, the Samaritan, is the ‘neighbour’. He is “the one who showed him mercy”.
The Levites are also represented as slaughtering the paschal victims, because for a long time this had been done by ‘laymen’ (see Deut 16:2; Exod 12:6). The urge to ‘clericalism’ is very strong!
Reading this passage we realise it is very difficult to put a permanent end to God’s work. Our churches, too, have experienced and still experience persecution, exile and the destruction of places of worship again and again, only to see them restored. The truth, wherever it is, will always prevail. It is the foundation of our faith and our hope.
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Monday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Ezra 1:1-6
We go back to the Old Testament today and begin the first of just three readings from the Book of Ezra. And, indeed, for the next three weeks (up to the end of Week 27) we will be having selected readings from eight books, some historical and some prophetical, of the period after the Israelites had returned to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. This followed the defeat of the Babylonians by the Persians, who had become the latest ‘super-power’ in the region.
In order to put the readings in context, we begin with an extensive extract from an introduction given by the Jerusalem Bible:
“Ezra is part of a second group of historical books which in large measure reduplicate, but ultimately extend the ‘Deuteronomic’ history beginning with Joshua and ending with Kings. These are the two Books of Chronicles, then the Book of Ezra, and the Book of Nehemiah. Originally, the two books of Chronicles were one book and those of Ezra and Nehemiah were part of the same collection, the whole being the work of one author, known as ‘the Chronicler’.
The Book of Ezra is a continuation of the Chronicles story. After the 50 years of Exile, on which he is silent, the author resumes his history with the edict of the Persian King Cyrus, 538 BC, permitting the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. The return begins forthwith, but the work of rebuilding is halted by the hostility of the Samaritans and does not resume until the reign of King Darius I. The Temple is finished in 515 BC.
Under King Artaxerxes, the scribe Ezra, representative for Jewish affairs at the Persian court, arrives in Jerusalem with a new contingent of returning exiles, bringing with him an official authorisation to impose the Mosaic Law, now approved by the king. He has to take severe measures against those Jews already married to foreigners, Ezra 7-10. The story continues with the Book of Nehemiah…
These books are important for the history of the Jewish Restoration after the Exile. The first chapters of Ezra complement the information supplied by prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi [all of whom we will be looking at during these three weeks].
Taking advantage of the liberal religious policy that the Achmenids (Persian dynasty) applied in their empire, the Jews return to their Promised Land, restore the ancient worship, rebuild the Temple and the city walls, and live as a community governed by men of their own race and regulated by the Law of Moses. All that the imperial power requires is loyalty, no great price to pay when that power shows such respect for Jewish customs. This is an event of great importance—nothing less than the birth of Judaism, prepared by long meditation in Exile and assisted by the actions of leaders raised up by God…
The real father of Judaism is Ezra with his three dominant conceptions: the chosen race, the Temple, the Law. If his reforming measures seem severe and his isolationism narrow, it is because his zeal was great and the need to safeguard the infant community urgent. He is the pattern of all scribes, the great and growing hero of Judaic tradition…”
In today’s reading, which comes from the Book of Ezra’s opening lines, we see Cyrus, King of Persia, authorising the return of the Jews to Jerusalem. We are told that it was in the first year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, and in fulfilment of a prophecy of Jeremiah, that Yahweh inspired the king to issue a solemn proclamation which was displayed throughout his kingdom.
Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, reigned over the Persians from autumn of 559 until 530 BC. He is one of the great kings of ancient times, but what is most significant here is that he is depicted as being merely an instrument of God to serve his people. Isaiah speaks of him as the Lord’s “shepherd” and his “anointed”. Compared to the Assyrian and Babylonian rulers, Cyrus was looked on very favourably by the Israelites, first, for overthrowing the Babylonian rule and, more importantly, allowing them to return to their homeland.
The “first year” here refers to Cyrus’ rule over Babylon, which began in March-April (Nisan) 538 BC, after he captured the city in October of 539 BC, 20 years after he came to the Persian throne.
Jeremiah, writing during the years of exile, had prophesied a 70-year Babylonian captivity (Jer 25:11-12; 29:10). The first deportation to Babylon began in 605 BC, in the third year of King Jehoiakim, and, in 538 BC, approximately 70 years later, the people began their return.
Cyrus then makes a solemn proclamation authorising the Hebrews to return to their homeland.
In the proclamation Cyrus declares that Yahweh:
The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
This oral proclamation of Cyrus’ decree was written in Hebrew, the language of the Israelite captives.
“God of heaven” is a phrase which occurs 22 times in the Old Testament, 17 of which are in Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel. Notice, too, the strong emphasis on Jerusalem and the Temple with nothing else mentioned about the homeland. We find this in both Ezra and Nehemiah. The restoration of the Temple and the Law was synonymous with national restoration.
Unlike the preceding imperial regimes, the Persian kings were on the whole extremely sympathetic towards the religions of their subjected peoples; they reinstated and actively supported them while keeping a measure of control. Their attitude towards the Jewish religion was no exception. It is possible that Judaism further benefited because of the Persians’ special devotion to ‘the god of heaven’. Yahweh, who in the official documents is always referred to as ‘the God of heaven’ may have been thought of as the supreme god acknowledged by the Persian kings. In a sense, not unlike Jews, Christians and Muslims were acknowledging the one and the same God.
He then addresses each Israelite:
Let any of those among you who are of his people—may their God be with them!—go up to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; he is the God who is in Jerusalem.
“May God be with him”—Cyrus instituted the policy of placating the gods of his subject peoples instead of carrying off their cult images as the Assyrians and the Babylonians had done earlier. We should note too that his generosity to the Jews was paralleled by his benevolence to the conquered Babylonians.
The phrase, “those among you who are of his people”, seems to exclude exiles from the Northern Kingdom; those going back to Jerusalem all belong to the Southern Kingdom (Judah).
Furthermore, Cyrus continues, let each Hebrew survivor:
…in whatever place they reside be assisted by the people of their place with silver and gold, with goods, and with livestock, besides freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.
These voluntary offerings would be vital in the restoration of the ruined Temple and its services and they included, by order of the king, the restoration of Temple treasures looted by Nebuchadnezzar.
This edict appears in the form of a proclamation, in Hebrew, by public heralds to the exiled Jews and was no doubt drawn up by Jews employed in the Persian chancellery.
Then the heads of all the families from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the priests and Levites, and “everyone whose spirit God had stirred”, made preparations to go and rebuild the Temple. ‘Families’ here means extended families, more like the whole clan whose authority figure was the patriarch, as ‘family head’. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin were the main tribes from the Kingdom of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, in which Jerusalem was situated.
And finally, in conformity with the king’s decree, all the Israelites’ neighbours rallied round with all kinds of material help and gifts, as well as with voluntary donations.
Cyrus and his successors represent a period of enlightened tolerance when people like the Jews and other religions were able to maintain or restore their religious practices and traditions.
While, on the one hand, we should not see God as a kind of puppet master who manipulates people at will, we also need to realise that all of us are called to carry out God’s plan for the world and that there is no way we can frustrate that plan.
We will pray today for a clear picture of God’s will in our lives and the strength to accept it and carry it out. Our own greatest benefit is in making God’s will ours.
We might also remember today all peoples who are prevented from the practice of their religion in peace with their neighbours and, even more, people who have had to flee their homeland because of religious persecution.
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Thursday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 9:7-9
Today we have a short interlude which is leading to some very special revelations. Herod the Tetrarch is hearing stories about what Jesus is doing. ‘Tetrarch’ means the ruler of one-fourth part of a kingdom. This one, Herod Antipas, was one of several sons of Herod the Great, whose kingdom was divided among four of them. Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee and Perea from 4 BC to 39 AD. Although not strictly speaking a ‘king’, he is called that in Matthew and Mark following popular usage.
Herod is puzzled because he is being told that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead. At the same time others are saying that Elijah (whose expected return would signal the arrival of the Messiah), or one of the ancient prophets has reappeared. Herod has recently beheaded John the Baptist, and the superstitious king is filled with a mixture of fear and curiosity. He kept trying to ‘see’ Jesus.
Luke does not actually record the death of John and, in this short passage, he prepares the reader for the later meeting of Herod with Jesus (Luke 23:8-12). So Herod’s wish will be partially fulfilled at a later date, though under very unexpected circumstances, and in a way that Herod will find very unsatisfactory. He is hoping that Jesus, like some circus dog, will do some ‘tricks’ or ‘miracles’ for him.
Herod’s desire was almost entirely one of curiosity, it was the desire of the hedonist and the seeker of novelty. To ‘see’ Jesus in the full gospel sense is something totally different. It can only happen to those who have the eyes of faith, and who can see in the person of Jesus the presence and power of God.
We may recall the request of some ‘Greeks’ who told Philip they wanted to see Jesus, and the reply that Jesus gave about the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying (John 12:20-26). We have not seen Jesus if we do not know him in his suffering and dying as his way to new life.
Let us ask to see Jesus today, a seeing that leads to a total acceptance of his way of life and following him all the way, through the cross and beyond to a life that never ends.
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Thursday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Haggai 1:1-8
For two days we take our readings from Haggai, one of the lesser known of the so-called Minor Prophets. The whole book consists of only two chapters and both our readings will be taken from the first chapter.
The Jerusalem Bible notes:
“The last, post-exilic, period of prophecy opens with Haggai. The change is striking. Before the Exile the watchword of the prophets was Punishment. During the Exile it became Consolation. Now it is Restoration. Haggai appears at a critical moment in the development of Judaism; the birth of the new Palestinian community. His short exhortations are precisely dated, August and September of 520 BC. The first Jews to return from Babylonia to rebuild the Temple were quickly discouraged. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred them to new efforts and urged Zerubbabel the governor and the High Priest Joshua to resume work on the Temple. This was done in September, 520 BC.”
The four brief discourses composing this book are entirely concerned with this ‘restoration’. Since the Temple is still in ruins and Yahweh has destroyed the harvests, it is believed the rebuilding will usher in the age of prosperity. However unimposing, this new Temple will dim the glory of the old; and power is promised to Zerubbabel, the chosen one of God. Therefore, this Temple and this descendant of David become the focus of a messianic hope that will be more clearly expressed in Zechariah.
The New International Version Study Bible also gives a brief historical background which helps to contextualise today’s reading:
“Haggai was a prophet who, along with Zechariah, encouraged the returned exiles to rebuild the Temple (see Ezra 5:1-2;6:14). ‘Haggai’ means ‘festal’, which may indicate that the prophet was born during one of the three pilgrimage feasts (Unleavened Bread, Pentecost or Weeks, and Tabernacles). Based on the verse in Haggai 2:3, Haggai may have witnessed the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. If so, he must have been in his early 70s during his ministry…”
In 538 BC, the conqueror of Babylon, Cyrus king of Persia, issued a decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. Led by Zerubbabel, about 50,000 Jews journeyed home and began work on the Temple. About two years later (in 536 BC) they completed the foundation amid great rejoicing. Their success aroused the Samaritans and other neighbours who feared the political and religious implications of a rebuilt Temple in a thriving Jewish state. They therefore opposed the project vigorously and managed to halt work until Darius the Great became king of Persia in 522 BC. Darius was interested in the religions of his empire, and Haggai and Zechariah began to preach in his second year (520 BC). The Jews were more to blame for their inactivity than their opponents, and Haggai tried to arouse them from their lethargy. When the governor of Transeuphrates and other officials tried to interfere with the rebuilding efforts, Darius fully supported the Jews. In 516 BC, the Temple was finished and dedicated. Next to Obadiah, Haggai is the shortest book in the Old Testament.
Today’s reading finds us in the same period as the Book of Ezra which we have just been reading. King Darius is the emperor of Persia. It is the first day of the sixth month (August/September) in the year 520 BC, the second year of his reign. The New Moon was the day on which prophets were sometimes consulted.
King Darius Hystaspis (or Hystaspes) ruled Persia from 522 to 486 BC. As a historical footnote, it was he who prepared the trilingual inscription on the Behistun (Bisitun) cliff wall (located in modern Iran), through which cuneiform languages were later deciphered.
Haggai, the Lord’s prophet, has a message from Yahweh for the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and for the high priest, Joshua, son of Jehozadak. In 1 Chronicles we are told that Jehozakak was taken away into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar.
The Lord’s message is clear. He wants his Temple to be built, but “these people” are saying the time has not yet come for the rebuilding, even though the foundations had been laid 16 years previously (in 536 BC). They have other priorities, like the building of their own houses. Because of their sin, the nation is not called “my people”.
Then:
…the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
The luxury of the homes of the wealthy with their “paneled houses” contrasts sadly with the ruined state of the Lord’s home. “Paneled houses” were usually connected with royal dwellings, which had cedar paneling. There seems to be an element of sarcasm in the Lord’s question. It also reminds one of David’s embarrassment about living in a palace while the Ark of the Covenant was still confined to a tent:
See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent. (2 Sam 7:2)
It seems the returned exiles did not have any such qualms.
Now comes a warning about their self-centred lifestyle:
Consider how you have fared.
They are living a life of conspicuous consumption, like people living it high while debts mount on their credit cards:
You have sown much and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.
This is a pretty accurate image of our own credit card culture!
They have planted abundantly, but have been punished by famine when the harvests never materialised. Because of that, they live lives which give no satisfaction, no matter how active they are. They earn wages, but these disappear when prices soar during time of famine.
Instead, let them get down to the task of rebuilding the Lord’s house. Let them go up into the hills of Judah and get the timber for building. Perhaps wood from the hills around Jerusalem was to supplement the cedar wood already purchased from Lebanon. Once the Lord’s House is complete, he will:
…take pleasure in it and be honored…
The reading is a wake-up call to us about our priorities. How are we building the “Lord’s house”? Do we take care of our own priorities first and then wonder about what God wants as an after-thought? St Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises speaks of people organising their lives according to their own desires and likes and then, when everything is set, start wondering what God might want. Of course, it should be the other way round.
The rich man in the Gospel made his money first and then asked Jesus what he should do to gain eternal life. When told that he needed to get rid of his wealth and share it with the needy, he could not do it.
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Tuesday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 8:19-21
The mother and brothers of Jesus come looking for him, but they cannot get to him because of the crush of people in the house where he is speaking. Jesus was in Capernaum at the time and Nazareth was about 50 km (30 miles) away. The mention of ‘brothers’ would commonly indicate cousins and not just siblings. When the message is passed in to Jesus, he says to all:
My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.
The story is told in harsher terms in Mark. He has Jesus say, for instance:
Who are my mother and my brothers? (Mark 3:33)
It is suggested there that their purpose was to take him away. On the one hand, they thought he was mad and an embarrassment to the family and, on the other hand, that he might get them into trouble with the authorities because of the provocative things he was saying and doing such as questioning traditional interpretations of the Law. We see a similar embarrassment on the part of the parents of the man born blind in John’s Gospel. They refuse to speak to the authorities about their son:
Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself. (John 9:21)
Luke’s account is softer and just focuses on the saying of Jesus. In fact, Luke has taken this passage out of its context in Mark (3:31-35) and turns it into a conclusion to his short section on the parables. In doing so, he modifies Mark’s statement:
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. (Mark 3:35)
This is done to match the end of Luke’s parable of the sower:
But as for that [i.e. the seed which fell] in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with endurance. (Luke 8:15)
Luke has Jesus say:
My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. (Luke 8:21)
To a society which regarded itself as God’s chosen people merely by birth and an external ritual like circumcision, Jesus asserts that belonging to God has little to do with blood or race, but only with the relationship one establishes with God.
There is a lot of meaning in the words of the message:
Your mother and your brothers are standing outside…
It was clear from their behaviour that they were not, like the seed falling on fertile soil, ‘hearing’ him and so they were outsiders. Those who really ‘hear’, no matter who they are or where they come from, are ‘insiders’ and belong to the family of Jesus.
Of course, we know from elsewhere, especially in Luke’s Gospel, that Mary is not being condemned here. In fact, this is where her greatness really lies. Clearly it partly lies in her being chosen to be the mother of God’s Son. But perhaps it lies even more in her saying ‘Yes’ (“…let it be with me according to your word”), in her unswerving faithfulness to that ‘Yes’ and in her standing by her Son to the very end when all the rest had fled.
When, on another occasion, she was indirectly praised for being the mother of such a Son, Jesus had spoken in words very similar to today:
Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it! (Luke 11:28)
Our discipleship, too, is not determined by our being born into a Catholic family or just by being baptised or by observing the external requirements of our religion, but by our total commitment to the gospel and to an unconditional following of Jesus. Only then can we truly be said to be his brother or sister.
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Friday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 9:18-22
After the incident concerning Herod, which as we saw is a pointer to things yet to happen, the disciples return from their mission. What follows is omitted from our readings. In fact, Jesus took them to a quiet place where they could rest and reflect on what they had been doing. However, they were pursued by the ever-hungry crowds and Jesus fed them with the Word of God, with his healing and finally, through his disciples (“You give them something to eat”) with bread and fish. The story is another step in the Twelve’s involvement in the mission of Jesus, and it leads into today’s reading.
In this reading, we find Jesus praying alone. As we have already seen, it is something that Luke mentions a number of times about Jesus, especially before significant events in his public life. Some people might wonder what Jesus would have to pray about. Such a question may reveal a rather limited idea of prayer, e.g. as something you do when you want to get something from God or when you are depressed or in trouble of some kind.
But prayer is ultimately getting in touch with God and that is something that Jesus would surely want to do quite a lot. Prayer is also a way of discovering just where God’s will enters one’s life, and that is something that was always of supreme importance to Jesus because:
The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)
Jesus, we are told, was not altogether alone. His disciples were with him. Were they praying too? Later, they will ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.
All of this is Luke’s introduction to a high point in all the Synoptics: the revelation of Jesus’ true identity. From the other Synoptics we know that it took place at Caesarea Philippi, a mixed Jewish-Gentile region outside Herod’s territory.
Jesus asks them:
Who do the crowds say that I am?
They give various answers: John the Baptist (resurrected) or Elijah, expected to return to announce the imminent coming of the Messiah, or some other of the earlier great prophets.
But then he asks:
But who do you say that I am?
Peter, answering for all of them, replies simply:
The Messiah of God.
Some translations of the Bible use the Greek word Christos, Christ. ‘Christ’ is not a name, but a title meaning ‘annointed one’. It is the equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. The anointing refers to someone who is king and, in this case, the One who is anointed the Saviour King of Israel.
In short, Peter is saying that the man standing before him is the long-awaited Saviour of the Jewish people. It is a dramatic development in Jesus’ relationship with his disciples.
Jesus’ next words at first sight seem unexpected and contradictory. He strictly orders his disciples not to say anything of this to anyone. Surely they should be doing the exact opposite? But the people are not yet ready for this revelation. They have a very limited and preconceived idea of what the coming of the Messiah will mean. They see him in very political terms as a kind of national liberator who will drive out and destroy the Romans and all enemies of the Jewish people, and restore the past glories of Israel.
Even after the Resurrection, Luke has Jesus’ own disciples asking him:
Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)
Their ideas, even at this late date, are no different from the ordinary people’s. At this point in the Gospel, they must be secretly proud that they, of all people, are the first to be privileged with this information.
If that was the case, they were very quickly to be disillusioned. Almost immediately Jesus goes on to say that:
The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.
This is the first time in Luke that Jesus refers to himself as “the Son of Man”. It occurs eighty-one times in the four Gospels and is only used by Jesus of himself. In the book of Daniel (7:13-14) we see the ‘Son of Man’ pictured as a heavenly figure who is entrusted by God with authority, glory and sovereign power. Jesus’ use of the title in a Messianic sense is made clear by its close proximity to Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ or Messiah.
We know from Matthew and Mark that the disciples—in particular Peter—were dumbfounded when they heard Jesus’ words and wanted to reject them entirely. It was totally against all their expectations of the Messiah, apart from the fact that they could not bear to have those things happen to their Master.
To them, it simply did not make any sense. First, Jesus as Messiah was going to be rejected and handed over by the leaders of their own people. Second, he was going to go through a terrible and humiliating death. His being “raised” on the third day—whatever that meant—did little to alleviate their confusion.
But as Mark indicates, this was a further step in their relationship with Jesus. They now recognised him as the Messiah, but next they had to learn just what kind of Messiah he was going to be, and how he was going to liberate not only his own people, but people all over the world.
We, too, of course, have to keep going through the same process. We, too, have to deepen our understanding of the true identity of Jesus. We have to be able to understand how the suffering and dying Messiah is not only the way he needed to go to reconcile us with God, but that we too have to be ready to go the same way. We have to learn to see the redemptive and healing power in the pains, sufferings, disappointments and failures of our lives.
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Wednesday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Ezra 9:5-9
In our last reading from the Book of Ezra, it is Ezra himself who speaks. It is both a deeply felt prayer and an exhortation to his people. He is deeply upset because they have been so unfaithful. He is particularly disturbed that many have intermarried with the unbelieving and idolatrous people around them.
He tells us that at the evening sacrifice, he came out of a stupor. Just before this Ezra has been told that many of the people, including even priests and Levites, have intermarried with women from the non-Jewish (and non-believing) tribes. The result is that the ‘holy race’ has become contaminated and hence liable to fall into the idolatrous practices of their wives.
Actually, in ancient Israel inter-ethnic marriages were not forbidden (see one example in Gen 41:45, where Joseph marries an Egyptian woman), but were later forbidden by Deuteronomy in order to combat idolatry, which gentile women tended to bring with them into the home. The danger increased after the Exile because the majority of the returning exiles were men. The reason for the separation is still religious, but a second reason now emerges here, concern for racial purity.
On hearing all this, Ezra tears his clothes, pulls the hair from his head and beard, and sits down in horror. All who felt the same way about the infidelity shown to God gathered round him in sympathy and support, while Ezra remained sitting there in horror until the evening sacrifice.
At the evening sacrifice, he comes out of his wretched state and, in his torn clothes, falls on his knees, stretches out his hands to Yahweh and begins to pray. The prayer of Ezra, which is also a sermon, is inspired by Deuteronomy and the prophets. It may be compared with those of Nehemiah (9:5-37) and Daniel (9:4-19).
In the name of his people, he tells God how ashamed he is, how he blushes even to lift his face to God. He is ashamed for the terrible sins of his people which are now “higher than our heads” and whose guilt has reached right up to heaven.
This is nothing new for God’s people. From the days of their ancestors until now they have been deeply guilty. The Israelites had a strong sense of their corporate solidarity with their ancestors.
Because of their iniquities, they, together with their kings and priests, have been handed over to the kings of other countries, have died by the sword, been taken away into captivity, been pillaged and looted—and reduced to shame. This is still the case. Much of this suffering was the result of their sins and infidelities. In Ezekiel (21:19) “the sword of the king of Babylon” is described as an instrument of divine judgement.
In spite of all this, now, for a brief moment, the favour of Yahweh their God has allowed a remnant to escape from exile and be given a stable “stake in his holy place”, so that their God can raise their spirits and revive them a little in their slavery. The literal reading of “stake” is a ‘nail’ or a ‘peg’, evoking the image of a nail driven firmly into a wall or a peg driven well into the ground.
However, in spite of somewhat better times now, they are still slaves under a foreign ruler. But God has not forgotten them in their slavery. He has extended his faithful love for them even under the kings of Persia and revived them to rebuild the Temple of our God, restore its ruins and provide them with a refuge in Judah and Jerusalem.
The Achaemenid Persian kings were favourably disposed to Jews (as they were to other religions): Cyrus (539-530 BC) gave them permission to return (Ezra 1); his son Cambyses (530-522), though not named in the Scriptures, also favoured the Jews, as we learned from Elephantine papyri; Darius I (522-486) renewed the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 6); his son Xerxes (486-465) granted privileges and protection to Jews (Esther 8-10); his son Artaxerxes (465-424) gave authorisations to Ezra (Ezra 7) and to Nehemiah (Neh 2).
In God’s strange providence, it was the enlightened policy of the pagan Persian emperors which had made it possible for God’s sinful people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. In many ways, it was this exile which helped them appreciate what they had lost. God, too, can make strange and unlikely people be the agents of his bringing us back to him.
In our lives, too, there can be painful experiences. They can either embitter us and drive us deeper into ourselves or we can go through them and see that God in his love and compassion is present there. We then turn such experiences into opportunities for personal growth and deepening our sensitivity for the sufferings of others.
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Monday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 8:16-18
The message today seems clear enough. The gospel message is not meant to be kept hidden. We are not a ‘mystery religion’ in the sense that the gospel is only for initiates. It is a message that is to be proclaimed from the housetops. If what we believe and say is true, it will prevail.
We understand Jesus to be the Light of the world, and his followers are also to be like lamps shining out for all the world to see. An invisible Christian is a contradiction in terms, yet there are strong tendencies for us to keep our religion to ourselves and not foist it on others.
However, forcing others to believe is not the message being given, even if it were possible. Inviting people to ‘come and see’, to hear the message and have a personal experience of living it, is something else. We also believe that the gospel message offers a way of life that brings great happiness into the lives of individuals and, in fact, to whole societies if it is really followed. So, part of our communicating the message is as much through our lifestyle (“See…it works!”) as through what we say.
Jesus says today:
So pay attention to how you listen…
It is not just listening, but a hearing which understands, accepts, assimilates and puts into practice. What is heard and assimilated has to be passed on. Otherwise it dies, because:
…for to those who have, more will be given, and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.
To be a Christian is not to reach a certain level and stay there. It essentially means constant growth and development—to stay still or to stagnate is to go backwards.
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Wednesday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 9:1-6
As we move on to chapter 9, we have left out a number of stories in chapter 8—the calming of a storm on the lake, the healing of a demoniac, the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of a woman with a haemorrhage. However, these are dealt with elsewhere in our readings from the other Gospels. We are now moving into a turning point in the public life of Jesus and in his relationship with his disciples.
This is, in fact, the third tour of Galilee by Jesus. On the first tour he was accompanied just by the four fishermen he had called first—Peter, Andrew, James and John. On the second, all the Twelve were with him and on the third, he was alone after sending out the Twelve on their own mission.
We begin the reading today with Jesus sending his chosen Twelve on their mission. It is the first time he has sent them out on their own without his being with them. Basically, they are to do exactly as their Master does. They are given power over evil forces and to heal sicknesses. They are also to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.
They are to travel in total freedom and so are not to bring anything with them which would make traveling more difficult:
Take nothing for your journey: no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic.
It is understood that the people will support them in return for the services they render. It is expected that hospitality will be extended to them in the traditional way of the Middle East.
And they are not to be choosy about where they are received:
Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there.
And, in places where they and their message and their services are not welcome:
…as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.
This was a symbolic act which the Pharisees practised when they left an ‘unclean’ gentile area. In this case, the act signifies that people are rejecting not just the disciples, but God himself, whom they bring with their message and their healing.
So they departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
It really was the beginning of the Church. And it was the work of making the Kingdom a reality, God’s will being done on earth.
The same mission is entrusted to each one of us, although it will obviously be adapted to our life situation. We are called, individually and in community, to proclaim the gospel by word and lifestyle. We are called to help liberate people from negative forces and addictions of all kinds that can enslave. We are called to be sources of healing and wholeness, and for this we do not need to be part of the medical profession. We are called to live lives of simplicity, using only those things which we need for life and work and rejecting all superfluity and luxury. As we have already noted: the really rich are those whose needs are the least. It is a message our consumer world needs to hear and see.
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Saturday of Week 25 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Zechariah 2:5-9,14-15
Today, we have the first of three readings from the prophet Zechariah. The book is closely, very closely, linked with Haggai whom we have been reading over the previous two days. The introduction is dated Oct-Nov, 520 BC—only weeks away from the prophecy of Haggai.
The Book of Zechariah consists of two distinct parts: chapters 1-8 and 9-14. The first part is concerned with Israel’s messianic future, emanating from the Temple. It begins with eight visions. The second part of the book (from which the other two readings will be taken) is entirely different and seems to be another work altogether, written at a later time, perhaps under the reign of Alexander the Great (who had overthrown the Persians).
Like Haggai, Zechariah was concerned with the rebuilding of the Temple, but more than Haggai, was also concerned with national ‘restoration’ and the high level of moral behaviour which was linked with it. This restoration is expected to inaugurate a messianic era in which the priesthood, represented by Joshua, will be held in increasing honour. But the sovereign power will be wielded by the ‘Branch’, a messianic title which the prophet applies to Zerubbabel. The two ‘Anointed Ones’ will rule in perfect harmony. As things turn out, the two ‘Anointed Ones’—Priest and King—will be combined in one Person, Jesus Christ.
Today’s reading presents parts of the third of eight visions the prophet has about a future glorious Jerusalem. We need to remember that these words were written when the exiles had only recently returned from exile and Jerusalem was still in a sorry state. The rebuilding of the Temple had not gone beyond the laying of the foundation, and both Haggai and Zechariah are concerned that the rest of the rebuilding process get under way as soon as possible.
Today Zechariah is trying to build up the morale and confidence of the returnees. Raising his eyes, the prophet says he has had a vision. He sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. The line is for taking measurements for the new building work and is a symbol of the overall ‘restoration’, not just of the Temple, but of the people also. Zechariah asks the man where he is going. The man replies:
To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.
And, while the first man (now described as an ‘angel’, but evidently Zechariah himself) walks away, another angel comes out. The prophet is to go and tell the young man (Zechariah):
Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like unwalled villages because of the multitude of people and animals in it.
The prophet is being led to realise that the rebuilt Temple is not just for those who are living there now. What is in question is a New Jerusalem and a New Temple, whose population will overflow to such an extent that the City will be as if it had no walls.
Because, as “the Lord of hosts” (Yahweh) himself declares:
For I will be a wall of fire all around it…and I will be the glory within it.
The messianic Jerusalem will be protected by Yahweh himself, who has returned to his rebuilt Temple. This is reminiscent of the time in the desert when Yahweh accompanied his people with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Earlier on Isaiah, too, had said:
Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain. (Is 4:5-6)
Our reading then concludes with part of a hymn of exhortation to the exiles:
Sing and rejoice,
O daughter Zion!
For I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord.
Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day and shall be my people,
and I will dwell in your midst.
Here we have, in part, the return of the Lord among his people which will happen once the new Temple is rebuilt and dedicated. But there is also a looking forward to a greater Jerusalem, one inaugurated by the coming of God’s Son to live among us with a totally new Presence, sealed in a New Covenant. It will certainly be a city without walls to which all the nations of the world will be invited to come and stay.
We, the baptised and members of Christ’s Body, are among those who have been invited to come and live among God’s own people and who, by the grace of God, are now ourselves the Temple of God all over the world. As Paul said to the Corinthians:
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?…For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Cor 3:16,17)
It is an awesome responsibility!
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