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Thursday after Ash Wed.
Choosing Life
Deut. 30:15-20
Luke 9:22-25
Friday after Ash Wed.
Genuine Penance
Isaiah 58:1-9
Matthew 9:14-15
Saturday after Ash Wed.
Levi, a Paradigm of Acceptance
Isaiah 58:9-14
Luke 5:27-32
Deut. 30:15ff. A heartfelt call to fidelity, as the key to
their future."Choose life so that you and your descendants may
live!"
Luke
9:22ff. Jesus predicts his passion, and its effect on disciples - they must
carry their cross each day, after him.
The
same Jesus who declared that his ideal in life was "that they may have
life, and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10) also spoke of his followers
having to share in his death and carry the cross with him. These words are in
paradoxical tension, but surely not in contradiction. Indeed from the start
of the church it has been a fixed principle that only through dying with him
can we enter the fullness of life.
Deuteronomy,
a book much loved and used by Jesus, presents fidelity, as the key to the
future of God's people. "By walking in his ways, you shall live" it
says, but if your heart turns away and you do not hear, I declare to you
today that you shall perish!" In this, his final address to the people
he has led out of slavery and into the Promised Land, Moses ends with the
heartfelt appeal: "Choose life!"
Keep
the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by
loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his
commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become
numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are
entering to possess.
But
if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down
to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish;
you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter
and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have
set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you
and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and
holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that
you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Jesus
said to his disciples, "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and
be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on
the third day be raised." Then he said to them all, "If any want to
become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily
and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those
who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if
they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?
Isaiah
58:1ff. Authentic religious practice ("True fasting") is contrasted
with merely external observance.
Matthew
9:14ff. Jesus predicts fasting in the future, once the bridegroom is gone
from this world.
The
people were doubtless incensed when accused by Isaiah of rebelling against
God. They saw themselves as eager in religious practice. They fast, but then
they oppress their workers. The stern prophet assures them that they are
practicing their religion not to please God, but to please themselves. Their
observance has become mere ritual, mere activity, something they are doing
for themselves. On the days they fast, they end up arguing and fighting.
Today, we too can fall into this.
Many may
see our walk with God as a one-day-a-week commitment. Sometimes when we go to
church, we demand that it be a time that caters entirely to ourselves. We
become wrapped up in our own concerns, not those of God our Maker.
Now,
helped by the prophet, we see the penance that God has chosen for us, in
Lent. It's not a time to indulge oneself, but a time to think of others. The
fast God has chosen is a time to clothe the naked, to right injustices, to
feed the hungry, and to take in those that do not have a home. It is to love
my neighbor as truly as my own self. As always, the Word is here to help and
guide us.
Shout
out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my
people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day
they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that
practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they
ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. "Why do
we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not
notice?"
Look,
you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such
the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head
like a bullrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a
fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is
not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the
thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is
it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into
your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself
from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your
healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the
glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord
will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
Then
the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees
fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them,
"The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them,
can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and
then they will fast.
Isaiah
58:9ff. If the people are converted, they will be richly blessed...
"like
a spring whose waters never fail."
Luke
5:27ff. The converted tax collector sits at table with Jesus, who welcomes
sinners to repentance.
The
Jesus we follow is one who loves and accepts the individual in their reality,
as life has formed him or her. His open acceptance of Levi as a conversation
partner over dinner, and later as a trusted helper, is symptomatic of his
wider approach to others. The converted tax collector is not made to feel a
second-class citizen, simply for coming late into the Lord's circle.
Our
Jesus believes in conversion: he calls people to it, and awaits their
positive response. How fully he would endorse Isaiah's conviction on this
matter: "Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry
for help, and he will say, "Here I am."
Then
you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will
say, "Here I am."
If
you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking
of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the
afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like
the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in
parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered
garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins
shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you
shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live
in.
If
you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on
my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord
honourable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, serving your own
interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the
Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you
with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken.
After
this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax
booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up, left
everything, and followed him.
Then
Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd
of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees
and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, "Why do you
eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered,
"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;
I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Monday
Leaving out Luxuries
Leviticus 19:1-2,
11-18
Matthew
25:31-46
Tuesday
Safe In His Hands
Isaiah 55:10-11
Matthew 6:7-15
Wednesday
Learning from Jonah
Jo 3:1-10
Luke 11:29-32
Thursday
Esther's Choice
Esther 4:29-42
Matthew 7:7-12
Friday
Ezekiel's Principle
Ezekiel
18:21-28
Matthew 5:20-26
Saturday
His Very Own People
Deut. 26:16-19
Matthew 5:43-48
Leviticus
19:1ff. The basic commandments are set alongside guidance for worship and for
social compassion.
Matthew
25:31ff. The final judgment will be based on "As you did it to one of
the least of these, you did it to me.'
Both
biblical readings deal, like the prophets, with the radical needs and
essential elements of human existence. There is no quibbling over small
details and luxury items. It becomes a case of life and death, of hunger and
thirst, of nakedness and imprisonment. The Scriptures examine our conscience
on authentic, basic issues: a blind person, in danger of walking into a
stumbling block; a deaf person, abused helplessly with offensive language; a
day laborer, prevented from taking home a proper wage to the weakened bodies
and dismal eyes of the family.
When
issues reach this deeply into the human heart and penetrate so thoroughly
into the fibre of human existence, then we come to grips with the most
important qualities of life and character. At moments such as these, it is a
matter of heaven or hell, life or death, that we put away all grudges and
hatred from our hearts, that we forget about revenge and petty quarreling. As
Leviticus then concludes: "You shall love your neighbour as
yourself."
Lenten
fast and penance, Lenten almsgiving and support, Lenten prayer and Bible
study - practises such as these unite all men and women. The wealthier taste
the hunger of those more poor than themselves, those more poor share their
own habitual heroic dependence on God and their neighbour with the wealthier
who can otherwise become too independent and self-sufficient. By these alms
the proud can offer the destitute an opportunity for self-respect; by their
gracious acceptance the poor can teach the proud how to be of humble heart
before God and neighbour.
The
book of Leviticus then shouts the deepest laws of creation where we are
reduced to that wonderful, common status, all children of God. Therefore,
"love your neighbour as yourself." Unless this divine law is
pursued and obediently followed, then at the end of life Jesus can do nothing
else but say: "I do not know you!" The final judgment is a solemn
ratification of how we have responded to the basic laws of human nature - and
here we find the wonderful vision of Jesus: "As often as you did it for
one of my least brothers and sisters, you did it for me." Jesus too is
bone of our bones, flesh of our flesh.
The
Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel
and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You
shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my sabbaths: I
am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make cast images for
yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
When
you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it in such a way that
it is acceptable on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the same day you offer
it, or on the next day; and anything left over until the third day shall be
consumed in fire. If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an
abomination; it will not be acceptable. All who eat it shall be subject to
punishment, because they have profaned what is holy to the Lord; and any such
person shall be cut off from the people.
When
you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of
your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your
vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave
them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
You
shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one
another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of
your God: I am the Lord.
You
shall not defraud your neighbour; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep
for yourself the wages of a labourer until morning. You shall not revile the
deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am
the Lord.
You
shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or
defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour. You shall
not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by
the blood of your neighbour: I am the Lord.
You
shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your
neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or
bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour
as yourself: I am the Lord.
"When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will
sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him,
and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the
goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come,
you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was
thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed
me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him,
'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and
gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and
welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you
sick or in prison and visited ou?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I
tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of
my family, you did it to me.'
Then
he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry
and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I
was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me
clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will
answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will
answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least
of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Isaiah
55:10ff. God's word comes down from heaven like rain, to make the earth
fruitful
Matthew
6:7ff. Guidance about prayer and the spirit of forgiveness.
Year
after year, one Lent after another, we hear and ponder God's word. The
process is a long one, of listening to the word of God, of appreciating and
absorbing it, of responding to it obediently, so that the word begins to take
possession of us, transforms our thoughts and values, and allows our mind and
heart to resonate the thoughts and loves of God Himself. This cycle of life
is symbolized by rain and snow, falling gently from the sky and soaking the
earth with nourishment, then returning towards heaven as bushes and trees.
Divine inspiration is the rain and snow, our inspired lives are the bushes
and trees. This image concludes chapters forty to fifty-five of Isaiah, some
of the most enthusiastic and tragic literature of the Old Testament.
The
lines of this exalted poetry show all the hallmarks of human genius, well
trained and carefully exercised. The poems, moreover, seethe with hopes and
ideals, with courage and persistency, superceding normal human power. As we
today contemplate chapters forty to fifty-five, we sense the divine word
reaching through our human words back to God in superhuman ways.
We do
not know the name of the author of this sublime poetry; sometimes the author
is called "Second Isaiah" or even the "Great Unknown." So
thoroughly did his message clothe his personality, that his name is lost; the
word becomes translucently God's word! Yet, the lines redound with tender and
exquisite human compassion; they pulse with the flesh and blood, the breath
and heart of our life.
"See!"
God says through this prophet, "upon the palms of my hands I have
written your name" (Is 49:16). Again we read God's explanation:
"because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love
you" (43:4). In order that this tender growth reach towards God over a
long period of time, God's interior life within ourselves and within others
must be delicately nourished and gently loved. Such love is best expressed by
bestowing great hopes and unconditional forgiveness. And this is exactly the
type of love which Jesus teaches us when he taught us to pray the Our Father.
Hope, confidence and security are planted in our hearts and genuinely
confessed, when we say:
Your
kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today
our daily bread, forgive us ... and deliver usThese beautiful words - of
bursting sunrise, of kingdom come, of sweet smelling fresh bread, of gentle
forgiveness from depths of understanding, of deliverance from all anxiety, of
soothing every wrong - allow a delicate new life with warmth, hope and love
to develop, from a new embryo into a fully formed man and woman of God.
A
gentle, persistent concern reaches us through the penance and prayer of Lent.
This year is not just another Lent, but a fuller divine word, within us,
"achieving the end for which I sent it."
From
all their afflictions God will deliver the just. Look to him that you may be
radiant with joy.
For
as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until
they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to
the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my
mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I
purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
"When
you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they
think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like
them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
"Pray
then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom
come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
For
if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.
Jo
3:1ff. When Jonah's preaching at Nineveh
bears unintended fruit,
God
relents from his intended punishment.
Luke
11:29ff. The only sign to be given will be the sign of Jonah: who returns
from the dead, after three days.
The
inspired author of the book of Jonah knew his Bible and his sacred history
extremely well. He weaves into his narrative phrases, ideas and allusions
from many other parts of the Sacred Scripture or from Israel's
sacred tradition. The words of the Assyrian king, "Who knows God may
relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath," are drawn from
earlier biblical texts like the penitential prayer in Joel 2:14. The inspired
author, then, had meditated so long on his Bible, that his own preaching and
writing became a filigree or tapestry of passages from the Bible.
Because
he knew his religion so very well, that he could think and dream only in its
language, the author of Jonah almost exploded with exasperation and
frustration. Why do those people - his own - with such a rich heritage,
refuse to reform their ways and respond to God with faith and justice, with
prayer and hope? Look, says this writer, the pagans, even the worst of them,
the ruthless and ever hated Assyrians, are more spontaneously good than my
own people!
The
book of Jonah prepares us for the most wonderful of surprises, the
extraordinary and unsuspected goodness of strangers, even of such unlikely
candidates for holiness as .... The dotted lines must be filled in by each
one of us; here we name our worst enemy, our most impossible sinner,
hopelessly wicked to the marrow of the bones. Such is the
"Assyrian". People today use such words as Huns or Communist or
Nazi!
The
message of today's Bible readings can be summed up in that one word, hope! We
must never lose hope in others and in ourselves, in world affairs, in the
national political scene. So surely - at the preaching of Jonah, and we have
someone far greater than Jonah - conversions and transformations can take
place. Not just an isolated individual, but families, neighbourhoods and
countries - the entire city of Nineveh
- can believe in God, proclaim a fast, pray for forgiveness, and become a
model of goodness for all the rest of us pseudo-saints! Hope can and will
come from the least suspected quarters, whether in secret corners of our own
hearts or of others.
Jonah
announces the tremendous depths of hidden goodness in all of us and in our
entire world. He instructs us in the power and necessity of decisions. The
king of Nineveh
at once "rose from his throne . . . and sat in the ashes." Heonah
offers us a glimpse, baffling and enticing, into the heart of God. The Bible
states that when God saw the repentance of Nineveh,
then he himself "repented of the evil he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out." If God then can humbly change his mind, how
can we remain rigidly self-righteous and condemnatory of others!
The
word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you."
So
Jonah set out and went to Nineveh,
according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh
was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. He began to go into
the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh
shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh
believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on
sackcloth.
When
the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth,
and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh:
"By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no
herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they
drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and
they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from
the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his
mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish."
When
God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind
about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not
do it.
When
the crowds were increasing, he began to say, "This generation is an evil
generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the
sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh,
so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will
rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of
Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh
will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because
they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than
Jonah is here!
Esther
4:29ff. Queen Esther's anxious and urgent prayer wins God's help in time of
danger and crisis.
Matthew
7:7ff. "Ask, and it will be given you!"
-
Jesus' teaching about prayer.
The
book of Esther exemplifies and so establishes the promise of Jesus: ask and
you shall receive. God heard her prayer and acted to save his chosen people Israel.
It is true that from a moral viewpoint Esther had no choice but to present
herself before the Persian king. Such a bold and abrupt act could cost her
life. Yet to do nothing would mean sitting idly and safely in an ivory tower
while all her own people were destroyed - and live haunted with the guilt
that she might have saved her people or else would have shared in the honour
of their martyrdom. Life, at least at times, is worth living only in the
heights of heroic action. There are occasions in the existence of each person
when heroic action is obligatory.
These
moments usually turn out to be very lonely stretches of our existence.
Perhaps, no one else will understand, but in any case we alone must make the
decision which decides between martyrdom or perpetual guilt. Esther prays:
"My Lord, our king, you alone are God. Help me, who am alone and have no
help but you."
Times
such as these lead to experiences of mystic prayer. Fantasies of ambition,
pretensions of strength, selfish motivations, reliance upon wit and diplomacy
and half-truths - all of these weakening and contaminating elements are swept
out of our memory. Every crutch is taken away, and if we are to stand, it is
through God's strength alone. If we are to look, it is like staring into the
sun. We see a vision of God, so overwhelming that all is darkness. Our
feelings seem cold and unresponsive, yet we sense an extraordinary excitement
at the base of our existence, stirred by God's mysterious love for us.
Prayer
at such times is bound to be heard, just because we are in touch with the
best and most beautiful part of ourselves, with the depths that support all
else about ourselves, with the Creator whose loving plan called us into life
and who alone knows the whole secret of our future.
Such
prayers again will be answered, far beyond our best hopes, because we place
no conditions on what God can accomplish within us. "Would one of you
hand their child a stone if the child asks for bread? . . . If you, with all
your sins, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will
your heavenly Father give good things to anyone who asks him?" Prayer
when we do not know the outcome, is always a scary matter. God may even
respond with a miracle - a miracle which cuts through the human process to
fulfill the humanly impossible, or a miracle of grace to suffer and die with
martyrdom!
This
prayer is not irrational, even though it reaches far beyond the rational
possibilities of human life. It is founded upon the memory of God's great
redemptive acts for Israel.
Esther prayed: "You, O Lord, chose. . . our ancestors . . . and
fulfilled all your promises to them. ... Be mindful of us, O Lord. Manifest
yourself in the time of our distress . . . Help me, who am alone and have no
one but you, O Lord."
Queen
Esther, seized with deadly anxiety, fled to the Lord. She prayed to the Lord
God of Israel,
and said: "O my Lord, you only are our king; help me, who am alone and
have no helper but you, for my danger is in my hand. Ever since I was born I
have heard in the tribe of my family that you, O Lord, took Israel
out of all the nations, and our ancestors from among all their forebears, for
an everlasting inheritance, and that you did for them all that you promised.
Remember,
O Lord; make yourself known in this time of our affliction, and give me
courage, O King of the gods and Master of all dominion! Put eloquent speech
in my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hate the man who is
fighting against us, so that there may be an end of him and those who agree
with him. But save us by your hand, and help me, who am alone and have no
helper but you, O Lord, who have knowledge of all things."
"Ask,
and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will
be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches
finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone
among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the
child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven
give good things to those who ask him!
"In
everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law
and the prophets."
Ezekiel
18:21ff. Ezekiel's teaching about personal responsibility offsets the older
focus on the guilt of the clan.
Matthew
5:20ff. The true righteousness, that goes deeper
- not
simply keeping a set of laws.
The
prophet Ezekiel places before us God's expectation that we persevere in doing
good across a lifetime. In Matthew's gospel Jesus roots this expectation in
the depths of the heart. We must do more than externally avoid murdering our
brother or sister; we must interiorly be at peace with them and never harbor
anger or resentment.
Jesus
also names the recipient of our patience and kindliness; he calls this person
our brother or our sister. At first, this designation might seem to make the
practice of tolerance and helpfulness all the easier. Yet our common
experience tells us that we lose our temper more quickly and muster the
strength to forgive far more slowly in the case of our own family, relation
or neighbourhood. Family feuds flare up unexpectedly and last for
generations.
Once
we are reconciled in our hearts, as Jesus expects, then the prophet Ezekiel
declares that this new relationship of trust, compassion and assistance must
not be a quick, momentary expression. It is not to be easily forgotten as we
conveniently avoid our newly found brother or sister for the rest of our
life. Consistently and daily we are expected to live together as one family.
This
continuous bond of affection and mutual help is so important that Jesus
states: "If you bring your gift to the altar and then recall that your
brother or sister has anything against you, go first to be reconciled with
your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift." These words
sear a quick, straight path into our conscience, as we are gathered around
our Eucharistic table.
This
journey to our brother or sister can be made in our heart first; we form a
determination to do all in our power to win back our brother or sister. On
that condition which practically asks us to be forgiving, patient, and
tolerant of differences, we can continue with our Eucharist. If we fail,
however, to carry through on our promise and ignore our brother or sister,
then Ezekiel rings out the deadly warning: "If the virtuous person turns
from the path of virtue to do evil . . . has broken faith and committed sin,
... he shall die!"
These
divine expectations, enunciated by Ezekiel and Jesus, touch at times upon the
heroic, as we are not asked but commanded to forgive and be reconciled, on
pain of death and the fires of Gehenna. Does God ask too much? God asks
nothing without first giving us the grace of a "new heart and ... a new
spirit" and putting his own spirit within us (see Ez 36:26-27).
Secondly, God provides his own compelling example. In Ezekiel God assures us
that no matter how wickedly we have offended him - whatever be the offense against
life and goodness - God forgives at once if we turn from our evil ways.
Ezekiel concludes this extraordinary chapter with God's admission, "I
have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies . . . Return and live!"
Out
of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.
But
if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep
all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they
shall not die. None of the transgressions that they have committed shall be
remembered against them; for the righteousness that they have done they shall
live.
Have
I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather
that they should turn from their ways and live?
But
when the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and
do the same abominable things that the wicked do, shall they live? None of
the righteous deeds that they have done shall be remembered; for the
treachery of which they are guilty and the sin they have committed, they
shall die.
Yet
you say, "The way of the Lord is unfair." Hear now, O house of Israel:
Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?
When
the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they
shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die.
Again,
when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what
is lawful and right, they shall save their life.
Because
they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had
committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die.
For I
tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
"You
have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not
murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you
that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to
judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the
council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.
So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your
brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the
altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come
and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on
the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge,
and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell
you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Deut.
26:16ff. Obedience with all our heart and all our soul, makes us into a
people "holy to the Lord."
Matthew
5:43ff. Going beyond mere obedience to law, be "perfect as your heavenly
Father is perfect."
God
first chose Israel, and
within Israel
He included each of us as "a people peculiarly his own." God first
took the initiative to make his presence known within the depths of our mind
and heart where we reach out to form family, within the subconscious of our
memory which reaches into the lives of our parents and ancestors, within the
customs of our faith where we echo the prayer and the traditions of our church.
Jesus adds that God's call surrounds us like the sun and rain. While we are
still asleep, God summons his creature the sun to rise and spread a burst of
light across our day; while we are distracted by duties and grumbling about
the drought, God orders the rain to drop moisture upon our dry earth and
weary hearts. God first loves us.
Just
as God acts out of love, he wants each of us to respond accordingly
"with all your heart and with all your soul." God is not simply a
distant giant in charge of a mammoth computer machine; the sun does not rise
nor the rain fall simply by God's light touch upon the keys of the computer.
Rather, God sees our need for light and warmth, for rain water and cool
moisture, and each day out of love he makes the proper decision, continuing
to care even for those who hate him and disregard him. God first loves us
from the depth of his mind and heart.
Because
God's loving concern is renewed each day - yet continues with persevering
strength - the book of Deut. returns repeatedly to one of its favourite
themes: today. In the reading of chapter 26, as earlier in chapter 5, we are
advised: "today you are making this agreement with the Lord." God's
deeply embedded love, thoroughly within the heart and soul, within the fibers
of bone and muscle, must not become lost in the shadows or abysses of our
existence. As with God so with us, it needs to be renewed each day. In fact,
chapter 1 of Joshua picks up phrases from this passage of Deut., and extends
the today of Deut. into a recital of God's love and our loving response
"by day and by night" (Josh 1:8).
Day
by day, hour by hour we ought to be re-dedicating ourselves to God, in good
circumstances and bad ones, with friends and with enemies, in sunlight and in
dark rainy stretches. The beat of our heart ought to be responding to God's
beat, the intake of our life-breath to the breathing of God's spirit upon us.
God first loves us with heart and soul moment by moment, and to live we must
resonate or vibrate this divine heartbeat and breathing of life. And so we
will "be made perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."
To
absorb this divine perfection is not just an heroic effort on our part - we
must summon all our energy of mind and heart to this enterprise - but it is
mostly the result of beating with God's heart and breathing with his spirit,
of reacting to God's initiative, therefore of surrendering to God with all
our heart and mind.
Lent,
therefore, is a time of fasting and prayer, of much human work and dedication,
but only that we may be so disposed that the beat of God's heart and the
rhythm of his spirit take possession of ours.
Happy
are they who follow the law of the Lord. I will give you thanks with an
upright heart.
This
very day the Lord your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and
ordinances; so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your
soul. Today you have obtained the Lord's agreement: to be your God; and for
you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his
ordinances, and to obey him. Today the Lord has obtained your agreement: to
be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments;
for him to set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in
fame and in honour; and for you to be a people holy to the Lord your God, as
he promised.
"You
have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your
enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his
sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on
the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your
brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the
Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.
2nd Week of Lent
Monday
Beautiful Compassion
Daniel 9:4-10
Luke 6:36-38
Tuesday
Charity Belongs With Integrity
Isaiah 1:10, 16-20
Matthew 23:1-12
Wednesday
Believing in God's Plan
Jeremiah 18:18-20
Matthew 20:17-28
Thursday
In God We Trust
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Luke 16:19-31
Friday
The Stone The Builders Rejected
Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13
17-28
Matthew 21:33-43,
45-46
Saturday
Our Inheritance: Remembering God
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Monday
Daniel
9:4ff. The exiles' prayer of repentance
Luke
6:36ff. Jesus calls for perfect mercy, in imitation of God.
Where
Matthew's gospel has Jesus say, on the mountain: "You must be made
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48), Luke, in the
sermon on the plain, reads: "Be compassionate, as your Father is
compassionate." Luke's expectations are more specific and more attainable.
All sinners ought to be capable of compassion, as they continually seek this
very response of mercy from God. Yet, Jesus does not allow half-measures; it
must be all, it seems, or nothing! Pardon must be bestowed so generously upon
anyone who has hurt us, that it runs over and pours into the folds of one's
own garments. We are expected to bestow twice as much love as the other
person showed us hate, twice as much trust as the other party manifested
suspicion.
This
divine compassion can be partly learned, as we meditate upon the example of
Jesus who died for us when as yet we were God's enemies by our sins (Rom
5:8). Yet, this attitude of overwhelming goodness and understanding can never
be fully and adequately learned by study nor be acquired by human effort, no
matter how diligent and persevering we may be. We cannot transform ourselves
into God, as the human race should have learned at the beginning (Gen 3:5).
The
only way to surrender ourselves to God is unconditionally and without
reservation. Without anticipating all that will happen to us and be asked of
us, we give ourselves totally into God's hands. We repeat Jesus' beautiful,
heroic prayer: "not my will but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). God
will then act through us, reaching others with infinite compassion, infinite
tenderness, infinite trust! Without counting the cost or the outcome, such
divine life will overflow into the folds of our garments!
Lenten
fasting may weaken our physical strength and reduce the aggressiveness of our
human response. If it is accompanied, however, by a surrender of our spirit
to God, then divine strength and infinite responsiveness will flow through
us. Our fasting reminds us and symbolizes to others that God alone is the
source of our decisions and actions.
Possessed
by this divine spirit of compassion and pardon, we can spontaneously pray for
mercy as Daniel did in today's first reading. We have only to place before
God our sins, our wickedness and our evil. We have only to admit to God that
"we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and laws." We
realize that in confessing our sins, we are already within the intimate bond
of God's love and transformation. Confession is the final act of rejecting
whatever is the residue of sin within us. Once upon our lips, the sins are
gone forever, driven out by God's holy spirit already within us.
Daniel
admits several times to be "shamefaced." Shame can be very
destructive or it can be purifying and transforming. Sometimes when shame
comes over people, they lose all inhibitions and abandon themselves to all
kinds of shameless deeds! Another kind of shame casts off pride and
make-belief. It begets a wholesome humility and honesty. It freely admits
whatever was wrong, this time from the attitude of a delicate conscience. It
helps the adult to be again as a child in spirit, in trust, in a wholesome
purity. Such an adult trusts, loves and forgives as easily as God himself.
"Of such is the kingdom
of God."
I
prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, "Ah, Lord, great
and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you
and keep your commandments, we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and
rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances. We have not
listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings,
our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
"Righteousness
is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the
people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are
near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven
them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
Open
shame, O Lord, falls on us, our kings, our officials, and our ancestors,
because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and
forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice
of the Lord our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his
servants the prophets.
Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "Do not judge, and you will
not be judged;do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you
will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed
down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the
measure you give will be the measure you get back."
Isaiah
1:10ff. A ringing call to conversion:
"remove
your evildoings from before my eyes"
Matthew
23:1ff. Unlike the hierarchical customs of Judaism, in Jesus' circle
"the greatest among you will be your servant."
The
Scriptures for this day inculcate consistency and integral wholeness of life.
All must fit together: thoughts and actions, interior esteem and exterior
forms of justice. This harmonious interaction reaches outward, beyond one's
clothing and titles, beyond one's immediate circle of friends and
acquaintances, to all the poor and needy within reach and beyond!
"Redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea and defend the widow."
Orphan and widow symbolize in the Bible all the helpless and indigent people
of the world. Isaiah the prophet mentions them after a stern and fearsome
passage, omitted in the liturgy. To neglect the poor while spreading out
one's hands in prayer to God forces from God the terrifying response: "I
close my eyes to you ... I will not listen." In fact, such indifference
towards the poor, God declares, makes "your hands . . . full of
blood!" The prophet must have shouted the next phrase. "Wash
yourselves clean!" How? - by attending to the orphan and widow.
The
poor, consequently, are members of one's own family, one's own wife and
children, those left behind without protection. The entire family must close
ranks around its own flesh and blood. Not to do so makes it guilty of blood!
We shudder, for we have all passed by a beggar without giving alms. We have
all driven comfortably through slums. We have wasted food in the same city
where widow and orphan were going to bed with aching hearts and pinched
stomachs. We are frightened as God shouts in his indignation: "Come now,
let us set things right!"
Despite
such serious sins - sins of omission to feed the starving and to defend the
helpless - God offers the possibility of total conversion. "Though your
sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson
red, they may become white as wool."
God,
too, is totally consistent, just as he demands of us. God does not leave us
sinful at heart and simply clothe us with a beautiful appearance - with the
phylacteries and tassels of holiness! We are totally transformed. He alone is
our teacher, our father, our messiah, our all. Therefore, we are guided by
God, enlivened by God, saved by God - totally God's through and through.
Our
initial fear suddenly changes into the peace, joy and security of the
blessed. We find that the heavenly family closes ranks around us because we
have gathered the poor within our earthly family. Because we have served the
lowly, we are gathered into the assembly of the great saints; because we have
humbled ourselves to be one family with the oppressed, we are exalted to the
company of God's favourites.
All
this happens "if you are willing and obey." "But if you refuse
and resist, the sword shall consume you, for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken." We may question if Isaiah's consoling message of forgiveness
and new life should end on such a terrifying note. Consistency and integral
wholeness are a matter of life or death, of family or disintegration. The
offer of total love has no other option.
Hear
the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from
before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the
oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
Come
now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become
like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the
land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for
the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Then
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the
Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and
follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they
teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders
of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.
They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their
phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of
honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted
with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you
are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all
students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father - the
one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one
instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who
exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves ill be exalted.
Jeremiah
18:18ff. Rescue me, Lord, from my enemies!
Matthew
20:17ff. Jesus' reply to the request for prominent places:
"the
greatest among you must be our servant."
Both biblical
readings record an intrigue to get ahead! Jeremiah's own family had already
turned against him (Jer 12:6-23), and now the religious and secular
authorities contrive a plot to do away with this troublesome challenger. In
Matthew's gospel "the mother of Zebedee's sons," James and John
(see Matt 4:21), seeks to maneuver a secret promise from Jesus "that
these sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and the other at your
left, in your kingdom." God's plans are not to be advanced in the way of
personal ambition or double-dealing!
Jeremiah
states the initial, essential attitude for all religious work: prayer for the
welfare of others. "Heed me, O Lord! . . . Remember that I stood before
you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them." We
seek their goodness, their peace, their life. These gifts come from the Lord
and must be sought from him. Jeremiah's apostolic activity redounded from the
remembrance of the Lord and His plans and hopes for others.
The
concluding verses of Jeremiah's "confession" seem to reverse this
attitude and demand revenge and pain from God upon these same people, now the
prophet's persecutors. It is important to recall, however, that these five
"confessions" of Jeremiah (12:1-5; 15:10-11, 15-21; 17:14-18;
18:19-23; and 20:7-18) originally formed a separate scroll (or booklet)
composed in the form of a personal diary and were never intended for public
eyes. The editor of the book of Jeremiah found this diary, after completing
the initial draft of his manuscript - in fact, after the prophet's death -
and inserted these profoundly personal documents where he felt they belonged
historically. When Jeremiah curses his enemies, he is not necessarily proud
of himself. He is simply honest and open before God, saying, as it were:
"Here, God, is how I feel. Help!"
If
Jeremiah turned to God in prayer for others and for himself, then he firmly
believed in God's mysterious plan for all his people. Here then is the
second, essential attitude for apostolic undertaking: to seek the Lord's
will. We must believe that such a plan exists in God. The Epistle to the
Ephesians calls it "God's secret plan" (Eph 3:3, 9), "the
mysterious design which for ages was hidden in God, the Creator of all".
Before his resurrection, Jesus did not know this plan thoroughly (Matt 24:36)
and so he was unable to promise personal privileges to James and John. We too
must not seek special status nor labour for our own benefit nor seek to
fulfill ambitions. Only by being absorbed in prayer can we begin to sense
intuitively a small part of "God's secret plan." Such prayer keeps
our activity closer in touch with God's hopes.
Personal
disinterestedness is clearly enunciated by Jesus. The gospel selection begins
and ends with an announcement of Jesus' death. He "has come, not to be
served by others, but to serve, to give his own life." Conversions and
other apostolic achievements are godly only when they serve to humiliate the
apostle before the goodness of others and before the wonder of God.
Instruction
shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word
from the prophet. Come, let us bring charges against him, and let us not heed
any of his words."
Give
heed to me, O Lord, and listen to what my adversaries say! Is evil a
recompense for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I
stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
While
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by
themselves, and said to them on the way, "See, we are going up to
Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and
scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to
the Gentilest to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he
will be raised."
Then
the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling
before him, she asked a favour of him. And he said to her, "What do you
want?" She said to him, "Declare that these two sons of mine will
sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." But
Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to
drink the cup that I am about to drink?'' They said to him, "We are able."
He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right
hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom
it has been prepared by my Father."
When
the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called
them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it
over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so
among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be our servant, and
whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for
many."
Jeremiah
17:5ff. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord rather than in mere mortal
power.
Luke
16:19ff. The contrasting fortunes in the next life, of "Dives," the
uncaring rich man and his poor neighbour, Lazarus.
In
the curse of Jeremiah and the parable of Jesus we meet a lifetime of seeming
barrenness, of apparent salty waste, of unrelieved poverty. Even "the
person who trusts in the Lord" faces the fierce heat of the desert
wilderness and "the year of drought." On the surface of it life is
surrounded by the same burnt out dryness for the good person and for the
other "one who trusts [only] in human beings . . . whose heart turns
away from the Lord."
In
Jesus' parable the imagery changes from the desert wilderness in Jeremiah's
statement to the gate of a wealthy person's villa. Inside is daily feasting,
outside destitution. After Dives would wipe his mouth and hands with a piece
of bread, he would toss the bread away. Lazarus considered himself lucky to
snatch these crumbs to stay alive. Lazarus managed barely to survive in his
own kind of salty waste!
Jeremiah's
poem compares the two persons still further. "The one who trusts [only]
in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart is turned away
from the Lord ... is like a barren bush" without fruit, fit only for
kindling wood. The other bush, typified by "the person who trusts in the
Lord, whose hope is the Lord," is surrounded with the same dry sand, yet
continues to bear fruit. The roots sink deeply beneath the surface into the
hidden water of God's holy will.
This
description fits Jeremiah himself. His life seemed to be in shambles, even
his own family turned against him (Jer 11:19-23; 12:6); the king Zedekiah
befriended him only in secret and left him to his enemies in daylight (Jer
37). The prophet died, persecuted, in the foreign land
of Egypt (Jer 43). Yet,
with his roots searching deeply for God's will, Jeremiah became one of the
most crucial figures in the history of Israel's
religion. His influence upon the popular devotion of the people turned out to
be as profound as anyone else's in Israel's
long history. The book of Jeremiah sustained Jesus in prayer and continues to
be our source of strength. While Jeremiah considered himself useless
(15:10-21), he was supporting a nation.
Jeremiah
was bearing fruit, and Lazarus too must have evinced an exceptional dignity
and wholesome-ness even though sitting with dogs and begging for crumbs at
Dives' parlor door! Destitution in some cases can destroy the last shreds of
self-respect, but in other cases it can and does force the inner peace and
strength of a person to appear translucent across the face and in the entire
bearing of the beggar. There are no jewels and other cosmetics to hide or
distract from the spiritual goodness at the heart.
Only
this interior goodness survives into eternity, as only this sinking of one's
tap root in God's holy will allows a person to absorb inner nourishment.
External changes of temperature, rain or sunshine, floods or droughts, do not
destroy such life, for it does not depend upon the surface events. Even if
there were visions and revelations, even if the holiest of people like
Lazarus returned from Paradise to planet
earth, still such extraordinary episodes will not bring the recipient across
the desert stretch of dryness nor induce him to give up his sham of luxury
and his callousness to injustice.
We
pray, therefore, not for short term gifts, nor for feelings and
manifestations of holiness. True, we can ask God's help in such matters, but
basically we pray that the hopes and the beat of our heart, the sight of our
eyes, the strength of our bearing manifest that "blessed . . . person
who trusts [always] in the Lord."
Thus
says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh
their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub
in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the
parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed
are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like
a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not
fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought
it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
The
heart is devious above all else; it is perverse - who can understand it? I
the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to
their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.
"There
was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted
sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered
with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich
man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died
and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died
and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw
Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, 'Father Abraham,
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and
cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, 'Child,
remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus
in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in
agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so
that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one
can cross from there to us.' e said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to
my father's house - for I have five brothers - that he may warn them, so that
they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They
have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, 'No,
father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
Genesis
37:3ff. Jacob's sons envy their brother Joseph, and sell him into slavery
Matthew
21:33ff. In a misguided grab for property, the wicked tenants kill the
landowner's son.
Beginning
with chapter 37 the story of Joseph occupies a major section in the first
book of the Bible (Gen 37-50) and, in fact, concludes the book of Genesis.
The account of Joseph has one overriding motif which is stated at the end in
Joseph's words to his brothers: "Have no fear. Can I take the place of
God? Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve his
present end, the survival of many people" (50:19-20).
Mysteriously
yet powerfully God brings our convoluted, mixed-up and even betrayed life to
an overflow of goodness, even for our enemies and for those who cared little
for us. In Joseph's case the twelve tribes are securely established in Egypt
where they multiply and develop a distinctive culture and strong unity. In
Jesus' case his rejection by the Jewish leaders would lead to a new and more
glorious Israel,
joining Jew and Gentile in one family (Romans, ch 11).
The
story of Joseph and the ministry of Jesus exemplify our faith in God's
providence. A divine plan reaches into the depth of our existence. At times
we may reach a clear though passing glimpse of it, other times we intuit it
during long periods of prayer, yet always we are being directed and guided by
it. Jesus refers to this overwhelming plan of his Heavenly Father in his
frequent references to the Hebrew scriptures. There must exist a large, world
plan in the mind of God, culminating in Jesus. In fact during this parable
Jesus quotes from Psalm 118: "The stone which the builders rejected has
become the keystone of the structure. It was the Lord who did this and we
find it marvelous to behold!"
In
the story of Joseph this same faith in God's providential care is proposed in
the references to dreams. In fact, the other brothers nickname Joseph
"the master dreamer." Not only in chapter 37 but later in an
Egyptian prison Joseph gains his freedom and eventually a high position at
the royal court by interpreting dreams (Gen 40-41). In the Bible dreams
symbolize the hidden, mysterious, deeply imbedded and sure way by which God's
providential plan comes to human consciousness. Through these dreams Joseph
confesses a profound belief in God's continuous love and guidance.
Lenten
fasts and prayers ought to purify our minds and hearts and so put us into
closer touch with the depths of ourselves where God resides. Selfishness and
false ambition, sensuality and over-confidence should be swept away by our
sacrifices, Bible study and other devotional practices. We should begin all
over again to "dream" our best yet hidden ideals, planted in us by
God. We should feel a renewal of peace and strength, a conviction that God's
mysterious yet most real providence is taking even more effective control of
our lives. More and more we should acquire serenity even in the face of
problems, disappointments and perhaps betrayal. "God meant it for
good." These words of Joseph become our own and we see a marvelous
effect, "a rich harvest."
Now Israel
loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of
his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his
brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they
hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. Now his brothers went to
pasture their father's flock near Shechem. And Israel
said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?
Come, I will send you to them." He answered, "Here I am."
The
man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'"
So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan.
They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired
to kill him. They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer. Come
now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say
that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his
dreams." But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands,
saying, "Let us not take his life." Reuben said to them, "Shed
no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on
him" - that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his
father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his rob,
the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into
a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then
they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming
from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to
carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah
said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and
conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our
hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers
agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting
him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of
silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
"Listen
to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence
around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it
to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he
sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized
his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent
other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way.
Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when
the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come,
let us kill him and get his inheritance." So they seized him, threw him
out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard
comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He
will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other
tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time." Jesus said
to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: The stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and
it is amazing in our eyes'? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom
of God will be taken
away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the
kingdom."
When
the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he
was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the
crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Micah
7:14ff. The prophet trusts that God the merciful shepherd
"will
again have compassion upon us."
Luke
15:1ff. The parable of the Prodigal Son,
- a
warning against self-righteousness.
In these
passages the Bible speaks of an inheritance, promised on earth "to our
fathers from days of old," yet "squandered ... on dissolute
living." In each case the inheritance has been lost, and yet an
underlying continuous trust in God convinces Israel
and the prodigal son that the heavenly Father will return what was lost.
The
Micah passage concludes the book of this prophet, known for his championing
of social justice and the rights of the dispossessed and underprivileged (see
ch 2). It seems that the verses (7:11-20) were a later addition, from some
anonymous, inspired source, editing this book of the prophet in the
post-exilic age.
The
people of Judah
have seen "her downfall . . . trampled underfoot," as predicted in
7:10; she has been driven off to a foreign land. This disaster was due to the
people's sins, insisted the prophet, and must not be explained simplistically
by Assyria's and later Babylon's
vastly superior army. Even now that the exile has ended and the
poverty-stricken people have returned to Jerusalem,
they are insignificant - numerically, diplomatically and economically.
The
inspired author of these lines begs God to "show us wonderful signs ...
as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old" (v 15, 20). This
inheritor of Micah's prophetic mantle weaves earlier biblical passages into
his words; we hear echoes of Jer 10:6; Ps 105:6; Is 41:8; 63:16. Pondering
these biblical passages not only enabled this person to survive through some
dreary, monotonous, small times, but also to continue dreaming of wonderful
things. Memory has become the pledge and the hope of the future. It provides
the substance of faith and contact with a living compassionate God.
The
prodigal son, too, survived on his memories and so was humbly courageous to
seek out his father, prodigal with forgiveness. "Coming to his senses at
last" meant that the goodness of the father, planted within the bones
and blood of the son, finally caught up with the young man and overcame the
wayward's resistance. A beautiful touch in Jesus' parable indicates that from
a distance the father was beckoning the boy home, before the son ever noticed
him. It almost seems as if the father's desire had been reaching across miles
and mountains to touch the faith of the son. The son's remembrance might even
be like a passive surrender to a hidden stimulant, calling out for love and
celebration.
Meditating
upon the Holy Scriptures enables us to experience the heavenly Father's
presence at the core of our existence. The Bible revives memories and hopes. It
brings new life to our best self, planted in us by God. It invigorates the
memories about God, inherited from our ancestors - the faithfulness to Jacob,
the grace to Abraham. Jacob and Abraham symbolize all the saintly men and
women before us. The "wonderful signs" become miracles now!
The
most joyful miracle may be our newly found hope. Our greatest gift to future
generations will be this remembrance of God's total goodness at the base of
our existence. From our heavenly home we can beckon sons and daughters home,
as we wait for them. We will enable them to write a new addition to our
lives, as lines were once added to Micah's prophecy. They will enable us to
celebrate like the father upon the return of the prodigal son. When God's
deeply planted life in us makes all these claims come true, the family of
God's children will be complete.
Shepherd
your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, which lives alone
in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old. As in the days when you came out of the land
of Egypt, show us
marvellous things.
Who
is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of
the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because
he delights in showing clemency. He will again have compassion upon us; he
will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the
depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty
to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.
Now
all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the
Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes
sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable:
"There
was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father,
give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his
property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had
and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in
dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place
throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired
himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his
fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods
that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to
himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and
to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father,
and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before
you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your
hired hands." ' So he set off and went o his father. But while he was
still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and
put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your
son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe - the
best one - and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his
feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for
this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And
they began to celebrate.
"Now
his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he
heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going
on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted
calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and
refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he
answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a
slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never
given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But
when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with
prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to
him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had
to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come
to life; he was lost and has been found.'"
3rd Week of Lent
Monday
Believing in Miracles
2 Kings 5:1-15
Luke 4:24-30
Tuesday
Making a New Start
Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Matthew 18:21-35
Wednesday
Inspirations from Deut.
Deut. 4:1, 5-9
Matthew 5:17-19
Thursday
Basic Human Virtues
Jeremiah 7:23-28
Luke 11:14-23
Friday
A Living Dialogue
Ho 14:2-10
Mark 12:28-34
Saturday
Not just Mouthing Words
Ho 6:1-6
Luke 18:9-14
Monday
2
Kings 5:1ff. Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, takes the prophet's advice
and is cured of his leprosy.
Luke
4:24ff. The townspeople of Nazareth
turn against Jesus; no prophet is accepted in his own home town.
At
its heart biblical faith includes a belief in miracles. God could and did
intervene in human affairs so that dramatic changes and wondrous
transformations happened. While miracles took the people by surprise,
nonetheless these same people should have been prepared, at least partially,
for God's action. By pondering their own sacred traditions, they should have
spotted signals of great things to come.
In
the days of the prophet Elisha an Israelite slave girl, forced to live among
the pagan Arameans, remembered her religious heritage better than the king of
Israel.
The great acts of God accomplished through Moses, Joshua, Samuel and other
religious or civil leaders were reminders of what God could always
accomplish. The only condition expected of the people was faith.
Faith
put every human resource to work and yet realized at the same time that its
hopes and ideals reached beyond these human means and relied upon God. Faith,
therefore, was practical and kind enough to muster one's ability and energy
for the good of others; it was also humble enough to admit that still more
had to be done. A person of faith combined exceptional energy for others,
abounding hopes for life, and humble reliance upon God.
Such
a person was the Hebrew servant girl in the foreign city of Damascus.
Instead of hating her slave master who kept her from her own family, she was
concerned about his incurable skin disease. She excelled with hopes for the happiness
of others, and she trusted God's power and good judgment. By contrast, the
king of Israel who even
enjoyed the benefits of his people's freedom from Egypt
and foreign slavery did not believe that God could still liberate the needy
and the oppressed. He was so taken up with his own royal status and
privileges that he suspected the king of Aram
to be "only looking for a quarrel with me!" How limited the hopes
and possibilities of a selfish, faithless person. Even in kingly freedom they
are more fearful than a slave girl in a foreign household!
Jesus,
too, was like a slave in a foreign land, who brought freedom to others. Our
Saviour remembered the sacred traditions of his people, and knew his Bible
very well. At Nazareth "he unrolled the scroll [of Isaiah] and found the
passage . . . "The spirit of the Lord is upon me ... to bring glad
tidings to the poor, . . . liberty to captives ... sight to the blind ... (Is
61:1) Though he would not perform miracles for public esteem or for royal
status, neither to heal himself nor to gain prominence "in his native
place," Jesus acted out of compassion. Genuine concern reaches through
all barriers and acts at once for all races and nationalities, for widows at
Zarephath and lepers of Syria.
The people at Nazareth
should also have known their Bible and have caught the signals. Selfishness,
however, filled them with indignation against Jesus and they expelled him.
Faith
in miracles is central to the Bible. Such faith requires compassion and hope
at the heart of each believer. For God miraculously to reach beyond the laws
of nature we must love beyond all restrictions. Send out your light and your
fidelity; they shall lead me on - and bring me to your holy mountain, to your
dwelling place.
Naaman,
commander of the army of the king of Aram,
was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the Lord
had given victory to Aram.
The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on
one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land
of Israel, and she
served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were
with the prophet who is in Samaria!
He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his lord
just what the girl from the land
of Israel had said. And
the king of Aram said,
"Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel."
He
went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,
and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel,
which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you
my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." When the king
of Israel
read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "A I God, to give death
or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just
look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."
But
when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel
had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn
your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet
in Israel."
So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of
Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the
Jordan
seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."
But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he
would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God,
and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana
and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a
rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the
prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done
it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash,
and be clen'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan,
according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the
flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
Then
he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood
before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth
except in Israel;
please accept a present from your servant."
And
he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's
hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel
in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent
to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
There were also many lepers in Israel
in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except
Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were
filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the
brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him
off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Daniel
3:25ff. King Nebuchadnezzar is deeply impressed by the miraculous escape of
the three young Jews
Matthew
18:21ff. The forgiveness Jesus wants in his church
An
integral wholeness and thorough consistency dominate these two biblical
selections. Even the destruction of Israel's
life, as described here in the book of Daniel, is total. "We have in our
day no prince, prophet or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation or
incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favour with you." These
words of lament were uttered from the fiery furnace. All had gone up in
flames! Such totality of destruction is matched by the "whole
heart" with which the Lord's servants turn back to him. "We follow
you," they declare, "unreservedly." This conversion to the
Lord begins with the admission: "we are . . . brought low . . . because
of our sins." The inspired writer does not pretend that all is well nor
attempt self-justification. He tells it as it is. Earlier in the same chapter
he confessed: "We have sinned and transgressed by departing from you,
and we have done every kind of evil" (v 29). Total conversion then means
an overwhelming experience of God's "kindness and great mercy. God,
however, can respond this generously only if his people are honest with
themselves. To receive God's forgiveness they must confess their sins.
Nor
is this consistent and integral unity to be splintered by a lonely,
self-righteous attempt to be saved individually, independent of the
community. It seems that the prophet Daniel might have struck out on his own.
He could have been saved more quickly and efficiently if he had not been
caught within the web of community sin and guilt. However, this chosen people
Israel,
which was riddled with sin and guilt, was also the source of each
individual's hope. From the community the inspired author absorbed life with
its hopes beyond hope, that they would be "like the stars of
heaven." Here he appeals to community tradition as he prays to the Lord:
For
your name's sake, do not deliver us up forever, or make void your covenant
Do
not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,
Isaac
your servant, and Israel
your holy one.
Part
of the totality of this prayer appears in the sense of shame that he also
expresses. In the verse immediately preceding today's liturgical selection
the prophet confessed: "We . . . have become a shame and a
reproach" (v 33). Such an honest confession of human experience is
healthy. There is, nonetheless, another sort of shame which is not good.
Again this writer begs of God: "Do not let us be put to shame, but deal
with us in your kindness and great mercy." This second kind of shame is
harmful for it rejects the remembrance of God's love and has no roots of
human dignity.
Just as
Daniel and his companions found their lives and their hope integrally within
the people of God, the entire community, likewise the parable of Jesus
extends this need of consistent wholeness. The forgiveness which is received
from God must reach out from us to all our brothers and sisters. "Should
you not have dealt mercifully with your fellow servant," the heavenly
Father declares, "as I dealt with you?". What we receive from God,
makes us to be who we are; we cannot remain who we are unless we give it all
away "unreservedly." The gift from God most difficult to share and
bestow upon another is forgiveness; yet, this gift is precisely the one of
which all of us stand most in need.
By
giving we receive, and thus an integral wholeness and thorough consistency of
all of us with one another and with God are accomplished. In Lent we seek
forgiveness from God, but on the way we also seek to be reconciled with
brother and sister.
Then
King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his
counselors, "Was it not three men that we threw bound into the
fire?" They answered the king, "True, O king." He replied,
"But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they
are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god."
Nebuchadnezzar
then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said,
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come
out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the
fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors
gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies
of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not
harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them.
Nebuchadnezzar
said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has
sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed
the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship
any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation,
or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for
there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way."
Then
the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province
of Babylon.
Then
Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins
against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus
said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
"For
this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to
settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed
him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, is
lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his
possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before
him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out
of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the
debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves
who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay
what you owe.' Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have
patience with me, and I will pay you.' But he refused; then he went and threw
him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what
had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to
their lord all that had taken place Then his lord summoned him and said to
him, 'You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with
me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as had mercy on you?'
And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his
entire debt.
So my
heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your
brother or sister from your heart."
Deut.
4:1ff. Belonging to God's people is a privelege, implying responsibilities,
and a wonderful destiny.
Matthew
5:17ff. The new spirit taught and lived by Jesus embodies the best features
of Israel's
past.
Deut.
reminds us that laws do not exist for their own sake, but rather, they are a
way of obeying God. This fifth book of the Bible is not so much a
"second law" (as the word "Deut." means in its Greek
origin) but instead a series of fervent homilies or motivational
instructions. Deut. frequently returns to the idea of "today" as
the moment when Moses receives the law from the Lord and in his name gives it
to all the people. See Deut 5:1-5; 26:16-19. The people - indeed ourselves -
hear God speak "face to face" (5:4).
Deut.
also describes the attitude for responding to God, as He speaks to us.
"Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words
which I enjoin on you today" (Deut. 6:5-6). We note the repetition here
of the key word "today".
This
God speaking his holy will anew to each of us today and loved with all our
heart, is closer to us than any other god is to its devotees. The Lord then
is closer to us than any other supreme value in life, including life itself.
Not only our life but also the land where we live has been given to us by the
Lord "that you may live and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you."
Jesus
turned spontaneously to the book of Deut. for inspiration in his own response
to life. It was among his favourites, because of Deut.'s sense of compassion
to neighbour and devotion to pleasing God each passing day. Whether in the
temptation scene (Matt 4:1-11) or in answering the questions about the first
and greatest law (Mark 12:28-34), Jesus replied with the words of this book. Deut.
resonates with the core attitude of Jesus; it spoke to his best self more easily
than many other books in the Bible. In this light we can appreciate Jesus'
reflection: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the
prophets, but to fulfill them . . . not the smallest part of a letter of the
law shall be done away with until it all comes true."
We,
too, want to grow into this attitude of Jesus, modeled upon Deut.. Lent is
such a time of spiritual purification, so that the least wish of God becomes
an absolute command for us. God in Jesus is that close to us. He speaks
today, this moment. He appeals to the love of all our heart. Love such as
this, stirred within our heart by God's immediate presence, happily takes
away our liberty as we spontaneously seek this clasp of love. Without
deciding between a million and one options we have chosen the very best, and
all the world will testify: "This great nation is truly a wise and
intelligent people."
So
now, Israel,
give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe,
so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of
your ancestors, is giving you. See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I
now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you
are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this
will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all
these statutes, will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and
discerning people!" For what other great nation has a god so near to it
as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation
has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting
before you today?
But
take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things
that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of
your life; make them known to your children and your children's children
"Do
not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not
to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass
away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law
until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of
these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least
in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be
called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jeremiah
7:23ff. Jeremiah presents human life in terms of a simple, obedient response to
God. Disobedience was the cause of their disasters.
Luke
11:14ff. His miracles proved that Jesus was acting with the authority of God,
and not in league with the devil.
While
the passage from Jeremiah presents human life in terms of a simple, obedient
response to God, Jesus' words in Luke's gospel recognize a violent struggle
between devils and angels raging within us. Yet, Jesus' exorcism, driving out
the demon, made it possible for the man to speak, a power simply taken for
granted by the rest of us. In the same way, Jeremiah declared the deadly
seriousness about obedience to God's will in the normal everyday details of
life. Later in the same chapter Jeremiah announced: "Beware! days will
come . . . when I will silence the cry of joy . . . for the land will be
turned to rubble" (Jer 7:32-34).
The
simplest acts of basic human virtue - like compassion, forgiveness, prayer,
understanding, loyalty, loving affection - make all the difference between
heaven and hell, life and death, angelic or demonic possession. Earlier in
chapter seven Jeremiah expressed it very clearly: "Only if you reform
your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbour, if
you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you
no longer shed innocent blood ... or follow strange gods to your own harm
will I [the Lord, your God] remain with you." (7:5-7)
Jesus,
for his part, returned to this common sense style of response. He replied
equivalently to his detractors: If I have done a very good act, how can you
even suggest that I acted with an evil spirit? If I am compassionate towards
a mute person, do not accuse me of sin! "If it is by the finger of God
that I cast out devils, then the reign of God is upon you." The messianic
age is at hand if we can speak kindly, love compassionately, protect
courageously, receive even the alien warmheartedly.
Jeremiah
and Jesus then do not differ as much as we supposed at first. Each sees a
mighty struggle beneath simple human goodness; each announces a messianic
kingdom within reach of everyone. The expectations seem so small compared to
the extraordinary results. Jeremiah asked for a heart responsive to God's
will, obedient to his laws of kindness and forgiveness. We must not be
stiff-necked; we ought to be faithful, listening attentively and
responsively.
Jeremiah's
passage ends with the word "faithfulness." In the Hebrew language
the word implies: be what you are supposed to be! It means consistency,
fidelity. It expects people to act as their nature would normally act if evil
never interfered. Yet, this consistency sets up a relationship with God, with
all one's neighbours, even the alien in our midst, with angels and saints.
Goodness ought to be as normal as breathing; to stop breathing spells death
and demonic possession.
As we
speak our simple "Amen! Thanks be to God!" to these biblical
readings, we must resolve to be consistent. This Lent we must so help the
needy and the stranger, that these virtuous actions become second nature to
us. Then we will be acting under the finger of God and furthering the kingdom
of God in our midst.
But
this command I gave them, "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and
you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that
it may be well with you." Yet they did not obey or incline their ear,
but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own
counsels, and looked backward rather than forward.
From
the day that your ancestors came out of the land
of Egypt until this day,
I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day;
yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their
necks. They did worse than their ancestors did. So you shall speak all these
words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but
they will not answer you. You shall say to them: This is the nation that did
not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline;
truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
Now
he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the
one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them
said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."
Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew
what they were thinking and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against
itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided
against himself, how will his kingdom stand? - for you say that I cast out
the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom
do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if
it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom
of God has come to you.
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But
when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his
armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is
against me, and whoever oes not gather with me scatters.
Ho
14:2ff. Those who are wise understand these things: how God supports those
who trust in Him.
Mark
12:28ff. Responding to a lawyer's question,
Jesus
gives his basic principles of love.
These
two Bible passages are cast in the style of dialogue and offer an excellent
example of praying or studying the Sacred Scriptures. We are to consider not
only God or Jesus immediately present before us, but the larger community of Israel
or the Church also in our group. The inspired authors - in today's reading
they are Hosea and Mark - add their own comments at the end; after all, they
edited or arranged the material.
In
the prophecy of Hosea we take note of this series of speakers:
Prophet
Hosea or a priest: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God . . ."
Israel
at prayer: "Forgive all iniquity . . ."
Israel in conversation: "Assyria
will not save us, . . . we shall say no more,'Our God,'to the work of our
hands."
Israel
at prayer: "In you [O Lord] the orphan finds compassion."
God's
reply: "I will heal their defection . . ."
Liturgical
response: "He [Israel]
shall strike root . . . Again they shall dwell in his [the Lord's] shade and
raise grain . . ."
God's
reply: "Ephraim! [another name for Israel]
... I have humbled him but I will prosper him . . ."
Editor's
comment: "Let him who is wise understand these things . . ."
Passages
of the Bible like this one become a powerful instrument for prayer and for
community discussion, because almost unconsciously a wide group of people are
locked into practical discussion and profound prayer.
A
different scenario of dialogue is seen in Mark's gospel yet the overall
effect remains the same:
Setting:
An argument between Jesus and some opponents.
Scribe:
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus:
"Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God .
. . love your neighbour as yourself."
Scribe:
"Excellent,teacher!. . .love. . .isworth more than any burnt offering .
. ."
Jesus:
"You are not far from the reign of God."
Mark
the Evangelist: "No one had the courage to ask him any more
questions."
The
thrust of each dialogue is conversion, but not necessarily restricted to a
negative movement away from sin. In Hosea, Israel
is to "return to the Lord, your God"; in Mark, one positively seeks
love towards God and neighbour and thereby a proper love for oneself. This
desire for God is a prayerful response, not a theoretical exposition. Rather
than be distracted by the theology of conversion, the people reach out
effectively with compassion for the orphan.
Each
passage in its own way presents a healthy interchange with liturgical prayer.
The scribe declares that love "is worth more than any burnt
offering" and Hosea adds that once such love is secured then "we
may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls."
Both
Hosea and Jesus speak in the language of the ancient Scriptures which they
had learned from participating in the liturgy. Liturgical celebrations on
earth reflect the beauty and peace of heavenly life. Heaven's dew, Hosea
states, rests upon Israel.
Jesus says "Amen" to this anticipation of heaven: "You are not
far from the reign of God."
Hosea
and Mark enable us to put all of our Lenten practices into proper
relationship, each with the other, ourselves with our neighbour and Church,
all with God. If only my people would hear me, and Israel
walk in my ways,
I
would feed them with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would
fill them.
Take
words with you and return to the Lord; say to him, "Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good, and we will offer the fruit of our lips.
Assyria
shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; we will say no more, 'Our
God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy."
I
will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned
from them.
I
will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily, he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.
His
shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his
fragrance like that of Lebanon.
They
shall again live beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they
shall blossom like the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
O
Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress; your faithfulness comes from me.
Those
who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know them. For
the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but
transgressors stumble in them.
One
of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing
that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the
first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the
Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'
There is no other commandment greater than these." Then the scribe said
to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and
besides him there is no other'; and 'to love him with all the heart, and with
all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's
neighbour as oneself,' - this is much more important that all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he
said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom
of God." After that
no one dared to ask him any question.
Ho
6:1ff. "Come, let us return to the Lord," who desires steadfast
love and not external sacrifices.
Luke
18:9ff. The Pharisee and the tax collector pray in quite different ways; a
lesson in humility.
If we
know our Bible very well, especially if we have memorized the sacred words,
we have a rich storeroom of guidance for every occasion. We can muster the
correct theological response and wrap a mantle of piety about us and so feel
very holy, proper and self-righteous. Even the devil can quote the Holy
Scripture, says Shakespeare; this corrupt demon can then appear as an angel
of light! If a little learning is a dangerous thing, a great deal of learning
about the Bible can be still more perilous. Bible study destroys us if it is
not accompanied by sincere conversion of morals, and humble prayer.
The
certainty of God's answering our prayers was deeply imbedded within Israel's
tradition; Jesus also repeats the same confidence. Hosea quotes the people's
liturgical prayer: "Come, let us return to the Lord,. . . He will revive
us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up." This theme of
salvation on the third day occurs frequently enough in the Old Testament (Gen
42:18; Ex 19:10-11; Josh 3:2; Hos 6:2; Jon 2: l;Ezr 8:15; Esth 5:1; Luke
13:32). Jesus confirms this outstanding biblical symbol by rising from the
dead "on the third day."
God
certainly answers prayers, but he can be angered by our mouthing of words.
For words to become true prayer, it is not enough that they be consecrated by
a sacred tradition and employed in a holy setting. Words are transformed into
prayer, says the prophet Hosea, by love and the knowledge of God.
In
other parts of his prophecy Hosea explained what he expects these two
phrases, "love" and "knowledge of God," to mean for us,
They dispel "false swearing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery"
(Hos 4:1-2). When love, on the contrary, is genuine, it exemplifies the
deeper meaning of its Hebrew root, hesed. Such love is basically the
spontaneous and therefore obligatory response of common blood and family
bond. In Israel's
culture hesed existed only in a family or clan or tribe, never between
strangers or foreigners. When God declared himself a kinsman or blood
relative of Israel,
then the bond of such relationship was rooted in God. All equally belonged to
God and consequently to one another's family.
For
these reasons the words of the Bible sprang from the depth of such an
intimate relationship between Israel
and the Lord. Israel's
words became inspired with God's life, ideals and response, because her words
were born of a relationship or union between God and Israel.
Now
we understand, first why every prayer is heard, for it springs from the
common life or "blood" shared by Israel
and God. But we ought to comprehend as well why such words can destroy. To
mouth such words from a heart separated from God and from one's neighbour is
to make use of intimate symbols like a kiss or a caress to mock and to
betray.
Where
love, however, is deep, and its expression genuine, then it is characterized
by exquisite wonder, awesome fear, humble unworthiness, delicate concern over
the least infraction. It does not brag for it never does enough. Such a
person, Jesus tells us, is the publican. The pharisee's piety, on the
contrary, is a "morning cloud." It looks glorious and heavenly, but
it is flimsy and it evaporates quickly. Because it looked good, it pretends
to be good. It has destroyed reality. Because the roots of hesed are deep,
there is still hope. It is steadfast love, not sacrifice, that God desires.
My
sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
A
heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
"Come,
let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he
has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on
the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know,
let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he
will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the
earth."
What
shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love
is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early. Therefore I have
hewn them by the prophets, I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and
my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not
sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
He
also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the
temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee,
standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like
other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I
fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector,
standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his
breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man
went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt
themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be
exalted."
4th Week of Lent
Monday
An Outsider Shows Us How
Isaiah 65:17-21
John 4:43-54
Tuesday
Beside the Living Waters
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
John 5:1-3, 5-16
Wednesday
The Larger Picture
Isaiah 49:8-15
John 5:17-30
Thursday
Winning Hearts, Not Arguments
Exodus 32:7-14
John 5:31-47
Friday
Close To Those In Trouble
Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
Saturday
Judging What Is Right
Jeremiah 11:18-20
John 7:40-53
Monday
Isaiah
65:17ff. "Rejoice forever in what I am creating!" the good things
in store for those who love God.
John
4:43ff. The second miracle at Cana:
Jesus
cures the son of a royal official
Through
the prophet Isaiah God promises us "new heavens and a new earth."
We look forward to a vibrant life, fresher than just the old made new. It
will be a new creation, a total transformation. Although we ourselves and
everyone else will be the same persons who lived on the old planet earth,
nonetheless this line of continuity will lead into a heavenly existence so
marvelous that "the things of the past shall not be remembered . . .No
longer shall the sounds of weeping be heard there."
Jesus
promised a similar vision to the royal official at Capernaum.
"His son. . . was near death. He begged Jesus 'to come down and restore
the boy to health' . . . Jesus told him, 'return home. Your son will live.'
" This pagan official of Roman origin "put his trust in ... Jesus .
. . and started for home." He believed that the boy whom he had last
seen "near death" will now meet him full of life!
Do we
walk through life vibrating the hope and confidence of this pagan official?
Do we believe that Jesus can, if he will, work miracles in our lives? Are we
convinced that Jesus lovingly cares for each member of our family and
neighbourhood whatever be his religion or origin? Can we honestly admit that
our heart is secure in Fourth Week of Lent 53
its faith, that whatever happens at the end of each project or journey, was
really and truly the very best - no matter what? If we find sickness and
death, do we say in our heart: "Jesus could have cured this person or
could have arranged this business differently, so if he left it this way, it
is the very best. I believe, Lord."
If
the tears are not yet wiped away and the sound of crying is still heard, then
the suffering and loss are a manifestation of persevering love and courageous
dedication, on God's part who sorrows with the sorrowing, on our part who
rally around for comfort and support. "We believe, Lord. Even in this
agony you give us a vision of new heavens and a new earth! We will live
through death in this hope."
We also
believe that had Jesus wanted to do so, he would have worked a miracle for
us. If he did not, we are not angered or frustrated. We are all the more
convinced that pain is directly willed by God as it was appointed for Jesus
on the cross.
Jesus
can work miracles. The centurion believed Jesus, "Your son will
live." Anyone who passed this pagan Roman on his way home must have been
startled by the brilliant hope in his eyes, the enthusiasm for life in his
gait, the special swing of his body. Do people who pass us by, perceive
something about us specially hopeful and joyfully optimistic? They certainly
should, for we, too, have seen a vision of "new heavens and a new
earth."
Faith
such as this does not destroy human initiative. If it did, the royal official
never would have bothered coming to Jesus nor asked that his son continue to
live, work, love and grow old. Jesus, the gospel concludes, performed
"this . . . second sign." The miracle of turning water into wine at
Cana was the first sign (John 2:11). These
are signs of new life and new joy, miraculously achieved, so wonderful that
the old things must be swept away and "the past. . . not be
remembered." If they are signs of death, these signs point to a new
creation through and beyond death. Hear, O Lord, and have pity on me; You
changed my mourning into dancing.
For I
am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not
be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am
creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem
as a joy, and its people as a delight.
I
will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but
a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who
dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short
of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They
shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their
fruit.
When
the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee
(for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honour in the
prophet's own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem
at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.
Then
he came again to Cana in Galilee where he
had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay
ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee,
he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point
of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you
will not believe." The official said to him, "Sir, come down before
my little boy dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will
live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on
his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child
was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said
to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him." The
father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your
son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household.
Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Ezekiel
47:1ff. Life-giving water flow out from the temple to irrigate the
wilderness.
John
5:1ff. At the pool beside the Jerusalem Sheepgate,
Jesus
heals a paralysed man.
We
live in an age of pollution and crisis. Our air and our water are becoming so
seriously contaminated that we are approaching an alarming crisis. The
fresh-water image, therefore, in the prophecy of Ezekiel has all the more
appeal to us; its miraculous origin all the more necessary. Only by an act of
God, it seems, can the destruction of our planet be reversed. Ezekiel offers
us reasons to hope and pray.
In
the meanwhile Ezekiel inspires us to pray and work for another, closer kind
of purification, that of ourselves. Each of us needs a stream of fresh water
to flow through us, to wash and invigorate our minds and hearts, to bring a
new fresh vigor to our attitudes, to enliven and brighten our hopes, to allow
a new spontaneity within our reflexes. Each of us is only half or a quarter
alive; we are lame like the man in John's gospel, waiting for the movement of
the water.
While
Lent is a period of penance and self-denial - seemingly a time of dull oppression
beneath grey cloudy skies - it also recalls the waters of Baptism. It is a
period for preparing catechumens for the sacrament of Baptism on Holy
Saturday. Lent trains us like athletes, to throw off the sluggish and heavy
drag of gloom and pessimism. It keeps away false values, so that our best
self emerges fully alive.
The
waters of Ezekiel's prophecy flow from the Holy of Holies at the temple. We
are reminded of the sanctuary of our parish churches where we are summoned
more frequently during Lent. Through added prayer and instruction at the
liturgy we feel the touch of these transforming waters. The larger or
complete passage of Ezekiel (verses one to twelve) show that the prophet is
meditating upon earlier biblical passages, especially one in Jer 17:5-7.
Reflecting upon the Bible we are provided with another source of life-giving,
invigorating water; like Ezekiel we will be more able to spot new signs of
life about us where previously we saw only desert.
This
spirit of optimism will increase more and more as we spend more time in
prayer, reflection and dialogue. These more extended periods are indicated by
Ezekiel as the angel of the Lord led the prophet along the route of the
stream of fresh water, and at each new thousand cubits the water was continuously
deeper. The possibilities of new life are increased as the Bible purifies our
vision through the example of the saints and strengthens our faith not only
in miracles but also in ourselves and in our neighbour.
Finally,
the lame man at the pool of Bethesda
advises us to wait. This most important virtue is inculcated by the prophets,
especially by Isaiah who said: "By waiting and by calm you shall be
saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies" (Is 30:15). Waiting
convinces ourselves and all others that Jesus alone, certainly not our
activity without Jesus, works the transforming, at times miraculous change we
need. The lame man could have waited forever and remained lame unless waiting
prepared a vigilant spirit for the coming of Jesus.
Then
he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing
from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced
east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold
of the temple, south of the altar.
Then
he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside
to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and the water was coming out on
the south side. Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured
one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was
ankle-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and
it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the
water; and it was up to the waist.
Again
he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the
water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be
crossed. He said to me, "Mortal, have you seen this?" Then he led
me back along the bank of the river.
As I
came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side
and on the other. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern
region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of
stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. Wherever the river goes, every
living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once
these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live
where the river goes.
On
the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for
food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear
fresh fruit every month, because the waterfor them flows from the sanctuary.
Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing."
After
this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now
in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha,
which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids - blind, lame, and
paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When
Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he
said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered
him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is
stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of
me." Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At
once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now
that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured,
"It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."
But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Take up
your mat and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who said to
you, 'Take it up and walk'?" Now the man who had been healed did not
know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later
Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made
well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." The
man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such
things on the sabbath.
Isaiah
49:8ff. Wonderful promises to a dispirited people: "I have kept you and
given you as a sign of salvation to others."
John
5:17ff. The intimate union of Jesus with God, like an only son with his
loving father.
The
biblical readings from Isaiah chapters 40 to 55 (a distinct section of the
prophecy, dating to the Babylonian exile) and from the gospel of John
overwhelm us with many manifestations of tenderness and might. The heaven and
earth sing out their wondrous enthusiasm at the Lord's splitting the
mountains to bring his people from afar. Almost in the same breath the
prophet sees this mighty God as a mother with tender love for the child of
her womb. The images clash from our human viewpoint but serve to enhance the
mystery of God.
John's
gospel moves in and out of the most profound mysteries of the Godhead. This
passage returns repeatedly to the equality of Father and Son in the Holy
Trinity as well as to the subordination of Jesus, the God-man, to the Father.
Questions about life and death, judgment and resurrection, sin and grace,
heaven and damnation, life received and life possessed, all these mystical
phenomena rise to the surface of John's gospel here.
Such
indeed are the tremendous possibilities of our own life. We can be so deeply
touched by tender, exquisite joy that we summon the distant mountains to
"break out in song." We feel very helpless, even condemned by our
sins, yet at the same time these sins evoke the concern of our Saviour-God,
who is "saying to the prisoners: 'Come out!' [and] to those in darkness:
'Show yourselves!' "
The
depth of goodness and the height of power, the plunging into the eternity
behind us and the sweep of contemplation into another future eternity - all
this leaves us in awe.
All
the while people are arguing whether or not Jesus should work miracles on the
Sabbath. He has performed the miracle of curing the lame person at the pool
of Bethesda, and jealous people bicker over a violation of Sabbath rest.
Already in another passage the prophecy of Isaiah explained how to "keep
the Sabbath free from profanation": "do what is just . . . and let
the foreigners join themselves to the Lord" (Is 56:1-8). God the Father
works on the Sabbath by keeping the created world in good running condition,
by bringing infants to birth and by calling others in death. Yet, people
allow themselves to be blind to the wonderful and the tender, to argue a
miniscule point of legal procedure. A tiny hill turns into a mountain to
block the view of God's beautiful world of people and natural phenomena.
We,
too, can become narrow, prejudiced, blinded. We can become absorbed in all
types of red tape as the poor die of starvation, the handicapped are deprived
of a full life, and the excitement of a younger person is smothered. We can
also hide ourselves in darkness, fearful about the wonder of life. To inhabit
a world of miracles and of healing, of mountains split apart and breaking
into song, of lengthy contemplations of eternal life - these actions can be
so overwhelming that we cannot endure them for long. We want to be
distracted; we allow every small annoyance to bring us back to our own tiny
bit of reality.
Lent
ought to purify and strengthen our gaze, so that we can live magnanimously
with the wonderful person of God, with the awesome gift of life, and with the
good planet earth. The Lord is faithful in all his words and holy in all his
works.
The
Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
Thus says
the Lord: In a time of favour I have answered you, on a day of salvation I
have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; saying to the
prisoners, "Come out," to those who are in darkness, "Show
yourselves." They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights
shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching
wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead
them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will turn all my
mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up.
Lo,
these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the
west, and these from the land of Syene. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O
earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his
people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones.
But
Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."
Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of
her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
But
Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, and I also am
working." For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill
him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God
his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
Jesus
said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his
own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does,
the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he
himself is doing; and he ill show him greater works than these, so that you
will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them
life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. The Father judges no
one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honour the Son
just as they honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son does not
honour the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my
word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under
judgment, but has passed from death to life.
"Very
truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear
the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the
Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in
himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is
the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all
who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out - those who
have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to
the resurrection of condemnation.
"I
can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just,
because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Exodus
32:7ff. Though his people are so stiff-necked and stubborn, Moses begs God to
forgive and give them another chance.
John
5:31ff. Although John the Baptist was like a shining lamp, Jesus throws even
more light upon our way to God.
These
readings center around complaints and responses. Since criticism is a very
human reaction, we should all feel very much at home! God complains to Moses
about the people Israel: "See how stiff-necked!" In fact God wants
to quit this community and start a new chosen nation in Moses and his sons.
"I will make you a great nation." All of us condemn quitters; yet if
we are really honest, each one of us is tempted to quit at times of crisis.
In
regard to the episode here, the question comes to mind: is Moses projecting
his own problem into the mind of God? Moses had hesitated at other times,
especially when he balked at striking the rock for water and then in doubt
did it twice (Num 20:6b-13). If Moses is confusing his own temptation with
God's, then we have a true brother or identical twin in Moses. Like Moses we,
too, imagine at times that our temptation to quit is actually an expression
of God's holy will!
A
major temptation of all leaders, and indeed of each one of us because of our
very special unique gifts, is to run ahead of our community or church. We
feel that it is God's will to leave behind the slow, dull, sinful lot of
other people, so that we can be true to our conscience, full in expressing
our hopes, at peace with our ideals. Such temptations are very human, but to
give in not only separates us from our community or church but it also pulls
us away from Moses and Jesus.
Jesus
in the footsteps of Moses and the prophets, argued seriously and
continuously, even though he had just healed a cripple and helped a man lame
for 38 years to walk. Surely, if anyone of us had displayed such divine power
out of compassion for the handicapped, we would hardly be in the mood to
enter a long discussion - first about the legal niceties of our actions
(should we have done a good deed on the Sabbath? - 5:1-30); and then about
the presence of God supporting our miraculous action.
Both
Jesus and the early church patiently "sat down" and carefully
worked through the various reasons. This response is not to be attributed to
condescension but to compassion and genuine love. Jesus appealed to the
recent experience of John the Baptist, again to his own miracles as works of
his heavenly Father, to the interior presence of God the Father within the
mind of each person, and to the Scriptures.
We
must decide, during a lively discussion or argument, which approach is best.
Perhaps, the least probative and argumentative, the weakest in the face of
opposition, yet the most genuine and in the long run the most powerful reason
is found in God's hidden presence, his "silent" testimony on our
behalf. Our first decision, our consequent action, our present reappraisal
should be undertaken in God's presence. As Jeremiah expressed it: I have
"stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear his word" (Jer
23:18).
This
interior conviction, borne and sustained by our consciousness of living with
God and of being directed by the Lord, will eventually overcome all
opposition and win the argument. This attitude of serenity enables us to
persevere and thus remove the temptation to quit and so to enable this
community eventually, perhaps in the next generation as in Moses' case, to
cross the river Jordan and enter the promised land. We do not seek to win an
argument but a people for God.
The
Lord said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up
out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn
aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an
image of a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said,
'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of
Egypt!'" The Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how
stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot
against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great
nation."
But
Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath
burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with
great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was
with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and
to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath;
change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self,
saying to them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven,
and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and
they shall inherit it forever.'" And the Lord changed his mind about the
disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
"If
I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who
testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent
messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such
human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a
burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his
light. But I have a testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father
has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my
behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself
testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and
you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom
he has sent.
"You
search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;
and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to
have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do
not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do
not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can
you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory
that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you
before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If
you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you
do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?"
Wisdom
2:1, 12-22
"Let
us lie in wait for the righteous man" - a prediction of the Passion of
Jesus.
John
7:1-2, 10, 25-30
Jesus
goes up privately to Jerusalem for the feast; the crowds wonder about his
role and authority.
The
"just one" in the first reading, persecuted and tested by the
wicked, annoys others and seems to provoke this oppression because "he
professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of God." A
similar, mysterious origin is claimed by Jesus. When the men and women of his
own relation claimed to have all the facts on Jesus, he replied: "I was
sent by One whom . . . you do not know. I know him because it is from him I
come." While the "just one" in the Book of Wisdom is
humiliated and oppressed, "no one laid a finger on ... [Jesus] because
his hour had not yet come."
At
the depth of each person, then, is a mysterious life, not only created by God
but also directed by the Lord at each "hour." There is an hour of
peace and an hour of violence, an hour of birth and an hour of re-birth into
eternity. Just as death and immortality are won-drously absorbed in God's
infinite knowledge and loving care, so also is the birth, the inner character
and temperament, the sequence of life. These most essential parts of our
person, these most crucial moments of our existence are all locked in the
secrecy of God's divine life. Not even we ourselves can ever properly and fully
comprehend who we really are at the roots of our soul, and we will be
perpetually taken by surprise even at critical moments of our lives. Shall we
say, especially at these decisive crossroads will we react with undreamed of
strength, wisdom and holiness?
Temptations
and trials result when people and forces from outside attempt to invade this
mysterious domain of God, to force us to mediocre compromises, to catch us in
selfish and harmful plots, to contrive ways of misusing God's beautiful
creation against his other children, to use power and prestige for improper
or self-indulgent projects, to make everyone the same by removing all signs
of heroic dedication. What the Book of Wisdom recounts about temptation and
persecution from the wicked can be said of enemy forces outside each of us
and at times from within ourselves where these forces of evil have been
lodged.
These
forces cannot always be fought directly and on their own terms. We need an
exceptional amount of hidden resources and personal strength. Lent provides
an opportunity to contact our finest, divinely created and most mysterious
self. Lent enables us to retrace our steps back to our roots. Our spirit can
rest more profoundly and more continuously at the base of ourselves through
the extended periods of prayer and frequent summons to penance in this holy
time of the year. Fasting purifies and strengthens, removes the false values
and easy traps to selfishness and sensuality. Alms-giving unites us with
brothers and sisters whom we meet only in that depth of life where everyone
is equally created by God as one marvelous family. Prayer takes on the
patient and quiet attitude of resting with one's beloved, who is God. It
listens to the "hidden counsels of God."
At
the response after the first reading we confess: "The Lord is near to
broken hearts." Broken hearts are painful and lonely, but they also
enable us to reach even more deeply into our roots, where God is very near
with the loving providence of his mysterious clasp. The Lord is close to those
in trouble; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves
Many
are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all the Lord delivers him.
For
they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
"Short
and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its
end, and no one has been known to return from Hades.
"Let
us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and
opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses
us of sins against our training.
He
professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He
became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to
us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are
strange.
We
are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his
father.
Let
us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of
his life; for if the righteous man is God's child, he will help him, and will
deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
Let
us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he
is, and make trial of his forbearance.
Let
us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will
be protected."
Thus
they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them,
and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of
holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;
After
this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea
because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival
of Booths was near. So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to
Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one
who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show
yourself to the world." (For not even his brothers believed in him.)
Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always
here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it
that its works are evil. Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to
this festival, for my time has not yet fully come." After saying this,
he remained in Galilee.
But
after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly
but as it were in secret. Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying,
"Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is,
speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities
really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but
when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from." Then Jesus
cried out as he was teaching in the temple, "You know me, and you know
where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true,
and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent
me." Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him,
because his hour had not yet come.
Jeremiah
11:18ff. I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.
John
7:40ff. The authorities argue about who Jesus is: can he possibly be the
Messiah?
The
Jewish authorities are undecided about Jesus. The majority of them conclude
that he is not the promised Saviour and Prophet. The same scriptural argument
raged among the lay people, yet a strange group of them decided in Jesus'
favour. The temple guards respond most spontaneously of all: "No one
ever spoke like that before!" In our day many leading Christians,
theologians and large numbers of lay people argue among themselves over the
essentials of religion: who is Christ? What is the Church? What is necessary
for salvation? What is right and wrong? Even Christianity itself is divided,
at this moment anyway, into irreconcilable denominations, each quoting the
Bible!
Because
Lent summons us to more extended prayer and study, to a daily Eucharistic
celebration with special biblical readings, we need to review the norms for
reading the Bible profitably. Today's selections from the prophecy of
Jeremiah and the gospel of John offer some help for interpreting the Bible
more correctly today.
First,
as Nicodemus pointed out, we should give the Bible and each person a fair
hearing; we should try to know the facts before we condemn or accept. As we
make this studious effort at study and patient observation, we will have to
tolerate differences of opinion. If indecision about Jesus' messiahship
became a public issue both among the people themselves and among religious
authorities, even while Jesus was still alive, then we ought not be surprised
about theological conflicts today.
At the
same time we should be careful about what needs to change. It should be noted
that Jesus gave no indication that he or his disciples should change and
abandon the Jewish religion. The controversy raged around the way in which
God should bring this religion to greater perfection. Another important
quality is a healthy respect for whatever is good and wholesome. The
unlearned temple guards reply to the court theologians: "No one ever
spoke like that before!" The Bible ought never be used to make the good look
bad; rather, the real task of biblical interpretation lies in making the good
to be still better. Negative answers are more likely to be wrong; positive
explanations more likely to be correct. Good, wholesome people, positive in
affirming others, slow to condemn, ready to forgive, tolerant of other
people's convictions, prayerful and respectful, have the best chance of being
right.
Both
Jeremiah and Jesus interpreted the Bible within the context of their
religious community. Each presumed a living continuity with past tradition,
each sought an understanding of the Bible within the hopes and prayers of
their contemporary "church" or assembly of believers. Bible study
was not a matter settled exclusively between each individual and God. One's family
and entire nation were seriously involved and a true answer is found only
where unity prevails.
Finally,
in such a dispute, Jeremiah entrusted his cause to the Lord, "searcher
of mind and heart." Above all, we are not seeking answers but the living
God; we are not settling disputes but responding to God's loving, searching
presence within us. Only when we peacefully seek God rather than ammunition
for religious disputes will we be in good shape to interpret the Bible
correctly.
It
was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew; then you showed me their
evil deeds.
But I
was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. And I did not know it was
against me that they devised schemes, saying, "Let us destroy the tree
with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his
name will no longer be remembered!"
But
you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously, who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
When
they heard these words, some in the crowd said, "This is really the
prophet." Others said, "This is the Messiah." But some asked,
"Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the
scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from
Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" So there was a division in
the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid
hands on him.
Then
the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked
them, "Why did you not arrest him?" The police answered,
"Never has anyone spoken like this!" Then the Pharisees replied,
"Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the
authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does
not know the law - they are accursed." Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus
before, and who was one of them, asked, "Our law does not judge people
without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does
it?" They replied, "Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you?
Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee." Then
each of them went home.
5th Week of Lent
Monday
Defending the Innocent
Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17,
31-62
John 8:1-11
Tuesday
The Serpent And The Cross
Numbers 21:4-9
John 8:21-30
Wednesday
Only One Can Save Us
Daniel 3:14-20, 24-25
John 8:31-42
Thursday
Abraham's Enduring Promise
Genesis 17:3-9
John 8:51-59
Friday
Not Rejecting Prophets
Jeremiah 20:10-13
John 10:31-42
Saturday
The Great Uniting
Ezekiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-56
Monday
Daniel
13:1ff. The chaste Susanna is falsely accused, but Daniel's acute questions reveal
the truth.
John
8:1ff. Jesus calls for mercy: "Let him who is without sin be the first
to throw a stone at her."
The
key to religious faith is given in the one line about Susanna: "Through
her tears she looked up to heaven, for she trusted in the Lord
wholeheartedly." By contrast the Bible states that the two wicked men,
her accusers, "suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their
eyes to look to heaven." When we fix our gaze on heaven, we allow ourselves
to be wholly absorbed in God and from this intense union we acquire an
extraordinary peace and unconquerable strength. This peace is Christ's
"farewell gift," given not as the world bestows peace, but infused
far more profoundly into our lives.
This
peace begets an exceptional kind of patience. Jesus' words come to mind,
especially as they used to ring out in the ancient Latin liturgy, in
patientia vestra possidebitis animas vestras, translated literally "in
your patience you will possess your soul" (Luke 21:10). In such a spirit
Susanna turned immediately to the Lord and prayed: "O Eternal God, you
know what is hidden and are aware of all things. . . ." She did not lash
out angrily against her accusers, nor did she turn at once in panic to her
own defense. She looked to the Lord, and in this patience she possessed her
strength and integrity. Rather than fall into the trap of arguing when her
accusers were crafty, she forced everyone to come up to her innocence and
honesty before God.
We
are directed first to remember God's presence and his sweeping knowledge of
everything and then to abide in prayer. In this way our own defense does not
turn into a shouting match where nobody wins and we ourselves lose our own
innocence in this excessive form of revenge and counterattack.
The
guilty woman in today's story lay silently at Jesus' feet. Again we admire
Jesus' as well as the woman's restraint. He "simply bent down and
started tracing [and doodling] on the ground with his finger. . . . [Finally]
he straightened up and said to them, 'Let the man among you who has no sin be
the first to cast a stone at her.' A second time he bent down and wrote on
the ground." She might have shouted accusations against the man who must
have been caught in the act with her and yet was allowed to slip away easily.
Her accusers did not want justice. Otherwise both culprits would have been
brought to Jesus. They were using the woman to trap Jesus.
Jesus
refused to be trapped, and so did the woman whose silence against the ground
projected far more honour and dignity than the tall, self-justifying
pomposity of the accusers. They eventually "drifted away one by one
beginning with the elders."
We
pray for the wisdom to know when to choose that silence which begets honour,
serenity, forgiveness. These beautiful mysterious depths of character come
when we possess our soul in the presence of Jesus. He becomes our light, our
witness, our justification. Jesus, a new Daniel, enables not just ourselves
but an ever wider circle of our neighbours to pray, "blessing God who
saves those who hope in him."
Though
I walk in the dark valley
I
fear no evil; for you are at my side
With
your rod and your staff that give me courage.
There
was a man living in Babylon whose name was Joakim. And he took a wife named
Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, a very beautiful woman and one who feared
the Lord. Her parents were righteous, and had taught their daughter according
to the law of Moses. Joakim was very rich, and had a spacious garden adjoining
his house; and the Jews used to come to him because he was the most honoured
of them all.
That
year two elders from the people were appointed as judges. Concerning them the
Lord had said: "Iniquity came forth from Babylon, from elders who were
judges, who were supposed to govern the people." These men were
frequently at Joakim's house, and all who had suits at law came to them
there.
When
the people departed at noon, Susanna would go into her husband's garden to
walk. The two elders used to see her every day, going in and walking about,
and they began to desire her. And they perverted their minds and turned away
their eyes from looking to Heaven or remembering righteous judgmnts.
Once,
while they were watching for an opportune day, she went in as before with
only two maids, and wished to bathe in the garden, for it was very hot. And
no one was there except the two elders, who had hid themselves and were
watching her. She said to her maids, "Bring me oil and ointments, and
shut the garden doors so that I may bathe."
Now
Susanna was a woman of great refinement, and beautiful in appearance. As she
was veiled, the wicked men ordered her to be unveiled, that they might feed
upon her beauty. But her family and friends and all who saw her wept.
Then
the two elders stood up in the midst of the people, and laid their hands upon
her head. And she, weeping, looked up toward heaven, for her heart trusted in
the Lord. The elders said, "As we were walking in the garden alone, this
woman came in with two maids, shut the garden doors, and dismissed the maids.
Then a young man, who had been hidden, came to her and lay with her. We were
in a corner of the garden, and when we saw this wickedness we ran to them. We
saw them embracing, but we could not hold the man, for he was too strong for
us, and he opened the doors and dashed out. So we seized this woman and asked
her who the young man was, but she would not tell us. These things we
testify." The assembly believed them, because they were elders of the
people and judges; and they condemned her to death.
Then
Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said, "O eternal God, who dost
discern what is secret, who art aware of all things before they come to be,
thou knowest that these men have borne false witness against me. And now I am
to die! Yet I have done none of the things that they have wickedly invented
against me!"
The
Lord heard her cry. And as she was being led away to be put to death, God
aroused the holy spirit of a young lad named Daniel; and he cried with a loud
voice, "I am innocent of the blood of this woman."
All
the people turned to him, and said, "What s this that you have
said?" Taking his stand in the midst of them, he said, "Are you
such fools, you sons of Israel? Have you condemned a daughter of Israel without
examination and without learning the facts? Return to the place of judgment.
For these men have borne false witness against her." Then all the people
returned in haste. And the elders said to him, "Come, sit among us and
inform us, for God has given you that right." And Daniel said to them,
"Separate them far from each other, and I will examine them."
When
they were separated from each other, he summoned one of them and said to him,
"You old relic of wicked days, your sins have now come home, which you have
committed in the past, pronouncing unjust judgments, condemning the innocent
and letting the guilty go free, though the Lord said, `Do not put to death an
innocent and righteous person.' Now then, if you really saw her, tell me
this: Under what tree did you see them being intimate with each other?"
He answered, "Unde a mastic tree." And Daniel said, "Very
well! You have lied against your own head, for the angel of God has received
the sentence from God and will immediately cut you in two."
Then
he put him aside, and commanded them to bring the other. And he said to him,
"You offspring of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you and
lust has perverted your heart. This is how you both have been dealing with
the daughters of Israel, and they were intimate with you through fear; but a
daughter of Judah would not endure your wickedness. Now then, tell me: Under
what tree did you catch them being intimate with each other?" He
answered, "Under an evergreen oak." And Daniel said to him, "Very
well! You also have lied against your own head, for the angel of God is
waiting with his sword to saw you in two, that he may destroy you both."
Then
all the assembly shouted loudly and blessed God, who saves those who hope in
him. And they rose against the two elders, for out of their own mouths Daniel
hd convicted them of bearing false witness; and they did to them as they had
wickedly planned to do to their neighbour; acting in accordance with the law
of Moses, they put them to death. Thus innocent blood was saved that day.
Jesus
went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the
temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery;
and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher,
this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law
Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said
this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on
questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among
you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once
again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went
away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with
the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her,
"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, No
one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way,
and from now on do not sin again."
Numbers
21:4ff. "Make a serpent, and set it on a pole; everyone who is bitten
shall look at it and live."
John
8:21ff. "When you have lifted up the Son of Man," the truth will be
finally revealed.
The
symbol of Israel's sin, the saraph serpent (the Hebrew word
"saraph" means "burning"), sent among them with a
poisonous bite, is transformed into an instrument of salvation. Moses made a
bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, so that all who look upon it with an
honest admission of their sin and sincere sorrow for their offense, will be
forgiven and cured by the Lord. Such an acknowledgment purifies the mind and
heart, for it exposes and eliminates all false reasons and phony excuses and
calls the evil action by its right name "sin". The people admit
that their sin brought sorrow and death, that their grumbling was
destructive, and that their waste of food or contempt for it evoked God's
righteous anger.
This
bronze serpent had a somewhat devious history. Long before Moses cast this
figure out of copper, the serpent was a popular idol or figurine in the
Canaan-ite fertility ritual. It is to be noted that the serpent symbolized
the devil in Genesis chapter 3. Perhaps it was partially because of this
pagan background that Moses' bronze serpent became an object of false
worship. It was, therefore, smashed and destroyed by King Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:4).
Strange
it is that the early church recognized in this symbol a sign of Jesus on the
cross. Jesus crucified shows the full effects of our sins. Jesus has become
ourselves in our most destructive and violent actions. Jesus is ourselves,
our families and communities, jealous and hateful one against the other,
resentful and prejudiced. Jesus thus becomes one with us even in our sins and
guilt; yet all the while he preserves his goodness, peace and godliness.
St.
Paul wrote: "For our sakes God made him [Jesus] who did not know sin, to
be sin, so that in him we might become the very holiness of God" (2 Cor
5:21). In the goodness, compassion, mercy, tenderness, forgiveness of Jesus
we recognize at once by contrast our own violent and harsh attitude. This
same image of Jesus on the cross not only portrays our personal and community
violence, but it also reveals "the kindness and love of God our
Saviour" (Tit 3:4).
Like
the saraph serpent, lifted up by Moses, likewise Jesus crucified, lifted up
by our sins and those of all the world, "trains us to reject godless
ways and worldly desires ... as we await our blessed hope . . . our Saviour
Christ Jesus. It was he who sacrificed himself for us ... [and by submerging
his goodness within us] redeem[ed] us from all unrighteousness and . . .
cleansed for himself a people of his own, eager to do what is right"
(Tit 2:12-14).
While
externally Jesus conforms to us, internally we are able to conform to him.
This internal goodness forces the poison of our sinfulness out of us - in the
violent and hideous form of crucifixion - and at that moment we like Jesus
belong to what is above.
O
Lord, hear my prayer, And let my cry come to you.
From
Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of
Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against
God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die
in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this
miserable food." Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people,
and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to
Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against
you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us." So Moses
prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous
serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it
and live." So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole;
and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of
bronze and live.
Again
he said to them, "I am going away, and you will search for me, but you
will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come." Then the Jews
said, "Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying,
'Where I am going, you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You are
from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I
told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins
unless you believe that I am he." They said to him, "Who are
you?" Jesus said to them, "Why do I speak to you at all? I have
much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true,
and I declare to the world what I have heard from him." They did not
understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said,
"When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am
he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father
instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone,
for I always do what ispleasing to him." As he was saying these things,
many believed in him.
Daniel
3:14ff. Trust in God no matter what happens:
He
will save us from the fiery furnace.
John
8:31ff. Jesus promises his disciples that
"The
truth will make you free."
The
young men in the book of Daniel follow their consciences and trust in God no
matter what happens: "If our God . . .can save us. . ., may he save us!
But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god
..." With unimaginable serenity they accept the consequences.
"There is no need," they said, "for us to defend
ourselves." The issue is very clear; there is no other choice but what
is alone morally good and acceptable, even obligatory. God saved them from
being consumed in the "furnace . . . heated seven times more than
usual." Nebuchadnezzar then exclaimed: "Blessed be the God . . .
who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted in him."
Jesus,
too, did always "the will of him who sent me" (John 5:30). That is
why Jesus declared: "I have come down from heaven, but to do the will of
him who sent me" (6:38). Such heroic obedience was "my food"
(4:34). Yet, unlike the young men in the fiery furnace, Jesus was not saved
from the violent death of crucifixion.
Such
a death, nonetheless, was the answer to his prayers. As contradictory as this
seems, such is the explanation of Jesus' agony in the garden offered to us in
the Epistle to the Hebrews! "In the days when he was in the flesh, he
offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to God, who was
able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son
though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when perfected
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." (Hebr
5:7-9)
By
such obedience Jesus manifests his divine sonship. "I did not come of my
own will; it was he who sent me." Jesus' eternal life in the unity of
the Holy Trinity consisted in being continuously begotten by the Father. His
response, "I obey" constituted his essential life, his "I
Am". He had no other claim to existence.
The
whole existence of ourselves as disciples of Jesus flows from the mysterious
roots of our souls where we are called and sustained in a supernatural life
beyond all human ability to comprehend. Jesus said in today's gospel:
If
you live according to my teaching, you are truly my disciples; then you will
know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Although
we must make many decisions from our own conscious intelligence and we must
act according to our talents and opportunities, nonetheless, at the base or
core of ourselves we are being begotten by God and we are receiving a divine
life similar to Jesus. At crucial moments in bur lives we are expected to be
heroic. In fact we have no other choice. Neither did the young men in the
book of Daniel. Nothing may interfere with what is morally good. "The
truths [of that deep, divine life] will set you free."
As we
respond with fearless obedience, that most divine part of ourselves is
manifest. Our true self emerges most fully, most courageously, most divinely.
If as in the case of Jesus our prayer to be saved is heard through the act of
dying, we are saved for eternal life, and the angels will exclaim:
"Blessed be the God . . . who sent his angels to deliver the servants
who trusted in him."
Nebuchadnezzar
said to them, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you
do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set
up?
Now
if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon,
harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue
that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall
immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that
will deliver you out of my hands?"
Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no
need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is
able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O
king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will
not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have
set up."
Then
Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven
times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in
his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the
furnace of blazing fire.
Then
King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his
counselors, "Was it not three men that we threw bound into the
fire?" They answered the king, "True, O king."
He
replied, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire,
and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god."
Then
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my
word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth
will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of
Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying,
'You will be made free'?"
Jesus
answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a
slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the
son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free
indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an
opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I
declare what I have seen in the Father's presence; as for you, you should do
what you have heard from the Father."
They
answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If
you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you
are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.
This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father
does." They said to him, "We are not illegitimate children; we have
one father, God himself." Jesus said to them, "If God were your
Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not
come on my own, but he sent me.
Genesis
17:3ff. Abraham continues to believe in God's promises, despite long delays
and disappointments.
John
8:51ff. The mysterious relationship between Jesus and Abraham.
The
promises of Abraham reach forward, even into the centuries beyond our present
age. In speaking to Abraham God anticipated a day when all the nations of the
world will find themselves united as though they were blood-relatives, all of
them offspring of their one father Abraham. The different races of planet
earth and the various ethnic groups cannot establish this bond through a
common genealogy or blood descent. It can happen only by sharing the same
faith and hopes and that means faith in land promised equally to all persons,
faith in a way of salvation where no single group travels alone, faith in a
common sharing of earth's riches, faith in the one divine dignity of all
persons.
The
choice of Abraham, when compared to the later exodus out of Egypt under
Moses, has a much more universal sweep to it. It reflects the kingdom of
David when Israel opened lively diplomatic relations on an international
scale and absorbed many customs and values of their neighbours - with God's
blessing. God's promises to Abraham advise us to think big, to respond
openly, to seek and dream the divine ideal of one world, one people.
While
Abraham looks ahead excitedly, the words of Jesus reach back not only to the
age of the great patriarch (1850 B.C.) but even behind that first day in
Israel's history to the eternal day before creation. "Before Abraham
came to be, I AM." Jesus identifies himself with Yahweh. This name for
God, very special and sacred to Israel, means in the Hebrew language "He
who is always there."
Jesus,
consequently, claims to be more than the fulfillment of Abraham's faith and
hopes; Jesus is one with God who planned for the day of Abraham before the
universe was created, directed world history so that Abraham would be the
single hope of all people, led Israel's history forward till this eternal
Word became incarnate as Jesus, son of Mary. As the great I AM, Jesus is the
Lord of our history. His hopes and plans will remain at least partially
unfulfilled until all men and women are one. We are reminded of St. Paul's
famous statement:
All
of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with him.
There does not exist among you Jew or Greek, slave or free person, male or female.
All are one in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, if you belong to Christ, you are
the descendants of Abraham, which means you inherit all that was promised.
(Gal 3:27-29)
Abraham
can now rejoice to see Jesus' day still flourishing among his followers. The
heart of father Abraham will beat with greater satisfaction to the extent
that each of us breaks down barriers of prejudice and bias, of antagonism and
refusal to forgive. Abraham will be even happier as each of us and our church
across the world, champions the rights of oppressed people, people neglected
in hospitals, rest homes and prisons. Charity of this kind will earn the
promise of Jesus: "if anyone is true to my word, that person shall never
see death." Charity cannot die. It surpasses faith and hope and alone
extends into heaven. The bond of love promised in Abraham, fulfilled in
Jesus, summons us to the only way we can live forever.
Then
Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "As for me, this is my
covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No
longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have
made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly
fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I
will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you
throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you
and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring
after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a
perpetual holding; and I will be their God."
God
said to Abraam, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your
offspring after you throughout their generations."
Very
truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death." The Jews
said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so
did the prophets; yet you say, 'Whoever keeps my word will never taste
death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also
died. Who do you claim to be?" Jesus answered, "If I glorify
myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whomyou
say, 'He is our God,' though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would
say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and
I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he
saw it and was glad." Then the Jews said to him, "You are not yet
fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them,
"Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am." So they picked
up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Jeremiah
20:10ff. Though many plot against God's servant, he "has delivered the
life of the needy."
John
10:31ff. In Jerusalem, the danger to Jesus' life grows intense, and he
withdraws to a quieter place.
Both
Jeremiah and Jesus are hounded by friends and even relatives who have turned against
them. Erstwhile, fair weather companions feel betrayed by Jeremiah or Jesus
in that their own personal interests and selfish security are threatened.
Jeremiah speaks of the Lord who . . . "has rescued the life of the
poor" and Jesus cures the helpless - the blind and the crippled, the
deaf and the mute - and returns them to full vigor on the Sabbath day. Each
is condemned because each is upsetting the comfortable, legal support-system
and shifting concern from red-tape to people. In all honesty we must admit
that the opposition group arguing against Jeremiah and Jesus are not openly
bad people. They even know their Bible and its legal applications; they can
quote all of them by rote memory. Yet these had become just sounds, no longer
meaningful words.
These
words had become sacred because they grew out of the living context of life,
out of the hearts where people struggled to discern God's will in difficult
or challenging moments of their life. These words then expressed so well that
inner wrestling with God that later generations repeated them over and over
again. Through these sacred writings the future assemblies were able to
discern better God's wonderful but mysterious action in their own lives; this
enabled them to respond more clearly and energetically to what God was
asking.
These
sacred words are so good that they can become idols worshipped in place of
God. They can be quoted to control God and to dictate how God must act
forever in the future. These practitioners of religion can then safeguard
their own sanctimonious security which is now untouchable. All of us can fall
into this trap. We can be caught by our own goodness. Our virtue erects a
castle of pride which becomes the home of the devil. Jesus condemned this
fearful, desperate situation when he compared these people to
"white-washed tombs, beautiful to look at on the outside but inside full
of filth and dead men's bones" (Matt 23:27). Their actions are begotten
by their "father [whom] you spring from, . . . the devil" (John
8:44).
This
dreadful situation emerges whenever we "use" our goodness selfishly
to our own advantage, insensitively against others. All of us commit our
"best" sins when we are capable, talented, gifted and blessed by
God. We use our God-given faculties in a wrong way. The worst of all these
sins is pride when we seek to manipulate God to our egotistic plans; we do
this by using our virtue to force others, even the Lord, into our
self-centered way of life.
We
can correct and avoid this evil tendency lurking in all of us
"good" people, first by an outgoing, common-sense, delicate
sensitivity towards the needs of others. Then we must root ourselves in God.
Jeremiah turns to the Lord, "you who test the good, who probe mind and
heart." Jesus allows his spirit to sink into the source of his eternal
existence, "the Father [who] is in me and I in him."
We
must repeat with the apostle Thomas, "My Lord and my God" (John
20:28), with Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life" (John 6:68), or with today's antiphon after the reading of
Jeremiah: In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard me.
For I
hear many whispering: "Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us
denounce him!" All my close friends are watching for me to stumble.
"Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our
revenge on him."
But
the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will
stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will
not succeed. Their eternal dishonour will never be forgotten.
O
Lord of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me
see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
Sing
to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from
the hands of evildoers.
The
Jews took upstones again to stone him. Jesus replied, "I have shown you
many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone
me?" The Jews answered, "It is not for a good work that we are
going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human
being, are making yourself God." Jesus answered, "Is it not written
in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? If those to whom the word of God came
were called 'gods' - and the scripture cannot be annulled - can you say that
the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming
because I said, 'I am God's Son'? If I am not doing the works of my Father,
then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in
me and I am in the Father." Then they tried to arrest him again, but he
escaped from their hands.
He
went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing
earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying,
"John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man
was true." And many believed in him there.
Ezekiel
37:21ff. I will bring them back to their own land, and I will cleanse them
John
11:45ff. Caiaphas unwittingly prophecies that one man must die for the
people.
In
order that "all the dispersed children of God" can lock hands and
hearts and become one family as the prophet Ezekiel announced, they are not
being asked to lose anything at all. Many centuries after Ezekiel's vision,
the apostle St. Paul told the gentile or pagan converts to "ponder and
preserve all that is true . . . , honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous
or worthy of praise." (Phil 4:8). These God-given talents and qualities,
however, must be shared and thereby further enriched in "a covenant of
peace ... an everlasting covenant" of God's people among themselves and
with their God.
"To
share the best that we have" is where it pinches. No one of us sweats
too much over sharing our superfluous items. In fact we are anxious to clean
house, give them away, and forget about them. But the Bible does not want us
simply to get rid of things; such an action runs the risk of being pompous,
altruistic, better-than-thou and at best highly impersonal. The Scriptures
want us to share as one family. "I will. . . gather them from all sides
. . . and never again shall they be divided."
What
we are asked to share, however, is the best. That which we prize most,
consists not only in art works or mechanical devices or family heirlooms; it
especially includes our home, our family, our hours of relaxation and joy,
even our family tragedies where we rally around with comforting strength,
forgiveness and love. The prophet Ezekiel, always practical minded about
details, also adds the injunction that we be united in politics (one prince),
in worship (one sanctuary), in neighbourhood (one land).
Jesus
lived out the hopes and the injunctions of Ezekiel. Jesus interacted with
politics, religion and social customs. He cured the sick and the handicapped
on the Sabbath and broke religious taboos; he threatened political structures
where even the high priest was the tool and appointee of the Romans; he ate
and drank with publicans and other non-observant people. Jesus was showing
how to share the best. His last great miracle was to restore the family of
Mary and Martha by raising their brother Lazarus from the dead. Many people
were assembling at their home in Bethany and were putting their faith in
Jesus.
We
have suffered greatly in our effort to restore peace and to share freely
within our family, relation and neighbourhood. We have felt the pain of the
Church in the post-Vatican II era, when many cherished customs were seemingly
lost in the name of renewal and reunion. As the Church struggles through this
difficult period, we seek to recover the truly good things, momentarily lost,
only that they be shared and thereby transformed. To realize the prophecy of
Ezekiel and to fulfill his own commandment from the heavenly Father, Jesus
seemed to lose everything. He was killed! Yet, because he lost his life in an
act of sharing the best, that life was raised up to new glory.
He
who scattered Israel, now gathers them together;
He
guards them as a shepherd his flock. I will turn their mourning into joy,
I
will console and gladden them after their sorrow.
Say
to them, Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the
nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter,
and bring them to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on
the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all. Never
again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into
two kingdoms.
They
shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable
things, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the
apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they
shall be my people, and I will be their God.
My
servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd.
They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.
They
shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your
ancestors lived; they and their children and their children's children shall
live there forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever.
I
will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant
with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary
among them forevermore.
My
dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be
my people.
Then
the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is
among them forevermore.
Many
of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed
in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had
done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council,
and said, "What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we
let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will
come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." But one of them,
Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing
at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die
for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed." He did not say
this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was
about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into
one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put
him to death.
Jesus
therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there
to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained
there with the disciples.
Now
the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to
Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for
Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, "What do
you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?"
Holy Week
Monday
A Matter Of Life And Death
Isaiah 42:1-7
John 12:1-11
Tuesday
Isaiah 49:1-6
John 13:21-33, 36-38
Wednesday
Isaiah 50:4-9
Matthew 26:14-25
Monday
Isaiah
42:1ff. My servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, the One in whom my soul
delights.
John
12:1ff. Mary of Bethany shows her love, pouring ointment on Jesus' feet.
Here
is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put
my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not
cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he
will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will
faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he
has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his
teaching.
Thus
says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who
spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people
upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in
righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as
a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are
blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who
sit in darkness.
Six
days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he
had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served,
and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of
costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with
her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas
Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,
"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money
given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor,
but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what
was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that
she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with
you, but you do not always have me."
When
the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only
because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on
account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in
Jesus.
Listen
to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord
called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me. He
made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he
made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, "You
are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
But I
said, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and
vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my
God."
And
now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring
Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am
honoured in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength - he
says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up
the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you
as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the
earth."
After
saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I
tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one
another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples - the one
whom Jesus loved - was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned
to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to
Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is
the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the
dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son
of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into
him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now
no one at the table knew why he sid this to him. Some thought that, because
Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for
the festival;" or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after
receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
When
he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and
God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will
also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I
am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the
Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'
Simon
Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered,
"Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow
afterard." Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay
down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you
will have denied me three times.
Isaiah
50:4ff. Matthew 26:14ff. The patience of Christ
The
Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens - wakens my ear to listen
as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not
rebellious, I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from
insult and spitting.
The
Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set
my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who
vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who helps
me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the
moth will eat them up.
Then
one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
and said, "What will you give me if I betray him to you?" They paid
him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an
opportunity to betray him.
On
the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
"Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the
Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to
him, 'The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your
house with my disciples.'" So the disciples did as Jesus had directed
them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
When
it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were
eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." And
they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another,
"Surely not I, Lord?" He answered, "The one who has dipped his
hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is
written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It
would have been better for that one not to have been born." Judas, who
betrayed him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" He replied, "You
have said so."##
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