Wednesday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 19:11-28
Immediately following the story of the tax collector Zacchaeus comes a parable about the use of what God has given to us. Jesus and his disciples are near Jerusalem where:
…they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
How right they were! It was indeed going to appear in Jerusalem, but not at all in the way they expected—with the political and military defeats of enemies. As the beginning of Acts reveals, they “were hoping” that Jesus was about to restore the political kingdom of Israel. In time, they would learn that a kingdom of far greater significance was coming into being and that they would play an important part in its inauguration.
The parable which follows differs significantly from a similar one of the talents in Matthew (25:14-30). In Luke, too, there may be two parables fused into one—that of the coins and that of a disputed claimant to a royal throne (symbolising Jesus himself).
Jesus begins the parable by saying that a man of noble birth went to a far country to have himself appointed king and then return. This may have reminded his hearers of Archelaus, the son of Herod the Great, who went to Rome in the year 4 BC to get himself appointed king. On his return, he succeeded his father. It may seem a rather unusual procedure, but the Herods used to go to Rome in order to get appointed as rulers over the Jews.
Similarly, Jesus is soon to depart and in the future will return as King. During his absence, his servants are entrusted with their master’s affairs.
In the parable, the king, before leaving, gives ten units of money to each of ten servants and tells them to invest the money until his return. The coins are called ‘pounds’ (or minas in some translations) and were each worth about 100 drachmas, where a drachma was the equivalent of one day’s wages. Each coin then was the equivalent of about three months’ wages. This is a much smaller sum than those in Matthew’s parable. The other difference is that there are ten people and each one gets the same amount. Recall that in Matthew’s parable there are three people who get respectively 10, 5 and 1 talents.
In the parable, we are told that the people despised this man and did not want him as their king. In fact, a Jewish delegation had gone to Rome protesting at the idea of Archelaus becoming king. In the same way, Jesus was soon to go away and return some day as King and Judge. While he is ‘away’, his ‘servants’ will be entrusted to take care of their Master’s affairs. But others will reject him completely.
When he returned, the new king asked each of his servants to give an account of their trading, just as Jesus will do at the Judgement. One had made another ten pounds on his capital of ten, and he was rewarded by being put in charge of ten towns. Another had made five, and was rewarded with five towns. But a third came along with just the capital he had been given (i.e. the original one pound). He had not traded the money for fear of losing it, but kept it in a safe place. He was afraid of the king, of whom he said:
…you take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.
The king became angry. He did not dispute his ruthlessness, but he said that the man could at least have lent the money and gotten some interest. He ordered the ten units be taken from him and given to the one who had already made ten—this man was obviously good at business. The lesson of the parable is then spelt out by Jesus:
I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
The last sentence of the parable, in a way, describes a third set of people in the story. The first set consists of those who used their coin well and profitably. The second is the one who kept his one coin and carefully guarded it. But finally, there are those who did not want this man as king and these are executed:
But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to rule over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.
They are the greatest losers of all, and it probably points to those Jews who rejected Jesus as King and had their city destroyed, referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD. The punishment of those who rebelled and actively opposed the king was much more severe than that of the over-cautious servant.
The context of the whole parable is emphasised by the last sentence of today’s reading:
After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
We are coming near the end of our story and the climax to which it is headed.
The parable points to all those who are being called by Christ. It is the final part of one large unit (Luke 18:18—19:28) which includes the story of a rich man with good intentions, but not able to respond to Jesus’ call; a prediction of Jesus’ passion not understood by the disciples; the story of a blind man who, after having his vision restored, becomes a follower of Christ; the story of another rich man who was willing generously to share his wealth with the poor; and ending with the parable of the proper use of what we have.
The first rich man claimed to follow the commandments (the Law), but wanted to keep his money safely in his own possession. He is like the man who buried his money and did not invest it in the love and service of his brothers and sisters, especially those in need. The other, Zacchaeus, generously shared his wealth with the poor. He had invested his money well—he had learned to see. Anyone who can really see where Jesus is has no alternative, but to go his Way. Finally, there are those who totally reject Christ and all that he stands for. Their blindness is total.
Today we are asked to reflect on the special gifts that God has given to each one of us and how we are using them for the benefit of brothers and sisters in need. What are our attitudes to money, to property, to professional status, academic or other qualifications or other gifts with which we are endowed? Where do we invest our gifts and our talents, both inborn and acquired?
The message is clear: the more we invest, the more we will gain. We cannot stand still or just cling to what we have. The only way to gain is to let go, to give and to share. Good examples of this would be St Francis of Assisi or St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa). It is an attitude very foreign to many people’s way of thinking, who feel that life consists of amassing more and more, that security is in having.
But the Gospel way is really the only way that makes sense. It is not in collecting, but in sharing that generates wealth, the wealth that really matters—freedom, security and peace.
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Thursday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 19:41-44
Jesus is now on the last stage of his mission. He approaches Jerusalem, which will be the scene for the last great act of his life—his passion, death and resurrection. From here too, will rise up the new community founded in his name, commissioned to continue the work he had started.
As he approaches the city he weeps over its tragic end. He implies that, if the city had received him as Lord and King, it might not have met the fate that was in store for it:
If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
The second half of the word ‘Jerusalem’ (i.e. -salem means ‘peace’; in Hebrew it is shalom). The city had not known the “the things that make for peace” which, of course, was the path that led to Jesus—the Prince of Peace and the source of all peace in our lives. Jerusalem has hardly known peace since that time—neither for the Jewish nor the Palestinian people.
The rest of the passage is a prophecy of what in fact is going to happen to the city. We know that it was besieged by the Emperor Titus in the year 70 AD. However, Jesus’ words are built up from many Old Testament references and seem to refer rather to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC as much, if not more, than that brought about by the Romans. And as none of the distinctive features of the Roman siege are mentioned, the words seem to date from before that time.
But of course, subsequently, it was the Romans who destroyed the city and its huge Temple. One of the wonders of the ancient world was reduced to ruins. The Temple was ransacked and its most precious ornaments, including the seven-branched candlestick, were carried off. All of this is sculpturally recorded in the triumphal Arch of Titus erected in Rome to commemorate his victory, and which can be seen in the Forum to this day.
All this will take place, Jesus says:
…because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.
So many failed to recognise Jesus as Messiah, as God coming to visit them—they rejected him.
With the destruction of the Temple, the Jewish faith was dealt a serious blow, from which, it may be said, it has never fully recovered. No temple has ever taken its place, for it is believed it can only be on the same sacred site in Jerusalem. But unfortunately for the Jews, the Al-Aqsa mosque stands on the site today and is not likely to be removed. All that is left of Herod’s Temple is the Wailing Wall, where Jews go to pray and lament their lost glory.
For us Christians, there is no exclusively holy place, although certain places are of special significance. But as Paul reminds us, each baptised person is a Temple of the Spirit and is to act as such and be respected as such:
For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (Matt 18:20)
Such a gathering may be at a solemn papal Mass in the magnificent basilica of St Peter’s in Rome, or it may be oppressed Christians gathering secretly in prayer in a labour camp—it does not matter. It is the closeness to Christ and to each other that matters and not the place.
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Friday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 19:45-48
Luke tells us very briefly of the scene where Jesus, now in Jerusalem, drives the traders from the courts of the Temple. Says Jesus quoting from Isaiah (56:7) and Jeremiah (7:11), respectively:
My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.
The trading took place in the outer court, also known as the Court of the Gentiles, and, as is not unusual in such situations, prices could be grossly inflated. John speaks of a cleansing at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (2:13-25), but in the other three Gospels it takes place at the end. Two possible explanations have been given. Either there were two cleansings or, more likely, John moved the story to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry for theological reasons. He wanted to show Jesus as Messiah right from the beginning. However, in the Synoptics, Jesus’ identity as Messiah is only gradually revealed. There are also some differences in the various accounts. John mentions cattle and sheep and has Jesus use a whip made of cords. Matthew (21:12-17) and Luke seem to indicate that the event took place on what we call Palm Sunday, but for Mark it was on the following day (see Mark 11:15-17).
Those coming to the Temple needed to buy animals for the sacrifices and they needed to change their Roman coins into acceptable Jewish currency (shekels) to make their contributions to the Temple. Jesus had no problem about that. What he objected to was that this business was being carried on inside God’s house when it could just as well have been done outside.
We all know how street traders try to get as close to the action as they can. However, there may be hints that priests in the Temple connived at this business and hence would certainly have profited from it as well. But Jesus (and probably others as well) felt that such business was not appropriate in a place dedicated to the worship of God.
It would be hard for us to imagine hawkers being allowed to set up stalls inside our churches, although where Sunday papers are still sold, the vendors still do try to get pretty close to the church doors.
Not surprisingly, the chief priests and the scribes—especially those who might have been involved in what must have been a lucrative business—were plotting how to get rid of Jesus who was upstaging their authority and accusing them of hypocrisy, greed and corruption. The chief priests, as members of the ruling Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, wielded great authority. But it was not going to be easy, as the ordinary people continued to flock to Jesus and, as Luke tells us:
…all the people were spellbound by what they heard.
Jesus is an example of the true prophet. He speaks as a messenger of God and is indeed God’s own Son. He stands as a counter-witness to all that is against truth, love and justice. As such, he inevitably incurs the anger and hostility of those who have power, power based on falsehood, on self-interest, corruption and injustice.
Our Church, in its communities and through individuals, is called on to continue that mission of counter-witness. It will win us the support and admiration of some, but also hostility, anger and perhaps even the violence of others. This is something we should not at all be surprised at, nor something we should try to avoid. Our only concern must be always to speak the truth in love. God will take care of the rest. Because, ultimately, truth, love and justice will prevail.
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Saturday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 20:27-40
Today we move on to the middle of chapter 20 of Luke’s Gospel. In previous passages which are not included in these readings, Jesus had rebutted a challenge to his authority and left his critics literally speechless (Luke 20:1-8). This was followed by his speaking a parable about tenant farmers (Luke 20:9-19). He was clearly referring to his questioners and identifying them with the wicked tenants who abused all the emissaries (the prophets) sent by the owner of the vineyard—an episode which culminated in the killing of his son. The identity of the tenants and of the Son is clear. This is followed by Jesus’ being confronted with a seemingly innocuous question about paying taxes to Caesar which again resulted in the silence of his critics (Luke 20:20-26).
Today another group, the Sadducees, thought they might do better. The Sadducees, among whom were numbered some of the most powerful Jewish leaders, including high priests, restricted their beliefs to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, reputedly written by Moses and containing the essence of the Jewish Law.
For that reason, unlike the Pharisees, they did not accept some beliefs which occur only in later books of the Old Testament. Among these, for instance, were the existence of angels and the resurrection of the dead.
The Sadducees thought then they could stump Jesus with an unanswerable conundrum. They first quote a prescription from the Law of Moses by which a man was expected to marry the widow of his eldest brother, if there had been no children by the marriage. They then propose an imagined situation of seven brothers. The first brother married, but was childless when he died, so in accordance with the requirements of the Law the second married the widow, then the third and so on. Eventually, all seven brothers married the woman, but there were still no children.
The unanswerable question they proposed was that, if there really was a resurrection after death, which of the seven men would be the woman’s husband in the next life? For them, there was no problem; they did not believe in the resurrection. Death was the end of everything. For one who believed in the resurrection, it was an embarrassing difficulty—or so they thought.
Jesus quickly brushes the problem aside. To begin with, in the next life there are no marriage relationships:
Those who belong to this age [i.e. those who belong to this world] marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
In the new life, all live face to face with God in a life that never ends. All are equally children of God—brothers and sisters to each other—taking their life and existence from him. That is now the focus of their relationship and it is through that relationship that they are bound together.
Jesus then goes on to challenge the Sadducees’ unbelief about life after death. He shrewdly quotes from a part of the Bible which they recognise as true. He reminds them of the scene where the voice from the burning bush identifies itself to Moses:
I AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (Ex 3:6)
God, says Jesus, is the God of the living and not of the dead (i.e. of those who no longer exist). If Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive, then the Sadducees’ argument fails. Perhaps we would not be convinced by such an argument, but it clearly worked in this case.
Some scribes who were listening in were delighted at the refutation of the Sadducees. Most of them were Pharisees and believed in the resurrection. At the same time, after these replies of Jesus to both the Pharisees and the Sadducees:
…they no longer dared to ask him another question.
We, of course, believe in the resurrection not so much because of Jesus’ arguments here, but because of his own resurrection and his promise to share his life with us forever.
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Wednesday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Revelation 4:1-11
Chapters 4-22 of Revelation (Apocalypse) contain the Prophetic Visions. After the letters to the seven churches, the rest of Revelation is devoted to a series of prophetic visions expressed in very symbolic language and images. In chapters 4-16, God entrusts the future of the world to the Lamb. These chapters speak of events that will precede the “Great Day” (Rev 6:17), when the Lord comes at the end to judge and take to himself all those who belong to him and his Kingdom.
Today, the author has a prophetic vision of God’s throne, and this will widen to embrace the whole universe. We read:
…and there in heaven a door stood open!
This is a metaphor for the entrance to heaven, which must be open for revelation from God or for a heavenly ascent to his presence. The “first voice” heard speaking is that of Christ himself.
John hears a summons:
Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.
“Come up here” is a call similar to that which Moses received to go up Mount Sinai and converse with Yahweh.He is then “in the Spirit”, i.e. possessed by the Spirit in a kind of mystic experience. In this, he is given a vision of God ruling from his throne in heaven, an image familiar in the Old Testament.
God, seated on this throne, is described as being like:
…jasper stone [diamond] and carnelian [ruby] and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald.
John is careful not to describe God in any human-like terms, but only as an overwhelming impression of light. The images are derived very much from Ezekiel (chaps 1 and 10), who liked to use apocalyptic language, and also Isaiah (chap 6).
Surrounding God’s throne are 24 lesser thrones on which sit 24 elders, wearing white robes and golden crowns. These have the priestly role of praising and worshipping God, and also of offering the prayers of the faithful. Their number may suggest the 24 priestly classes or may represent the 12 patriarchs of Israel and the 12 Apostles, the foundation stones of the New Israel. That they are sitting on thrones indicates their role as judges of the ‘new Israel’, and their crowns indicate a share in God’s power. Their white robes indicate their total identity with God and freedom from any taint of sin.
It is to be noted that the thrones of the elders make the outer ring of the heavenly court, and in the New Jerusalem which comes down from heaven (chap 21), we are told that the outer walls are composed of twelve foundation stones of Apostles and twelve gates which are the twelve tribes of Israel.
From the throne come flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, traditional symbols of theophanies, when God becomes somehow visibly present—for instance, as on Mount Sinai. They are symbolic of God’s overwhelming power and majesty. In Revelation, thunder and lightning always mark an important event connected with the heavenly temple.
…in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
The “seven torches” (or ‘lamps’ in some translations) of the seven Spirits of God are the seven “angels of the presence”—God’s special messengers mentioned in the Old Testament and all through Revelation (‘angel’ means ‘messenger’).
The “sea of glass” may refer to the “upper waters” mentioned by Genesis in the creation story or it may be borrowed from Ezekiel. It is also possible that it refers to a heavenly counterpart of a large basin in the Jerusalem Temple known as the “Sea”. Other features of the temple in heaven are the lamps, the altar, the altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant—all features of the Temple in Jerusalem (at this time already destroyed).
Inside the outer circle of 24 thrones there are four more thrones immediately around God’s throne. These are occupied by:
…four living creatures, full of eyes in front and back: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.
Again the imagery is from Ezekiel, where these creatures are responsible for governing the physical world. That they number four is a symbol of the whole universe: north, south, east and west. The animals chosen—lion, bull, human, and eagle—suggest all that is most noble, strong, wise and swift in creation. We are also familiar with them as symbols of the four Evangelists, but that is an idea that dates later on from Irenaeus, one of the Fathers of the Church.
Each of the creatures has six wings and are “full of eyes in front and back”. They are the eyes and ears of the God who knows and provides for everything. Night and day they sing God’s praise and glory in words that we have borrowed for our Eucharist liturgies:
Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God the Almighty,
who was and is and is to come.
And, as the four creatures sing the praises of God, the 24 elders also prostrate themselves and throw down their crowns before him, acknowledging that the power given them to rule over others comes ultimately from God himself. And they sing:
You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.
Obviously, when we read a passage like this we are not to imagine that it in any remotely literal way corresponds to the reality of God. It is simply the use of language and images to express the inexpressible. We find similar language in mystics like John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. It is important for us now and again to be reminded of the utter transcendence of God.
Too often we reduce God to human terms, and we can even identify the humanity of Christ with his divinity. But Jesus in his human nature gives us only the faintest idea of the reality of God in himself. What Jesus gives us in the Gospel is of priceless value because it tells us truths about God we might never have found for ourselves, but what Jesus revealed to us was only a faint image of the whole God.
That is why when we have some experience in praying, we find that the only thing we can do is to sit silent and motionless in a Presence that takes over our lives completely. Rather than trying to manipulate God to our own desires, we surrender to Him completely. That is, “We let go and we let God.”
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Thursday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Revelation 5:1-10
The vision we were introduced to yesterday of God on his throne in glory continues with the introduction of a scroll which represents God’s secret plans for the world. Its contents are unfolded in chapters 6-9 of Revelation, which, however, we will not be reading in the liturgy. Today’s passage is beautiful—once the symbolism of the images is made clear.
First, a word about scrolls. The normal way for writings to be kept was in the form of scrolls. Books, as we know them, did not come into existence until the 2nd century AD. The scroll was made either of leather (e.g. parchment) or from papyrus, a reed whose fibres were made into a kind of rough paper. They were written normally on only one side (but sometimes two) and in columns with pen and ink. After completion, they were rolled up and sealed so that only those authorised could read them (remember, very few people could read—widespread literacy would not come until after the printing press was invented). Some examples of scrolls found in Egypt were up to 100 feet in length, but biblical scrolls would seldom be more than 30 feet—for instance the text of Isaiah. Reading them was a somewhat inconvenient process as they had to be unrolled and re-rolled at the same time. The arrival of the book changed all that by making any part of the script quickly accessible.
In his vision, John sees “the One” on the throne—God, holding a scroll in his hands. Unusually, this scroll was written on both sides and it had seven seals. This indicated its degree of total inaccessibility to the unauthorised.
The voice of an angel then is heard asking who, if anyone:
…is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?
But it seemed that there was absolutely no one in the whole universe (“in heaven, on the earth, or under the earth”) who could do so:
And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.
The known universes consisted of these three components. Under the earth was Hades, the place of the dead and the word corresponding to the Hebrew sheol. Only Christ will have the power to release those trapped there.
John weeps when he realises that no one is found worthy to open and reveal the contents of the scroll, until one of the 24 elders tells him that there is someone who can open the scroll and read it:
See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.
The “Lion of Judah” is a messianic title found in Genesis, where Judah is referred to as a “lion’s cub” and promised the right to rule “until he comes to whom it belongs”. The “Root of David”, from Isaiah, points to a future saviour-king descended from King David. Our Lord Jesus, of course, is indicated here. “He has conquered” refers to conquering Satan and the world.
The “Lion” then appears in the form of a Lamb, standing between the throne of God with the four creatures and the outer circles of the elders on their 24 thrones. The Lamb bears the marks of having been sacrificed, for this is the Passover Lamb sacrificed to save God’s people. Although the wounds are visible, the Lamb has risen from death and is upright in triumph and victory. The wounds are the badges of his victory over sin and death.
As a conqueror of death, this Lamb is also a Lion. (Incidentally, Revelation uses a word for “lamb” (arnion) 29 times. Arnion is found only once elsewhere in the New Testament—in the scene after the resurrection where Jesus tells Peter to “feed my lambs”—see John 21:15). There is also a tradition in apocryphal writing for the ‘lamb’ as a victorious military leader. The Lamb has seven horns and seven eyes. The number ‘seven’ indicates fullness and completeness. The horns represent power and the eyes knowledge and wisdom.
The Lamb now comes forward to take the scroll from the hands of God sitting on his throne. As soon as he does so, the four creatures and the 24 elders all prostrate themselves. They give the same worship to the Lamb as they do to the One on the throne.
They each have a harp, used to accompany the songs of praise they sing, and bowls of incense representing the prayers of the whole Christian community. Incense was a normal feature of Hebrew ritual. In later Jewish thought, angels often present the prayers of saints to God (e.g. Tob 12:11-15). Our image of heaven as people kneeling on clouds playing harps comes from images like this in Revelation. But of course, our future life with God should in no way be seen as being like this!
The passage concludes with the “new song” of the creatures and the elders, a hymn in praise of the Lamb, who alone is found worthy to open the scroll. In the Old Testament, a new song celebrates a new intervention of deliverance or blessing by God. Here, it is the Lamb who has earned the right to open the scroll by the sacrificing and pouring out of his blood, which bought back people of every race and nation and:
…made them a kingdom and priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth.
“Kindom [or ‘kings’ in some translations] and priests”, previously an Old Testament designation of Israel, is now applied in the New Testament to the whole Christian community.
Through our baptism and our identifying with the Lamb, we share in a special way in both the kingship and priesthood of Christ, and also in his role as prophet. This is true of every single Christian and not just the hierarchy, clergy or religious.
Today we give special thanks and praise to the Lamb, who sacrificed his life in love for us and who, through his life, death and resurrection and through the Gospel (the Scroll) he bequeathed to us, has left us a priceless guide to a life of happiness and fulfilment.
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Friday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Revelation 10:8-11
We skip a number of chapters in coming to today’s reading. The intervening chapters had discussed the gradual opening of the seven seals on the scroll and the sounding of six of seven trumpets.
Today’s reading is a digression from the main theme. John has been offered a small scroll by an angel of God. This scroll represents a revelation from God. He is told:
Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.
When he does so, he is told to “take it and eat”. He is warned that:
…it will be bitter to your stomach but sweet as honey in your mouth.
The scene is very reminiscent of an almost identical passage in the prophet Ezekiel where the prophet is told to eat a scroll and then share what he has received with others. It also reminds us, of course, of the instructions of Jesus to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
In all three cases the meaning is the same. They are instructions to absorb and assimilate completely the word of God or, in the case of the Gospel, the words and teaching of Jesus, who is, of course, the Word of God, and make them our own. They then become part of our very being.
The contents are both sweet and sour. The message in itself, at a first taste, is sweet in its promise of life, but it is sour in so far it will also entail a degree of pain and suffering for the Church and its members in living out the message. And that is the experience that John has as he “eats” the scroll.
Now, armed with the revelation that the scroll contains, John is told to “prophesy again”, that is, to proclaim the message of God’s plan which he has received from God. These prophecies are recorded in Revelation after the sounding of the seventh trumpet (which begins at verse 11:15, but will not be included in our readings).
In a very similar way, we are called on to “eat” the Gospel and the whole of the Scriptures. This is part of the real meaning of our “eating and drinking” in the Eucharist. It is not just a physical or devotional act. It is a community statement of our deepest desire to see and love Christ in every person and in every experience of our day.
Unfortunately, ‘eating the Scriptures’—the Word of God, is for many Catholics a very small part of their daily diet. Some are quite illiterate when it comes to the Word of God. It is a sad situation where, among Christians generally, Catholics are probably some of the greatest offenders.
And yet, we cannot really call ourselves disciples until we have entered on what is a lifelong task—deepening our understanding of God’s Word and assimilating its vision into our very being. A knowledge of our school catechism will not fill this void.
We need, as Paul tells us, to have the “mind of Christ”, that is, to see life just as he sees it. We need to be able to say, as he could:
…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.
(Gal 2:20)
Saturday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Revelation 11:4-12
Today’s reading seems at first sight to be very obscure in meaning. After the eating of the scroll, it is a second digression by the author and describes two rather mysterious ‘witnesses’. They are referred to as “two olive trees and the two lampstands”, and they had been given authority to prophesy for 1,260 days or three and a half years, a conventional period for eschatological distress.
These titles originally were applied by the prophet Zechariah to Joshua and Zerubbabel, the religious and civil leaders respectively, who restored the Temple and the city of Jerusalem after the return from the Babylonian Exile. Here it is possible they represent the leaders of the New Temple and the New Jerusalem, namely Peter and Paul.
The descriptive images which follow link them to Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets who appeared at the Transfiguration along with Jesus, endorsing his mission, suffering, death and resurrection. Anyone who attacks them will be consumed by fire. The fire that consumes enemies reminds us of how King Ahaziah’s emissaries to Elijah were twice destroyed by fire brought down on them by God through his prophet (see 2 Kings 1).
And the power to shut up the sky refers to the great drought that came on Israel in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 17). Their ability to turn water into blood and bring other plagues recalls how Moses brought the plagues to Egypt to make the Pharaoh repent and release the Israelites (Exodus 7).
But after they have completed their task of giving witness to Christ and the Gospel, the “beast” comes from the Abyss, overcomes and kills them. Their killer is the Antichrist. His coming from the Abyss indicates his demonic origins. Some see the beast as Nero, the emperor traditionally thought to have martyred both Peter and Paul. In any case, he stands for a ruler opposed to God’s people. The death of these prophets parallels that of their Master and Lord.
Leaving their bodies to lie in the street of a “great city” was a serious violation of all decency for people in the Middle East (see the burial of Jesus himself).
The “great city” may be either Jerusalem or Rome. Jerusalem is sometimes called Sodom by the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) for its moral wickedness, and Egypt for its idolatry and oppression. It is also, of course, the city where Jesus was crucified. However, Jesus could have been said to have been executed in Rome in so far as Jerusalem was under Roman rule and crucifixion was a Roman form of execution (the Jews preferred stoning). The two “witnesses” or prophets, if they are Peter and Paul, would have died in Rome.
The outrage against them is repeated as they are left lying unburied for three and a half days because the “nations” will not allow their burial (in the Middle East and generally in the Muslim world people are buried very soon after death).
Their death, however, is celebrated by the ”inhabitants of the earth” (the world), who found the teaching of these prophets a scourge. This, of course, was only to fulfil the teaching of Jesus about the fate that would await those who preached his Gospel (see Matt 10:16-23). Things have not changed in our own day.
However, this was not the end. After three and a half days, God gave them new life. They stood up (i.e. they ‘rose’, ‘resurrected’), and all who saw this were terrified. The killing of Christians, i.e. the making of martyrs, in the whole history of the Church has only brought new life, new energy and new courage. A striking example in modern times was the assassination of Bishop Oscar Romero while he was saying Mass in El Salvador. The Church thrives most of all in time of persecution.
At the end of today’s passage, the two prophets are called up to the very presence of their Lord and, like him, ascend in a cloud, the very symbol of God’s presence.
Let us hope that we, too, will be able to follow them. For that, we need to give witness to our faith, even in times of difficulty or when faced with opposition. Those are not times to hide our light under a bushel basket or to bury our talent in the ground. As a risen people, we are called on to stand up. How else can the Gospel message of truth and love be seen and heard?
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Tuesday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Revelation 3:1-6,14-22
Today we read two more of the seven letters to the churches in the Roman province of Asia. These letters are addressed to the churches at Sardis and Laodicea.
Sardis
The first is to the Christian community in Sardis. Nowadays called Sart, Sardis was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, and at that time a city famous for its wealth. Its acropolis, which rose 500 metres above the valley below, was a natural fortress on the northern slopes of Mount Tmolus.
This letter is far more critical than the one we read yesterday to the Ephesians. Quite bluntly, the church in Sardis, which seems to be alive, is in fact spiritually dead. The people there are urged to rouse themselves before they die out completely (sadly, dying churches are by no means a new phenomenon—the problem goes back to the earliest days).
The letter comes from:
…him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars…
The seven “spirits” are the seven archangels which stand before God.
John can find nothing in their present way of living that could be commended, and reminds them of their enthusiasm at the time of their first conversion. They should go back to that and sincerely repent of the situation they have let themselves get into. Otherwise, the Lord will come on them like a thief, and that could mean some unpleasant experiences. This warning is not about the Final Coming as mentioned in the Gospels, but of something likely to happen sooner.
In spite of that, some have remained faithful. These:
…have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy [to go with the Lord].
Elsewhere in the book the faithful are also described as dressed in white. Their names will remain recorded in the “book of life”. In the Old Testament this referred to a register of all citizens in the kingdom community. To have one’s name removed from this book would indicate loss of citizenship in the kingdom.
Could we say that the letter to the Christians of Sardis in any way describes the church community to which we belong? Even though there are some external signs of church activity (e.g. going to church), how alive are we in reality? The answer will vary greatly from community to community.
The life the Letter speaks of is there for the asking—Jesus said:
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
(John 10:10)
But it is up to us both individually and collectively to take the steps needed to experience that life.
Laodicea
The second letter today is addressed to the church at Laodicea. It contains some of the most striking and lovely phrases from the whole book and is totally relevant to modern readers.
Now known as Pamukkale (in southwestern Turkey), Laodicea was, in Roman times, the wealthiest city in Phrygia. We are told it was especially known for its banking, its medical school, and its textile industry. Its major lack was that of an adequate water supply. These characteristics are all touched on in the passage that follows.
Again, the message comes through John from “the Amen”, meaning God, who is described as:
…the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation…
Isaiah speaks of the “God of Amen”, usually translated “God of truth” or “God of fidelity”. God’s fidelity is clearly contrasted here with the behaviour of the Laodiceans. He is the “first” (arche) of all creation—either in the sense of being the ultimate source of God’s creation, or the first in rank above all creation.
John’s principal complaint against this church is its tepidity:
…you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot…
“Hot” could be a reference to the hot spring in nearby Hierapolis. The church in Laodicea neither afforded the healing power of heat for the spiritually sick, nor the cool refreshment for the spiritually weary. And like a drink, which should be either piping hot or refreshingly cool, but is neither—God says:
…I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
The problem is that the Laodiceans are blinded by material wealth which conceals their spiritual poverty from them. They are both spiritually blind and naked. To remedy this situation they are urged:
…to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich…
These are the spiritual riches that have been thoroughly tested in time of trial. Then, they really will be rich.
In addition to that, they should fit themselves out with:
…white robes [of virtue] to clothe yourself and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
Each of these three items in material form—their financial wealth (gold), their extensive textile industry (clothes) and a famous eye salve—were things of which the Laodiceans were particularly proud and renowned for.
Whatever sufferings come their way should not be a matter of concern for them. God tells them:
I reprove and discipline those whom I love.
This is a phrase taken from the Book of Proverbs:
My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the Lord reproves the one he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights. (Prov 3:11-12)
The Letter to the Hebrews also uses this text and enlarges on it (see Heb 12:5-11). As well, Paul tells the Corinthians:
But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
(1 Cor 11:32)
It seems at first to be contradictory, and yet it is only when we are tested that our love can grow and mature. That is just as true of our relations with our parents as it is with God. The totally undisciplined child becomes ‘spoilt’ and sometimes flawed for life. And the trials we experience are often calls and reminders from God to redirect our lives more in his direction, in other words, to repent, to reform, to convert.
So the Lord tells the Laodiceans:
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me.
This is one of the most beautiful images in the New Testament and it has been extended to encompass the desire that Jesus has to come into and be part of all our lives. But his coming in depends entirely on us.
One of the most famous representations of the scene is by the English artist, Holman Hunt. It shows Jesus, wearing the crown of a King and holding a lamp in his hand standing outside the door of a house waiting to be admitted. The picture is entitled, The Light of the World. What has often been pointed out is that the door has no handle on the outside. It can only be opened from the inside. Jesus will not force his way in; he will only enter at our invitation. He is there right now and will be there all during this day and every day. Are we going to invite him in or not?
The letter concludes with a promise that the victorious, that is, those who have successfully committed themselves to following Christ and living the Gospel, will sit with Jesus Christ just as Jesus himself sits with his Father. As we read in the Second Letter to Timothy:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us… (2 Tim 2:11-12)
Echoing the words of Jesus, the letter’s final words are:
Let anyone with ears listen! (Matt 11:15)
Let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
This letter is probably the most powerful of the seven, and the one which speaks most eloquently to our day. It warns us of the tepidity, the ‘I-am-a-good-enough-Catholic’ syndrome that can take hold of our lives and lead us to lead lives of spiritual complacency and even smugness. It reminds us of our basic poverty, even if—indeed especially if—we are doing extremely well on the material level. Furthermore, sufferings, failures and disappointments in our lives should not be seen as punishments from God. On the contrary, God is with us through these experiences and uses them to show his unwavering love for us. It needs a special insight to be able to see this.
Jesus our King is standing outside the door of our inner home and asking to be admitted. He wants to come in and share himself with us, but it is up to us to open that door.
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Tuesday of Week 33 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 19:1-10
Today we have one of the most delightful stories of Luke and indeed of the whole Gospel. It follows immediately—and not by accident—after the healing of a blind man as Jesus enters the city of Jericho, to the northeast of Jerusalem.
The central figure is Zacchaeus, who, Luke tells us, was a “chief tax collector” and a rich man. This is the only reference in Scripture to a ‘chief tax collector’. It probably means he was responsible for a district or region with other tax collectors answerable to him. The region at this time was prosperous, so more tax collectors were needed.
Knowing he was a chief tax collector, it was hardly necessary to mention that he was wealthy. Tax collectors were studiously avoided and despised by their fellow-Jews. They made contracts with the Roman authorities to collect taxes and made sure that they got from the public what today we might call generous ‘commissions’. After all, it was a business and they had to make a living. And if an ordinary tax collector could do well, it is easy to imagine how much a chief tax collector might earn.
Apart from forcing people to part with their hard-earned money, tax collectors were seen as traitors to their own people by taking their money and giving it to the pagan Roman colonialists occupying their country. One can see how Jesus could cause great offence to the religious-minded by sitting down and eating with such a despised person.
Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was in town and he was very curious to see what Jesus was like. Already we have here an echo of yesterday’s story, because Zacchaeus too wants to “see”. However, at this stage, it seems to be only a kind of curiosity. He just wanted to get a glimpse of a person of whom he undoubtedly heard people talk. Maybe he had even heard that Jesus had a name for mixing with people like himself.
Because he was a small man (in more ways than one?), he could not see over the large crowd of people surrounding Jesus. So he ran on ahead and climbed into the branches of a sycamore tree to get a better look. A sycamore tree can grow to a height of 10 to 15 metres, with a short trunk and spreading branches and hence easy to climb and easily capable of carrying a grown man.
Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but he did not expect that Jesus would see him. He must have practically fallen out of the tree from surprise when he heard Jesus look in his direction and say:
Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.
What beautiful words! And yet it is a self-invitation that Jesus constantly extends to us:
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. (Rev 3:20)
Is my house ready? Is my door open to let him in?
Zacchaeus could hardly believe his ears. He rushed down and delightedly welcomed Jesus into his house. Immediately, those around began to grumble:
He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.
Of all the people in Jericho, Jesus picks the house of the one person in the town who was regarded as a social and religious outcast.
But as usual, Jesus sees beyond the public image to the real person. Zacchaeus may be a chief tax collector, but he is ready to give half of his property to the poor and, if he has cheated anyone, he promises to pay them back four times what they lost. Fourfold restitution was demanded by Jewish law, but in one case only, for the theft of a sheep (Ex 22:1). Roman law demanded such restitution from all convicted thieves. Zacchaeus, however, promises to pay in any case of injustice for which he has been responsible.
Some commentators read the passage as saying that Zacchaeus has already been making these forms of restitution and sharing his wealth with the poor. If this is the case, it shows that Jesus is able to see beyond the stereotype that makes Zacchaeus the tax collector an outcast. He was not going to the house of an unrepentant sinner, but to that of a good man. Jesus always sees the real person and goes beyond the label. Can we claim to do the same?
Whatever the interpretation, we can see that, though Zacchaeus may have belonged to a discredited profession, his heart was in the right place, in the place of compassion and justice.
And so Jesus tells Zacchaeus that “salvation”, wholeness and integrity has come to his house. In spite of his despised profession, he is “a son of Abraham” because his behaviour is totally in harmony with the requirements of the Law, and in fact goes well beyond it. For Jesus, too, no social status closes the door to salvation. For this is what it means to be a “son of Abraham”, namely, to be a loving, caring person full of compassion, with a sense of justice, and not just a keeper of ritualistic observances.
Zacchaeus, who had originally just wanted to have an external glimpse of Jesus, has now come to ‘see’ Jesus in a much deeper sense. This ‘seeing’ changed his whole life as it did that of the beggar in yesterday’s story.
Further, in answer to the accusation that he has entered the house of a sinner, Jesus says:
…the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.
As Jesus said on another occasion:
Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:31-32)
Jesus is the Good Shepherd leaving behind the well-behaved ninety-nine and going in search of the single one that has gone astray.
As we read this story, there are a number of things we could reflect on. We too want to see Jesus in the deepest possible sense. Only then can we truly become his disciples. We need to hear him saying to us: “I want to stay in your house today.” Let us open the door and welcome him in.
And we need to be careful in judging people from their appearance, or their social position, or their occupation. As a Church, we could spend a lot more time looking for those who are lost instead of concentrating on serving the already converted. In fact, Christ himself invites us to be active evangelisers, both through our actions and through our words.
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