Friday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on 1 Peter 4:7-13
Today we jump to chapter 4 of Peter’s first letter. We have skipped over a longish passage where he gives instructions to various classes and groups of society. Today’s reading consists of the final verses in Part III on ‘Christians in a Hostile World’ and the opening verses of Part IV, which consists of advice to the persecuted.
Today Peter gives some warnings about the end time, which is believed to be close at hand. The early Christians expected to see Jesus come again in their lifetime. But by the time the later writings of the New Testament came to be composed, this expectation was fading and a longer wait was anticipated. This also changed church attitudes, which looked more to present behaviour as a long-term preparation for the coming of the Lord.
The anticipation of the end times, particularly Christ’s return in glory, should influence the believers’ attitudes, actions and relationships:
The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.
If they are to be ready for this coming, Christians are to be characterised by reason; they are to make wise, mature decisions and are to have a clearly defined purpose in life. Prayer should form a central part of the Christian’s life—not just the reciting of prayers, but being in close dialogue with the Lord, of which a large part should be listening.
In their relationships with each other, love, a real care for each other, should dominate. That love should be “constant” because “love covers a multitude of sins”. This is a phrase which we can use very glibly, but it contains a profound truth. The truly loving person, the one dedicated to taking care of the needs of others, can never be far from God. Wherever there is love, there is God; wherever there is love, there cannot be sin.
And such love clearly includes the Christian virtue of hospitality, of opening one’s doors not only to friends, but even to strangers, especially those in need. In addition, all have received gifts in abundance from the Lord, and these are to be generously put at the service of others. That is why they were given in the first place. In a climate of fear and anxiety, where love is missing, it is so easy just to think selfishly of oneself.
Those who have the gift of public speaking, for instance, should use that gift to share the message of the gospel. And this applies not just to community leaders, but to every person to whom the Spirit speaks. Those deputed to minister to the community (including liturgical service) should do so with all the strength that God has given them.
In a word, all is to be done:
…so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.
Everything we have belongs to him and our enrichment is in giving everything back to him—through those around us.
In the final part of the reading, there are words of encouragement. Peter addresses his readers as ‘Beloved’ (Greek, agapetoi)—the objects of his agape-love. They are reminded not to be surprised at trials they may be experiencing from those who attack or persecute them. Far from being disturbed by this, they should rejoice to be able to share in the sufferings of Jesus. When it comes to misunderstandings, abuse and suffering physical violence, Jesus has experienced it all—and for our sake. It was Peter, we might remember here, who opposed the idea of Jesus’ suffering (see Matt 16:21-23).
Much of this advice needs to be heard and taken on board by each one of us. It is as valid now as when it was written over 2,000 years ago.
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Saturday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Jude 17,20-25
As we come to the end of this week, we have a solitary reading from the Letter of Jude. It is a very short letter, consisting of just one chapter of 25 verses, and our reading comes from the latter part of the letter. In general, the letter is a stern warning against false teachers who are doing untold harm to the community.
The first piece of advice is to keep in mind the prophetic teachings of the Apostles. The coming of godless heretics should not take believers by surprise, for it had been predicted by the Apostles.
Addressing them as “beloved” (Greek, agapetoi), in contrast to the ungodly false teachers about whom this letter speaks at length, Jude gives them some exhortations on how to cope with these threats to their faith. He urges them to pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Second, they are to remain persevering “in the love of God”. God keeps believers in his love and enables them to keep themselves in his love. As Paul had said so graphically:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)
As long as they remain open to that love, the Christians can be sure of being able to:
…look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
At the same time, some who are confused by the false teachers need to have their thinking corrected, while others need to be snatched from imminent destruction and loss:
And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.
But they are cautioned that in showing mercy and compassion to those who stray, one may oneself be trapped by the allurement of their false teaching. The wicked are pictured as so corrupt that even their garments are polluted by their sinful nature.
The reading ends with a magnificent doxology, one of the finest in the whole of the New Testament:
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
After all the attention necessarily given in this letter to the ungodly and their works of darkness, Jude concludes his letter by focusing attention on God, who is fully able to protect those who put their trust in him.
Every age in the Church, not least our own, has people going around with all kinds of strange and new messages. And there are always those who, in Paul’s words, have “ears tickled” for the latest novelty. Some of these novelties can be highly destructive, as we have seen in the case of some of the more outlandish sects where many people, including children, unnecessarily lost their lives, or where there was indulgence in behaviour that was either bizarre or humanly degrading and abusive.
The Christian churches, including the Catholic Church, have their faults and need to continue to learn where the Truth is, but there is a solid foundation in the Word of God that comes to us through Jesus Christ that we abandon at our peril.
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Thursday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on 1 Peter 2:2-5,9-12
Yesterday Peter was speaking of the gift of God’s word to us. Today he sees that word as a form of nourishment—”spiritual milk”. We should be as eager as newborn babies for that “milk”. The author is speaking figuratively. Milk is not to be understood here as in food for the immature in unfavourable contrast to solid food (compare to 1 Cor 3:2 or Heb 5:12-14). With the complete nourishing ‘milk’ of God’s word we “grow into salvation”.
For those who have already had a first taste of what God has given to us in Christ (“O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.”—Ps 34:8), there is an eagerness for that nourishment which will lead to growth and maturity in the Spirit. Since this taste has proved satisfactory, the believers are urged to long for additional spiritual food.
Peter now moves to another image when he speaks of Christ as a “living stone”, rejected by many, but precious in the eyes of God. This ‘stone’ is the very foundation of the Church. It is a ‘living stone’ both in the sense of referring to the real person of Christ and as a source of life for others. Christ as the Son of God has life in himself. He is also “living water” (Jn 4:10-14; 7:38), “living bread” (Jn 6:51) and the “living way” (Heb 10:20).
It is a stone chosen by God, but so often rejected by human beings. In his addresses to the people in Acts, Peter repeatedly makes a contrast between the hostility of the unbelieving towards Jesus and God’s exaltation of him.
But not only that, the Christians, too, are living stones:
…built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood…
They derive their life from Christ, who is the original living Stone to whom they have come, the life-giving Spirit. These references to stones may well reflect Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew’s Gospel (16:18), where he tells him he is the Rock on which the whole structure of the future community is to be built, called here in today’s reading a “spiritual house”.
The house is spiritual in a metaphorical sense, but also in that it is formed and indwelt by the Spirit of God. Every stone in the house has been made alive by the Holy Spirit, sent by the exalted living Stone, Jesus Christ. The Old Testament Temple provides the background of this passage. It reminds us of Paul’s telling Christians that they are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and where the letter to the Ephesians speaks of each Christian as a stone contributing to building up the whole edifice of the Church. For now it is the people and not a building which is the Temple housing God’s presence in the world. Paul will say to the Corinthians:
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Cor 3:16 and Eph 2:19-22)
The purpose of that sacred building is to be a “holy priesthood”. This is the priesthood of the whole body of believers. As priests, believers are to:
- reflect the holiness of God and that of their high priest,
- offer spiritual sacrifices,
- intercede for others before God,
- represent God in the presence of all.
Through our priesthood we offer “spiritual sacrifices”, as opposed to sacrifices of animals and fruits. These can include: bodies offered to God (Rom 12:1), offerings of money or material goods (Phil 4:18; Heb 13:16), sacrifices of praise to God (Heb 13:15) and sacrifices of doing good (Heb 13:16). These sacrifices are “acceptable to God” through the work of our Mediator, Jesus Christ. In brief, believers are living stones that make up a spiritual temple in which, as a holy priesthood, they offer up spiritual sacrifices.
Quoting the book of Exodus (19:5-6) Peter, in a phrase much used in our liturgy, calls the Christians “a chosen race” (Is 43:20-21), “a royal priesthood” (Is 61:6), “a holy nation” (Deut 28:9), “God’s own people” (Deut 4:2, 7:6, 14:2; Is 43:21; Mal 3:17). It is a phrase originally directed to the Israelites, but now extended to God’s people of all races, Jews and Gentiles alike, who have chosen Jesus as their Lord.
And in words recalling a passage from the prophet Hosea (2:23), we who were once called “no people” have become “God’s own people”. Once we were beyond God’s mercy and now we have found mercy. In Hosea, it is Israel who is God’s people; in Romans, it is the Gentiles to whom Paul applies Hosea’s words; and in 1 Peter the words are applied to both.
The final two verses (11-12) belong to the third part of this letter, where the position of the Christian in a hostile world is discussed. We are reminded that privilege and choice bring also responsibility. There is no room for complacency. We have to realise that in this world we are strangers and exiles. The word ‘world’ can be understood in both its scriptural senses. We do not belong to that world which is opposed to all that God and Jesus and the gospel stand for. But even in the sense of the material environment in which we live, we are not meant to be here forever. It is not our permanent home. It is a place we pass through to a much greater destination.
Hence we are not to indulge our baser instincts which can undermine our spiritual destiny. We are not to be bothered by attacks made on us by outsiders who may call us ‘troublemakers’. Given Christians’ different life vision, this is only to be expected. Our Way is a “sign of contradiction” for many.
We are to persevere in following the gospel because many unbelievers, seeing how we behave, seeing our integrity, love, compassion and sense of justice and peace, will ultimately come to praise not us, but the God who enables us to live this way. Jesus had said the same in the Sermon on the Mount:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:16)
May they observe the good things that we do so that, in time, they are led to change their ways and give glory to God “on the day of visitation”. The Greek word translated ‘observe’ refers to a careful watching over a period of time. The pagans’ final evaluation is not a ‘snap judgment’. The “day of visitation” is perhaps the day of judgment and its ensuing punishment, or possibly the day when God visits a person with salvation. The believer’s good life may then influence the unbeliever to repent and believe.
It is a very meaningful reading. It is full of lovely images of Christ and of our relationship with him, and it concludes by reminding us how we are to reveal the presence of Christ’s Spirit within us by the way we relate to all those around us.
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Wednesday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 10:32-45
We now come to the third and final foretelling of his passion, death and resurrection by Jesus. It is not insignificant that it follows immediately on the story of the rich man and the teaching of Jesus that goes with it. We are now going to see what being a disciple of Jesus really means.
The first sentence is a statement of fact, but full of meaning:
They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem…
They were on the road—not just any road—but the road…and that road goes to Jerusalem and points to all that Jerusalem will mean for Jesus and his followers. Jesus is the Road—the Way—and his way brings him to Jerusalem, the carrying of his cross, the letting go of his life in love of his Father and us, leading to the final triumph. Those who wish to be his disciples have to be ready to walk that road with him.
The disciples have not quite reached this stage of discipleship yet. As Jesus steps out firmly on the road to Jerusalem, his disciples straggle behind. The Apostles:
…were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.
As far as they were concerned, Jesus was out of his mind. To go to Jerusalem at this time was asking for trouble, serious trouble. Everyone knew the Jewish leadership was out to get Jesus. Jerusalem was the last place to go.
Jesus shows them he is under no illusion about the situation. He gives them a detailed description of what is going to happen to him, more detailed than in the previous foretellings. The key term “handed over” is used again and, for the first time, a handing over to the “Gentiles” is mentioned. Condemnation to death will come from the leaders of his people, but the carrying out of the execution will be the work of the Romans. It was not just some Jews who were responsible for Jesus’ death; we were there, too, in the person of the Roman Gentiles.
Nevertheless, earlier on the disciples had acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour-King of Israel. In the second prediction they had revealed an awareness that what Jesus was predicting was going to happen and so debated who his successor might be. Now, for the first time, the last part of the prediction—rising after three days—seems to be getting through.
Perhaps it was in that frame of mind that Jesus is approached by two of his closest disciples, James and John. However, it is also clear that they showed little understanding of all that Jesus had taught them so far. They approached him gingerly:
Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.
Replies Jesus:
What is it you want me to do for you?
(Note the question, because we will meet it again in tomorrow’s reading.)
The answer of the two brothers indicates how little they have understood of the mind of Jesus:
Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.
Left unstated was their reasoning: “After all, you did say three times that you were going to rise again after your death.”
This is a perfect example of using a personal acquaintance or relationship to get in by the back door and obtain a favour otherwise out of reach. And by “glory” they are almost certainly thinking in worldly terms of Jesus as an earthly, victorious, all conquering king. The kind of person they expected the Messiah to be.
Jesus tells them:
You do not know what you are asking.
They neither know the kind of King Jesus is going to be, nor do they know the price he is going to pay to enter that kingship. This is clear from the next question he puts to them:
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
This is a clear reference to Jesus’ passion and death, the price he will pay to reveal God’s love for his children.
We remember, later in the garden, as the weight of his coming passion presses him down, Jesus prays that the cup be taken away. “Baptism” implies a total immersion, and Jesus will be totally overwhelmed with suffering and shame and humiliation.
Do the two disciples realise this? Are they ready to go through this with Jesus on their way to the privileges and glory they are asking for? “We are able” they confidently boast without realising just what is involved. In fact, with the rest of their companions, they will scatter and disappear when these events overtake their Master.
Nevertheless, looking further ahead, Jesus generously tells them that they will indeed one day share Jesus’ cup and his baptism of suffering and death. James would be one of the first martyrs of the young Church. However, as to giving them the places of honour they were looking for, that was beyond Jesus’ power to give:
…to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.
In other words, these places are not just for the asking; they have to be earned. They will be given, not to those who furtively ask, but to those whose love most closely approaches that of Jesus himself.
Not surprisingly, the other ten were highly indignant when they found out what James and John had done behind their backs. They were not indignant at the impropriety or the daring, but that they had been beaten to it…they wanted exactly the same things themselves.
Following the same pattern as the other previous incidents, the prediction of the Passion and Resurrection is followed by a show of misunderstanding by the disciples, leading to a teaching. And that is what comes now.
Jesus now patiently gives them another lesson on what real greatness in his Kingdom consists of. In the ‘world’, “among the gentiles”, to be great is to have power over others, to exercise authority, to be able to control and manipulate people to be at your disposal, to use people to attain your ends. However, in Jesus’ world, those really great put themselves and their unique gifts to use by promoting the well-being of brothers and sisters, especially those in most need. And the more people we can serve the greater we are.
‘Authority’ is not to control, but to empower. And it is the role of anyone in authority to generate ideas, energy and creativity in those for whom one is responsible—in other words to serve those who have been entrusted to one’s authority. But it is a corruption of the word to become ‘authoritarian’ in such a position. After 2,000 years of Christianity it is a lesson practically all of us have yet to learn.
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Wednesday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on 1 Peter 1:18-25
Peter reminds us that we have been “ransomed” (“redeemed” in some translations). In the Scriptures, to ‘ransom’ (literally, ‘buy back’) means to free someone from something bad by paying a penalty. Similarly, in the Greek world slaves could be made free by the payment of a price, either by someone else or by the slave himself.
In this case, the ransom price is not silver or gold, but something far more precious, Christ’s own blood poured out for us by his death on the cross. The result is the forgiveness of sin and our reconciliation with God.
The readers are told that they have been “ransomed from the futile conduct”—an empty way of life that had been handed down by their ancestors. Some maintain that the letter is addressed to former pagans, because the New Testament stresses the emptiness of pagan life. Others think they may have been Jews, since Jews were traditionalists who stressed the influence of keeping the Law. A life based simply on the observance of external laws could not bring salvation and redemption. In the light of the context of the whole letter, probably both Jews and Gentiles are addressed.
They have been redeemed (or “ransomed”):
…with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
This unblemished Lamb was foreseen long ago in God’s plan to bring us all back to him and replace all other animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were only a pale foreshadowing of what was to come. The Old Testament sacrifices were types (or foreshadowings) of Christ, depicting the ultimate and only effective sacrifice. An unblemished lamb was the centrepiece at the Passover meal. But for us, Jesus Christ is the Passover Lamb:
…the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
(John 1:29)
It is through this Lamb, raised by the Father into glory, that we have become believers in God. As well, through our faith and hope, our lives have become centred on God, the only source of meaning to our lives.
Before time began, Jesus was already chosen, but only revealed in these times to those who are called:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
and
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation… (Col 1:15)
Some think the Greek for the word ‘chosen’ better translates as ‘foreknown’. In other words, God knew before creation that it would be necessary for Christ to redeem the human race, but he has revealed Christ only in these last times. Others interpret the word as meaning that in past eternity, God chose Christ as Redeemer. It is through this Jesus, raised from the dead to eternal glory, that we put all our faith and trust in God.
Our submission to this understanding of our origins leads necessarily and unavoidably to a deep love for our brothers and sisters:
…you have genuine mutual affection, love one another deeply from the heart.
All in all, our being re-born is the result of an enduring seed planted in our heart. That seed is the Word of God. Our new birth comes about through the direct action of the Holy Spirit, but the “living and enduring” word of God also plays an important role, for it presents the gospel to the sinner and calls on us to repent and believe in Christ.
The writer concludes by quoting from the prophet Isaiah who says:
All flesh is like grass…
The grass withers…but the word of the Lord endures forever. (Is 40:6-8)
It is this word which the Letter is proclaiming, a word which is a source of life. It is the gospel which we hear proclaimed to us. That gospel can be summed up in the two points brought up in today’s passage:
- We have been bought back from sin by the priceless blood of the Lamb, poured out on the cross for us.
- We show our gratitude for this by the unconditional love we show for our brothers and sisters everywhere.
Saturday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 11:27-33
Jesus has now come to Jerusalem. It is the last phase of his public life and hostility is building up against him. In today’s reading, while walking in the Temple area, he is confronted by a group of Jewish leaders, chief priests, scribes and elders. These are the people who formed the supreme council which will later condemn him to death. They ask:
By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?
The implication is that he is not doing it on their authority, which they regard as supreme. In his usual manner, Jesus counters with another question. He asks them if the work of John the Baptist was of human or divine origin.
They immediately realise that answering Jesus’ question raises a serious dilemma. If they were to say John’s baptism was from God, then it could be asked why they did not take part in it (as large numbers of the ordinary people did—and as Jesus himself did). The Gospel had described the leaders as simply coming to observe John as outsiders and judges.
On the other hand, if they were to say they considered John’s baptism as merely a human thing, then it would offend all those people who had the highest respect for John and saw in him a prophet of God.
Weakly Jesus’ questioners reply: “We do not know.” A strange and not very convincing reply from the spiritual leaders of the people! Jesus then refuses to answer the question they asked him.
But Jesus’ case was similar to that of John. The people, who had heard Jesus speak (“Never has anyone spoken like this!”) and saw his cures (“God has visited his people”), had no doubts whatever about the source of Jesus’ authority:
They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:22)
The leaders’ own question was a clear indication of their prejudice and wilful blindness in the face of overwhelming evidence.
We too, of course, can have a similar blindness. We can refuse to see the presence and activity of God in situations where we do not want to see it—or in people where we do not want to see it. But God can use any person, any experience, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, to communicate with us. We pray:
Help me, Lord, to seek and find and respond to you in every experience of my life.
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Friday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 11:11-26
We are now entering the final part of Mark’s Gospel. Jesus is now in Jerusalem and in the final days of his ministry.
Today we have the strange incident of the fig tree. Jesus was leaving Bethany for nearby Jerusalem and was hungry. He went up to a fig tree looking for fruit to eat even though it was not the time of year for figs. Jesus then cursed the tree:
May no one ever eat fruit from you again.
Why curse a tree for not having what it could not have at that time of year? And in the evening on their way back to Bethany, the disciples saw the fig tree that Jesus had cursed all withered.
This story is generally understood as a kind of parable. The fig tree without fruit represents those people among the Jews who rejected Jesus. When he came to them looking for faith in his message, he found nothing. In a sense, they had closed their minds and withered up.
This meaning is reinforced by another event which is sandwiched into the middle of the fig tree story. This is a common device used by Mark and it is called an ‘inclusion’, i.e. when one passage is enclosed within another. Another example is the story of the woman with the haemorrhage, which is included within the story of the raising of Jairus’ daughter.
After cursing the fig tree Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem and began driving out all those who were trading in the Temple court. He accused them of turning God’s house of prayer into “a den of robbers”—a market place. It was an example of people who had reduced their religious faith to mere commercialism. Religious ritual had been turned into an opportunity for making money. The meaning of the Temple as the symbol of God’s presence among his people was being lost. As well, there was also the failure to see the presence and power of God working through Jesus himself. The fig tree was adorned with beautiful leaves, but there was no fruit.
And so at the end, Jesus urges his disciples to develop real faith, a real trust and insight into God’s presence in their lives. He says:
Have faith in God. Truly I tell you…what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.
It is an essential condition for prayer. And prayer must include a willingness to forgive and be reconciled with those who cause us difficulties so that we may find forgiveness and reconciliation from God for our own faults and failings in his service. Let us pray today for that kind of faith. A faith that produces much fruit.
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Thursday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 10:46-52
Read superficially, this is simply another pleasant story about Jesus healing a blind man. However, as we shall see, there is much more here than meets the eye, and there is a lot to discuss. Although Mark’s Gospel is the one which gives most details when telling a story—leading people to speak of his using the memories of an eyewitness (perhaps Peter)—there is quite a lot more symbolism in his stories than at first seems apparent.
First of all, this story is strategically placed. It comes at the end of a long portion of the Gospel beginning with the healing of a man who is deaf (Mark 7:31-37). This section includes the high point at the middle of the Gospel where the disciples recognise Jesus as Messiah and Lord, and also the three predictions of his passion, death and resurrection and the accompanying teachings. In between are several other episodes and teachings. Through it all, we see the disciples stumbling along in various degrees of misunderstanding as they accompany their Master.
Today’s story brings all this to an end, and in a way, can be seen as a summing up of all that has gone before. Immediately after this, the final phase of the Gospel begins with Jesus in Jerusalem for the last time.
We find Jesus and his disciples in Jericho, which lies just north of Jerusalem. They are journeying south on their way from Galilee. We saw yesterday how alarmed they were about Jesus’ determination to head for a place so full of danger for him (and them). As Jesus was leaving the city, accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd of people, there was “a blind beggar” called Bar Timaeus (meaning, ‘son of Timaeus’) sitting beside the road. Already we have a sentence full of symbolism here, some of which we will discuss further on.
Jesus is not just leaving the city*, he is on the first stage of the final and climactic period of his mission on earth. He is heading for Jerusalem. Although he is surrounded by a large number of people, most of them are with him only physically, but not in spirit, as we shall soon see.
When the blind man hears all the commotion he naturally wants to know what is going on and is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Immediately on hearing this he calls out,
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!
It is a form of what we now call the ‘Jesus Prayer’. This is a prayer we need to make constantly—a prayer we can only make sincerely when we are truly aware and accepting of our dependence on Jesus’ help and guidance, and when we fully acknowledge the distance that exists between what we are and what Jesus is calling us to be.
In making such a prayer, the blind man is opening himself up to all that Jesus can and wants to give him. However, the surrounding crowd, smug in their (physical) closeness to Jesus and contemptuous of an irritating beggar, try to silence him. How often people have given up their approach to Jesus because of discouragements they have met! How often have we, perhaps, been a source of discouragement or scandal to people who were hesitatingly looking for Jesus and the meaningful life he can open up for us?
This man, however, is not discouraged. The more he is scolded by the crowd, the louder he shouts. Jesus has told us to ask, not once, but many times. This the man does. Then Jesus stops…if the man had not called, Jesus might not have stopped. He would simply have continued on his journey. Jesus constantly passes through our lives. Every single day. How often have we failed to recognise his presence? How often have we failed to call him? And perhaps he has passed on and out of our day.
Jesus tells those around him:
Call him here.
Notice that Jesus does not call the man himself. He tells others to call him. Again that is something that is the norm in our lives.
If we believe that Jesus has appeared to us in a vision and directly called us, either we are ready for canonisation or, more likely, for a care home! No, it is through others that we are constantly being called. In fact, we might reflect today on the huge number of people who have directly or indirectly brought Christ into our lives. It is because of them that we are what we are now. Without them, we would not know Jesus or the Gospel or the Church.
Notice, too, the fickleness of the crowd. Those who had just been scolding the man are now urging him to approach Jesus.
Take heart; get up, he is calling you.
How many people need to hear those words! And how often they never do! Yes, there is no need ever to be afraid of Jesus, our Good Shepherd. And he is calling every one of us, in some way or other. But perhaps many have never heard the call, because Jesus expected me to do the calling. But I was too absorbed in myself to do so.
“Get up!” they tell the man. Yes, he is being told to rise, and it is the same verb that describes the rising of Jesus from the dead. He is not just being told to get on his feet, but to enter a whole new way of living. He throws off his cloak, which presumably was all he was wearing, and comes to Jesus. He comes to Jesus encumbered with absolutely nothing. It is also reminiscent of the disciples leaving their boats, their nets and their family to follow Jesus. It is reminiscent of the early Christians stripping themselves of all their clothes, symbolic of their sinful past, as they go down into the baptismal pool. When we approach Jesus, we need to divest ourselves of everything, get rid of everything we tend to cling to (see the story of the ‘rich’ man in Mark 10:17-31).
Jesus now asks him:
What do you want me to do for you?
Isn’t this a wonderful thing to hear from Jesus? But he is asking the very same question of us every day. We often tend to ask what Jesus wants us to do for him, but he is also asking us what he can do for us. And when he asks you that question today—and he will ask today—what answer are you going to give him? What you say is going to reveal a great deal about you and your priorities in life.
In a sense, of course, Jesus does not need to know the answer to your question, but you do. And the answer comes from the asking. And have you noticed any changes in the way you would answer the question over the years? And what would today’s answer be? By the way, did we not hear Jesus asking the same question before? Yes indeed. In yesterday’s Gospel when James and John came asking for a favour, Jesus asked them,
What is it you want me to do for you?
Compare now the two answers. The disciples asked for a privilege, for positions of status and authority and power, to be one up over others. What did the blind man ask for?
My teacher, let me see again.
Of course, in our present context he is not just asking for physical sight. He is looking for something much more important; he is looking for in-sight, the ability to see into the meaning of life and its direction and its ultimate values.
In answer to the question that Jesus is asking us, we could hardly make a better response:
…let me see again.
When we truly see with our inner eye, it changes our whole way of looking at the world, and our behaviour changes accordingly. We cannot ask for anything more crucial in life. Perhaps we feel all along that we have been able to see both literally and figuratively. But today we are asking to see again, to have a deeper vision that goes much further into the ultimate meaning of our lives.
Jesuit Father Anthony de Mello speaks of this in his book Awareness. He defines ‘awareness’ as “being wide awake and living with your eyes open”. No wonder Jesus responds generously to the man’s request:
Go, your faith has made you well.
“Made well”, that is, he is restored to complete wholeness. Only a person with perfect (in)sight (in the sense we have discussed) is truly whole. Only such a person knows where to go and how to get there.
And what happens then? The beggar receives the sight he asked for (“Ask, and you shall receive”) and what does he do? He does the only thing that a person with true vision can do—he follows Jesus on the road, that Road, that Way to Jerusalem and all that it means. He becomes unconditionally a disciple.
Going back now to the beginning of the story we were told that Bar Timaeus, “a blind beggar” was sitting by the road. This description is one that fits every person who discovers Jesus. We are, without Jesus, blind; we cannot see clearly although we may be very clever and highly educated. But, if we cannot see what Jesus sees, we are sightless; we are blind.
And we are beggars. We can only truly come to Christ when we realise that, whatever intellectual, social or material endowments we may have, we are basically poor. That was the problem of the rich man who came to Jesus. In his monetary wealth, he was not aware of his radical poverty. In our present life, we have nothing that is really ours.
Third, the man was sitting beside the road, not on it. And this indeed is the lot of everyone who sits beside the road, to be blind and a beggar in need. The road, as we have said, in the Gospel story is a symbol of the Way that is Christ. It is where there is Truth and Life. And so at the end of the story, the man, having made his compact with Jesus, is now able to see, is no longer a beggar, and is accompanying Jesus on the road that is his Way.
This story has meanings going far beyond a mere miracle story. It is a beautiful summing up of how Jesus’ disciples learnt to see and walk with him along the Way. It is a Gospel in miniature, a vignette of the spiritually deprived person discovering where Truth and Life are and committing himself or herself to it totally.
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*Luke mentions the same visit but describes Jesus entering Jericho. Here he has his encounter with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector (see verses beginning with Luke 19:1).
Tuesday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on 1 Peter 1:10-16
Peter continues to speak of the “salvation” which the Christians are confident of experiencing. We now are the possessors of the grace which the prophets of the Old Testament looked for. They spoke in advance of the very blessings which the Christians are now experiencing, without knowing or experiencing them personally. But even at that time, they were already filled with the Spirit of Christ when they spoke of the sufferings of Christ to be followed by glory. There is a seamless unity between the Old and New Testaments as one flows into the other, as one prepares for the other.
At the same time, the way of Jesus is one which the Christians themselves will follow. Those who are united to Christ will also, after suffering, enter into glory. And so they will benefit in the midst of their present sufferings from Jesus’ having already entered into glory.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace intended for you made careful search and inquiry…in regard to the things that have now been announced to you…
And what prophets were providing was what has now been communicated to the Christians by the evangelisers of the gospel, first of all, the Apostles—the proclaimers of the gospel, the Good News. The Apostles did so through the “Holy Spirit sent from heaven”, who came down on them at Pentecost, and Jesus himself on the cross “gave up his spirit” (John 19:30, from the Greek, paredoken to pneuma, literally “he handed over the Spirit”).
These are matters of such deep interest and importance,
…things into which angels long to look!
Their intense desire is highlighted by the Greek word rendered “to look into”. It means “to stoop and look intently” (it is the same word used of Peter and Mary Magdalene peering into the empty tomb at Jesus’ resurrection; see John 20:5,11).
As Peter then says, our expected response is very clear. We have to move into action, (“…prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves…”, or in the Greek, “gird up the loins of your mind”), and put all our hope and confidence in the gift of salvation that will be ours when Christ appears.
We have here the first of a long series of exhortations (actually imperatives) which end at 1 Peter 5:11. In the language of the 1st century the term ‘girding one’s loins’ meant that Peter’s readers were being called on to gather up their long, flowing garments and get ready for action. Jesus uses a similar image:
Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit…be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him [the bridegroom] as soon as he comes and knocks.
(Luke 12:35, 36)
Here they are to:
…set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.
That grace is the final state of complete blessedness and deliverance from sin. Peter later indicates that a major purpose of this letter is to encourage and testify regarding the true grace of God (5:12).
We Christians have to change our whole lifestyle. We can no longer:
…be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.
We are to be like children, re-born into the family of God, children of our heavenly Father, able to pray, “…Our Father in heaven…” (Matt 6:9). Believers are also described, by Paul, as being adopted into God’s family (see Rom 8:15).
Even more, we are called on, in so far as we can, to imitate the holiness of God himself who says:
…therefore…be holy, for I am holy. (Lev 11:44-45)
The word “holy” (Greek, hagios) suggests, not a kind of piety, but being set apart from the majority. We have a vision of life and a consequent behaviour which makes us different. As Christians, that difference should clearly appear in the way we live. That is true holiness. Being ‘holy’ also implies a certain wholeness, a total harmony with ourselves, those around us, our whole environment and God.
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Monday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 10:17-27
Today we have the story of a rich man, that is, a man who believed he was rich or who believed that in his material wealth was his happiness. He was a well-meaning man and asked Jesus:
Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
“You know the commandments”, says Jesus and then proceeds to list only those commandments which involve our relations with others, omitting those relating directly to God: not killing; not committing adultery; not stealing; not bearing false witness; not defrauding; respecting parents. And the man responds:
Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.
He was indeed a good man insofar as he did respect his parents and he did not do any of the sinful things mentioned.
Jesus looked at the man with a real love. This is not a love of affection or attraction. It is the love of agape, a love which desires the best possible thing for the other. This man was good, but Jesus wanted him to be even better. So he said to him:
You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.
On hearing this, the man’s face clouded over. He walked slowly away full of sadness because he was very rich. Jesus had asked him for the one thing he could not give up. He had asked for the one thing which the man believed showed he was specially blessed by God. The man had not expected this.
After he had gone, Jesus looked at his disciples and said:
How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
Now it was his disciples’ turn to be alarmed and shocked. The whole tradition of their society at that time believed that wealth was a clear sign of God’s blessings; poverty was a curse from God.
Jesus removes any misunderstanding on their part:
Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
In other words, quite impossible. This was really too much for them. The Apostles:
…were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”
If those who have done well in this life cannot be saved, what hope can there be for the losers? It would take them time to learn the truth of Jesus’ words. And it is a lesson that many of us Christians still have to learn.
And we might ask, Why is it so difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God? Is there something wrong with being rich? The answer depends on what meaning we give to ‘rich’ and to ‘Kingdom of God’.
A person at a lower economic class level in Europe or the United States may be extremely wealthy with the same resources if living in some African or Asian countries. Similarly a ‘rich’ peasant in a remote village may live a life that is primitive compared to a family on welfare in Europe.
When Jesus uses the word ‘rich’, he means people who have more, a lot more, than those around them, and especially when many of those do not have enough for their basic needs. For a person to cling to their material goods in such a situation, to enjoy a relatively luxurious standard of living while those around are deficient in food and housing, is in contradiction to everything that Jesus and the Kingdom stand for.
And we need to emphasise that the ‘Kingdom of God’ here is not referring to a future life in ‘heaven’. Jesus is not saying that a rich person cannot go to heaven. He is concerned with how the rich person is living now. The Kingdom is a situation, a set of relationships where truth and integrity, love and compassion and justice and the sharing of goods prevail, where people take care of each other.
The man in the story said that he kept the commandments. One should notice that, except for one, all are expressed negatively. The man could observe several of them by doing nothing! Jesus was asking him to do something very positive, namely, to share his prosperity with his brothers and sisters in need—and that he was not prepared to do. As such, he was not ready for the Kingdom. He could not be a follower of Jesus. Nor can anyone else who is in a similar situation.
We might also add that the teaching applies not only to individuals, but to communities and even nations. There are countries in the world today enjoying very high levels of prosperity with all kinds of consumer luxuries available while a very large proportion of the rest of the world lives mired in poverty, hunger and disease. It is one of the major scandals of our day. This is not a Kingdom situation and much of it is caused not by an uncaring God, or natural causes, but by human beings who just refuse to share their surplus wealth. As has been said, the really rich are those whose needs are the least.
A final reflection. We may feel that, in our society, we personally could by no stretch of the imagination be called rich and so the story does not apply to us. But we can cling to other things besides money. I might profitably ask myself today if there is anything at all in my life which I would find very difficult to give up if God asked it of me. It might be a relationship, it might be a job or position, or it might be good health.
To be a disciple of Jesus means that he is asking me to follow him unconditionally, without any strings, ready to let go of anything and everything (although he may not actually ask me to do so). It is the readiness that counts. The man in the story did not even seem to have that. Should a Catholic be a millionaire? What do you think? What do you think Jesus’ answer would be?
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