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Commentary on John 6:44-51

We continue to read John’s sixth chapter about Jesus as the Bread of Life. Today’s passage largely repeats what has been said already, but at the end a new element is introduced. Jesus reminds us that it is not we who find Jesus, but rather it is the Father who finds us and leads us to Jesus as the Way to God. Here Jesus quotes from the Old Testament:

And they shall all be taught by God.

These are words to be found in Isaiah (54:13) and are reminiscent of words spoken by Jeremiah:

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(Jer 31:33)

We see a lovely instance of that in the First Reading today about the eunuch who was led to Jesus by the deacon Philip. What was important here was the readiness and openness of the eunuch to be drawn to the truth.

Jesus again repeats that he is the Bread of Life, using that formal expression ‘I AM’ which points to divine origin. Unlike the manna that the Jews’ ancestors ate in the desert, this Bread brings eternal life:

This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

Jesus’ challengers were asking for a sign like manna, but Jesus says that it did not give real life:

Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

The Bread that Jesus will give will bring a never-ending life to those who eat it. Jesus is the Living Bread because he is the very Word of God and because he offers up his Body and Blood in a sacrifice of love, bringing life to the whole world.

And this Bread is his flesh, life-giving flesh. This flesh will be given for the life of the world—a looking forward to Calvary. Giving eternal life will cost the human life of the Giver.

With these words the chapter moves into its eucharistic meaning. The word ‘flesh’ (Greek, sarx) introduces the link between Eucharist and Incarnation. Jesus is the Word made flesh and that Word is the food that we all need to ‘eat’. To ‘eat’ here, while involving actual eating and drinking, really points to the total assimilation into oneself and into a gathered community of the very Spirit of Jesus.

The Eucharist, as we shall see tomorrow, is the great sign of the Christian community by which we both affirm and celebrate our union with Jesus. By our eating of the Bread-that-is-flesh we affirm our total adherence to all that Jesus is and stands for.

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Commentary on Acts 9:1-20

Today’s reading touches on one of the major turning points in the development of the early Christian community and indeed for the future of the whole Church in centuries to come. Luke gives three accounts in Acts (9:1-20; 22:5-16; 26:10-18) of this momentous event. The second and third accounts are given in Paul’s own words as parts of discourses he gave. Paul also speaks about the experience in the Letter to the Galatians (Gal 1:12-17). The incident probably took place in 36 AD, about 12 years before the Council of Jerusalem, which cleared the way for Gentiles to be fully incorporated into the Christian community. The Council was held in AD 49.

Saul, we are told, was:

…still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…

We know that he was directly implicated in the killing of Stephen, but there are hints, by Paul himself, that others died or came very close to it because of his actions (see Acts 22:4; 26:10).

His next target were the Christians in Damascus. For this he got letters of authorisation from the high priest, probably Caiaphas. The Sanhedrin had authority over Jews not only in Judea, but elsewhere in the diaspora as well. The Romans recognised the high priest’s jurisdiction over the members of the Jewish communities even outside Palestine and, according to 1 Maccabees (15:21), this even included right of extradition.

Damascus was located in the Roman province of Syria and was the nearest important city outside of Palestine. It was about 250 km (150 miles) north of Jerusalem, and it would have taken four to six days to get there. It had a large Jewish population.

Saul’s mission was to find men and women who “belonged to the Way” and bring them back in shackles to Jerusalem, where they could be tried and perhaps even sentenced to death. ‘Followers of the Way’ is a name for the early Christians, and refers to the pattern of life characteristic of the Christians. The term occurs a number of times in Acts and only there. Jesus, of course, we remember had said:

I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)

On his way, Saul was suddenly surrounded by a bright light and fell to the ground. (We are told in Acts 26:13 that it was about noon.) At the same time, he heard a voice saying,

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

To which Paul replied with another question, “Who are you, sir [Lord]?” In the rabbinic tradition, such a disembodied voice would have been understood as the voice of God himself. The solemn repetition of Saul’s name (“Saul, Saul…”) and the bright light suggested to him that he was in the presence of a deity and hence his use of the address, “Lord” (Kyrie).

The reply he gets is:

I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Here we have Jesus identifying himself fully with his followers.

Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. (Matt 25:40)

and

Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
(Matt 10:40)

In the New Testament letters, it is specifically Paul who will later remind us that the Christian community is the Body of the Risen Christ. To attack the Body is to attack Christ himself.

Saul is told to go into Damascus, where he will be given further instructions. Saul’s companions could hear what was being said, but could not see anything. Saul, meanwhile, rose to his feet unable to see, although his eyes were open. His companions lead the sightless and helpless Saul to the city. The recently all-powerful official is reduced to near impotence. For three whole days he was unable to see and he observed a total fast. The symbolism seems very clear: Saul, who was so confident that he was in possession of the truth, is shown to be very deficient in his vision of the truth.

In the meantime, a Christian called Ananias is told to go to a house in Damascus where Saul will be found praying. He was told to go to Straight Street, which is probably the same long, straight street that still runs through the city from east to west, and is in strong contrast to the other numerous winding streets of the city.

Not surprisingly, Ananias is rather reluctant to visit the man who has been arresting Christians right and left and says:

Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem…

The term “saints” was originally applied to the people of Israel but later became the usual term for Christians. It occurs many times in Paul’s letters. Since God is the Holy One, those who are consecrated to his service can be called ‘holy’ also.

But the Lord insists:

Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

What an extraordinary turn of events! How strange are God’s ways! How often they go contrary to all our presumptions and expectations! The man, the committed Pharisee, who was so set on wiping out the Christian way, is to become Jesus’ chosen instrument to spread his name among the non-Jews, hitherto seen as utter infidels. He will become one of the main pillars, together with Peter, as a founder of Christianity. Through his writings, his influence will be enormous in the centuries following, right down to our own. And, in the process, he will pay a high price in personal sacrifice and suffering.

Ananias then goes to the house. He addresses Saul, whom he had been so reluctant to see, as his “brother”. He says he has been sent by the Lord, the same one who appeared to Saul on the road. The Risen Jesus had actually appeared to Saul; it was not a mere vision. It is on this ‘seeing’ that Saul would base his qualification to be an Apostle.

Ananias then lays his hands on Saul, giving him the gift of the Spirit of Jesus. Immediately the scales of blindness fall from Saul’s eyes and he can see again.

Saul rises up—hints of resurrection and new life—and is baptised. He begins eating again and regains his strength. And, almost immediately, the persecutor of Christians who had been breathing murderous threats was going to the Jewish synagogues proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.

Again, we see the strange ways of God. Ananias, the man who ‘received’ Paul into the Christian community, is someone who only appears here and never again. He was, in every other way, a very inconsequential member of the community. He is like most of us in that regard but, like him, God may send a Saul/Paul into our lives too and ask us—insignificant though we feel ourselves to be—to act as the agent to bring this person to God. In the life of every great Church leader or prophet are hundreds of unidentified people who played a crucial role in their becoming what they became.

Paul could now see, but not just physically. He could see the truth about Jesus and the inadequacy of his own previous ideas, however sincerely they may have been held. He was now ready for baptism and, for the first time since his experience on the road to Damascus, he broke his fast.

A completely new chapter in the development of the early Church was about to begin. There is obviously here a great deal for us to reflect on in our own lives, about our way of treating others, about our blindness and our constant need for conversion, and about our responsibility to share our faith with others.

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Commentary on John 6:52-59

The discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life continues in today’s Gospel. Understandably enough the Jews are deeply shocked at Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It sounds like a primitive recipe for cannibalism. If we were to put ourselves in their shoes and hear those words for the very first time, we too would likely find them very strange, to say the least.

For the Jews it was even more shocking because they had the greatest reverence for, even a fear of, blood. It was the source of life and should never be touched. To come in contact with blood was immediately to become ritually unclean.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), one of the reasons why the priest and the Levite did not come to the help of the injured man lying on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem was almost certainly because he was bleeding and they were on their way to the Temple to pray or offer sacrifice. The woman with the chronic bleeding problem (Mark 5:25-34) did not dare to reveal herself to the crowd or even to Jesus because she should not have been in such close proximity with people. She could have been harmed if they knew.

To this day, Jews only eat meat from which the blood has been previously drained (kosher). And here is Jesus inviting, even telling, people to drink his own blood! We have heard these words so often that they have lost their impact. Yet Jesus makes no apologies for what he has said. On the contrary, he tells his hearers that if they do not eat his flesh and drink his blood, they will not have life. Those who do eat and drink are guaranteed life. Because Jesus’ flesh is real food and his blood is real drink:

…whoever eats me will live because of me.

What are we to make of all this? What do the words mean? Obviously they are not to be taken literally. Rather, to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood is to assimilate totally into our very being the whole way of thinking and acting of Jesus, the very Person of Jesus. To be able to say with Paul:

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
(Gal 2:20)

Nor are the Body and Blood of Christ only to be understood in the context of ‘receiving communion’ in the Eucharist. Certainly there are Eucharistic references in what Jesus is saying, but we need to understand the Eucharist as a sacrament or sign of a much wider relationship with Jesus.

The Eucharist is primarily a community celebration of what we are—brothers and sisters who are the Body of Christ for each other and for the whole world. Jesus’ flesh and blood come to us through the Word that we hear during the Eucharistic Liturgy, as well as during the sharing of the Bread and the Cup. But Jesus also comes to us through every loving experience that we have in community. The Eucharist is not the whole of our eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ. It is the sacramental celebration pointing to our total experience of meeting Jesus in our lives. It is something which should be happening all through our day wherever we are, whatever we are doing.

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Commentary on Acts 9:31-42

Following the conversion of Saul, persecutions come to an end for the time being and the new Church enjoys peace all through Judea and Jerusalem, Galilee and Samaria. These were the places where, up to now, evangelisation has taken place. The communities experience the consolation of the Holy Spirit, in other words, the joy which their new faith brings to them. The work of the Spirit is constantly noted throughout Acts—which is why the book is sometimes called the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

We are then told of two miracles performed by Peter, another sign that the power of Jesus through the Spirit is working in him. The healing and whole-making and life-giving work of Jesus continues.

First, in the town of Lydda a paralytic is cured. Lydda was a town about 5 km (3 miles) north of the road connecting Joppa (Jaffa today) on the Mediterranean coast and Jerusalem, and about 20 km (12 miles) from Joppa.

In Lydda, Peter found a man named Aeneas, bed-ridden with a form of paralysis. As Peter had gone there to visit the believers, it is likely that Aeneas was one of the Christians. With the power of Jesus and in a similar manner, Peter orders the man to “get up and make your bed!” That is, to put away his bed which he does not need now during the day.

We are told that all the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon, after seeing what Peter had done:

…turned to the Lord.

The fertile plain of Sharon runs about 80 km (50 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, roughly from Joppa to Caesarea. In the context, however, the reference here is more likely to a village in the neighbourhood of Lydda instead of to such a large district. An Egyptian papyrus refers to a town by that name in Palestine.

Then, in the town of Joppa, a much loved woman who spent her life doing good for others, dies. In accordance with both Jewish and Greek custom her body was washed and purified and, awaiting burial, was laid out in an upstairs room. This laying out would happen if the burial was delayed. In Jerusalem, a body had to be buried on the day of death, but outside Jerusalem three days could be allowed. (Given the hot climate this is understandable. Muslims today also bury their dead very quickly.)

Her friends then hear that Peter is in nearby Lydda. In answer to their urgent request, Peter comes. Whether they wanted his presence either for consolation or for a cure, he was urged to come quickly before the burial took place. They tell him of all the good the woman had done, and the widows (the most insecure people of that time) show him the gifts she had donated to them.

As Jesus did with the daughter of Jairus, Peter tells all to withdraw from the room. Unlike Jesus, he kneels down and prays. The power he sought was not his own but his Lord’s. We are told Peter:

…turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

Again, they are words summoning her to new life as he helped her to her feet. Only then were the believers and the widows called in.

Not surprisingly, the news of this spread like wildfire through the whole town and was the cause for many to believe in Jesus and the gospel.

Jesus’ healing and life-giving work continues among us still. The only condition for us to experience it is our faith and trust in Jesus. It might be good for us to realise that each one of us can, in our own way, be a source of healing for others. The normal way for Jesus to act is through the agency of his brothers and sisters, the members of his Body.

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Commentary on John 6:60-69

Today we conclude the discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life. Not only the Jews who heard him, but Jesus’ own disciples had great difficulties accepting his call to eat his flesh and drink his blood as a way to life and said:

This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?

And certainly on the basis of the words by themselves, we can sympathise with them; if we had been there, we would surely have had problems also.

Jesus is fully aware of their difficulty, and asks them:

Does this offend you?

If they have problems with this, how will they react when he rises from the dead and ascends to his Father? This is an indication that the acceptance of the resurrection was very much a matter of faith. No one literally saw Jesus rise from the dead or ascend to the Father. There was a faith conviction that these actions had taken place.

Jesus then points out where the problem really lies:

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

The disciples are hearing Jesus’ words only in the “flesh” and not with the penetrating eyes of the Spirit. There are some who cannot accept what he is saying. John comments:

For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him.

To understand the real meaning of Jesus’ words comes from the gift bestowed on us, the grace of faith:

For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.

And the Gospel tells us:

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

Faith is a gift. It is a gift open to all, but it is a gift to which one needs to be open to receive.

Jesus then turns to the Twelve and asks:

Do you also wish to go away?

Peter then, in the name of all, makes his profound act of trust and commitment:

Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.

In other words, the Apostles acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, God’s chosen Messenger who is uniquely united with him.

“Believe” and “know” are in the perfect tense in the original Greek, meaning ‘We have come to know and have come to believe and continue to do so…’ It indicates not just a momentary action, but an ongoing state.

Actually, we have here John’s version of Peter’s confession which we find in a different form and context in the Synoptic Gospels. Peter’s response to Jesus needs to become ours too. And, if we reflect more deeply on it, we know that Peter is right. There is really no viable alternative to the Way of Jesus, even when things happen which are difficult to understand or accept. The Way of Jesus is not just adherence to the tenets of a religious sect. It is to see that the Way he proposes is the way for every human being to live. To assimilate Jesus into one’s life is not just to become a good Christian, but a perfect human being, with Jesus as our model, who is himself God in human flesh.

Yet, how many Christians stop believing and no longer walk Jesus’ Way? Perhaps we too have wavered more than once. Let us ask for the faith and strength to stay with him and experience the life that only he can give. Above all, let us ask for the grace to see our world with the eyes of Jesus, and to help others to do the same.

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Commentary on John 6:22-29

Following on the feeding of the 5,000 and the walking on the water, we begin the long discourse of Jesus as the Bread of Life. This ‘Bread’ is presented as a replacement of the manna with which God fed his people during their long trek through the desert in the Old Testament. What we read today is really an introduction. The proper discourse will begin tomorrow. The last part of the discourse is about the mixed reaction of Jesus’ disciples and about Peter’s profession.

The day following the feeding, the people go in search of Jesus. First, they realise he did not cross the lake with his disciples, but when they go to the site of the feeding, they find he is not there either. Eventually they find Jesus and his disciples in the vicinity of Capernaum, Jesus’ principal base in Galilee.

They ask him:

Rabbi, when did you come here?

In typically Johannine fashion, the question is loaded with deeper meanings, of which those asking it are quite unaware. Jesus’ origin (where he comes from) is a constant source of misunderstanding both on the part of the crowds and of the Jewish leadership.

Jesus begins by telling the crowds that they are coming in search of him not because of the ‘signs’ that he is doing, but because of the bread that they had been given to eat. They have missed the point of what Jesus was doing. They have seen the things that Jesus has been doing, but have missed the ‘sign’, the deeper meaning behind them. The food they are looking for is not the food that counts. The real food brings a life that never ends, and that is the food that Jesus is offering. It parallels the “spring of water gushing up to eternal life” which Jesus promised the Samaritan woman (John 4:14).

The source of this ‘bread’ is the Son on whom the Father has set his seal. This ‘seal’ was given at his baptism. It is the Spirit of the Father, who is the power of God working in and through Jesus. The people ask him:

What must we do to perform the works of God?”

Jesus tells them:

This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

For ‘work’ in the Jewish sense, external fulfilment of the Law’s requirements, Jesus substitutes faith in himself as the delegate of the Father. And Jesus asks us not just to ‘believe’, but to ‘believe in’. It is not just a question of accepting certain statements about Jesus and who he really is. ‘Believing in’ involves a total and unconditional commitment of the whole self to Jesus, to the Gospel and the vision of life that he proposes, and making it part of one’s own self. This is where the real bread is to be found.

And we may add that Jesus is not just speaking of the Eucharistic bread, but the deep-down nourishment of which the Eucharist is the sign and sacrament—nourishment which also comes from the Word of God in Scripture and the whole Christian community experience. It is important in reading this whole chapter that we do not limit the truth of Jesus as the Bread or Food of our life simply to the Eucharist, which is the sacramental sign of something much larger—all that we receive through Christ and the whole Christian way of life.

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Commentary on Acts 6:8-15

Today we begin the story of Stephen, who will be the first person to give his life for Christ. He is the first martyr, the first true witness to the Gospel. Because of this, his feast is celebrated on the day after Christmas. Today’s reading follows the passage on the appointment of the ‘deacons’, of whom Stephen was one, and also following the conversion of some of the Temple’s priests.

We are told at the beginning that:

Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Until now, we only heard of the Apostles, especially Peter and John, working miracles. Now, after the laying on of hands, Stephen is given the same gifts and the same power. Soon, we will see the deacon Philip doing the same.

However, Stephen’s words and action aroused the displeasure of other Greek-speaking Jews. We are told that there were people from the Synagogue of Freedmen, who were probably descendants of Jews who had been carried off to Rome by Pompey when he attacked Jerusalem in 63 BC. They would have been sold into slavery, but later released—hence their name. The Cyrenians came from Cyrene, which was the chief city in Libya and North Africa, half way between Alexandria and Carthage. It had a Jewish community (we remember too that it was a Simon from Cyrene who was forced to help Jesus carry his cross; see Matt 27:32). Alexandrians came from the city of Alexandria (named after the famous Macedonian emperor). It was the capital of Egypt and the second city of the Roman Empire. It also had a Jewish community.

Cilicia was a Roman province in the southeast corner of Asia Minor, close to Syria. Tarsus, the birthplace of Paul, was one of its principal towns. Asia, at that time, referred to just a single Roman province in what is now western Turkey. Its capital was Ephesus, which would feature prominently in Paul’s ministry.

These ‘Freedmen’ began debating with Stephen. It is an interesting theory that, since Paul was from Tarsus in Cilicia, he might have attended this synagogue and have been among those who were arguing with Stephen. He certainly was prominent in the stoning of Stephen.

The parallels between Stephen’s experience and that of his Lord are striking. Like Jesus, and because of Jesus, he is “full of grace and power” and he “did great wonders and signs among the people”. He arouses the displeasure especially of his fellow Hellenist Jews who cannot deal with the Spirit-inspired power of his words.

As they could not better Stephen in debate, they began circulating distorted versions of what he was saying. They accused him of saying that the worship of God was no longer to be restricted to the Temple. The charges, that Stephen depreciated the importance of the Temple and the Mosaic Law and elevated Jesus to a stature above Moses, were in fact true. And, as far as the Sanhedrin was concerned, no defence against them was possible. But the false witnesses that some Hellenists were bringing forward were actually distorting what Stephen was saying.

So they begin to throw false accusations against him, leading to his incurring the hostility both of the people and the Jewish religious leaders. In the presence of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews, they distort his words by asserting that Stephen claimed Jesus was going to destroy the Temple and change the traditions of Moses.

As already mentioned, in a sense, it was true. The coming of Jesus made the Temple irrelevant, and the teaching of Jesus would not abolish, but would transcend and go far beyond the traditions of Moses.

All of this is very similar to the experience that Jesus went through. All through these encounters, Stephen’s enemies glared at him with hostility, while his own face seemed “like the face of an angel”. The face of an angel produces a feeling of awe. There are echoes here of the face of Moses as he came down from the mountain after being face to face with God, and of the appearance of Jesus at the Transfiguration. The Sanhedrin members are also witnessing a transfiguration, as Stephen has a vision of Jesus in glory (this will occur in tomorrow’s reading). And, whatever their feelings towards him, Stephen had no hostile feelings towards them. This is the spirit of Jesus: “Love your enemies.”

With Stephen, who thus perceived the fuller implications of the teachings of Jesus, the difference between Judaism and Christianity began to appear. Luke’s account of Stephen’s martyrdom and its aftermath shows how the major impetus behind the Christian movement passed from Jerusalem, where the Temple and law prevailed, to Antioch in Syria, where these influences were less pressing.

As Christians, we too can expect, and should not be surprised to experience, hostility and misunderstandings even from our fellow-Christians at times. We too are called to return love for hatred and peace for anger. This attitude is a real stumbling block to some and utter nonsense to others.

The rest of Stephen’s story, his martyrdom, is told in the subsequent verses of Acts.

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Commentary on Philippians 2:1-4

In today’s reading, Paul makes an eloquent appeal for unity among the Christians of Philippi. As he writes from prison, the encouragement and comfort he wishes most from them is that they:

…be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

As will become clear in later readings, the Philippians, like many of the churches to which Paul wrote, had their own internal problems which were a source of sometimes deep division.

He proposes four motivating forces which might help them to resolve their differences:

1. Their life in Christ: the over-riding element in all Christian living is our warm, intimate, personal relationship with Christ. If this is really the guiding factor in our living together, there will not be much room for serious divisions.
2. Love (agape): for Christians, love is, of course, the very central force in all our behaviour with each other. It is, first of all, the love that God has shown us in Christ, especially by his suffering and dying for us on the cross. Secondly, it is the law which embraces all other laws. It is the criterion by which we judge all words and actions. And where there is genuine love between brothers and sisters in the community, there cannot be any serious divisions.
3. The Spirit we have in common: that Spirit is God communicating to us the Gospel message we have received from Christ, and uniting us together in a true fellowship. If we are all filled with that same Spirit, then we are going to speak and act in real harmony with each other, driven as we are by a common vision.
4. Tenderness and sympathy: this expresses the deep care and concern that we have for each other. It is this encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion which will dissipate any disunity and discord in the community.

If their community life can be guided by these qualities, then, says Paul, they can:

… be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

This is not so much a plea for total uniformity, but rather the ability to work together towards a common goal in a spirit of tolerance and acceptance of each other.

Paul in general is very pleased with the church at Philippi, but if it could realise the unity he is urging on them, that would make him completely happy. The implication is that complete unity has not yet been achieved; that there are some divisions among them.

As a step towards that unity he gives some advice. They should be free of a competitive spirit, where different groups claim to have the truth, and self-centred conceit (‘all out of step except me’). Such ambition or self-centredness is destructive of real unity in the community. And alas, such competitiveness and conceit is not at all unknown in our own churches today.

On the contrary, the Philippians are to:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit…

That is, they are to be free from arrogance and self-centredness and focused more on the needs of their brothers and sisters.

They are to:

…in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.

That does not mean denying one’s gifts and talents, but it does mean that the love that each one has for others leads them to giving preference to the needs of others. They are to have the attitude that my gifts are not to be focused on myself, but rather are to be used for the benefit of others—just as others will use their gifts for my benefit. In this way, we all gain by reaching out to each other.

All of what Paul says can be applied to our Church living today. We, too, need to be more united, more tolerant and more accepting. We, too, need to be filled with those four elements which will make any real disunity and division—as opposed to acceptable diversity and pluralism—impossible among us.

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Commentary on Luke 14:12-14

After giving the scribes and Pharisees advice on how (not) to choose a place at a banquet, Jesus goes on to teach his host what to do when he holds a dinner. He should not invite family members, relatives, friends and the influential rich from whom he can expect to get similar invitations in return.

Rather he should go out of his way to:

…invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind…you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

This will be a proof of the genuineness of his generosity. Sharing meals with friends is a lovely thing, but Jesus is making the point that our mutual entertainment should not be at the expense of those who do not have enough to eat. It will be a real act of love, and not be a form of self-seeking and self-aggrandisement or mutual back scratching in a never-ending entertainment circus.

It reminds us of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount about loving those who love us:

Do not even the gentiles do the same? (Matt 5:47)

There is no real virtue in this. In fact, it can be a way of using people to our own advantage. It also reminds us of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In such circumstances, uncaring self-indulgence can in no way be justified.

We might remark here, of course, that there is no such thing as pure altruism, that is, an action that is done purely for others with absolutely nothing for self. Everything we do, we do ultimately for ourselves. We have no choice but to seek our own good—to act otherwise would be quite silly and even wrong. It all depends on how and why we do it.

A person can seek self by using, manipulating, and exploiting others for one’s own gain. But a person can use all their energies for the good of others, and in doing so, there is a feeling of satisfaction in doing the right thing. Even one’s life can be sacrificed as the only way of satisfying self. For instance, a mother may not hesitate to sacrifice her life to save a child in danger. Not to do so would lead to a situation she might find difficult to live with for the rest of her life.

We do have to seek our own interests. We can do that at the expense of others, or we can realise that it is by sharing what we have with others in need that we become enriched in a very special way.

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Commentary on Philippians 2:12-18

Today’s reading follows immediately on yesterday’s hymn about the “mind of Christ”, depicted in his ‘self-emptying’ as his way to glory. Paul now exhorts the Philippians to follow the teaching he has given them, which is none other than the teaching of Jesus and the Gospel. They did follow his teaching when he was with them (during visits on his second and third missionary journeys) and he hopes that they will continue to do so now that they are separated from each other.

He tells them to:

…work on your own salvation with fear and trembling…

Working on their salvation means leaving themselves continually open to the loving influence of God in their lives. Salvation is not something that one achieves by one’s own efforts; it comes from accepting the love of God into one’s life and behaving accordingly. As Paul says today:

…it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Every good thing we say and do, we say and do in him and through him—and for him.

The phrase “in fear and trembling” is a biblical cliche‚ used several times by Paul and is not intended in a frightening sense. Rather it calls for that sense of awe and reverence which comes when we begin to grasp the transcendence and unknowability of our God.

Paul now indicates some of the areas where we ensure that we experience the saving power of God and have the mind of Christ. All that has to be done should be carried out without complaining or arguing. One senses that, in fact, there was a certain amount of complaining and arguing going on among the Philippians. Such complaining could indicate discontent with their lot, resulting in grumbling against God. The arguing could be over issues in the church, which resulted in division and disunity.

Paul wants the Philippians to be:

…blameless and innocent, children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

He wants them to give a convincing witness of the Gospel vision in the unbelieving and immoral world which surrounds them.

In the surrounding darkness of sin and immorality, they will then shine out like stars. This reflects the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount when he told his disciples to be:

…the light of the world. A city built on a hill…[letting] your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works… (Matt 5:13-16)

An invisible Christian is a contradiction in terms; and an immoral Christian is a wound on the Gospel.

But if the Philippians are able to act as Paul urges, it will give him great pride on the day of judgment, for it would mean that all his efforts among them had not been in vain:

…so that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

And he goes so far as to say that even if his present imprisonment ends in shedding his blood through a martyr’s death, it would still be an occasion for great joy and thanksgiving both for him and for them:

But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with all of you…

This is another example of the mood of joy which pervades the Letter.

Libations, or the pouring out of blood, were common in both Greek and Jewish sacrifices. Paul uses this image to express his share in the overall offering that the Philippians have made and are making through the living out of their Christian faith. He may be referring to his whole ministry as one large thanksgiving sacrifice, or it is more likely he is speaking of his present imprisonment, which might well bring him a martyr’s death. His life would then be poured out as a drink offering accompanying the sacrificial service of the Philippians.

Again we see Paul’s total and unconditional giving of himself to Jesus and the work of proclaiming the Gospel. In this, his own life is secondary. The only thing that matters in life or death is being close to Jesus, his beloved Lord. And if Paul loses his life, it will not only be a source of joy for Paul himself, but something over which the Philippians too should rejoice, because it is another victory of the Gospel over sin and evil.

Let us reflect today on the quality of our witness to the Gospel, both individually and collectively. What image do we have individually and collectively in our society? It is not a question of being loved and admired. When we are being most Christian may be a time when we will be most violently attacked. But never let it be said that we are clearly unfaithful to the vision of the Gospel we claim to follow.