Friday of Week 28 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Romans 4:1-8

Paul continues his theme about the gratuitousness of God’s love and salvation for us.  He uses Abraham as an example. Abraham is the father of the Jewish people, the great patriarch of the Jewish nation, the true example of a “justified” person, but he also preceded the introduction of the Mosaic Law and knew nothing of such a law.  As much of what Paul is saying is directed to his fellow Jews, his choice of Abraham, the ancestor of all God’s people, is not without significance.

Could Abraham have been “justified by works” by God merely on the basis of what he had achieved in his lifetime?  Actually, Jewish tradition, preoccupied with Abraham’s loyalty and his fortitude under trial, had made him the outstanding example of justification by works. The Jews believed his greatness was in what he achieved.  Paul agrees that Abraham certainly could have grounds for making that claim.  However, he asserts that this justification and these works have their source in Abraham’s faith.

And Paul believes that he has Scripture on his side.  He quotes from Genesis: 

Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:6)

There is no mention here of his doing anything.  He was rewarded purely for his trusting faith in God.  Abraham had kept no law (it did not yet exist), rendered no service and performed no regular ritual that earned credit to his account before God.  It was his belief in God, who had made promises to him, which was credited to him as righteousness.

There are three ways in which the quotation can be understood:

1. Because of his faith, Abraham was regarded as an upright man, though in reality he was not.
2. Because of his faith, God had conferred on him an uprightness that was not his when he came to believe (but may have come later).
3. In God’s eyes faith and uprightness are so interdependent that they are really inseparable.

Only the last of these three would seem to be consistent with Paul’s teaching.  A person who has totally surrendered to Jesus and his Way in faith and trust is going to be a good and loving person, or at least, be moving inevitably in that direction.

The story of Abraham gives several examples of this faith and trust.  He was first asked to leave his homeland and go to a distant land where his descendants would live, and he did so.  Although his wife was well beyond the age for childbearing, God promised that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the skies or the grains of sand on the seashore.  Abraham put his trust in the Lord’s word and he did indeed have a son, Isaac.

Then, sometime later, God—incredibly—asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the only legitimate heir who could give him descendants, and Abraham proceeded to do the Lord’s bidding, but once his faith was proved, God stopped him at the last minute.

When a man works, says Paul, his wages are not a gift; they are his due:

But to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

The man does nothing, not because he is lazy, but because he knows only God can produce results.  On the other hand, as we have said, the person full of faith will, by that very act, also be full of good works.

Paul finishes by quoting words of David (Psalm 32:1-2) applied to “those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works”:

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

It is as if God no longer sees or does not want to see the bad that we have done, and removes from us all guilt.  But that does not mean we can just sit back and relax. “Why worry?  I just have to say ‘I believe in the Lord Jesus’ and God covers over all my sins.”  No, on my part, I need to open my heart to that loving compassion of God that has been revealed by the pouring out of Jesus’ blood on the cross.  That has to have an effect on my behaviour.

I have to say a big and unconditional ‘Yes’ to Jesus’ invitation actively to follow him, even though it will happen only with his help all the way.  It will mean saying an equally big ‘No’ to many things which I know are in conflict with the Way of Jesus.

It is important to remember, too, that the root of the sin is not in the action, but rather in one’s relationship with God.  Once I am fully reconciled with Jesus by throwing myself at his feet in faith and sorrow, he takes me back in exactly the same way that the father of the Prodigal Son took his wayward son back. All is forgotten; healing has taken place.  The relationship is fully restored even though the effects of my act may still endure.  God only sees me as I am here and now.  And I respond to him in faith—now.

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Friday of Week 28 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 12:1-7

After his confrontation with the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus now turns to the crowds. We are told that they were gathering round him by the thousands, so densely packed that they were trampling on each other. Clearly they were hungry to hear a man who had spoken in such extraordinary and daring ways to their religious leaders.

But Jesus begins by speaking first to his own disciples.

Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy.

The fermenting characteristic of yeast is seen by the Jews as a corrupting agent. That is why they only use unleavened bread at the Passover.

The corrupting agent in the Pharisees was their hypocrisy. On the outside they pretended to be what they were not on the inside:

Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known.

It can mean that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees will ultimately be laid bare. In contrast, the followers of Jesus must practice transparency. And although much of the teaching that the disciples receive is in private, ultimately all will have to come out into the open.

The Church is not a secret society, although it has its ‘mysteries’, its special teachings and rituals, which are only fully understood by those who are ‘inside’. The Church is of its very essence evangelical. Its purpose is to share the vision of Christ with the whole world. This is crucial to the setting up of the Kingdom, the accepted reign of God in the world.

Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

This, of course, will involve dangers. The gospel will be resisted; it will be seen as a dangerous threat to other views of life. Christians will die and, in fact, thousands have sacrificed their lives simply because they were followers of Jesus.

But physical death is not the worst enemy—it is the consequence of living. It is an end we will all have to face one day, sooner or later, one way or the other. But Paul says:

I will show you whom to fear: fear the one who, after killing, has authority to cast into hell.

Only God as the Supreme Judge has this power. Of course, the only person God “casts into hell” is one who has chosen to separate himself or herself definitively from God.

Hell (in Hebrew ge-hinnom meaning the ‘Valley of Hinnom’ or ge-ben-hinnom, ‘Valley of the Son of Hinnom’) refers to an area situated to the southwest of Jerusalem. In the time of the kings it had been the centre of a cult in which children were sacrificed (see 2 Kings 23:10 and Jeremiah 7:31), and hence was seen as a place of abomination. The Hebrew is transliterated into Greek as gaihenna, which appears in some translations of the New Testament as gehenna.

The punishment of sinners by fire after death first appeared in Jewish apocalyptic literature, but the name gehenna for this punishment only appears in the New Testament. The term is only used in Matthew, Mark, the Letter of James and here. The word is not to be confused with Hades, which was a general name for the place of the dead.

The one we are really to fear is the one who can make us deny Christ and all that Christ means, and to die in a state of denial. But whatever threats hang over us, we are not to fear. We have the example of many before us who have gone to their deaths in peace and without hesitation. They knew they had no other choice: either death or Truth. Jesus says:

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

So our duty is clear: to proclaim the good news of the gospel with openness and integrity and not to fear the consequences. We are not alone.

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