Tuesday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 23:23-26

We continue our reading of the ‘Seven Woes’ listed in the commentary from Monday of Week 21. Today’s reading contains the fourth and fifth ‘woes’.

4. …you tithe mint, dill and cumin… (vv 23-24)

In continuing his attack on Pharisaism, Jesus touches on two issues which are certainly relevant to our Christian living today. First, he attacks the mentality of those who are sticklers for tiny details of ritual or doctrine while ignoring the fundamental issues of justice, compassion and good faith. The Mosaic Law levied a tithe on agricultural produce. Some rabbis scrupulously applied the law to the most insignificant of plants.

A strict Pharisee too would carefully filter his drinking water in case he might swallow a small insect, which would be regarded as unclean. But in being so careful of such minutiae, he might well overlook matters of much deeper importance. Jesus is not criticising a conscientious carrying out of rules and regulations, but it is the attitude of hypocritical moral superiority which he attacks.

One can meet Catholics too who tie themselves in knots trying to observe the most petty regulations and can end up becoming the prisoner of scruples. What is more, they can be highly critical of others whom they regard as ‘lax’. An example might be people who are more worried about not having observed a full 60 minutes of fast before Communion than focusing on what the wider implications of participating in the Eucharist really mean.

5. …you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate… (vv 25-26)

The second point that Jesus makes is to criticise those who concentrate on the tiniest details of external behaviour while totally ignoring the inner spirit. There are certain Christians who speak and write at length about all the things that are not being done right in the liturgy of the Catholic Church, and who claim for themselves a level of doctrinal and moral orthodoxy to which even Rome does not attain. Sometimes even the Pope does not come up to their expectations.

What is striking about these people is the almost total absence of a sense of love and compassion in their writings and actions. They are only interested in ‘truth’ and ‘orthodoxy’, as if these things could exist outside of the nitty-gritty of human living. They can be more concerned about the tiniest rubrical details of the liturgy than about the Eucharist as truly a sacrament of a loving community prayerfully centred on the Person of Christ.

On the outside, the behaviour is impeccable, but inside there is a total lack of a true gospel spirit—the spirit of love and integrity, of compassion and a sense of justice for all. Instead, there can be a heart full of self-righteousness, criticism, anger, resentment or contempt for those who do not think the same, all cloaked in this outer veneer of moral and ritual rectitude.

The two attitudes are closely related and all of us can be touched by them in one degree or another. Let him or her who has never criticised another fellow-Christian cast the first stone!

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Wednesday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10,16-18

We have our final reading today from 2 Thessalonians—a short work with only three chapters. The teaching is a warning against people who do not work and do not pull their weight in the community.

It seems that this was partly related to the expectation of the Lord’s imminent second coming among the very early Christians. They believed that Jesus would return while they were still alive. As time passed, this belief receded, and this is reflected in the later books of the New Testament.

If the end of the world was so near, what was the point in killing oneself working? Paul (or the anonymous author of 2 Thessalonians) will have none of that. Paul’s own behaviour is proposed as an example to follow.

Next to the question of the Second Coming, he pays more attention to this related issue than anything else. It seems to have worsened since the earlier letter to the Thessalonians. The Christians are even told to keep away from, and to have nothing to do with, those who will not work. The word Paul uses is strong, an authoritative word with a military ring about it. This would not imply a complete separation from people who were in effect brothers and sisters in Christ, but rather a total refusal to identify with their behaviour. Idleness is sinful and disruptive, but those guilty of it are still brothers. Such behaviour was not at all in accordance with the “traditions” that had been handed on to them.

Instead, the Thessalonians are called on to imitate Paul, to make him their model. The Jerusalem Bible comments:

By imitating Paul, Christians will be imitating Christ, who is himself the one that Paul is imitating. Christians must also imitate God, and they must imitate each other. Behind this community of life is the idea of a model of doctrine, that has been received by tradition. The leaders who transmit the doctrine must themselves be ‘models’, whose faith and life are to be imitated. (edited)

The New International Version makes this comment:

The order in Christian imitation is:

1. Believers in Macedonia and Achaia imitated the Thessalonians, just as the Thessalonians imitated the churches in Judea;
2. The Thessalonians imitated Paul, just as the Corinthians did and just as all believers were to imitate their leaders;
3. Paul imitated Christ as did the Thessalonians;
4. All were to imitate God. (edited)

In case of any misunderstanding, Paul spells out just what he means. Whenever he was with the Thessalonians, he always worked to support himself, and even paid for the food that he was offered. To “eat…bread” is a Hebraic term for ‘making a living’. Paul, of course, does not say he never accepted hospitality (in fact, he says below that it is the missionary’s right), but that he did not depend on others for his general living. He and his companions worked hard “with toil and labor” so as not to be a burden on any community. (We know from elsewhere that Paul was a tent-maker.) They did this, not because they had no right to expect some material support from those to whom they were preaching, but because they wanted to set a good example which they expected the Thessalonians to follow.

It is another example of Paul’s setting aside a principle—in this case, the community’s duty to support the missionary—for something he believed was more important: that each one pull their weight in the community. (Another example is his refraining from eating certain foods which the scrupulous might regard as ‘unclean’ or in having Timothy, who had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father, circumcised, even though he himself did not believe in the necessity of circumcision.)

Paul had even laid down a ruling with them that food was not to be given to those who refused to work. There was apparently a secular proverb in the form, “He who does not work does not eat”. Paul sets it down as a rule to be followed in the community. He clearly had no time for spongers and social parasites, however exalted their motives.

The reading ends with the final blessing of the letter, a prayer of blessing for peace “at all times in all ways”. He then signs off in his own handwriting. Although he normally dictated his letters (there are hints his sight was poor—was this the “thorn…in the flesh” he speaks about in 2 Cor 12:7-10?), he sometimes added a handwritten signature as a sign of the letter’s genuineness. Here he tells us that this practice was his distinguishing mark. And although he had had words of criticisms for his readers, he concludes with a typical prayer that the loving grace of the Lord Jesus be with them all.

We could perhaps reflect today on our attitudes towards work. On the one hand, there are the ‘workaholics’, those who are compulsive workers, irrespective of the need to do what they are doing, or of the rewards it produces. There are others who work very hard simply to earn more and more, often way beyond the needs of a modestly decent standard of living. In both cases, other personal, family and social needs are neglected and the individual, as a result, can suffer. Paul clearly would not approve of this.

On the other hand, there are those who have a strong aversion to work and who will do all they can to live off others, whether that be their family, friends or the state. Paul would not approve of them either.

There are others who work hard and make significant contributions to society, but whose work cannot always be quantified in monetary or economic terms. Two obvious examples are the full-time parent or the adult caregiver of an aging relative. As well, many of those who work for churches or social service organisations serve as volunteers or agree to accept a token salary. They certainly deserve that their needs (not necessarily all their ‘wants’) be provided by the parish or diocesan community. Surely Paul would give his approval here.

So I need to look at my life and see whether, given my various resources, I make an appropriate contribution to my society:

• Do I work too much?
• Do I work enough?
• Do I work as a service to others? Is that how I see the job or profession I am in?
• Do I work only for the material reward?
• Am I sufficiently and appropriately remunerated for the work I do?

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Thursday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Today we begin reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Christians in the southern Greek city of Corinth. Paul had gone there after his dismal failure with the sophisticated citizens of Athens. Here, in a city of very mixed population and with not a terribly good reputation for its morals, he did very much better. This letter is one of the most important documents of the New Testament and contains some of Paul’s most central teaching. So we will be staying with this letter up to the end of Week 24—three and a half weeks altogether.

As is usual in letters of the period, Paul begins by identifying himself and numbers himself among the Apostles called by God. In its original meaning ‘apostle’ means ‘someone who is sent on a mission or with a message to communicate’. In the New Testament the word can be used in a general sense about someone who is sent on a mission (Greek verb, apostello). More particularly, it is used of the Twelve we meet in the Gospels, but was also applied later to Paul (who calls himself “the least of the Apostles”). The title is also sometimes given to a wider group including Barnabas, James “the brother of the Lord” and possibly Andronicus and Junias, whom we meet in the Letter to the Romans.

Paul uses the title of himself in most of his letters to affirm his authority as a messenger of Christ, an authority that was sometimes challenged. He reinforces his claim here by adding “by the will of God”. In other words, he is not self-appointed.

The greeting also contains the name of Sosthenes, who may possibly be the synagogue ruler who was attacked by his fellow-Jews in Corinth when their complaint against Paul was rejected by Gallio, the pro-consul of the local province of Achaia. (The story occurs in Acts 18 and is part of the First Reading on Friday of Week 6 of Easter.) If it is the same person, then he must have become a Christian either while Paul was preaching in Corinth or during the ministry of Apollos.

Paul addresses his letter to the “church of God that is in Corinth”. “Church of God” is one of his favourite expressions and used only by him. It refers to the community of Christians gathered together, often in one of their homes. Its Old Testament counterpart is “assembly (or community) of the Lord”. At this stage there is no formal building or institutional structure.

He also calls them a people “sanctified”, i.e. made holy in Christ. This refers not so much to their behaviour—for, as Paul will not hesitate to point out, they had many faults—but because they had been called, with Christians in other churches, to be a people set apart, distinguished by their commitment to the Way of Christ. The Greek word hagios, translated ‘holy’, means ‘set apart’, and the “saints” is a term used of all Christians in Paul’s letters, and not just those outstanding in virtue.

The opening greeting ends with a blessing and prayer for the “grace and peace” of God the Father and the Lord Jesus, a greeting we now use in our Eucharistic liturgy.

“Grace” (in Greek, charis) implies God’s love being given gratuitously, and not because it is deserved. No matter how good we are, God is never indebted to us. The first initiative of love always comes from God, never from us, nor can we ever do anything to earn it. It is always there first waiting to be accepted by us.

The letter now properly begins with Paul’s uttering words of thanks for all the testimonies of God’s love, his “grace”, that have been showered on the Corinthians in Christ Jesus. He is especially thankful for the gifts of “speech and knowledge”, exemplified in their preachers and teachers. These are special gifts of the Spirit (mentioned later on among other gifts). ‘Speech’ is the gift of being able to proclaim the gospel effectively. ‘Knowledge’ implies a deep understanding of the gospel message and not just facts about the message.

The “witness to Christ”, which Paul gave to them, has not been at all in vain; on the contrary, it has clearly been confirmed by the gifts of the Spirit of Jesus which are evident among them. Those gifts of the Spirit enable them to serve the body of Christ, which is the Church, until the time when the Lord Jesus will be revealed at the end of time—the time of his final coming. Paul will speak at greater length about these gifts in chapters 12-14.

According to those chapters, a spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit enabling one to minister to the needs of Christ’s body, the Church. The gifts are not intended for oneself, but to enable one to respond to the community’s needs. There are different gifts for different needs. (Notice that Jesus’ final coming is no longer seen as imminent, as in the Letter we read earlier in the week.)

The Corinthians will need these gifts as they wait for the full revelation of Jesus Christ, when the hidden plans of God are to be made known. Then Christ will reveal himself at the end of time, the time of his parousia (Greek, ‘final coming’) and his Appearing. Before this, “the lawless one” will have ‘revealed’ himself, only to be destroyed by Christ (2 Thess 2:3-8).

And it is God who will give them the help they need to remain “steady and without blame” until “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”, when he will return to take all his own to himself. By God’s calling them, they are united in a special way with Jesus Christ. (The ‘day of the Lord’ in its various forms was mentioned in this past Tuesday’s reading.)

And, Paul says in conclusion, “God is faithful”. He is a God who always keeps his promises. His love is unchanging no matter what we may do. And he is the One who has called us into fellowship with him through Jesus Christ, his Son and our Lord.

Paul will have many criticisms to make of the Corinthians in the course of his letter, but for now he begins with words of thanks for all the genuine good that he sees among them.

We can so easily be aware of the shortcomings of individuals and groups inside and outside the Church, and we are not slow to express our views when we get together with others to gossip. But it is important for us to be able to see the good in every person, in groups of people and even in ourselves.

Let us always begin by being thankful for our blessings, for all the good things that we see in ourselves and all those around us. It is sad when we are not able to give genuine words of praise and appreciation.

And let us especially today reflect on the graces that God has poured into our own lives. Let us, on the one hand, thank him sincerely for them and, on the other, ask ourselves how we have used them for his love and service and the love and service of our brothers and sisters. After all, that is why they were given to us in the first place (we will hear more about that later in this letter).

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Wednesday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 23:27-32

We come today to the last two of the seven ‘Woes’ which Jesus throws against Pharisaism.  Again it is an attack on hypocrisy and he gives two examples:

6. …you are like whitewashed tombs… (vv 27-28)

On the one hand he compares the Pharisees to “whited sepulchres” (“whitewashed tombs” in the NRSVue translation), a phrase (like many others) that has found its way into everyday English through the King James version of the Bible. In other words, they are like the tombs that people in Palestine could often see spotlessly clean in their whitewashed stones, but which inside were full of the decaying and rotting bodies of the dead. 

One reason they were whitewashed was because a person who unwittingly stepped on a grave became ritually unclean.  Whitewashing made them more visible, especially in the dark. The Pharisees put on an external show of religious perfection down to the tiniest detail, but inside, their hearts and minds were full of pride and hatred and contempt for their fellow man.  It was epitomised in the story that Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the Temple to pray.  The sanctimonious prayer of the Pharisee was:

God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
(Luke 18:11)

It was, of course, to some extent true, but it closed his mind to a different kind of sin altogether—his pride and imagined self-sufficiency.  As Jesus will say in another place, the greatest sin of the pharisaical is their sheer blindness, the inability to see themselves for what they really are. This, I suppose, is the most dangerous sin of the pious in any age, and yet the one least likely to be confessed and repented. And it can happen to any of us.

7. …you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous… (vv 29-32)

On the other hand, mention of tombs leads Jesus to comment on the Pharisees’ pride over the tombs they have built in memory of the prophets and other holy people. They congratulate themselves that, if they had been present, they would never have partaken in the actions which brought persecution and death to the prophets.  Yet here is Jesus, the prophet of all prophets, whom they are preparing to kill. 

In the last verse of our reading, Jesus tells them to go ahead and complete the murdering of the prophets, referring to what is going to happen to himself.  This is another classic example of the blindness of the self-righteous. The more committed we are to our Christian faith and to the behaviour that it expects, the greater the danger that we, too, can fall into the same trap and see ourselves on a higher level than others whose behaviour we deplore and perhaps even attack. 

Whole groups of such people have been appearing in recent years, people who claim to know the Church better than the Pope, who still deplore the ‘heresies’ of the Second Vatican Council, or who close themselves off into elitist groups afraid of being contaminated not only by the ‘world’, but even by other Catholics!

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Thursday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 24:42-51

We enter the final phase of our readings from Matthew, which will conclude on Saturday of this week. We will see selected readings from chapters 24 and 25 which form what is called the “Eschatological Discourse”. This is the fifth and final discourse, each of which is a collection of the teachings of Jesus and which are a feature of Matthew’s Gospel. This discourse is concerned with the end of all things, and the second and final coming of Christ to bring all things together.

The earlier part of chapter 24 includes the foretelling of the destruction of Jerusalem, an event which for the Jews of the time (including those who had converted to Christianity) must have seemed like the end of the world (just as, later on, the collapse of the Roman Empire seemed to be the end of the world for St Augustine and his contemporaries).

The early Christians had expected to see the Second Coming in their lifetime and the sacking of Jerusalem and the sacrilegious destruction of the Temple must have seemed the certain signs of the eschaton (Greek, meaning “last thing”). But by the time Matthew’s Gospel came into circulation, that was already at least 15 years in the past. The end, although certain to happen, did not seem any more quite so imminent.

Matthew includes as part of the discourse a number of Parousia (Final Coming) parables. Following a pattern we have seen in other parts of this Gospel, they are seven in number. We have two short ones in today’s reading. Both consist of an exhortation for readiness to welcome the final coming of the Lord.

In the first we should be as alert in watching for the coming of the Lord as a householder would be to prevent his house being broken into and robbed. Like a thief, Jesus will come when we least expect him.

In the second parable, Jesus compares us to a servant who has been put in charge of the house while the master is away. This may refer to the community leaders in Matthew’s church and, by extension, to leaders of communities everywhere. It will be well for that servant when the master unexpectedly returns and finds his servant diligently doing his job. Readiness is measured by people’s consistency in carrying out their responsibilities. On the other hand, the servant may think that there is no sign of the master (who had been expected to come earlier) and goes about beating up the other servants and leading a debauched life. It will be too bad for that servant when the master does suddenly appear on the scene.

The lesson is clear. Many of the Christians, who had expected the Lord to come soon, now see no sign of him and begin to backslide in the living of their Christian faith. We can be tempted to do the same thing. “Let’s have a good (i.e. morally bad) time now and we can convert later.” It is not a very wise policy. In the long run, the really good life, that is, a life based on truth and integrity, on love and compassion and sharing, will always be better than one based on phoniness, on selfishness, greed, hedonism and immediate gratification of every pleasure.

And the “Final Coming” may never come for some of us (in our lifetime), along with the chance to turn back to him who is the Way, Truth and Life—but our individual lives will come to an end. The wisest people are those who consistently try to seek and serve their Lord at every moment of every day. They both experience happiness now, and also find that Jesus will not be a stranger when he comes to call them to himself. They are the ones who are both faithful and prudent.

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Friday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:17-25

In today’s reading, a distinction is made between true and false wisdom. Paul presents us with one of the most central concepts of his teaching, and indeed of our Christian faith. He begins by saying that Christ had not sent him to baptise. In so speaking, he is not in any way minimising baptism. What he is asserting is that his special calling was to proclaim the gospel. It was for others to establish Christian communities after he had gone to preach the Message in another mission field. Peter, too, asked others to baptise the gentile Cornelius and his household after they were received into the community (Acts 10:48).

Today’s passage focuses on the essence of our faith, which transcends all human divisions—a message just as relevant now as it was then. What he says arises out of his displeasure with factions which were forming in the Corinthian communities. Some were saying they were for Paul, others for Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), or even Christ. Paul emphasises that they are all, no matter who baptised them, one in Christ. It was Christ and Christ alone who died for them and saved them. Paul’s particular role or charism was to proclaim the gospel mainly to new communities; he was a founder of churches and communities and so he kept moving from place to place. The other church ministries were left to others to carry out. It is a good example of the diversity of gifts which he will speak about later on.

Further, his role was to preach the Cross of Christ, but not with an orator’s eloquence which might rob the Cross of its real power. Oratory was a highly esteemed talent in those days, especially among the Greeks and Romans, but Paul makes no claim to it and for that he is glad. Paul’s mission was not to couch the gospel in the language of the trained orator, who had studied the techniques of influencing people by persuasive arguments. What Paul shares is not human wisdom, but the wisdom of God. The strength of the message is not in how it is delivered, but in its content.

The Cross will speak for itself and does not need the persuasive language of the orator. The message of the Cross is unique. It requires a special kind of insight to see its meaning and its wisdom, which is itself a gift from God. For those who are not on God’s wavelength, it makes no sense, but for those who are, it speaks of God’s power—above all, the power of love.

Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah (29:14) in which God says he will bring the wisdom of the wise to nothing. This was originally said in the context of the people of Judah and Jerusalem who thought it was an astute thing to do to make an alliance with Egypt and thus turn away the threats of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. God had other plans to deal with him, plans which the ‘wise’ never dreamt of. In fact, Sennacherib was forced to withdraw from the gates of the city when his army was unexpectedly decimated by a kind of plague.

And where are the wise men now, Paul asks—all those pagan philosophers, including those Paul met in Athens and who laughed at his message. Perhaps Paul knew of the remark of Aristides who said that on every street in Corinth one met a so-called wise man, who had his own solutions to all the world’s problems (we still see them on our media every day!). Where, asks Paul, are the experts in the Mosaic Law? Where are the “debaters of this age”, those Greek sophists who loved to engage in long and subtle disputes?

Has not God, in Christ, made the wisdom of the world look foolish? Faced with the mystery of the Cross such people have nothing to say.

In a beautifully paradoxical statement (worthy of an orator!) he says:

…since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe.

This does not mean, of course, that Paul’s preaching is foolish, but that the message of Christ crucified is viewed by the world as foolish. Jesus said something similar:

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants… (Luke 10:21)

And so, the Jews are demanding miracles and signs as proofs of God’s saving power among them. Several times in the Gospels, Jesus was asked for a ‘sign’ to prove his credentials, even though his whole public life was a succession of signs which ordinary people frequently recognised. The Greeks, on the other hand, indulged in endless philosophising about ‘truth‘ and ‘wisdom’ without ever coming to grips with the realities of life.

The Cross is on a completely different level. It does not require great intelligence and learning to be understood. It can be grasped by the totally illiterate person. It is not a message of intellectual depth, but a witness to immeasurable love. It can only be accessed by faith and trust.

Paul and his companions are proclaiming a crucified Lord, a message of power shining through total impotence and apparent failure. On the face of it, it is a total contradiction—except to those who can see its inner meaning. No wonder it is a ‘scandal’, an insuperable obstacle for those Jews who were waiting for an altogether different Messiah. They expected a triumphant, political Messiah, not a crucified one.

Even Jesus’ disciples had this expectation. On the day of the Ascension, they asked him:

Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)

The answer, of course, was “Yes”, but not in the way they were thinking. Similarly, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus said to the stranger who walked along with them:

…we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.
(Luke 24:21)

It was only after Jesus had explained the Scriptures to them that they realised the real truth behind their question.

And to the Gentiles it made no sense whatever. How could a crucified criminal be proclaimed as the world’s Saviour? Greeks and Romans were sure no reputable person would ever be crucified, so it was unthinkable that a crucified criminal could be the Saviour.

However, for those who have received the call, be they Jews or Greeks, Jesus on the cross speaks eloquently of the power and wisdom of God. The crucified Christ is the power that saves and the wisdom that transforms apparent folly into ultimate and highest discernment. And Paul finishes with a memorable and much-quoted statement:

For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Today, the Cross is still seen as a stumbling block and as nonsense by those who only see the external image. In a world dedicated to acquisition, power and success, it gives a totally unacceptable message.

The power of the Cross, the power of active non-violence is not understood, and the followers of Jesus are ridiculed and deemed irrelevant. As Christians living in this world, we are probably often caught in the middle. We are carried along by the power-success dream, and at the same time would like to be able to make the weakness-failure Way of Christ ours too. What we need is to be able to see clearly that the real power and wisdom is with Jesus’ Way, and that the way of the world ultimately leads only to nothingness.

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Friday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 25:1-13

The second chapter of the Eschatological Discourse consists of three long parables, all of which are familiar to us. They have the common theme of preparation for the final coming of the Lord, whenever that will be.

Today’s reading is the parable about the wise and foolish bridesmaids. The story likely reflects common wedding customs of the time. The bridesmaids who attend on the bride are waiting for the bridegroom to come. The time of his arrival is not known. Perhaps, at that time, it was his way of asserting his male authority from the very beginning of their marriage.

In the story there are 10 bridesmaids altogether. Of these we are told five were “wise” and the others were “foolish”. The “wise” young women all brought an extra supply of oil with them while the “foolish” ones only had their lamps. The lamps consisted of oil-soaked rags at the top of a pole and needed to have oil added every 15 minutes or so.

The bridegroom was long in coming. The implication is that he was taking much longer than expected. In fact, he was so long in coming that the bridesmaids all fell asleep. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, the call went up:

Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.

Immediately the young women got ready and trimmed their torches. The charred edges had to be cut away and the rags soaked in more oil. The foolish ones immediately realised they were running out of oil. They ask their companions to share some of their oil. These refused on the grounds that there was not enough to go round and none of them would have enough. The foolish ones were told to go off and buy some more for themselves.

However, while they were still away, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went into the marriage celebration with him and the doors were shut. When the foolish bridesmaids finally arrived with their new supply of oil, they found the doors closed in their face. They cried out:

Lord, lord, open to us.

But the bridegroom answered:

Truly I tell you, I do not know you.

Again this is a parable warning us all to be ready when the Lord comes. In the early Church, he had at first been expected to come in the very lifetime of the early Christians. This belief is reflected in the First Letter to the Thessalonians (read during the weekdays of the Cycle 1 First Readings), which is the earliest writing of the New Testament.

But Jesus did not come and, by the time Matthew’s Gospel appeared, people were beginning to realise that his coming could be in a more distant future. It is in this context that today’s parable gives a warning. If the Lord was not going to come soon, then some people might begin to take things easy and become lax in their living of the gospel. Today’s passage suggests that that is not a very wise way of behaving.

The bridegroom may not have come when expected, but he did come. And, when he came, half of the group were not ready. In other places, Jesus has warned that the:

..day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matt 24:36)

Because:

the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
(1 Thess 5: 2)

The only policy is constant readiness. If we are not ready and he does come, then we may find the doors closed and hear what are perhaps the most chilling words in the whole Gospel:

…I do not know you.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus says that, as the Shepherd, he knows his sheep and they know him. Not to be known by Jesus means to have broken our relationship with him through sinful and loveless behaviour. To be in that state when he comes is truly tragic. The choice is ours, as we have been given adequate warning.

While the Gospel is speaking about the final or eschatological coming of Jesus as King and Lord, it would be very complacent of us to think that there are no signs of its happening in the near future. That would put us in the same category as the foolish bridesmaids! While the final coming may still be far off, our own rendezvous with the Lord can be at any time. For all practical purposes, that is the time for which we must be prepared.

Our news media is full of reports of lives being cut short by accident, illness or violence. Any of us could be one of those victims, young and in perfect health with a whole life before us. But the Lord calls when he calls.

Will I have ‘oil in my lamp’? That is, what would I be able to show the Lord in terms of gospel-centred living? Maybe we think the “wise” young women in the story were selfish not to have shared their oil, but there are some things which we have to bring to the Lord on our own. We cannot borrow the good life that someone else has led. It has to be totally ours.

Clearly, the best way to prepare is not to think anxiously of the future, but to concentrate on the here and now. Let us learn to live totally in the present, to seek and find God there. If we can do that, then all the rest will take care of itself. And, whether the Groom arrives early or late, it will not matter. Because he has been constantly part of our everyday lives. And, apart from the insurance that it gives, is it not by far the best way to spend our days?

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Saturday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Today’s reading picks up from yesterday’s discussion about true wisdom in relation to the Cross of Christ and applies it to the Christian disciples of Corinth. As a clear example and proof of the power of Christ’s weakness, Paul cites the Corinthian Christians themselves. They are living proof that salvation does not depend on merely human resources. If they experience salvation, the credit must go completely to the Lord.

Most of the early Christian converts did not come from the class of intellectuals, from the politically influential or from aristocratic families. By the standards of the world, they were not considered among the more intellectually gifted. This only emphasises the power of Christ’s message which the powerful were not able to overturn—and still cannot overturn.

God has called not the wise and the rich and the powerful to build his Kingdom, but the poorly educated and the economically weak. He chose:

…what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…what is weak in the world to shame the strong…

Paul continues:

God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

This does two things: it proves that the deeper wisdom is in the Way of Christ, while, at the same time, what the Christians do achieve is the work of God in them and not something they can personally boast about. Paul says:

God is why you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God…

To recognise that wisdom, we need the inspiration of God through his Spirit. These Christians, low down in the social scale, are the evidence of God’s power and greatness. God has become their wisdom, their virtue, their holiness and their freedom.

Later on, the might of kings and governments and ‘wise men’ will be thrown against them, but they will have a power within them that cannot be overcome. This has happened again and again, down to our own day. Within our own lifetime, regimes have tried to obliterate the Christian way, and they have failed.

The committed Christian is possessed of a vision of life that opponents do not understand. It is a vision based on the search for truth and love and justice as the only weapons of power. Equipped with such transcendent weapons which originate in God, they cannot but win out in the end.

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Saturday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 25:14-30

Today is our final weekday reading from Matthew’s Gospel and on Monday we will begin the reading of Luke’s Gospel. Today is also our last reading from the fifth and final Eschatological Discourse of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel.

There are two great passages left—the parable of the talents and the description of the last judgement—but we will only be taking the first of these. Both deal with the final judgment and, like the parable of the bridesmaids, are warnings on how we are to prepare.

The parable speaks of a wealthy man who, before he set off on a journey, entrusted his servants (slaves) with large sums of money. He gave them different amounts according to their ability. One received five talents, a second, two, and the third just one. A ‘talent’ was an enormous amount of money in the ancient world, so five talents was a veritable fortune. Originally, the term stood for a unit of weight, about 75 pounds or 30-something kilos. Later it became a unit of coinage, the value depending on the metal used. Actually, our current meaning of ‘talent’ comes from this parable.

The amount given out indicates the generosity of the master. But the money was not for their own personal enjoyment; it was meant to be used productively.

The first two servants both traded actively with the money they had been given and doubled their original capital. The third man, however, buried his money in the ground, as this was considered the most secure place in a pre-banking society.

When the master came back, the first two presented their accounts. Their master was very pleased and they were entrusted with even more responsibility. To each he said:

Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.

Then the third man came along with his one talent. He had not traded with it because he was afraid he would lose his money and said:

Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.

Ironically, he was the one who was given the least and from whom the least was expected. But even with that little responsibility he failed to produce. Perhaps he even expected to be praised for his prudence.

The master does not deny the charge of being a hard man, but he accuses the man of not having done even the least thing to increase his capital. He could have deposited or lent the money and got some interest. But he had absolutely nothing to show of his own.

The money is taken from him and given to the one who had five talents. Surprising? Unfair? Not really. This man had already shown he was a very good investment. And Jesus sums up:

For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

As mentioned above, the word ‘talent’, which in biblical times referred to a huge amount of money, now denotes a particular gift or ability with which a person is endowed. “He has a great talent for music; she has a great talent for design.” In that sense, we have all been endowed with talents in varying degrees or, to use a word which Paul prefers, charisms. In either case, they indicate some distinctive ability which is to a large extent innate or God-given.

Everyone of us has been endowed in some way. And, as in the parable, some are greatly endowed and others less so. All that is asked is that we make use of that gift or those gifts to the best of our ability, and not for ourselves alone (that is to bury them in the ground), but to build up the Kingdom and make a positive contribution to the community to which we belong.

At the end we will be asked, as the men in the parable were, “How did you use the gifts I gave you and how productive were they in furthering the growth of the Kingdom?”

Today then is a day for us to identify what those gifts actually are. It is possible that some people have never given it much thought. They see their Christian life in rather passive terms, just looking after themselves, living in conformity to the commandments of God and the Church, fulfilling their ‘religious duties’, making sure to die ‘in the state of grace’. But this, in effect, is to bury one’s talents.

Today’s Gospel makes it very clear that far more is expected of us. We are expected to make an active and positive contribution to the work of the Kingdom and to the Christian community as the Body of Christ. In practice, that means taking an active part in our Church, in our parish, and in making a contribution to the betterment of our society. So, it is very important for us to spend some time in reflecting on what are my unique ‘talents’ or gifts or abilities and then to ask how and to what end I am using them? The time to do that is today because, as we have been amply warned, we do not know when our Master is coming back to check his accounts with us.

The end of today’s passage indicates that if we do not move forward, or are not productive, then we go backwards. We cannot remain static or purely passive in God’s service. To do nothing is not a possible option. The more we give and share with others from the resources we have, the more we are personally enriched. On the other hand, to cling to our gifts and keep them just for ourselves is to become smaller in every way.

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Tuesday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3,14-17

In the First Letter to the Thessalonians (the earliest extant letter of Paul that we have), Paul seemed to be saying that the second and final coming of the Lord was imminent, although he was careful not to specify a particular time.

Apparently replying to further questions, Paul (or the actual author) in this second letter does not repeat all that was said in the first letter about what would happen to the living and the dead. What is being written here is supplementary to Paul’s oral teaching and the instructions contained in the earlier letter. All he is concerned with is to emphasise that the Lord’s final coming is not imminent, and that it cannot take place till certain specific signs have preceded it.

Although the Second Coming and its prelude is a major theme of this letter, Paul warns the Christians:

…not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

In other words, they are not to be alarmed by predictions (false prophecies), rumours or spurious letters supposed to have come from Paul suggesting that the “day of the Lord” is already on them.

“Shaken in mind” translates a verb often used of a ship adrift from its moorings and suggests a lack of stability. Here it suggests a kind of panic at the supposed imminence of the Lord’s coming. The Christians are not to be deceived by such false alarms.

The expression “the day of the Lord” comes originally from the prophet Amos (5:18). In the Old Testament, it is a time when God will come and intervene with judgement and/or blessing. In the New Testament, the thought of judgement continues, but it is also the ‘day of redemption’, the ‘day of God’, or of Christ, and the ‘last day’, the ‘great day’ or simply ‘the day’. It is the climax of all things. There will be some preliminary signs, but the coming will be as unexpected as that of “a thief in the night”.

In the second and final part of the reading, the author reminds the Christians to focus on the gospel which has been preached to them and which has as its final purpose a sharing in the glory of Jesus Christ as Lord:

[Jesus] called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Our gospel” is the gospel preached by Paul, Silas and Timothy, that they themselves had received by faith. It is, of course, first of all God the Father’s because it originates from him, and Christ’s because it springs from his sacrificial death.

Let the Christians forget about worrying when this sharing in glory will actually take place, and concentrate on living out the “traditions”, i.e. the teachings which they had received from Paul and the other Apostles, either orally or in writing. This refers to what Paul taught them when he was in Thessalonica. Since he returned from there, what he had written to them includes, in the message of the Good News, the principles on which a Christian should lead his life.

Until the New Testament took its final form, essential Christian teaching was passed on in the ‘traditions’ (a word which comes from the Latin ‘to hand on’ or ‘hand over’), just as rabbinic law was, and it could be either oral or written. The four Gospels which we have now are basically built up from such written and oral ‘traditions’.

The passage ends with a lovely Pauline prayer, very similar to one in the same place in the first letter and which also includes the words “encourage” and “strengthen” (1 Thess 3:11-13). The prayer is for inner strength that will produce results in both action and speech. It is a prayer we could say often for each other and for all those we know and love (or especially for those we find it difficult to love):

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God our Father, who loved us and through grace
gave us eternal comfort and good hope
comfort your hearts and strengthen them
in every good work and word.

At every age in the Church’s history, including our own, there are people who are convinced that the ‘end of the world is nigh’ and that Christ is coming in Judgement at any moment. Certain key periods, such as the end of a century or, even more, the end of a millennium, have produced a veritable rash of such warnings. So far, they have never proved accurate.

We would be better off listening to the advice of today’s letter and focusing our energies on living out the gospel each and every day in truth and love. This is the best possible preparation we can make for that time which will come “like a thief in the night”.

And, as has been said more than once in these reflections, a much more realistic end for us to consider is that of our own life than that of the universe or our planet. In either case, however, the recommended advice is the same: live the gospel day in and day out and the rest will take care of itself.

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