Blessing of Palms, Mark 11:1-10 Bethany, a town on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives about 1.75 miles from Bethany, was familiar territory to Jesus. Among his friends there we know most about Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, at whose home Jesus was a familiar guest. The night before his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was feted at a dinner at the home of Simon the leper. Many people in Jerusalem heard that Jesus would be there and went out to see both him and Lazarus, quite the celebrity since having been raised from the dead (John 12:9-11).
At the time, hundreds of people, among the nearly 100,000 pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, were camped out in the Kidron Valley on the east side of the temple. I’m sure that those returning from Bethany spread the news that Jesus would pass that way in a triumphal entry into Jerusalem the next morning. They had undoubtedly all heard about Jesus. Tomorrow they and hundreds more coming out from the city, be it out of curiosity or Messianic hopes, would crowd the roadside to see him.
Leaving Bethany, just before reaching the crest of the Mount of Olives, the road passed through the village of Bethphage. From the crest it wound down the western slope into the Kidron Valley, passing the garden of Gethsemane on the way. There were no other villages along the way, so we can assume the colt came from Bethphage. Jesus had likely arranged the use of the colt beforehand, thus explaining why it had been left tethered outside on the street (people would usually keep their animals within the walls surrounding their property).
The crowds shouting “hosanna” used the word in a different sense than we do today. The Hebrew word “hoshana” actually means “Save (us), we beseech (you).” They were shouting out their hope that Jesus was coming as the Messiah to save them. Since we Christians believe that Jesus is the Savior sent by God the Father, the “hoshana” plea is converted into “hosanna” praise.
Gospel, John 12:20-33 People of non-Jewish background could join the Jewish religion as full members through circumcision or as associates or as “God-fearing” members who, short of circumcision, shared beliefs and could attend the synagogue services. This latter group was rather numerous by the apostolic period. Well before the time that John’s gospel was written, the leaders of the church at the Council of Jerusalem (c. 46 A.D.) determined that the “God-fearing”, or for that matter any non Jew, could be full members of the Christian community without need to be circumcised and follow the details of the Mosaic law.
The “Greeks” referred to in this reading may have been proselytes or “God-fearing”, but they might have simply been Greek visitors or tourists in Jerusalem out of curiosity. There is a simple song based their request with the words: “Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see Jesus”. The Gospels only speak of two other people “wanting to see” Jesus, Zacchaeus in Luke 19:3 and Herod Antipas in Luke 23:8. Philip, to whom these Greeks come with their request, wil make a somewhat similar one at the Last Supper: “Lord, show us the Father (John 14:8-9)”. Perhaps Philip had pondered over the request brought to him by these Greeks.
Why did they come to Philip? Was it because he had a Greek name (Philip = lover of horses)? Does being from Bethsaida, a more Greek-styled city have anything to do with it? By the way, Bethsaida was not in Galilee but rather on the Sea of Galilee across the northern section of the Jordan River just outside of Galilee. Could that little fact indicate that the final format of John’s gospel may have been written by some of his disciples since John was from that area and would have known different?
Why did Philip go to Andrew? John 1:44 says that Peter and Andrew were also from Bethsaida. By the time of Jesus’ ministry, they had moved to Capernaum in Galilee, perhaps to take advantage of the better fishing areas on that side of the lake or to reduce the taxes they would have to pay at the fish processing station at Magdala in Galilean territory. I like to think of Andrew as a kind of father figure, the quiet dependable go-to fellow whom Jesus left in charge when he would take Peter, James and John (Andrew being the fourth member of that initial group) with him as at the Transfiguration, going to raise Jairus’ daughter, and at prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
How does the request for Greeks to see him evoke Jesus’ response that his “hour” had come? Note that there is no ensuing conversation. Isaiah 2:2-4 (echoed in Micah 4:1-3) speaks of the mountain of the Lord’s house (the temple) being established as the highest mountain…all nations shall stream to it.” Jesus must have had a sense that, through his disciples, his mission would be expanded beyond the Jewish people to the Gentiles/Greeks. Transition into that next stage would only come through his death on the cross. Could Jesus have interpreted the request as the signal that the hour of transition had come?
As he has characteristically done so in the past, Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man”. This phrase was used well over 100 times in Ezekiel as God’s way of addressing the prophet (see also Job 25:6, Ps.8:4, Ps 80:17, Ps 144:3). It took on a special meaning, however, through Daniel 7:13 which refers to: “One like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven…received dominion, glory and kingship, nations and peoples of every language serve him”. Perhaps understood initially as a symbol of a compassionate ruler to come in contrast to other world powers represented in Daniel by savage animals (bears, lions, etc.), by the time of Jesus “Son of Man” had come to be understood as referring to the Messiah to be sent by God.
As an indicator of Jesus’ teaching about himself which, short of claiming divinity, engendered the antagonism of the Jewish authorities, here is a brief summary of the phrase as used by Jesus in Matthew (the gospel most oriented to people of Jewish background): 8:20 the Son of Man has no place to lay his head / 9:6 that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins / 12:8 the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath / 12:40 the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth / 13:37 the one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man / 13:41 the Son of Man will send out his angels / 16:13 Who do people say the Son of Man is? / 16:27 the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels / 17:12 the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands / 19:28 when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel / 20:28 the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve / Mt 24:30 they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory / 24:44 the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
“Whoever loves his life loses it.” The word for love here is “philos”, love based on attraction and attachment. We are to love our life, but strive for “agape” love, the unattached perfection of divine love. Is it bad to feel an attachment to life in this world? Of course not. That was part of the battle that caused Jesus’ spirit to be so troubled.
The voice of God, heard previously at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration, once again encourages Jesus toward the completion of his mission. The voice is also for Jesus’ disciples to know that glory awaits those who, like Jesus, pass through the martyr’s suffering and death.
Gospel, John 3:14-21 During the Exodus the people complained about the food. So God led them into an area infested with a type of venomous snake whose bite caused a severe burning sensation and even death for some. The people realized there were worse things than bad food and asked God’s forgiveness for their complaining. God told Moses to “make a seraph and mount it on a pole. If anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover (Numbers 21:8).” The instrument of suffering was converted into the sign of healing grace.
The image of Jesus suffering on the cross is converted into the ultimate sign of healing grace. The cross was the instrument but it is looking to Jesus that brings us the healing saving grace of God. That is why we Catholics generally prefer the crucifix with the image of Jesus present.
“Whoever believes in him will not be condemned.” Is there a difference between “believing” and “putting faith” in God? Most people think of “believing” as an act of intellectual acceptance. By contrast, “putting one’s faith” in God requires a deeper commitment of the whole person. Consider the use of the word “faith” in such texts as Paul writing about the “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5) or “the just person shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17) or James writing that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Here’s the catch…the English words “believe” and “have faith” are two different translations of the exact same word in Greek. In other words, Jesus is not saying in John 3 that all you need to give God is an intellectual assent but something much deeper. A Jewish commentary on the Hebrew scriptures which I consulted says “in the Hebrew bible ‘faith’ does not mean belief in a doctrine or a creed. It refers to trust and loyalty expressed through commitment and obedience.” I believe that would have been the understanding in John’s Jewish mind as he wrote the Greek text of his gospel: “Whoever obediently entrusts their life to God will not be condemned.”
“This is the verdict.” The Greek word “krisis” means “judgment” or “verdict”, as here translated, but I like the extra meaning just leaving leaving it as “crisis”. A verdict is given when the challenge is over, but a crisis is an ongoing challenge in focus like the energy crisis and the financial crisis. Here is the faith crisis: the light of God is here but people are preferring the darkness of their ungodly lifestyles and choices. The way out of the crisis is to recognize the crisis, make a decision for the light of God, and then live by that decision.
Gospel, John 2:13-25 The first temple of Jerusalem was built by Solomon on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the highest part of the hill of Ophel, where David had constructed an altar. That temple had been despoiled by the Egyptians shortly after Solomon’s death, later plundered by Joash of Israel around 800 BC, and again in 597 BC by Nebuchadnezzar who had the temple burned and torn down prior to leading the Jewish people into captivity in 587 BC. That temple was rebuilt under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah in the post-exilic period. It was a slow process which met a lot of opposition from the Samaritans. Completed in 515 BC, it was profaned by Antiochus IV in 167 BC and subsequently purified and rededicated by Judas Maccabaeus in 164 BC, an event celebrated annually with the feast of Hanukkah. By the time of King Herod the Great, the temple mount (about 81,000 sq. ft.) was too small for the crowds of pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the major celebrations. In the year 19 BC Herod began to reconstruct the temple and surrounding courts and colonnades, eventually expanding the platform of the mount with an extensive series of supporting arches to 1.55 million sq. ft. or 35.5 acres. Compare that to the field and stands at the Metrodome in Minneapolis at 415,000 sq. ft. and you get some idea of how many people would fit on the mount at one time. The major portion of the project was completed within ten years, but the finishing details of the adornments continued until 64 AD…only six years before it was destroyed by the Roman armies following a Jewish uprising. The temple has never been rebuilt since. Today the outer walls of Herod’s temple still exist (including the western or “wailing” wall) but the platform houses two Moslem mosques, al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, built in the 7th century.
The largest area of the platform was called the Court of the Gentiles. It was open to anyone, Jew and non-Jew alike. The successive areas became more restrictive with the Court of Women (for Jews only), the Court of Israel (for Jewish men only), the Sanctuary (for priests only), and the Holy of Holies (into which only the high priest entered and then just once a year). The animals and moneychangers were located in the Court of the Gentiles. The area had been intended as a space where people could meet to pray or discuss scriptural interpretation with rabbis. It was in this space that Jesus would teach during the week prior to his death. Jesus desired to clear the area of the animals and the noise so as to return the space to its intended use.
One of the major activities at the Temple was animal sacrifice. Since the families represented by the 100,000 visitors to Jerusalem would all need lambs for their Passover dinners and many families would also be making other sacrificial offerings, there would be a great demand for animals. All Jewish males paid an annual temple tax of a half-shekel and most people gave their major contributions of the year for temple upkeep and support of widows, orphans and the poor (like Christmas and Easter collections in Christian churches today). Most of the coins they brought, however, could not be donated at the temple since it bore images of Caesar or some other king or god. Those coins had to be exchanged for coins without such images. There was, of course, a charge for doing so. The priests must have thought it a great service for all those visitors to be able to exchange money and purchase animals right there rather than bringing them through the crowds from the markets in the city below. They undoubtedly received a kick-back from the merchants who, because of their location, overcharged for exchanging money and for their animals (like food and beverages at the Metrodome). The synoptic gospels make reference to this with Jesus accusing them of turning the temple into a “den of thieves” (Mt. 21:13/Mk. 11:17/Lk .19:46).
Being challenged by angry priests as to his authority to act as he did (“what sign can you give us?”) he turns the discussion to himself as the temple of God that will be torn down and rebuilt in three days. The English word “temple” used throughout this section is actually used to translate two different Greek words. In the part in which of Jesus clearing the temple, the word is “heiron” which refers to the general area of the temple mount. In the discussion about Jesus as the temple, the word is “naos” which refers more specifically to the sanctuary.
Jesus is not just a place where God is present in a general way…he is the sanctuary where the presence of God resides. Jesus clears the temple area to restore it to its true purpose. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you (1 Cor 3:16)”, and again, “We are the temple of the living God (2 Cor 6:16)”. In both instances he uses the word “naos”. We are the sanctuary where Jesus has chosen to reside. As Jesus comes into this temple, will he find it truly oriented to the purpose for which God has created you and me? Will he find cause to do some clearing and cleaning? Jesus, cleanse this temple and restore it to the purpose for which you have created it.
Gospel, Mark 9:2-10 People in ancient times believed the world to be stationary. The place of God or gods was up above, controlling what happened down below like a puppeteer with puppets or a child with playhouse moving furniture and dolls about. To get closer to God or gods, people went up on mountains, natural or artificial (high altars or pyramids). Such was the case with Abraham going up on Mt. Moriah, Moses at Mt. Sinai, Elijah on Mt. Carmel and also Mt. Sinai, and Jesus in this gospel passage.
The figures of Moses and Elijah, both of whom had gone up mountains to converse with God, accompany Jesus in this transfiguration scene. They represent the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah), the two main branches of God’s revelation to the Jewish people. How Peter ascertained the identity of Jesus’ visitors, we don’t know. He may have had an intuitive sense of their identity or had figured it out from listening to the conversation.
Why build tents? The most common interpretations of this passage suggest that Peter suggested tents so that they figures of Moses and Elijah would remain for some time…that it was a way of giving dignity to each of the figures to have their own tent…that the Jewish way of entering into an intimate conversation was to meet within a tent. The word “tabernacle” refers to a tent. The prayer shawl (“tallit” or “tallis”) with which Jewish men customarily place over their head during prayer is symbolic of entering a tent to converse with God.
The voice of God the Father speaks to the apostles, confirming Jesus’ identity as manifested visually in the transfiguration. The Father had previously spoken a somewhat similar message at Jesus’ baptism, directed to the audience in Matthew (3:17) but to Jesus in Mark (1:11) and Luke (3:22). To the words spoken at Jesus’ baptism, the Father adds, “Listen to him.” This phrase takes on special meaning as we recall the presence of Moses and Elijah there on the mountain with Jesus. As the Jewish people had been directed to listen to Moses, Elijah and the other prophets as representatives of God, now the word of Jesus is given a priority as God’s most authoritative voice.
On Jesus' command the three apostles will not tell the others about what took place on the mountain, but the restriction did not extend to conversations among the three of them. How often would Peter, James and John discuss those and other events such as the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:51-56) to which they were privy.
The Greek word translated as “transfiguration” is “metamorphosis”, a word which elicits thoughts of a caterpillar emerging out of its cocoon as a beautiful butterfly. In zoology, metamorphosis technically refers to a major change of form of the same being (egg - larva - pupa - adult). The (temporary) metamorphosis of Jesus was from his natural human body to his glorified body.
As with Peter, James and John, none of us can fully comprehend the reality of God. We receive glimpses, enough for us to continue on with day-to-day life in this world with faith and hope beyond our comprehension based on Jesus’ word.
Gospel, Mark 1:12-15 When I was a kid, professional boxing from Madison Square Garden dominated Friday night viewing on the “Gillette Cavalcade of Sports”. Managers and trainers would escort their man down the aisle and into the ring. The boxer typically wore a flashy robe with his name emblazoned across the back. He had trained for this fight and was there to face his opponent in battle.
In today’s gospel, the Spirit drives Jesus out into the desert….in Matthew and Luke specifically for Jesus be tempted by the devil. The image of the fighter comes to mind. The Spirit was guiding and preparing Jesus, not to run away from the devil but to face him and be victorious in the battle. The Spirit accompanied Jesus as the manager leads and guides the boxer. Jesus will square off against the workings of the devil a number of times during his ministry. We read of one example a few weeks ago in the account of Jesus casting the evil spirit out of a man in the synagogue at Capernaum. The text said that Jesus faced the spirit directly and asserted his authority. Jesus was ready to do battle and to reclaim territory for the Kingdom of God. He invites each person to enter that kingdom by repentance (renunciation of the reign of sin in one’s life) and belief in the good news of the gospel.
Gospel, Mark 2:1-12 This is one of my favorite Gospel texts, encompassing such a variety of characters and so visual I find it easy to place myself in the scene. Jesus has returned once again to the home of Simon Peter, to the same room in which he had previously healed many of the townspeople following casting out of the evil spirit during the synagogue service.
The house was built in the typical style of the time…an enclosing outside wall along which the interior rooms were built. In Capernaum, walls were constructed of uncut basalt stones balanced with small rocks and pebbles, then plastered with mud and whitewashed. Ceiling beams were spaced about every two feet, crisscrossed with a cover of branches and reeds held together with mud and a final layer of smooth clay mud on top. There on the roof people dried fruits and grains and even slept up there on nights when the poorly ventilated rooms were too hot and stuffy.
The four men who brought their paralytic friend to Jesus knew how such roofs were built…and disassembled when needs be. It was their faith that Jesus noted, not just that of their paralytic friend. I can imagine him looking at them, a smile acknowledging their ingenuity in getting their friend before him…and them smiling back in recognition. I am sure that, after the paralytic was healed and the crowds dispersed, they would get to work repairing the roof and spending some time with Jesus, home-owner Peter, and the rest of the disciples.
Jesus forgives the paralytic’s sins before the physical healing. Some years ago a friend who participated in a healing prayer ministry told me of a person who had come numerous times for prayer but had not received the healing she desired. One of the team members, sensing that God wanted to heal her, asked if she was holding onto any resentment toward another person. She acknowledged that she was. They began praying for the grace for her to forgive, and when she was finally able to do so, she received the physical healing following the spiritual one. We are a unity of physical-emotional-spiritual and it is not surprising that illness and healing in the physical realm be related to spiritual illness and healing.
In the order in which Jesus healed, Jesus also wanted to give his naysayers evidence that he had the authority to forgive sins. They weren’t convinced. I wonder if their lack of spiritual openness may have also resulted in a little arthritis or indigestion.
Continue reading "Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time B February 22, 2009" »
Gospel, Mark 1:40-45 See the commentary after today’s first reading regarding leprosy and Jewish understanding of both cause and cure. The leper in this account was rather bold, coming up so close to Jesus rather than keeping his distance and calling out “unclean!” OR he had such confidence in Jesus’ healing power (as clearly indicated in his statement) that he knew Jesus was immune from catching the disease.
It gives us cause to consider what our confidence level is as we approach God in prayer or follow what we sense to be God’s will but don’t really know where it is going. You may have read the account passed around by email of the person who had a sense from God to go buy a gallon of milk, then to bring it to a certain house. Feeling rather embarrassed to go up to a strange house to give them a gallon of milk, he discovers that the family had no money and needed milk for their baby. Whether an actual happening or an inspirational fable, I don’t know, but it illustrates the point…we do best to follow what we sense to be God’s will and let God surprise us as God takes care of a plan beyond our understanding.
Regardless of Jesus admonition to the opposite, who could blame the former leper for telling everyone about what Jesus had done for him? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all such good evangelizers, sharing with others how we have experienced the goodness of God in our lives? Jesus was concerned both for the number of people who would descend upon him seeking favors as well as their stopping at that rather than going on from the healings to become hearers of his message. Well, the resurrected Jesus doesn’t get tired out from crowds, but he may still be concerned that people stop at asking favors rather than going on to be hearers of the word.
Continue reading "Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time B February 15, 2009" »
This is being sent out a week early since I'll be visiting our sister parish in Mexico for ten days.
Gospel, Mark 1:29-39 This took place in the synagogue at Capernaum. As I mentioned last week, Capernaum had a population of around 1,500 people, nearly all Jewish. Jesus had cast an evil spirit out of a man in the synagogue. It was the Sabbath when Jewish people were not allowed to do unnecessary work, so no one had asked Jesus to perform any healings right after the service. Instead, they went to their homes, in every one of which what Jesus had done in the synagogue was the topic of discussion. If he could cast out an evil spirit, people thought, he could surely heal grandma or Uncle Jacob. The Jewish day ended at sunset. People waited. After sunset they headed for Peter’s house, perhaps surprised that everyone else in town had the same idea. These were the first healing that Jesus did in Capernaum.
Glance through the gospels and you’ll find a great number of healings recounted in the four gospels took place in that village. Jesus went out on several tours of the surrounding region, but always returned to Capernaum to find both townspeople and those who had come to await his return gathering in great numbers. The people of Capernaum understandably wanted Jesus to stay around. In addition to physical healings, how else could a person with such God-given power bless their lives? Lots of people were unemployed and didn’t know how they were going to feed their families and take care of their basic needs. Jesus met lots of needs, but how many people only saw him as a miracle worker rather than a prophet and teacher of the ways of God? How many crossed the bridge from favors received to faith in Jesus as spiritual guide? Much later in his public ministry, we’ll hear some of Jesus’ frustration expressed right there in Capernaum after crossing from the other side of the Sea of Galilee where 5,000 people had filled their stomachs on bread and fish: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled (John 6:26)”. Jesus’ desire to move on to other villages carries a hint of this tension he will experience throughout his ministry.
Continue reading "Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time B February 8, 2009" »
Gospel, Mark 1:21-28 Capernaum became the headquarters of Jesus’ public ministry. A prominent fishing village on the Sea of Galilee with a population of around 1,500, Capernaum was also the home of five of Jesus’ apostles (Peter, Andrew, James, John and Matthew). According to archaeological evidence, the town had a long breakwater (waves coming off the lake during big storms could reach eight feet in height) and several piers with moorings for fishing boats. Houses were constructed of black basalt rock commonly found in the region, roughly shaped if worked at all, built into walls using pebbles for leveling the stones, and mortared over with mud. An outside wall would be built enclosing a property and individual rooms constructed inside along the wall around courtyards where they cooked, cared for animals, and planted a few grapevines. Several related families might have lived in such a compound, forming several smaller courtyards and room arrangements within the larger outer wall, a way of building still common in many countries of the world today.
The house thought to be Peter’s house, based on archaeological evidence at the site run by the Franciscans, was the second such compound in from the sea and breakwater. Simon’s mother-in-law lived there and whatever other family Peter had including Andrew, as well as families of other relatives or partners in the fishing syndicate. Jesus took up residence there during his time in Capernaum. The synagogue, the only building in the village from that period with shaped stones, was about 150 feet further up the same street that passed by Peter’s home. In the synagogue service, an official of the synagogue (later in the gospel we will hear about Jairus, one of the officials at the Capernaum synagogue) invited someone, usually a guest or noted person if present, to do the reading. That person would then be given the first word in saying what he thought the reading meant. The others present would then enter the discussion, giving their opinions on the passage’s meaning. Jewish men were accustomed to quote various rabbis when giving their interpretations. Jesus taught with “authority”, meaning he taught both with power and as the “author” of his interpretation of the meaning of the scripture. Jesus brought that same authority to his action in casting the spirit out of the man. Jesus, Son of God, is “author” of all good for us as he was that day in Capernaum.
Continue reading "Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time B February 1, 2009" »
Gospel, Mark 1:14-20 Last Sunday we heard about the call of Peter from the gospel of John. This week we read the better-known account from Mark. Herod Antipas had been tetrarch of Galilee since shortly after the death of his father, King Herod the Great, in 4 B.C. Building the city of Tiberius, his jewel on the Sea of Galilee, and maintaining a full retinue of government officials, soldiers and construction workers required a substantial income. Herod’s government licensed fishing rights on the Sea of Galilee to fishermen who partnered together to form a syndicate large enough to make purchase of the license feasible. I have read that, for the best fishing techniques, two boats were needed for stretching the nets. Such boats were expensive, but business loans could be arranged with Herod’s government (a second source of income). Each day’s catch was also taxed according to the take (a third source of income). They would need a minimum of eight workers to help with fishing each night and hire others for during the day when the boats were used to transport cargo and passengers around the lake. By keeping the boats busy all the time, they could make ends meet. It is possible that Peter was head of the syndicate and title holder of at least one of the boats. If that were the case, leaving the nets behind was more complex than pulling a little runabout up on the shore. Peter would have had to figure out how to keep the business going, pay expenses, take care of his workers, and delegate out responsibilities while he, his brother Andrew and friends James and John dedicated their lives and much of their time to becoming disciples of Jesus. The reality of how Peter would have had to organize his responsibilities with priority to following Jesus is a good example for us today who must learn to do the same given the various responsibilities of our lives.
Continue reading "Third Sunday in Ordinary Time B January 25, 2009" »
Gospel, John 1:35-42 We read a lot about John the Baptist during Advent and again at the Baptism of Christ. I suggested that John the Baptist received so much attention in the gospels because a significant number of people throughout the regions the apostles were evangelizing had received the baptism of John, either directly at his hand or through his disciples. The evangelists used the person and ministry of John as a bridge to that of Jesus. The fact that the fourth gospel, traditionally believed to have been written at a much later date than the other three, gave so much attention to John, even to having him state directly of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God”, indicates how strong and enduring was the effect of John’s ministry. In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, Peter first meets Jesus while putting nets in order down at the lakefront, at which time Jesus calls Peter to follow him. Luke presents a similar lakefront call, but has the initial encounter take place following the synagogue service with Jesus going to Peter’s house to heal his mother-in-law. John’s gospel gives a different scenario with Andrew, previously a disciple of John the Baptist, coming to Jesus first and then bringing Peter to Jesus. His question on meeting Jesus, “Where are you staying?” let Jesus know Andrew wanted to spend more time with him than just a quick interview on the spot. The mention of it being about “four in the afternoon”, literally “the tenth hour”, would have special significance if they were approaching the beginning of the Sabbath which began at sunset or around the twelfth hour. Since Jewish people were not to do unnecessary work on the Sabbath, Andrew and his companion would spend the day in prayer and conversation with Jesus…a wonderful encouragement for us to honor the Day of the Lord by spending time with Jesus in prayer /conversation. Regarding the name used for Simon Peter, “Cephas” is the Hebrew word for “rock”, the same as “Petros” in Greek.
Continue reading "Second Sunday in Ordinary Time B January 18, 2009" »
Gospel, Mark 1:7-11 All three persons of the Trinity are present here. The Father speaks directly to Jesus (in Matthew’s gospel the voice speaks to the other people present saying “THIS is my beloved Son”). The Spirit does not depart (although perhaps no longer visible), for the next verse tell us that “at once the Spirit drove him out into the desert”. The descent of the Spirit, then, was not merely symbolic but empowering. But wasn’t the Spirit already with Jesus? Consider for a moment the text of Philippians 2:6-7. When the Son of God became man, he set aside all the divine gifts and attributes while retaining the divine identity. As a child he had to learn to walk and to speak. He had to study and learn to read and write as did other children. He “grew in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). He had to pray, even during the years of his public ministry, to discern the Father’s will. It seems that, having taken on human nature, the Son of God as Jesus only received from the Father what he needed at each moment to complete his mission…no more, no less. Some theologians believe that Jesus only became aware of his identity at the moment of his baptism (not that he received divinity at the time…merely became aware of it). Regardless of when Jesus became aware of his divine identity, the baptismal moment gave him both clarity and power for what lay ahead.
Gospel, Matthew 2:1-12
King Herod ruled as King of Judah from 37 to his death in 4 B.C. Tyrannical and suspicious to the point of paranoia, he had all actual and presumed opposition eliminated including his wife and several other members of his own family. He built fortresses (including Herodium and Masada) around the country as places he could escape in case of a popular uprising. I have read that he had a list drawn up naming those most popular in every town and city of Judah with a standing order that they be killed in case of his own death…a unique sort of life insurance policy. His soldiers, however, refused to carry out the order when he did die. Such a person would be capable of commandeering soldiers to kill babies in Bethlehem on the possibility of one being a future king. No wonder both he and the people of Jerusalem, for different reasons, were troubled at the news brought by the Magi.
Placing Jesus’ birth a couple years prior to the death of Herod (the family was living in Egypt when they heard of Herod’s death) would put the birth of Jesus around 6 B.C. which aligns well with the appearance of the star. When the monk Dionysius Exiguus was commissioned by the pope in 525 A. D. to figure out the year Jesus was born and renumber all years accordingly, he was off by those six years…not bad given the information he had to work with.
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