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Commentary on Luke 13:22-30

The Gospel today speaks in terms of predestination, of those who will ultimately be saved.

Jesus is steadily making his way to Jerusalem, passing through many towns and villages. It seems that at this time he is in the region of Perea, on the east side of the Jordan, on his way to Jericho and Jerusalem. He is approached by a man who wants to know if only a few will be saved. One has the feeling that he expects the answer to be ‘Yes’ and that he regards himself as being among the chosen ones.

Jesus does not answer the question directly. Rather, he implies that those who are saved are not necessarily those who regard themselves as God’s chosen ones, but those who walk a certain path in life. That path, of course, is precisely what he is proposing through his own life and teaching. It is a “narrow door”, he says, which many will not be able to enter:

Once the [Master] of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

Those on the ‘outside’ will counter by saying:

We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.

But still the Master says:

I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!

Jesus was often accused of eating and drinking with sinners, but it did them no good unless, as a result of their contact with him, they changed their way of living.

It is clearly not enough to be just in Christ’s company or to have heard his teaching. For example, just being a baptised Catholic or routinely fulfilling a few religious obligations (like being physically present at Sunday Mass) is not the same as really being a part of what is going on. To go in the “narrow door” is to be actively committed to living the Gospel in one’s daily life.

Jesus’ next words are directed to some of the Jews, but to Christians also:

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out.

They will see them enter the Kingdom, not because of their status, but because of their commitment to serving God.

On the other hand, many of Jesus’ hearers will be rejected because they relied only on their ethnic and religious origins. But that is not enough. In the meantime:

…people will come from east and west, from north and south, and take their places at the banquet in the kingdom of God.

They will see these gentile outsiders from the four corners of the earth, people they rejected and despised, going ahead of them into the Kingdom, again because these people heard the call of God and entered by the “narrow door” that leads to life.

This was already being realised in the early Church as more and more Gentiles heard the Gospel message, were baptised and many died as martyrs. Indeed, as Jesus says at the end of today’s reading:

Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

It would be wrong for us to read this Gospel as of mere historic interest—it is addressed directly to each one of us. It is vital that we, as Catholics, do not think that, simply on the basis of our membership in our Church, we are somehow on an inside track and that, if the worst came to the worst, we could always get a confession or a final anointing to set things straight. That would be very presumptuous and very dangerous on our part. We could very well be in a position to hear those terrible words:

Truly I tell you, I do not know you. (Matt 25:12)

Each day and every day of our lives we have to walk through that narrow door, that door of faith and trust and love for Jesus and our brothers and sisters. Only then will we find ourselves joining the patriarchs, the prophets and all the saints in that life of unending happiness and union with our God for which we were made.

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Commentary on Ephesians 6:10-20

There is a cosmic sweep to this Letter which goes right through it and it is on that note that we conclude our readings from Ephesians today. Paul describes the spiritual and Christian life as a battle not only against the realities of this world, but also against spiritual powers which are alien to God. We cannot deal with these powers on our own. Rather, we can only do so with the help and support of God’s invincible power. He says:

…be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power…

Paul’s vision throughout the Letter has been cosmic. He has referred constantly to the unseen world, which was very real to people living in a world whose cosmology was very different from ours. He now sees the Christian life as a battle with these:

…the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

He says that one should:

…put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…

Isaiah describes God as arming himself against his enemies and it is with these arms that Christians, too, are to equip themselves. The reason is that our real enemies are not ” blood and flesh”, creatures of the earth, but powerful spiritual beings in the world that we cannot see.

They are the source of darkness in our world. They are “cosmic powers” who were thought to move the stars and, consequently, the universe. The Jerusalem Bible comments:

“They live in ‘the heavens’ or in ‘the air’, that is, the space between the surface of the earth and the heaven where God lives… They disobeyed God and want to enslave the human race to themselves in sin… If Christians are armed with the power of Christ, they will be able to fight them.”

Against such forces only the “armour of God” is effective:

…so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm.

The image is not that of a massive invasion of evil, but of individual soldiers resisting an assault.

Although our modern world does not see the cosmos as filled with such superhuman creatures (although they still live in our science-fiction movies), the weapons that Paul will recommend are just as practical now as they were then.

What exactly is the armour he is thinking about? First, there is truth (“belt your waist”) and integrity—”the breastplate of righteousness”. These are indeed powerful weapons. With truth, we are on the side of God. The evil spirit is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). With integrity, there is perfect transparency and no shadow of deceit or dissimulation. What the evil spirit dreads is to have light shone on the darkness where he hides. These are truly effective weapons.

The “breastplate of righteousness” is another effective defence against evil. God himself is symbolically described as putting on a breastplate of righteousness when he goes forth to bring about justice.

He put on righteousness like a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing
and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle. (Isa 59:17)

Also needed are feet on which you:

…lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace.

While the feet of those who bring good news in Isaiah are seen running barefoot, here the image is more of the strong shoes of the Roman soldier enabling the wearer to cover long distances. What is called for here is an eagerness or zeal to proclaim and spread the Gospel and a strong faith in God and Christ. Faith is seen as a protective shield which, when soaked in water, can easily quench the flaming arrows of the enemy.

God’s saving work in us is our “helmet of salvation”, and the “word of God” (the Scriptures) is the sword of the Spirit with which to fight the enemy. The helmet both protected the soldier and was a striking symbol of military victory. And in a way, most important of all, is to:

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.

We need to pray night and day for each other. And Paul also asks especially that they:

Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Paul requests prayers for himself, so that even in captivity he can continue to uncover to others the mystery of the Good News.

The “sword of the Spirit” and the need to pray are reminders that we are engaged in a spiritual battle to be fought in God’s strength boosted by the Word of God and prayer. We, too, need to arm ourselves with the protecting qualities mentioned here so that we can live an effective Christian life in an environment where there are so many threatening influences. We need to pray for each other and give each other the support we need to remain faithful to the spirit of the Gospel. Above all, we need some of Paul’s courage to speak out boldly and not be ashamed to share our faith.

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Commentary on Luke 13:31-35

Today Jesus is warned by some Pharisees to leave the area where he is teaching. The reason they give is that Herod is after him. This is Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, whom we have already met. The region of Perea was part of his territory as tetrarch. The warning could, of course, have been just a ploy on the part of the Pharisees to get rid of Jesus by frightening him in this way.

At the same time, there could have been something in the threat because Herod had already executed John the Baptist, although there is no evidence that Jesus spoke against Herod in the same way that offended Herod’s second wife.

In any case, Jesus is not moved. He knows that his life is part of a larger plan. He will do his work, including the healing of people and their liberation from evil forces. When the time is ripe, and not before, he will face his passion and death. He will “finish [his] work”—a double meaning about both the end of his life on earth and his being brought to perfection through his suffering and death—an idea explicitly put in the letter to the Hebrews (10:36-38).

In any case, it has been ordained that he will face his death in Jerusalem and nowhere else. Herod is not going to change any of that.

Then, Jesus goes on to pray for the city that will be the scene of his death. It is a city that has many times in the past mistreated and killed those sent by God to bring his message. Jesus speaks tenderly:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…

But they reject him, as they rejected so many prophets before.

He foretells something that must have seemed to his hearers both blasphemous and impossible:

…your house [the Temple] is left to you desolate.

Yet, just 40 years after Jesus’ death, the Temple will meet its destruction, never again to be rebuilt.

Finally, he tells them that:

…you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’

This could refer to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week or to his final coming as Judge and Lord of all.

Our lives too are in God’s hands and nothing will happen to us which is in conflict with God’s wishes and God’s plans. Ultimately, everything is for our well-being. But, let us be on the alert to recognise the Lord coming into our lives often in very unexpected ways and through very unexpected people. Some of those we reject may be bringing—even unknown to themselves—a message from God that we need to hear and follow.

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Commentary on Luke 14:1-6 Read Friday of week 30 of Ordinary Time – Gospel »

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Commentary on Philippians 1:18-26 Read Saturday of Week 30 of Ordinary Time – First Reading »

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Commentary on Luke 14:1, 7-11 Read Saturday of Week 30 of Ordinary Time – Gospel »

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Commentary on John 6:30-35

Today’s passage from John continues the discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life. Again the Jews ask Jesus for a sign, a sign like the manna that their forebears enjoyed in the desert. They quote Scripture at him:

Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
(see Exod 16:4-5; Numbers 11:7-9; Ps 78:24)

As a gift from God, the manna was said to come from the sky (“from the heavens”). Some think it was identified with a natural substance which can still be found in small quantities on the Sinai peninsula. Here it is understood as something preternatural, and Jesus sees in it a forerunner of the Eucharist. Also the manna, thought to have been hidden by Jeremiah, was expected to appear again miraculously at the Passover as a sign of the last days. As described in the New International Version Study Bible:

“A popular Jewish expectation was that when the Messiah came he would renew the sending of manna. The crowd probably reasoned that Jesus had done little compared to Moses. He had fed 5,000; Moses had fed a nation. He did it once; Moses did it for 40 years. He gave ordinary bread; Moses gave ‘bread from heaven.’”

Jesus replies that the manna was not the real bread from God; it was only a sign or symbol. It fed the body but not the spirit:

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

They say to him:

Sir, give us this bread always.

Clearly they were speaking in a materialistic sense. It reminds one of the Samaritan woman at the well who asked for the water which would prevent her ever again being thirsty and spare her having to come to the well every day.

Jesus now tells them solemnly:

I am the bread of life.

The “I AM” strongly identifies Jesus with God and this is the first of seven “I AM…” statements that appear in John’s Gospel. The phrase—in Greek, ego eimi—recalls the name of God revealed to Moses in the burning bush (see Exod 3:14). Both the manna and the recent feeding of the 5,000 are action-parables of God (“I AM”) giving himself to his people.

Jesus goes on to clarify the meaning of his statement:

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

To “come to Jesus” is to bond oneself closely to him and all he stands for. And we have seen what “believes in” entails. It implies much, much more than just “receiving Jesus in Communion”.

To eat that Bread of Life, we have to soak ourselves in the life of Jesus, to penetrate deeply into the Word of God that comes to us in the Gospel and the rest of the Scriptures, and to assimilate his Way into our own lives. The Eucharist we celebrate is the sign of that Bread of Life which, in fact, is available all day long to those who are in close contact with Jesus.

Those who live in that close relationship with Jesus are the ones who are truly alive—here and now. Am I one of them? How deep is my faith, my Christianity, my knowledge of and commitment to the Gospel, and my understanding of the place of the Eucharist in our Christian life?

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Commentary on Acts 8:1-8

There is an old saying that “it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good”. We can see an example of this in today’s reading. The first half of today’s reading sets the stage for what is going to follow. First, it is linked to what has just been described in the preceding verses, the martyrdom of Stephen, followed by widespread persecution of Christians. This, in turn, will lead up to the unexpected conversion of the chief persecutor, Saul.

The martyrdom of Stephen was followed immediately by a savage persecution of the infant Christian community. A Pharisee named Saul was among the most dedicated attackers (in the name of God, of course), dragging people from their homes and tossing them into jail. It was the beginning of a phenomenon that has been the lot of Christians in many parts of the world ever since, right down to our own day. Even now, there are Christians in jail for no other reason than that they openly profess faith in Christ.

While the Apostles remained in Jerusalem, many Christians began to scatter to the countryside of Judea (the province in which Jerusalem was situated) and the neighbouring province of Samaria, just to the north. This was to inaugurate the second stage of the Church’s expansion. The third stage would begin with the establishment of Christian communities in Antioch in Syria.

The persecution seems to have mainly targeted the Hellenist Christians, and it was this group, scattered by persecution, which gave the church its first missionaries. We are immediately introduced to one of them—Philip. This was the beginning of the great missionary outreach of the Church which has not yet come to an end in our own time.

The Apostles would have been Aramaic-speaking Jews and, by staying behind in Jerusalem, they gave encouragement to those in prison, and would be a centre of appeal to those scattered. The Church in Jerusalem now effectively went underground—and not by any means for the last time.

However, we can now see that the persecution in Jerusalem was a blessing in disguise. While the persecution scattered Christians, they were now bringing their message to new areas. Eventually—often as the result of persecution—they would carry it to the very ends of the Roman world.

Among the fugitives was the deacon Philip. He was one of the Seven who, with Stephen, had been chosen for special ‘service’. He is now a full-blown evangelist, who preached the good news about the Messiah-Christ, healed the sick and drove out evil spirits. The result was that “there was great joy in that city”. Probably the reference is not to the town of Samaria, a Hellenistic city (at this time called Sebaste), but to the whole province. And those who were being evangelised were ‘Samaritans’ in the Jewish sense of the word. These were those related by blood and religion to, but cut off from, Israel’s Jewish community, and deemed to be living in heresy (recall the scene between Jesus and the Samaritan woman beginning in John 4:9).

Again and again it has been demonstrated that when the Church is persecuted—when people want to wipe it out—the Church finds new vitality and the courage to stand up for what it believes. It is when we are taken for granted and even worse, ignored, that we are in the greatest danger. It is then that we are in real peril of being marginalised because we are no longer the “salt of the earth” or a “city on a hill”. Sadly, that is what is happening in many prosperous parts of the world today. Is it happening to the society in which we are living?

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Commentary on John 6:35-40

Again in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his listeners very clearly that he is the Bread of Life. All those who partake of this Bread will never again be either hungry or thirsty. The whole life of Jesus—his actions and words and his relationships with those around him—are a rich source on which we can draw.

In a sense, of course, we will always hunger and thirst for this full life, but by approaching and imbibing him and his spirit, our hunger and thirst are ever being satisfied, even while we continue to hunger and thirst for more. There will never be a time when we will want to stop eating and drinking from this Source; when we do, we will stop living.

Jesus reproves his listeners for their lack of faith in him.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

The question is: how much of Jesus did they really see? How deep was their perception of who he truly was and is?

That may be our problem too. Without a deep trust and total commitment to Christ and all he stands for, we may find that we do not have full access to that Bread of Life which we need so much. The search for the fullness of Christ is one that we will never complete in this life. We only hope that we never stop searching. There will never be a day on this earth when we will be able to say: “I know Christ fully.” Not even the whole Church can make that claim.

Yet Jesus intensely wants to share that Bread, that nourishment with us.

This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life…

Let us open our hearts today so that Jesus can fill them with his life-giving love. For he says:

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away…

Jesus has a mission. In a phrase repeated six times in this chapter, he says:

I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

And what is the will of the Father?

…that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.

This verse summarises the whole chapter. God wants everyone to be with him “on the last day”. On our part, we have to learn how to “see the Son” and “believe in him,” so that one day we can say with St Paul:

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.
(Gal 2:20)

When that happens, we will know that we have truly been filled with the Bread that is Christ.

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Commentary on Acts 8:26-40

Again we meet the deacon Philip, whom we see in preceding passages to be a very successful preacher of the Gospel to the people of Samaria. The Samaritans were doing so well that Peter and John were now sent to baptise them in the Holy Spirit. In today’s reading, Philip gets instructions from God to take the desert road to Gaza on the south coast of Palestine. The distance from Jerusalem to Gaza is about 80 km (50 miles).

On his way, Philip runs into an Ethiopian eunuch, the finance minister of the queen of Ethiopia, who was on his way back to his country after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Eunuchs were commonly used in positions of seniority and trust, especially where the women of the royal household were concerned. They often became powerful and very rich.

‘Ethiopia’ corresponded in this period to Nubia, spanning from the Upper Nile region at the first cataract (Aswan) to Khartoum. It would now be part of the Sudan. ‘Candace’ (or Kandake) was the traditional title of the queen mother, who was responsible for performing the secular duties of the reigning king. The King was thought to be too sacred to have to deal with such administrative chores.

As we are told the eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, it is very likely he was a convert to Judaism or else a Gentile who believed in the God of Israel. As Philip catches up with him, the man is reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah. It was Isaiah 53:7-8, from the Fourth Song of the Suffering Servant which is read at the liturgy on Good Friday, and is a text long seen by the Church as pointing to Christ in his passion. It was also the usual practice at the time to read aloud, and that is why Philip knew what he was reading.

Philip asked him if he understood the passage. The man replied:

How can I, unless someone guides me?

This is something we need to acknowledge too. It is difficult (and perhaps not possible) to fully understand the meaning of the Scriptures unless ‘someone’ explains them to us. We cannot simply expect to know what they mean just by reading, nor should we expect that God will directly inspire us. We have to take the natural means available to us, namely, the experience and the knowledge of experts and people of deeper wisdom. The texts are separated from us by language and centuries of custom and lifestyles. Like the eunuch, we need interpreters to help us understand.

Here, the eunuch was quite at a loss to know what the passage was about, and said to Philip:

About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?

And Philip proceeded to show the official how the words applied to Jesus in his suffering and death, and this gave him the opportunity to proclaim the whole message of the gospel.

So completely won over was the eunuch that, as they passed a stretch of water, he asked to be baptised there and then. In other words, he was expressing his total faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Where was this stretch of water? There are several possibilities—a brook in the Valley of Elah (which David crossed to meet Goliath; 1 Sam 17:40) or the Wadi el-Hasi, just north of Gaza, or it could have been any other suitable stretch of water.

As soon as the baptism was done, Philip disappeared, but the eunuch continued on his journey home filled with happiness. This is typical of the joy which is associated in Acts with salvation.

Meanwhile, Philip’s work of evangelising was not done. He found himself in Azotus. It was one of five Philistine cities about 30 km from Gaza. From there he proceeded north all the way to Caesarea in Syria, a distance of about 100 km. Caesarea had been rebuilt by Herod. With an excellent harbour on the Mediterranean, it served as headquarters for the Roman procurators.

We now say goodbye to Philip, but he will reappear again some 20 years later, still in Caesarea, still an evangelist, and now enjoying domestic bliss (Acts 21:8).

As we read this story we might reflect that there will be times when we will be given opportunities to share the gospel with people who are searching for meaning in their lives. Will we be ready? If someone presents us with a question about a Bible passage or a belief of our Christian faith, will we have the answer? Will we be ready to go beyond the answer and lead our enquirer to a further level of understanding? If not, then, like the eunuch, it may be time for us to take steps to deepen our understanding of the Scriptures and of our Christian beliefs.