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Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

We have now entered the great season of Lent. In times past, Lent was not viewed as a time to which we looked forward. Fasting and abstinence, not to mention other forms of penance, were in force and it was a serious business. Easter was looked forward to with real anticipation. Our attitudes to Lent tended to be on the gloomy and negative side. Perhaps nowadays we have gone to the other extreme where Lent hardly means anything at all, saying: “You mean Lent has started already? Really, I had no idea! Easter will be on top of us before we know where we are and I haven’t bought a thing!”

Yet Lent has always been one of the key periods of the Church year and it would be a great pity if we were to forget its real meaning. In fact, that is what we ask for in the Opening Prayer of today’s Mass just before we sit down to listen to the readings:

Grant almighty God, through the observance of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects.

Really, the whole purpose of Lent is beautifully summarised in that prayer—to understand the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus and to live that out in our own lives.

An annual retreat
The period of Lent is six weeks to help us do precisely that. The Church provides Lent almost like an annual retreat, a time for deepening the understanding of our Christian faith, a time for reflection and renewal and a time to make a fresh start.

It was a pious custom in the past for people, as part of their Lenten observance, to go to Mass every day during this time. This is even more meaningful now since the Second Vatican Council and the reformation of the liturgy, because we are provided with a magnificent set of Scripture readings from both the Hebrew (Old) and Christian (New) Testaments every day during the Lenten season.

In the First Reading of today’s Mass, Moses speaks to the Israelites at the end of their forty years wandering in the desert and he prepares them for their new life in the Promised Land. That is what the Lenten season is meant to do for us also.

Traditionally on this First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel speaks of the temptations of Jesus in the desert. Jesus has just completed his forty days of preparation in the desert and he now faces one more test before he begins his mission. This incident takes place between the baptism of Jesus and the start of his public mission, beginning (in Luke’s Gospel) at Nazareth.

A time of beginning
In the early centuries of the Church, Lent was seen as a time of beginning. It was—and again now is—a time for forming new converts, preparing them for their formal entry into the Church community by baptism and confirmation during the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection at the Easter Vigil. Today, in fact, is their day of Election. Our catechumens are entering the last six weeks of preparation for Baptism. Let us pray for them and be in solidarity with them during this time.

For those of us who are already baptised, it can equally be a new beginning. Often we prefer to stay with the known and the familiar, even though it does not give us great satisfaction. We can settle into a routine kind of Christianity that goes on basically unchanged from year to year. It is not very inspiring, but we stick with it rather than risk the unknown that radical conversion can bring.

Forty days in the desert
The forty days of Lent correspond to Jesus’ own forty days spent in the desert. For him, it was a period of preparation for his coming mission. At the end of the forty days—as described in Matthew and Luke—Jesus had three encounters with the Evil One.

It might be worth noting that we may not be dealing here with a strictly historical happening, something which could have been video-taped or covered by television. The devil normally does not carry on conversations with people like this. Temptations to evil—and they can be many and frequent—usually come to us in far more subtle ways. (On this, read C.S. Lewis’ marvellously entertaining book The Screwtape Letters—a delightful read with a deadly serious message.)

Rather than just seeing them as three consecutive temptations happening almost simultaneously at a particular moment, we should perhaps see them as three key areas where Jesus was tempted to compromise his mission during his public life. They were not just passing temptations of the moment, but temptations with which he was beset all through his public life.

Some real examples of these temptations can be found in the Gospel accounts:

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. (Mark 8:11)

You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. (Matt 27:40)

And after feeding 5,000 hungry people with an abundance of food, John’s Gospel tells us:

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (John 6:14-15)

Clearly, in varying forms, these temptations of Jesus can come into our lives too.

Superstar
In today’s Gospel, the first temptation by Satan (to change stones into bread) and the third (to jump from the top of the Temple) try to turn Jesus away from his role as the Servant-Messiah to become an eye-catching, self-serving superstar (‘Follow me because I am the greatest!’). The second temptation (to worship the devil who can give power and wealth) tries to entice Jesus away from the true direction of all human living—the love and service of God and his creation. He is being lured from setting up a Kingdom of love and service, to controlling an empire of minions.

Luke reverses the second and third temptations from Matthew’s version in order to make Jerusalem the climax of the temptations, just as it is the final destiny of Jesus’ mission and the starting point for the Church.

The forty days in the desert eating nothing reminds us of Moses doing the very same. At the end, Moses received and proclaimed the message of God (the Law), just as Jesus will go on to make his mission statement in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21). Also, the replies that Jesus gives to the Evil One are all from Deuteronomy (one of five books attributed to Moses), and his temptations correspond to those which afflicted the Israelites on their desert journey. The difference is that the Israelites succumbed, but not Jesus. Some examples are:

One does not live by bread alone.

It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’

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Commentary on Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

Today, we are asked to consider three interlocking elements of our Christian living: faith, experience and apostleship. Our faith has two elements. The first is expressed by Paul in the Second Reading where he gives the briefest summary of what the Christian message is about. To ‘have faith’ at that level is to accept that message as true and credible. For many Catholics, faith often stops at that point. If a person fully accepts the teaching of the Catholic Church (as opposed, for example, to teachings of Protestant churches), we sometimes hear people say, “She or he has the faith”. Some Catholics like to spend a lot of time spelling out in detail what is orthodox and what is not, and condemning those they believe to be ‘deviating from the true Faith’. For some people, faith can even be a painful matter and lead to scruples.

Faith
However, there is another level of faith which we ignore at our peril. And it is the meaning that predominates in the Gospel. The Greek word for “faith” is pistis. The basic meaning of pistis is “trust”. To have faith in Jesus is to put one’s total trust in him.

That involves a different kind of relationship from the first. We might express the difference as between ‘believing a person’ (what he or she says is true and reliable) and ‘believing in a person’ (I would be ready to put myself totally into the hands of that person). The statements “I believe what you say” and “I completely trust you” are quite distinct in meaning and application. I might well be ready to believe as true what someone tells me, while being not at all ready to entrust my life to their care.

Both levels are at work when we speak of Christian faith, but the second is surely the real test. A real faith not only accepts the content of God’s message, but involves a total surrender of one’s self and all one has and is into God’s hands. A complete letting go. It is something like those group dynamics games where you let yourself fall back into the arms of another person, trusting they will not let you fall to the ground. It will not be enough for them just to say: “I won’t let you fall.” Something more on my part will be needed.

Deep water
This is basically what we see happening in today’s Gospel. Peter and his companions are the experts when it comes to fishing in that lake. But even so, after a whole night’s work they have nothing to show for their efforts. Then Jesus, after he had finished teaching the crowds (giving them the message to believe), suggests that they go out into the “deep water” and let down their nets. There is an element of scepticism and even condescension in Peter’s reply:

Master, we [the professionals] have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.

The result was overwhelming and totally beyond their expectations—their nets could hardly hold the catch. It was their first test of faith in Jesus. The same call comes to us: “Go out into the deep water… Trust me completely… and you will be in for a pleasant surprise.” We really have not learnt to believe until we have reached that level of total and unconditional trust in the Way of Jesus.

It is clear, too, that the huge catch of fish is just a symbol of what they and their successors will do later in drawing people to become followers of Christ. A large harvest will materialise, and it will be the work of the Lord.

Experience
The second key word today is ‘experience’. It is linked with the second level of faith. Too many of us were told to limit our Christian faith to the doctrines we were taught at home, in the church or in school. Church history teaches us that many strange forms of Christianity have emerged from ‘experience’. There are many descriptions of what happens when people get carried away by what they believe to be a Christian experience and end up with very distorted views of the Christian message.

At the same time, an over-emphasis on doctrine is not good either. It can lead to a very impersonal religion, a religion which becomes legalistic or intellectual in the bad sense and often far removed from a close, loving relationship with God and people. You know things are going astray when people are more worried about the kind of vestments the priest is wearing (or not wearing) than about the plight of the poor and needy on their doorstep.

To be a Christian is first and foremost to have an experience of Christ. It is to find oneself in relationship with him in all the circumstances of one’s life. It is to find him challenging us to love, to have compassion, to practise justice, to live in freedom, to be able to forgive and be reconciled, to be kind, gentle and accepting; it is to seek, to find and to respond to him in all things. It is, because of this, to live lives of joy and peace in the midst of pain and turmoil. This is really more important that being able to give an approved explanation of the Trinity or the Immaculate Conception. It was a medieval writer who said: “I would prefer to experience repentance than be able to define it”.

Apostleship
Our third word today is “apostleship”. This word should be distinguished from “discipleship”. To be a disciple is basically to be a follower of some master or guru. The word ‘disciple’ comes from the Latin verb discere, to teach. The noun is discipulus, one who receives teaching. One learns from the master and one tries to incorporate his teaching into one’s own life. Obviously, in that sense, we are called to be disciples of Jesus. However, today’s readings ask for more than that. We are not only to follow and make Jesus’ Way our own. Part of our calling is to become ‘gurus’ ourselves in the sense of transmitting the message of Jesus to others.

After the sensational catch of fish, Peter is absolutely overwhelmed by what has happened. He knows that he is present before the power of God himself. All his arrogance disappears and he is overcome by his own smallness and unworthiness. He exclaims:

Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!

It is, in fact, a true sign of an experience with God. Anyone who truly comes face to face with God must become aware of their littleness and what might be called the shabbiness of their lives.

It is a reaction which we find in all the three readings today. Isaiah says, for instance:

Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips…yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!

Paul, not particularly known for his modesty, says:

…I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle…

In spite of that, all—Peter, Paul, Isaiah—were called to be apostles. The word ‘apostle’ means a person delegated and sent out to convey a message or carry out a mission on his or her master’s behalf. These three men were called and, indeed, every person who wishes to be known as a Christian is called not only to be a disciple, a follower, but also an apostle, a herald, a proclaimer. And it is done not just by words, but by the whole witness of what one is and does. Says Isaiah:

Here am I; send me!

As well, Paul says:

…I worked harder than any of them… [in preaching the Gospel of Jesus]

In the Gospel, Jesus tells Peter:

Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.

The message to Peter was: “If with my help you can catch so many fish, just imagine how many people you will draw to become disciples.”

It is a totally natural outcome from the faith that we have in Jesus which leads us to the unique experience and joy of knowing him and putting him unconditionally at the centre of our life. That is an experience that we must share, not because we are told to, but because we cannot help doing so. True discipleship of itself overflows into apostleship. This was what happened on that day when Peter, James and John left everything and went after Jesus.

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Commentary on Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 4:21-30

THE BEGINNING of today’s Gospel repeats some of last Sunday’s. Jesus, at the beginning of his public life, has delivered what today we would call his “mission statement”, using words of the prophet Isaiah. Today, as he speaks, Jesus says that these words are being fulfilled – in him. The Messiah they have been waiting for is now here in the person of Jesus. His Kingdom has begun to be realised in his works of healing, of reconciliation and liberation from evil powers.

At first the crowd is absolutely amazed at Jesus’ eloquence, amazed at his gracious words. “Is not this Joe the carpenter’s boy?” Jesus, a carpenter and the son of a carpenter, can speak like this? What, then, are their expectations now of Jesus? What do they see in him? Maybe, suggests Jesus, they are thinking: “Doctor, heal yourself.” Not in the sense of Jesus healing his own body but in the sense of doing for his own community in Nazareth some of the things he was reputed to be doing in Capernaum and other parts of Galilee.

The prophet’s lot
But, says Jesus to them, a prophet is not normally accepted in his own place. He then gives two striking examples from the Hebrew Testament, one from Elijah and the other from Elisha, two prophets closely linked with the coming of the Messiah.

Elijah was sent to help a poor Gentile widow in Sidon (a non-Jewish area) during a famine caused by three and a half years of drought. Why did the prophet go to her when there were so many Jewish widows in the same plight? Similarly, there were many lepers in Israel but Elisha was sent to Naaman, a Syrian general. The Syrians were the hated enemies of Israel.

Jesus was being quite provocative in telling these stories. Why so? The answer comes in Mark’s account of this incident and he gives two reasons:

a. Because the people of Nazareth knew Jesus’ family so well, they were not ready to receive him or his message about his own identity and mission. It is a good example of familiarity breeding contempt. Because Jesus had grown up among them, they thought they knew who he was. They were not ready to accept that he was something very much more.

b. Secondly, Mark comments that Jesus was able to do very little healing in Nazareth because they refused to believe in him. They had no faith. It is clear on many occasions that Jesus’ healing power only came to those who had total trust in him. “Go in peace; your faith has made you whole again.” And, of course, the response of the people of Nazareth was only a foretaste of the total rejection of Jesus by many of his own people. Jesus’ words were not really provocative. They were simply a description of what was happening.

Amazement turns to hatred
At first, the crowd was amazed that one of their fellow villagers could speak with such grace and eloquence and with such authority. But it was something altogether different to put themselves in his hands. Who did he really think he was? After hearing Jesus’ words about the poor reception of prophets by their own people, they were worked up into a blind rage and hatred. They wanted to push Jesus off the cliff on which their town was built.

But, says Mark, Jesus passed through their midst and left them. These are terrible words and let us pray that such a thing may never happen to us:
– that Jesus should walk right through us
– that we should fail to recognise his presence among us (usually in the people around us)
– that we even reject him,
so that he goes off without us, leaving us behind. It will not be he who has abandoned us; we will have rejected him. And he will never force himself on us.

Gospel contradictions
As Christians, we have to be ready to face certain contradictions in living a Gospel life. The first part of this contradiction comes in the Second Reading, a famous and much-quoted passage from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Paul, after speaking about the importance of the gifts of the Spirit which each one has received, says that love is the most important gift of all.

Love indeed is a gift. Loving is an art which has to be received and nurtured. The ancient Greeks had three words for ‘love’: eros, philia and agape (pron. a-ga-pay). Putting it very briefly, eros is passionate, physical love, the love of young lovers. Philia is the love of friendship and implies a very deep intimate and mutual relationship between two people involving total transparency of one to the other. It is really the highest form of love and finds its best – but not its only – expression in a really good marriage. Agape, which is the love Paul is speaking about here, is a unilateral, unconditional reaching out in love to another, even if it is not returned or even rejected. This is the love that God has for every single person and the kind of love which should be the characteristic of the true follower of Christ in his/her relationship with people everywhere. It is agape which makes it possible to pray for those who curse us and bless those who harm us.

Without this agape, as Paul tells us, none of other gifts of the Spirit have any value. I may speak with extraordinary eloquence about the Gospel message but, if I do it without love, I am like a booming gong – all sound and no substance. I may be able to utter prophetic statements in God’s name, be gifted with the deepest insights, knowledge and wisdom. Without love, it is nothing. I may even have a faith that can move mountains but, if there is no love there, it is nothing.

Qualities of agape
Paul then lists some of the qualities of agape. It is kind, not envious, not boastful, not arrogant, not rude, not self-willed, not irritable, not resentful. It is does not rejoice in wrongdoing but in truth, integrity and wholeness. Agape has a high level of tolerance and is endlessly ready to trust. It endlessly hopes and is endlessly able to endure. In spite of all obstacles, it perseveres. With agape, one refuses, even when faced with misunderstanding and abuse, to stoop to any form of retaliation and one accepts the dignity of every single person, including enemies.

Speaking with a prophetic voice, Paul asserts that all forms of knowledge and learning will some day come to an end. But agape, as part of God’s own being, will go on forever. Now, Paul tells us, we know God and truth as in a clouded mirror but one day it will be face to face. Then there will be no need for faith or for hope. Faith will give way to total vision and hope will yield to realisation. But agape will remain. And when God’s agape meets mine the result is an eternal bonding in perfect philia.

Universally loved?
However, we now come to the other side of the contradiction we mentioned earlier. If we do succeed in becoming a totally loving people, then we will be universally loved in return. Right? Wrong!

There are two ways in which pain can come into our lives:

a. One is the result of our sinfulness, our living in disharmony with truth and love. This can produce physical, emotional or mental pain.

b. But there is also the suffering that comes from following the Way of Truth, of Love, of Compassion, of true Freedom. Following this way will often bring us in conflict with those who fear or are threatened by Truth and Love. Today’s Gospel is a perfect example. Like Jesus, the most loving person who ever lived, we may find ourselves rejected, even hated and destroyed precisely because of our goodness and integrity.

This is the contradiction or paradox: the more loving we are, the more people our love embraces as we transcend labels and prejudices dividing people, the more likely we will be rejected, persecuted and hated – even by ‘religious’ people. (There were few people more religious than the Pharisees of Jesus’ time.)

This was the experience of the poor prophet Jeremiah and it was something the Lord clearly warned him about. He was called by God to be a “prophet to the nations”. He was to brace himself for action and stand up to the people, passing on God’s message to them. He was not to be alarmed at their presence. God would give him all the necessary strength to carry out his task. He will be like a “fortified city, a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze” confronting people from the king to the poorest peasants. But he should have no illusions: “They will fight against you.”

However, “they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you.” This is an experience which prophets of the Gospel have had again and again. On the one hand their message of Truth and Love has been rejected and they have been attacked and abused but they have experienced a special strength to carry on.

One thinks again of Martin Luther King and his civil rights marchers singing “We shall overcome” as they were carted off to jail, were sprayed with fire hoses and had savage dogs attack them. However, underneath this kind of suffering – unlike the pain that comes from sin – there lies an unshakeable inner joy and firm peace that only Jesus can give.

As the life of Jesus clearly indicates, there is a price to be paid for being an agape-filled person but it is a price well worth paying. The price of going along any other road is even greater.

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Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Psalm 95; Luke 10:1-9 

The Gospel reading speaks of the instructions that Jesus gives to 72 disciples as he sends them out on a mission to do the same work that he himself is doing. His opening words are as true now as they were in the days of Timothy and Titus:

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Further instructions gave warnings of the dangers that disciples would encounter in spreading a message of love and peace and fellowship. They were also to travel with the very minimum of bag and baggage, and not to be choosy about the places where they were offered hospitality.

Their message was to be one of healing. Not just physical healing but healing of all kinds, a making whole of people’s lives and of relationships. In doing this, they were bringing the Reign of God into the places where they visited. For it is love and peace and an ability to live together in mutual care and support that are the marks of God’s Reign in our lives.

This was what Timothy and Titus devoted their lives to doing. We – whatever our status in the Christian community – are called on to do exactly the same.

There is a choice of First Readings: the first is from the Second Letter to Timothy and the other from the Letter to Titus.

As mentioned above, these two letters are purported to come from the hand of Paul, but recent studies suggest that they are from a later hand, although they surely reflect Paul’s thoughts and feelings.

In the passage from the Letter to Timothy, Paul expresses his deep affection for Timothy, his companion on many missions, and a strong desire to see him. He thanks God for Timothy’s faith, which he owes to his Jewish mother Eunice and grandmother Lois. At the same time, he reminds Timothy of the gift he received when Paul laid his hands on him. That gift, says Paul, was not one of timidity but one of power, love and self-control, bringing with it the courage of witnessing to the Gospel even when, as in Paul’s case, it involved persecution and suffering. Like Paul, Timothy was to rely:

…on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling.

In the alternative reading from the Letter to Titus, Paul reminds his fellow missionary of the duties of an apostolic person. It is:

…to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness…

In the case of Titus, Paul reminds him that he has been sent to Crete to set up the Christian communities in each town, appointing an elder or presbyter as a leader in each one. Titus’ role was one of episcopus or ‘overseer’, to coordinate the Christian witness of these communities, making of them a community of communities, united with Christ and with each other.

In a way that is highly relevant for Church life today, the three readings suggest both the dynamic and essentially apostolic nature of Christian witness, and how it is to be exercised in a community setting.

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Commentary on Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22; Psalm 116; Mark 16:15-18

As the First Reading opens, we see Saul going to the high priest getting letters authorising him to go to the synagogues in Damascus and, if he found any Christians (“any who belonged to the Way”) there, he would bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.

As Saul approached the city, “suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him” and he fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying:

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Quite puzzled, he replied:

Who are you, Lord?

The reply came:

I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

This must have been news to him.

To attack the followers of Jesus was to attack Jesus himself.

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)

It is significant that when Saul got to his feet, he was blind. But it was not just a physical blindness; he had not been able to see Jesus as the Word of God. He would stay like this for three days, and during that time neither ate nor drank.

Then a Christian called Ananias was told to go and baptise Saul. Not surprisingly, Ananias was not keen on going to see a man who was going all out to get rid of Jesus’ followers. But he was reassured that this was what God wanted. Ananias was told:

Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.

Presumably with some trepidation, Ananias then went to Saul and told him that the Lord had sent him so that Saul could regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. He laid hands on Saul’s head. Immediately scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. But what he could see was now very different from what he saw before his blindness. He was ready for baptism.

The rest, as they say, is history. Almost immediately, Saul began to go to the synagogues of Damascus proclaiming that Jesus was the Son of God. It was an extraordinary transformation.

Later, his name will be changed to Paul. From then on, he will launch into an extraordinary career of bringing the Gospel to both Jewish and gentile communities in what is now Turkey, in Greece, and ultimately in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. This is reflected in the words of the Gospel where Jesus, before his ascension, tells his disciples:

Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15)

Each one of us has been baptised, most of us at a very early age. But becoming a Christian is not just a once for all event. The process of conversion to a deeper following of Christ is something that can and should continue right through our lives. It is also important to realise that, like Paul, every one of us is called not just to take care of our own spiritual well-being. Rather, our following of Christ is something that calls on us to share that message with people around us, to “proclaim the good news to the whole creation”.

The Gospel reading is from the end of Mark’s Gospel, from what is sometimes referred to as the “longer ending” to distinguish it from a “shorter” one. Both of these texts are thought to have been inserted to round off a rather abrupt original ending of this Gospel. That version described the women on Easter Sunday fleeing from the empty tomb in “terror and amazement” and, because of their great fear, “they said nothing to anyone”.

The longer ending carries on from that point with material that we find in the other narratives, such as references to Mary Magdalen, and to Jesus appearing before his disciples.

Today’s reading includes instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples before leaving them for the last time. They are words which apply very much to Paul. They begin with the instructions to proclaim the Good News to the whole of creation. This is exactly what Paul was doing as he reached out to gentile communities all the way from what is now modern Turkey, through Greece and Macedonia, and on to Rome.

The one who believes and is baptised will be saved…

Paul was second to none in his belief in Christ. He would be able to say later on:

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.

An expression of total union with his Lord.

Jesus then indicates some of the signs that will accompany those who profess their faith. Again, Paul was capable of many of these – like escaping great dangers and bringing healing and wholeness into people’s lives.

Conversion is not something that only happens once in a lifetime. It is something that can happen to us several times in the course of our life. Let us be ready to answer whenever the Lord calls us to something greater.

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Commentary on Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4;4:14-21

In this third year of the Sunday Scripture cycle (Year C), we begin today to read the Gospel according to Luke. During the Ordinary Sundays of this year, it is Luke’s story about Christ that we will be following.

Today’s Gospel passage is in two distinct parts. It begins with the opening paragraph of Luke’s account. It is addressed to a friend, Theophilus (meaning, ‘beloved of God’). Luke implies that Theophilus has already been instructed orally in the message of Jesus, but Luke will now present him with an accurate and orderly account of Jesus’ life and teaching.

Luke clearly acknowledges that he himself never saw Jesus. His Gospel was written at least 50 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Yet he wants to assure his friend that what he writes is accurate and is based on the experiences of people who did know Jesus personally.

At the same time, it is important to remember that Luke, like the other evangelists who have differing versions of the same events, is not writing a biography. His first purpose—as we see in the second part of today’s passage—is to tell us the meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for our personal lives, and why we should accept and follow Jesus as our King and Lord.

A preparation for his work
The second part of today’s passage involves a jump in the text. We leapfrog from the opening paragraph of Luke’s Gospel to Jesus’ first public appearance in his hometown of Nazareth. In between are the stories of the Annunciation, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus, the baptism of Jesus and the temptations in the desert. In other words, we have jumped from chapter 1 to chapter 4 in the text.

All that has been described at the very beginning of the text is really a preparation for today’s scene—for what we are seeing here is the solemn inauguration of Jesus’ public life and mission.

Immediately before this, he had been down at the River Jordan with his cousin, John the Baptist, and following his baptism, he had his strange experience in the desert (to be discussed on the First Sunday of Lent). So the Gospel says that:

Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit [arising from his baptism and his triumph over the Evil One], returned to Galilee…

Galilee is the northern province of Israel to which Jesus belonged. He returned:

…to Nazareth, where he had been brought up…

A purposeful journey
Luke very deliberately has Jesus start his work here. His public life will be a single, direct journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem, the focal point of the story told by Luke in his Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles. Unlike the other Gospels, there will be no going back and forth between Galilee and Jerusalem. And it is in Jerusalem, the city of peace, that Jesus will suffer and die. It is here that he will rise to life and become our Lord and Saviour. And it is from here too that his disciples will go forth to every corner of the world with the Good News.

So it is that on this first day he goes into the synagogue “as was his custom” on the Sabbath day. It is important to remember that Jesus was an observant Jew. His attacks were never on the Law as such, but on its interpretation and abuses. As he said:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
(Matt 5:17)

In Nazareth, there were no priests in the synagogue, which was simply a prayer hall. The priests were in the Temple (in Jerusalem), the only place where sacrifice was held. In the synagogue, every male Jew had a right to read the Scriptures and to speak to the assembly.

Mission statement
As Jesus stood up to read, a passage from the prophet Isaiah was given to him. It was a passage about the coming Messiah. But what happens now, of course, is that Jesus is announcing that he himself is that Messiah. He applies the words of the prophet to himself:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me

The words “He has anointed me” is a way of saying “I am a king.” A king was proclaimed by anointing. We remember the prophet Samuel anointing David as king. The Greek for Messiah is Christos and it means “the anointed one.” Saviour King, Messiah, Christ—they here all mean the same thing. Jesus Christ means Jesus King. ‘Christ’ is an explanatory title; it is not a name.

And what kind of king is Jesus going to be? There immediately follows a proclamation, a programme or manifesto of what we can expect from him. Today we might call it a ‘mission statement’. The words are to be taken both literally and symbolically.

Good news for the disadvantaged
His words are addressed directly to the materially poor, those in prison, the physically blind, and all the oppressed and exploited of the world. While Matthew speaks of “the poor in spirit”, Luke addresses the beatitude directly to:

…you who are poor…you who are hungry…you who weep… (Luke 6:20-22)

The message for them is one of hope, of healing and of liberation. This will come about not by some miracle, but by the transformation of those who, aligning themselves with Jesus, can put an end to these things.

But the message is surely to be understood symbolically as well, so as to include all of us. The Brazilian educator and philosopher, Paolo Freire, in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, emphasised that where there are rich and poor, powerful and weak, oppressors and oppressed, all are equally in need of liberation.

So in addition to the materially poor, there are those who are emotionally underdeveloped, those who are lonely or rejected, those who are crushed by their need to be surrounded by material plenty—all are poor, really poor. And they include all of us at some time.

The unfree
In addition to those held in captivity, especially those who are unjustly in prison, but also those who, guilty of some crime, need conversion and reconciliation, there are many, many who are far from free. Very few people indeed are truly free, and many actually fear true freedom and the responsibility that goes with it. True freedom is something for all of us to pray for. Jesus said:

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind…

There is a kind of instinct that makes people in some cultures consult the blind as sources of a special insight. Physical blindness is far less disabling than the blindness that comes from prejudice, ignorance, jealousy and other emotional blocks.

Said the writer Henry David Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Societies which often boast of their freedom create sometimes unbearable pressures on people. For example, some who flee to Western societies from countries whose governments repress individual freedoms may, after a time, hanker after a lifestyle that is not so materialistic and competitive. We need to become aware, here in our own society, to what extent we are living under pressures we could well do without.

A shared life
How do Jesus’ words reach us today? The answer, I believe, is in today’s Second Reading. The problem with our Christian living is that it is so individualistic. We try to manage things on our own. And that is even true of the way we try to live our Christian lives.

But it is not the picture that Paul describes. He sees the multiplicity of Christians as living members of one Body. Each member interacts in a constant giving and receiving. And each member gets the same respect. In fact, it is the “weaker” and “less honourable” parts which receive greater attention.

That is how the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel become living realities. For it is in mutual giving and receiving as one Body that we enable each other to experience the enrichment (overcoming our poverty), the vision (banishing our blindness), and the freedom (removing the oppressions and addictions) which Jesus wishes us to have.

Finally, we cannot help noticing the contrast between the proclamation of the Law in the First Reading and that of Jesus in the Gospel. The Law was essential for dignity, human rights and freedom, but there is a new ingredient in what Jesus gives—compassion—that’s what makes the difference.

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Commentary on Mark 8:1-10

Today we have the second of two multiplication stories found in Mark. The first, with 5,000 people, was in a predominantly Jewish area while this one, with 4,000 people, is in mainly gentile territory. Jesus is reaching out to both groups. The people have nothing to eat and are hungry. The meaning is both physical and spiritual.

Once again we see Mark indicating the emotional response of Jesus. He is filled with compassion for the people in their need.

I have compassion for the crowd…If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.

They will collapse “on the way”, i.e. on the road. Jesus is the Way, the ‘Road’. To walk the road of Jesus, we need a certain kind of nourishment. This is what Jesus came to give.

The disciples, interpreting Jesus literally, as they usually do, ask:

How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?

In the presence of Jesus, the question answers itself, but the disciples have not yet clicked. In Mark’s Gospel, they are often shown to be without an understanding of just who their Master is—that is because they represent us.

The disciples are asked what they can supply. Seven loaves and a few fish is all they have. There is a strong Eucharistic element in this, as in the former story (with the 5,000). The people are told to sit down, and:

…he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks [Greek, eucharistesas] he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd.

Again, we note that Jesus himself does not give out the food the people need. It comes from him, but is distributed by his disciples. The same is true today. It is our task to feed the hungry—both physically and spiritually. All were filled—4,000 people altogether—and even so, there were seven (a perfect number) baskets left over. A sign of God’s abundance shared with his people.

As before:

…he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. [i.e. back to Jewish territory]

Jesus was leaving no room for any misinterpretations of what he had done. The disciples, too, are quickly removed from the scene. There was to be no self-congratulation or glorying in their connections with Jesus, the wonder worker. Through the miracle, the teaching had been given and that was it.

And so, we pray:

Lord, teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to labour and seek no reward,
save that of knowing that I do your holy will.

(Prayer of St Ignatius Loyola)

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Commentary on 1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34

Today is our last reading from the First Book of Kings for a while. While Solomon’s former courtier, Jeroboam, ruled over 10 of the tribes of Israel, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, ruled over Judah (including Simeon) which contained Jerusalem and the Temple. For Jeroboam this meant that the people in Jeroboam’s territory might still continue to go to Jerusalem to worship and could be won over to give their allegiance to Rehoboam, who would, in turn, get rid of Jeroboam. Jeroboam did not have confidence in the divine promise given to him through the prophet Ahijah (see yesterday’s Reading and 1 Kgs 11:38) and thus took action that led to his losing God’s blessing on his kingship.

He made two calves and built two shrines, one in Bethel and the other in Dan, to house them. Pagan gods of the Arameans and Canaanites were often represented as standing on calves or bulls as symbols of their strength and fertility. To the people Jeroboam said:

You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Jeroboam’s intention was not to adopt another god, but to use the symbol of Baal-hadad to represent the Israelites’ invisible God. Such representations were never used; Yahweh could not properly be represented by a human-made image. In doing so, Jeroboam was reducing Yahwism to the level of the surrounding religions. It was very similar to what Aaron did when the people waited impatiently for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai and made the golden calf. Like Aaron, Jeroboam attempted to combine the pagan calf symbol with the worship of the Lord, although he apparently attempted no physical representation of the Lord – no ‘god’ stood on the backs of his bulls (as in the case of the Canaanites).

Bethel and Dan had long been places of worship. Dan was located in the far north of the kingdom near the source of the River Jordan. In the time of the Judges, there was a similar paganised form of worship practised here. Bethel was situated about 20 km (12 miles) north of Jerusalem, close to the border of Ephraim, but within the territory of Benjamin. It held an important place in the history of Israel’s worship of Yahweh. The two sites marked the limits of the new northern kingdom and the clear implication was that it was not necessary to go beyond them to worship the Lord.

“And this thing became a sin” says the writer. This tactic of Jeroboam violated the second part of the First Commandment (the carving of idols for worship) and it inevitably led to the violation of the first part (“You shall not have other gods besides me”). What is worse, although Jeroboam intended the worship of Yahweh (but not in Jerusalem), it opened the way for full pagan practices to come into Israel’s religious rites. This happened especially under King Ahab.

Jeroboam also built temples in high places. When they entered Canaan, the Israelites often followed the Canaanite tradition (and other cultural traditions too) of locating altars on high hills. These were probably former places of worship to Baal. It is clear that the Israelites were forbidden to take over pagan altars and high places and use them for the worship of the Lord. Altars were to be built only at divinely sanctioned sites. It is not clear whether a multiplicity of altars was totally forbidden provided the above conditions were met. It seems, however, that these conditions were not followed even in the time of Solomon, and pagan high places were being used for the worship of the Lord. These practices would lead in time to a falling away from the true worship of Yahweh and involve the mixing of different religious practices, which was strongly condemned.

For all of these innovations, Jeroboam began to provide priests to minister at the shrines. But these priests were from the common people and not from the tribe of Levi which was the Mosaic tradition. It is likely that Levite priests in his kingdom had migrated to Jerusalem (and the Temple), because non-Levites had been promoted as priests for the worship in Dan and Bethel, or because they declined to function at these shrines.

Jeroboam also instituted a feast to correspond to the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles for which the people would normally travel to Jerusalem. Now they could celebrate the feast in Bethel. Priests from the shrines in the high places were appointed to officiate at Bethel. Finally, Jeroboam himself offered sacrifices and overstepped his privileges as king by assuming the role of priest.

It is clear that Jeroboam did all of this not out of religious conviction, but simply to protect his throne. His motives were political and not religious. He had to keep his people away from Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. But precisely for that reason and for neglecting clear warnings he was given [not in our readings], Jeroboam incurred the wrath of God and was ultimately destroyed.

The story reminds us of the dangers of abusing religion for other ends. The mutual relationship of church and state is always a complex issue. The end of our commitment to Jesus Christ is to join with him in the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. It is to bring us closer to God and to each other, to lead us to an ever deeper understanding of what is true and good, which should be a source of justice and peace and unity. But it can so often become, as we well know, a source of terrible divisions, hatred, violence and destruction.

It is also the case that religion when lived on the very highest level can be a source of division and hostility to those who feel threatened by it. Jesus said very provocatively that he had come to bring not peace, but the sword and the division of families. But this is a very different issue from the abuse of religion and we need to distinguish both. As Christians we cannot isolate ourselves from the important concerns of our communities.

Religion is false when it leads to hatred and destruction. Religion is true when it leads to unity and the creation of more good. But in either case, religion will never be free from divisions because all true religion is both a contradiction and a challenge to conventional thinking.

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Commentary on Mark 7:31-37

Jesus is still in gentile territory. He has now moved east from the Mediterranean coast to the interior, on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, in the area of the Decapolis (Greek for “Ten Towns”).

A deaf and mute man is brought to Jesus for healing. He takes the man aside, puts his fingers in the man’s ears, touches his tongue with spittle, looks up to heaven and prays, “Be opened”. Immediately the man’s ears are opened, his tongue loosed and he is able to speak plainly. As often happens in the Gospel, the people who witnessed the miracle are told not to say anything about it to anyone:

…but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

The people “were astounded beyond measure” and they said:

He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

As is common in the Gospels, and especially in Mark, what we have here is much more than a miracle story, i.e. the healing of a physical ailment. We are approaching a climactic part of this Gospel, and this passage leads into it. What Jesus does to this man is something that is meant to happen to every one of his followers, including his immediate disciples.

We all need to have our ears opened so that we can hear, and understand in its fullness, the message of Jesus. In addition to that, once we have heard and understood, the natural consequence is that we go out and speak openly to the world about what we have heard and understood. Both hearing and speaking are inseparable for the Christian disciple.

And so, in the older form of the baptismal rite, the celebrant touched the ears of the one being baptised and put saliva on the lips (saliva was then still believed to have healing powers). This rite symbolises the grace of the sacrament by which the newly baptised (in speaking about an adult) hears and accepts the Word of God, and undertakes the responsibility of proclaiming it in word and action.

And, as in today’s story, when we have truly experienced the power of that message and the love of God in our own lives, we cannot but do what that man did—broadcast it far and wide.

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Commentary on 1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19

The prophecy made in the time of Solomon is now being carried out. Solomon has died and his son Rehoboam wants to take over the throne. But, as we saw, God was greatly displeased with the idolatrous behaviour of Solomon and would deny the kingdom to his son.

Instead, Jeroboam, a former servant in Solomon’s court, will become the ruler and Rehoboam will be rejected by the people. Jeroboam was from Ephraim and, as a resourceful and rich young man who impressed Solomon, he had been put in charge of the whole labour force of the tribe of Joseph.

In today’s reading, as Jeroboam is leaving Jerusalem, he meets with the prophet Ahijah. There are just the two of them present and the prophet is wearing a new cloak. Then, in a highly symbolic gesture, he indicates what is going to happen (it is not unusual in the Old Testament for prophets to make statements by symbolic actions which are not only meaningful, but produce actual results – see Jeremiah 18:11).

Ahijah takes his new cloak and cuts it into twelve pieces. At the same time, he tells Jeroboam that the kingdom is being taken from Solomon and ten of the tribes of Israel (each one was named after one of the 12 sons of Jacob) and will be given to Jeroboam. They will form what will be known as the Northern Kingdom (called Israel or Ephraim).

The two remaining pieces represent just one tribe left for Solomon’s successor, namely, Judah which had absorbed Simeon. They would become the Southern Kingdom (or Judah). In fact, his division goes back to the time of the Judges, but under David and Solomon the two territories had become temporarily united. Now they were splitting again – and for good.

The reason that part of Solomon’s kingdom will remain within his family is because of God’s loyalty to David and also for the sake of Jerusalem, which was in the territory of Judah. It was God’s chosen city, the city of David and the place where his earthly presence was symbolised in the Temple.

It is not in our reading but Ahijah goes on to give the reasons why most of Solomon’s kingdom is being taken from his family and his immediate successor. It was because of Solomon’s worshipping of false gods and departing from the statutes that had been so faithfully observed by his father, David. Nevertheless, Solomon would be allowed to keep his throne up to his death and then one tribe would be given to his son to rule over. And, if Jeroboam is faithful in his service of Yahweh, God will be with him. He will have a lasting dynasty and it will be the kingdom of Israel.

When Solomon heard about this, he regarded Jeroboam as a rebel and a threat to his rule. Jeroboam was forced to flee in exile to the royal court of Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Solomon.

This spelt the end of David’s kingdom, but it will be resurrected – in a very different way – with the coming of Jesus.

Today we have to acknowledge that, in a way, the kingdom of Jesus is divided into many factions, both within the Catholic Church and between many Christian denominations. It is surely not his will as expressed in Jesus’ prayer to his Father at the Last Supper:

I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that…they may be one, as we are one…that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
(John 17:20-23)

Let none of us be a source of division in our own church or parish, or in our relations with Christians of other denominations. Let there be for all of us, one Lord and one Shepherd.