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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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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