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Commentary on Luke 12:49-53

We have some passionate and disturbing words from Jesus today. First, he expresses his deep desire to cast fire on the earth. In the imagery of the Old Testament, fire is a symbol of God’s powerful presence. We remember Moses at the burning bush, the pillar of fire that accompanied the Israelites by night as they wandered through the desert to the promised land, as well as the tongues of fire that hovered over the disciples at Pentecost.

It is this Pentecostal fire that burns men’s hearts and draws them to change the direction of their lives. For Jesus’ wish to be fulfilled, we have to play our part in helping to spread some of that fire of God’s love everywhere.

Second, Jesus expresses a longing for his ‘baptism’ to be accomplished. Baptism here refers to his immersion in the terrible suffering and death by which we will be liberated. In fact, the ritual of baptism, where the person to be baptised was immersed in the baptismal pool, was seen as a parallel to Jesus’ going down into death and emerging to the new life of the resurrection. It is about this that Paul speaks.

Third, Jesus says he has come not to bring peace, but division on the earth. At first sight, this is a hard saying and it does not make any sense. Is Jesus not the Prince of Peace? Did Jesus not say at the Last Supper that he was giving his peace to his disciples, a peace that the world could not give and that no one could take away? Did he not say:

Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matt 11:28)

Was not the final greeting of the Risen Christ to his disciples in the upper room:

Peace be with you. (John 20:21)

Yes, but he also warned his disciples that, after he was gone, they could expect a rough ride. They would be hauled before rulers and governors; they would be beaten and jailed and put to death. People would think they were doing well in ridding the world of them. In that sense, Jesus was certainly not going to bring peace. And, by the time this Gospel was written, Jesus’ prophecy had been well borne out—and there was a lot more to come.

The break-up of families, father against mother, parents against children, in-laws against in-laws, was unfortunately only too common as one or more members in a family decided to follow Christ and be baptised. These must have been very painful experiences which no one wanted. Anyone who has studied the history of the Church, all the way back to its beginning and in many places throughout the world, knows how many families were torn apart by their accepting Christianity. In the Gospel, we see it in the story of the blind man who attached himself to Jesus and whose parents, terrified of the authorities, wanted to have nothing to do with it. It is surely an image which was quite familiar to converts in the early, not to mention the later, Church.

Jesus had warned that those who wanted to follow him had to be ready, if necessary, to leave home and family and enter into a new family of brothers and sisters. To follow the way of truth and love, of freedom and justice is always going to arouse the hostility of those who feel threatened by goodness.

But is it right to break up one’s family? We might counter by asking which is the more loving thing to do: to be true to one’s convictions and one’s integrity, or to compromise them for the sake of a merely external peace?

The one who leaves a family for the sake of Christ and the Gospel shows a greater love for one’s family and will never cease to love them, no matter how viciously they may react to the choice the Christian has felt it necessary to make. In the long run, truth and love will prevail—they must.

Finally, hostility, division and persecution, provided the Christian is not directly responsible, does not take away the peace that Jesus spoke about. On the contrary, it is only by being true to one’s convictions and one’s integrity, whatever the price that has to be paid, that peace can be experienced.

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Commentary on Luke 5:17-26

Today’s First Reading from Isaiah expresses the excitement and anticipation of God’s coming in our midst. The Gospel is an example of this promise being realised. It is Luke’s version of the healing of a paralysed man who can only reach Jesus by being lowered through the roof of the house. The efforts which the sick man’s friends make to get him to Jesus is an indication of their tremendous faith and confidence in Jesus.

However, the man may have been somewhat surprised to hear the words of Jesus:

Friend, your sins are forgiven you.

That was not what he came for. He hoped something could be done about his paralysis. But the Pharisees and Scribes present were even more shocked:

Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Of course, they were perfectly right, but they did not put two and two together and identify the presence of God in Jesus.

So Jesus asks them:

Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?

Naturally, the first is easier to say. But to show that Jesus has the authority really to forgive sin, he says to the paralysed man:

I say to you, stand up and take your stretcher and go to your home.

Immediately, the man stands up before them all, picks up his mat and goes home.

To understand what is happening here we have to realise the perceived close relationship in those days between sin and sickness. Sickness, especially something chronic like paralysis or blindness, was often presumed to be the result of, or punishment for sin. So if Jesus can totally remove the sickness, it must mean the sin which caused it has gone too. Jesus can forgive sin.

We might not express things quite the same way now, but there may be some truth in the belief that there is a relationship between sickness and behaviour. Many people are sick and even in hospital because their bodies are revealing symptoms of ‘dis-ease’ which has its roots in their hearts and minds and feelings. The healing power of Jesus, which we all need, has to extend to every part of our being – body, mind, heart and in our relationships with others.

There are intimations in this story of resurrection and new life when the man now stands up – something he could not do before. And, now able to walk, he goes home, that is, he goes to the place where he belongs.

We too need the healing of Christ which removes the things which paralyse or handicap us in our following him. We need to stand anew in the Life that he gives and then find our way to our true home, which is to be with him.

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Commentary on Matthew 18:12-14

After the wonderful Advent reading from Isaiah today, let us now look at the Gospel reading. It comes from chapter 18 of Matthew, in which we find one of the five long discourses of Jesus in his Gospel. The discourse deals with various issues involving relationships in the Christian community, and especially when those relationships break down.

Just before this, Jesus has been talking about scandal, that is, about actions by a Christian which are the cause of a fellow-Christian’s doing something wrong (Matt 18:6-9). It is bad enough to go against God’s will oneself, but to make another fall is much worse. Jesus says it would be better for such a person to be drowned in the sea. This is especially the case if one is dealing with one of the “little ones”. These ‘little ones’ are not exactly children—although children are clearly not excluded—but rather those who are weak and immature in their Christian faith and so can easily be misled.

It is at this point that Jesus speaks the parable of the shepherd, a shepherd who has lost just one sheep out of one hundred. He leaves all the ‘good’ ones and goes in search of the stray. It does not say why this one sheep wandered off. All that matters is that it has gotten lost and is separated from its shepherd. And when he finds it and brings it back, he is happier over this lost sheep than he is over the ninety-nine who never wandered away. This being a parable, there is probably a little exaggeration here because of course the real Shepherd loves all his sheep equally. But a point is being made—that our God loves us unconditionally, and is not only ready to have us back in the fold, but is positively overjoyed about it.

This parable can be applied both to those ‘little ones’ who were led astray and to those who did the terrible thing of leading them astray. Both will be welcomed back with equal joy.

As we approach Christmas and the birth of that loving Shepherd (how appropriate that the first to greet his arrival were shepherds!), we could well reflect on how we look on those who have gone astray morally or on those who may have been instrumental in causing their behaviour. How judgemental are we? And how ready are we to receive back the wrongdoer, not just grudgingly, but with joy?

Let the words of Jesus be deeply etched on our hearts at this time:

…it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

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Commentary on Matthew 11:28-30

In spite of what we at some times feel, both today’s First Reading and the Gospel remind us that our God is never far away, especially in times of trouble. In the Gospel, Jesus makes this promise and gives an invitation:

Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Jesus reaffirms what Isaiah says, that we have a caring and tireless God who looks after his own:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Jesus seems primarily to be referring to the burdens which the Mosaic Law laid on people, especially as interpreted by some of the scribes and Pharisees. Under them, it was next to impossible not to put a foot wrong somewhere. And, as they saw it, perfection in the eyes of God was the scrupulous observation of the tiniest obligation.

Jesus liberates us from all that. It does not mean that we do what we like, but all is now reduced to simply one commandment, the commandment to love God and all our brothers and sisters unconditionally. That is not always easy, but we will find that keeping the commandment of love has a liberating effect. It helps us to become the kind of people we were meant to be. In being a law-keeper, I take care of my own ‘perfection’. In following the law of love, I benefit, but my brother or sister benefits too.

Jesus does not say that if we go to him that we will have no more troubles, no more pain and no more disappointments. There will be ‘yokes’ to carry, but he will carry them with us.

It has been suggested that the ‘yoke’ Jesus is referring to is a double yoke used for two oxen pulling together. Jesus, then is saying that he carries the yoke together with us.

Jesus never promises to take away pain. What Jesus does is to help us go through the pain. A life without any pain, without any failure or disappointment, a life without difficulty or challenge, is no life. When children are so protected by doting parents that their every whim is answered and every negative feeling anticipated, what do we end up with but what some might call ‘spoiled brats’.

Jesus will not spoil us in that way. The challenges of life are necessary for us to grow and mature. But they are easier to bear when he carries them with us, when we know that we are never alone in our difficulties and sorrows. And, because of our own pains, we are in a much better position to help others carry their yokes of sorrow or pain or sickness. Strange as it may seem, it is probable that a world without pain would be a very selfish and individualistic one.

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Commentary on Matthew 11:11-15

Jesus today has high words of praise for John the Baptist. John had a unique role which sets him apart from all others. He was the one to announce the long-awaited arrival of the Messiah. John is the last in the line of the great Old Testament prophets, men who spoke in God’s name pointing the way for God’s people, sometimes denouncing their behaviour and at other times pointing to a great destiny ahead. John is an Old Testament figure, but he forms a kind of bridge between the Old and the New. He died—in fact, was executed—before the mission of Jesus was completed. The New Testament or Covenant was sealed with Jesus’ blood on the cross. John never saw that; he never was fully a disciple of Jesus.

And so, Jesus says, even the very least in the Kingdom of God, inaugurated by Jesus, is in a more privileged position than John. At the time of his death, John was not able to share in the abundance of life that was released through the death and resurrection of Jesus as every believing Christian can do.

At this point, there are some strange words:

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and violent people take it by force.

The meaning is not immediately clear, but it seems to refer to those who are using violence to prevent people from entering the Kingdom, and pulling away those who have already entered.

In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, this could apply to those Jews and others who were bitterly opposed to Jesus and his message, and who either tried to prevent people from entering the Christian community, or tried to make those who were already members, defect. This, we know from the letters of Paul, was happening in many communities. And it is still happening today, sometimes with violence (e.g. persecution) and sometimes in much more subtle ways (suggesting it is not ‘cool’ to be Christian).

John, too, is described as “Elijah who is to come”. We know that the prophet Elijah did not die a natural death. He was carried off to heaven in a chariot. However, it was a Jewish belief that some day he would return to leave this earth in a normal way and join the dead in Sheol. But the important point was that his return would be the immediate prelude to the arrival of the Messiah. In calling John ‘Elijah’, Jesus is clearly pointing to himself as the Messiah. And so Jesus says:

Let anyone with ears listen!

Those with real insight will know what Jesus is saying. They will listen carefully to his words and recognise Jesus for who he really is, and accept him as Lord.

We might conclude by reflecting that the role of John the Baptist is one that each follower of Christ is called to fill. It is up to us to prepare the way for Christ and his vision of the Kingdom to enter the lives of people. In the words of the Benedictus, a hymn said every day in the Church’s Morning Prayer:

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways…
(Luke 2:76)

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Commentary on Matthew 11:16-19

Today’s readings are about listening to what God is saying to us. The Gospel reading follows immediately on yesterday’s passage about John the Baptist as the one preparing the way for the Messiah. It ended with the words:

Let anyone with ears listen! (Matt 11:15)

So in today’s reading, Jesus upbraids the crowds for not listening. He compares them to children in the market place who complain to their playmates:

We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.

Thus, when:

…John came neither eating nor drinking…they say, ‘He has a demon’…

On the other hand when:

…the Son of Man came eating and drinking…they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’!

If we do not want to hear what God is saying to us through the people and situations in our life, we can so easily rationalise and reject the bearer’s frailty, and in the process reject the gospel as well—which is actually quite illogical. “A priest shouted at me in confession, so I don’t go to church any more.” It would be like rejecting democracy because of the corruption of a democratically elected official.

We do need to distinguish very clearly between the central vision of the Kingdom which Jesus left to us, and the ways in which that vision has been lived out through the centuries. It was Paul who said a long time ago that we Christians carry the message of the gospel in vessels of clay, easily broken, often leaking. It is important for us to realise that God can and does speak to us through very unexpected media and agents. It is probably true to say that some of the greatest saints had serious weaknesses. In fact, many of them became saints because of their weaknesses and through their weaknesses (see 2 Cor 12:7-10, where Paul thanks God for working through his weaknesses).

It is important, as Jesus urges us, that we really try to listen to the essence of what Jesus left us, his vision of the Kingdom. Very few of us hear the message without some form of filtering due to our history or our personal idiosyncrasies. It’s been said that, when a preacher preaches to 20 people, 20 different messages are heard. And there is nothing wrong with that, provided each one of us really tries to hear what God is saying, and we do not immediately push away something we do not like to hear.

The passage is nicely summed up in the last phrase:

Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.

Jesus is the embodiment of the Wisdom of God. Jesus needs no justification beyond the results of his life shown in all that he said and did, especially with the ultimate manifestation of love shown on the Cross. The same can be true for each one of us.

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Commentary on Matthew 17:10-13

As mentioned in the First Reading commentary, today’s Gospel also references the prophet Elijah. The passage follows immediately after the Transfiguration, when three of Jesus’ disciples—Peter, James and John—were given a glimpse of Jesus as the glorious Son of his heavenly Father. During that experience, they saw Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the prophetic tradition, speaking with Jesus. As such, this clearly endorses the mission of Jesus as Messiah, including what he had told them about his suffering, dying, and rising again. This was a prophecy which had upset them very much.

On the way down from the mountain, the disciples ask Jesus:

Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

Jesus replied:

…I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased.

Jesus does not really answer the question, but confirms that Elijah will come again. In fact, says Jesus, he has already come, but he was not recognised and he was mistreated, just as Jesus himself will not be recognised and be rejected. The disciples immediately realised that Jesus was speaking of John the Baptist.

The role of the returned Elijah was to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah, and that is exactly what John the Baptist did. The First Reading from the book of Sirach is a panegyric of Elijah, but much of it can be applied to John the Baptist.

Once again, let us see ourselves in the role of John, sharing with him the responsibility of preparing the way for Jesus to come into people’s lives. And, like John and as disciples of Jesus, we too can expect to have to face challenges, opposition and perhaps hardships because:

A disciple is not above the teacher… (Matt 10:24)