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Commentary on Matthew 19:23-30

After hearing the sad story of the rich young man who could not accept his invitation to be a disciple, Jesus gives some comments on the effects of wealth. Jesus says:

Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

It could be that Jesus was referring to a narrow entrance in the city wall of Jerusalem called the ‘eye of the needle’. In either case, Jesus is indicating something which is extremely difficult, in fact, next to impossible.

Some of us may likely feel discomfort about this. Even if we are not rich ourselves, we might like to see our children get rich some day, or we admire people who have, by their hard work, become wealthy. What is wrong with having a lot of money which one has earned by the one’s own sweat and labour?

What does the Gospel mean by being rich? To be rich here means to have a large surplus of money and possessions while around one are people who do not have what they need to live a life of dignity. How can I continue to hold on to ‘my’ possessions when such a situation prevails? How can I claim to belong to the Kingdom, the reign of God, which is a kingdom of love and justice? Jesus said that “you” did not give me to eat or drink; “you” did not visit me or show any compassion when I was:

…hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison… (Matt 25:44)

Instead, “you” piled up all that money in the bank or on the stock exchange or you splurged it on fancy cars, restaurants and expensive clothes.

In the Gospel, to be rich means refusing to share what you have with those who have not. As long as you behave like that, you cannot be eligible for the Kingdom. It really is like trying to get a camel through the eye of a needle. There is a radical incompatibility.

The disciples were quite amazed at Jesus’ words. They were thinking along lines traditional to their culture and their religion. Wealth was a sign of God’s blessings—poverty and sickness a sign of his punishment. But Jesus is turning their traditions on their head.

It was something the young man could not understand either. He was under the impression that his wealth was a grace, a sign of God’s favour. The idea of giving alms was to be highly commended, but to share his wealth with the poor and create a more just playing field was something for which he felt no obligation and which made no sense.

Then Peter, the optimist, begins to see the bright side:

Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?

Jesus gives a twofold reply. As the leaders of the new community and people who have generously put their whole security in Jesus, his disciples will be especially rewarded. And indeed everyone who leaves family and goods for Jesus’ sake will be rewarded many times over with father, mother, brothers, sisters, goods. This is not just a pie-in-the-sky promise. It is one that can be realised and, in many parts of the world, is being realised. When everyone works for the good of the other, everyone benefits.

The wealth-is-good world believes that it is every man for himself. There is only a limited amount of the cake and it is up to each one to get as big a piece as he can—too bad about the losers.

In the world of Jesus, everyone gets because everyone gives; because everyone gives, everyone receives. It is not a ‘gimme’ world; it is a ‘reaching out to others’ world. And when everyone reaches out, everyone is benefiting. In such a world, I do not have to worry about a roof over my head, or about brothers and sisters, or property or security. It is where love and justice meet. For too many people in our world, there is neither love nor justice.

If the rich man had liberated himself from his wealth and shared it with the poor and become a follower of Jesus in the new community, he might never have been rich again, but he would have had all his needs attended to.

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Commentary on Judges 6:11-24

We read today of the call of Gideon, one of the ‘major’ judges or leaders of the people. The story of Gideon is instructive of Israel’s condition at this time. The Hebrews had taken to agriculture and, like the other settled peoples, were threatened by nomads invading their territory to get food. To some extent they had adopted the worship of the Baalim, the local gods who guaranteed the annual yield of wheat and oil. Only a select few remained faithful to Yahweh.

The passage combines an account of the calling of Gideon and an account of the founding of a sanctuary, in the manner of those in Genesis, with a theophany (a divine appearance), a message of salvation and the inauguration of the cult.

At the beginning of this section, we are told that, because the Israelites had done evil in Yahweh’s eyes, they had been subjected to the power of the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were a nomadic people living in north-western Sinai (remember that Moses’ wife came from this people). All efforts of the Israelites to support themselves by pasturing and farming were regularly pillaged by the Midianites. In their desperation, the Israelites cried out to God for help. And once again, God intervened on their behalf.

As our reading opens, we are told that the “angel of the Lord” (indistinguishable from Yahweh) came and sat under the terebinth tree at Ophrah, which belonged to a man called Joash of Abiezer. The Abiezrites were from the tribe of Manasseh, one of the tribes descended from Joseph. The terebinth was a sacred tree and the location of the Ophrah mentioned here is not certain. The angel of the Lord evidently appeared in human shape, which led to Gideon’s exclamation at the end of the passage.

Joash’s son, Gideon, was threshing wheat inside a wine-press, in order to remain hidden from the Midianites who might otherwise attack and take away the crop. Normally, threshing would take place in the open so that the wind could blow away the chaff, but Gideon felt more secure threshing in this better protected, but very confined space.

The ‘angel’ then greets Gideon with the words:

The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.

By addressing him this way it would seem that Gideon belonged to the upper class, perhaps a kind of aristocracy, in spite of his disclaimer a little later on. He was more than a simple farmer.

Gideon’s response to the angel’s greeting is immediate and to the point:

But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off and given us into the hand of Midian.

At this, Yahweh turns to him and, without challenging Gideon’s complaint, instead suggests Gideon himself do something about it. He gives Gideon a mission:

Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.

Now, it is Yahweh who speaks and not just the ‘angel of the Lord’. We are dealing not just with a divine messenger, but with an appearance of Yahweh himself, a theophany. This is a commission to deliver Israel just as Moses had been sent.

Gideon does not feel up to the challenge:

But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.

But as is the case so often, the Lord usually calls the lowly rather than the mighty to act for him (e.g. Jacob the younger chosen before Esau in Gen 25:23; Saul, the least in the tribe of Benjamin; David, the shepherd in the field; and, of course, Mary, the ‘nobody’ from Nazareth).

But Yahweh promises to be with Gideon:

But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.

Gideon then requests that, if he has found favour in Yahweh’s sight, he be given a sign to confirm that the words come from Yahweh himself. He asks Yahweh to stay where he is while Gideon goes off to bring back an offering. Gideon now realises that he is addressing someone very special. His request is similar to Moses’ asking for signs as assurance that Yahweh would be with him in his undertakings.

Yahweh then makes a promise:

I will stay until you return.

Gideon then goes off. He prepares a young goat and an ephah of flour to make unleavened cakes. He puts the meat in a basket and the soup in a pot and brings them to the terebinth tree. Yahweh then tells him to put the meat and the cakes on a rock and to pour the soup over them.

The offerings are carefully chosen—a kid, the most suitable sacrificial animal; a measure of flour; loaves unleavened, because otherwise they would be ‘unclean’. All are placed on a rock, a primitive rite characteristic of peasants fresh from nomadic life.

Then (the angel of) the Lord touched the meat and the cakes with the staff he was carrying. Fire sprang from the rock and consumed the meat and cakes. The meal prepared by Gideon for the angel of the Lord—whether it has a sacrificial character or not—is turned into a burnt offering (holocaust) by the divine fire. There is a similar event, though more dramatically told, later on in Judges (13:15-20). The rock on which the offerings were placed becomes consecrated and Gideon builds an altar on it. The place becomes a sacred shrine.

Gideon then realises he has been speaking with the angel of the Lord and he exclaims:

Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

But Yahweh assures him:

Peace be to you; do not fear; you shall not die.

The traditional belief was that no one could look on the face of God and live. The great exception was Moses.

Gideon then builds an altar to Yahweh in that place and calls it “The Lord is Peace”. The author says that the altar still stands at Ophrah of Abiezer. But later, no one knew where it was.

As we read this story we may remind ourselves that God, too, is constantly calling us. Our lack of talent or education or ability will never be an excuse. We can trust, too, that he is always on our side and we do not need extraordinary signs of his presence, although things may happen which will surprise us. He is, after all, the ‘God of surprises’.

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Commentary on Matthew 19:16-22

We have here a story of a young man who did not have that simple trust of the child which Jesus spoke about in the immediately preceding passage (note that only Matthew describes him as ‘young’).

He was apparently a good man—an unusually good man. He asks Jesus what he needs to do in order to have eternal life. However, he seemed to be operating out of a legalistic mindset with the emphasis on external actions. For Jesus, what we are is more important than what we do. The man also asked about “eternal life”. In Matthew (and in Mark and Luke) ‘eternal life’ is really synonymous with ‘entering the Kingdom of Heaven [God]’ and ‘being saved’. It is to be totally taken up into God’s world and sharing God’s understanding of life.

Jesus asks him

Why do you ask me about what is good? There is one who is good.

This seems to be a way of telling the man that goodness is not something merely external. The real source of goodness is inside, although, of course, it will flow out to the exterior. Is it also a way of asking the man who he really thinks Jesus is?

In any case, Jesus tells the man:

If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.

As we have just said, to “enter into life” is equivalent to entering the Kingdom. And Jesus mentions just four of the commandments, all touching on relationships with other people. And he adds:

Also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The man is not satisfied:

I have kept all these; what do I still lack?

Jesus tells him that if he wants to be perfect, he should sell off everything he has, give it to the poor and then become a disciple of Jesus.

Obviously, the man was not expecting this. He was very rich and, although he wanted to serve God, he was not prepared to separate himself from the security of his wealth. And he walked away from Jesus full of sadness. It is an example of Jesus’ words earlier on that we cannot at the same time serve God and wealth.

In this context, to be ‘rich’ is not just to have a lot of money. It is to have a lot more money than others and especially to have more money than one needs in a world where there are people who do not have enough for a life of dignity. And wealth is very relative: a person close to the poverty line in some western countries could be seen as very rich in a remote village elsewhere in the world.

So, as long as the man had to cling to his money, he could not—as he claimed—be loving his neighbour as his own self. Clearly he was not yet ready for an unconditional following of Jesus. He was not able to follow the example of Peter and Andrew and James and John, who left their boats, nets and family to go and put all their security with Jesus.

Before we think that this Gospel does not particularly concern us because we do not see ourselves as numbered among the rich, we should listen to what Jesus is really saying. He touched on the one thing that the man was not ready to give up—his money and all that it brought. But if we are honest, we will admit that we all have some things we would be very slow to let go of. Things we would not like God to ask us to give up.

It might be a good exercise today for us to ask ourselves what would be the most difficult thing for us to give up if Jesus asked us to do so. It might be some thing we own like our house, or it might be a relationship, or our job, or our health. Whatever it is, could it be coming between us and our total following of Jesus? Do the things we own really own us? Why not ask for the strength to be ready, if called on, to give it up? Only then do we know that we are truly free and truly followers of Jesus.

One final point—this story has been used in the past as an example of someone’s getting a special ‘vocation’. According to this view, all are expected to keep the commandments, but only some are invited to follow a ‘counsel’, such as living a life of ‘poverty’, as members of religious institutes do. It would be quite wrong to see Jesus here suggesting two levels of living the Christian life. What is said here applies to every person who wants to follow Christ. All the baptised are called to the same level of service, although there are different ways of doing this.

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Commentary on Judges 2:11-19

Immediately after the book of Joshua comes the book of Judges, which we begin reading today. We will just have four readings from the book.

The story of the Judges proper is confined to the main body of the book (chaps 2-16). The term ‘judges’ (in Hebrew, shophetim) does not have our common meaning, but indicates war leaders and deliverers of the people. They are very different in character and ability from each other, but what they do share is a divine calling to save their people.

Today’s reading sets the scene for the unfolding of the book. After the death of Joshua, the people—in spite of the solemn promises they made—gradually began to fall away from serving Yahweh and started to follow the gods of the surrounding peoples. For their disloyalty, they found themselves the victims of their enemies. Yahweh was no longer with them in their struggles.

This passage comes from some general reflections on the whole period of the ‘judges’. We are given the theme or paradigm which will be repeated in the case of each judge:

• Israel deserts Yahweh for Baal;
• Yahweh hands Israel over to oppressors;
• Israel cries to Yahweh;
• Yahweh sends Israel a saviour.

The cycle then begins all over again.

However, this theological understanding of history, based on the assumption that the judges succeeded one another in the chronological order given in the book, and that each acted for the whole nation (rather than their own tribe), hardly corresponds to historical fact. The book is a compilation of originally independent accounts of local heroes, to whom an arbitrary relationship in time has been given.

As the Book of Judges opens we are told that the generation that followed Joshua neither knew Yahweh nor the deeds that he had done for Israel. The Israelites were now doing what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes and serving the “Baals” (‘Baal’ means ‘lord’). Baal, the god worshipped by the Canaanites and Phoenicians, was variously known to them as the ‘son of Dagon’ and the ‘son of El’. In Aram (Syria), he was called ‘Hadad’ and in Babylonia, ‘Adad’. Believed to give fertility to the womb and life-giving rain to the soil, he is pictured as standing on a bull, a popular symbol of fertility and strength.

The storm cloud was Baal’s chariot, thunder his voice, and lightning his spear and arrows. The worship of Baal involved sacred prostitution and sometimes even child sacrifice. The stories of Elijah and Elisha, as well as many other Old Testament passages, directly or indirectly protest Baalism. Elijah’s bringing rain down and breaking a drought showed the superior power of Yahweh over Baal, who was supposed to be the god of rain (1 Kgs 18:41-46).

The Israelites had deserted Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt and followed other gods, those of the surrounding peoples. They bowed down before these gods; they provoked Yahweh; they deserted Yahweh to serve Baal and Astarte.

In the Bible the phrase ‘Baal and Astarte’ or, in the plural, ‘the Baals and Astartes’ is the common expression for the Canaanite divinities. Baal, ‘the Lord’, is the male god. Astarte was associated with the evening star and was the beautiful goddess of war and fertility. She was worshipped as Ishtar in Babylonia and as Athtart in Aram. To the Greeks she was Aphrodite, and to the Romans, Venus. Worship of the Astartes involved extremely lascivious practices.

Every time they indulged in this idolatrous behaviour, Yahweh’s anger would grow hot against Israel. He would hand them over to pillagers who would plunder them. They would be delivered into the hands of the enemies all around them and no longer able to resist them. Whenever they mounted an expedition, Yahweh’s hand would be there to foil them—as he had warned he would—and, as a result, they were in dire distress.

It was then that the Lord appointed ‘judges’ who would rescue them from the hands of their plunderers. There were 12 judges altogether: six major judges—Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson, and six minor ones—Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon and Abdon. Notice that one of the judges is a woman, Deborah.

But the Israelites would refuse to listen even to the judges. They preferred to prostitute themselves before other gods. They moved far from the path their ancestors had followed in obedience to Yahweh.

Idol worship was always seen as a form of prostitution. Since the Hebrew for ‘Baal’ (‘lord’) was also used by women to refer to their husbands, it is understandable that the metaphor of adultery was commonly used in connection with Israelite worship of Baal (see Hosea 2:2-3,16-17). Yahweh was the true spouse of Israel. The worship of Baal was a kind of adultery or prostitution.

When Yahweh appointed judges:

…the Lord was with the judge, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge, for the Lord would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them.

The words ‘groan’ and ‘oppressed’ echoes the language of the bondage under the Pharaoh in Egypt.

But once the judge was dead, the people fell back into even more corrupt ways than those who had gone before them. They gave themselves completely to other gods, served them, bowed down before them and totally abandoned the practices of their ancestors.

Although there were undoubtedly natural explanations for the people’s sufferings, the Scripture sees the hands of God in everything they experience. On their own or subject to false gods, they are lost and they experience great suffering. It is less a sign of God’s punishment, still less his vindictiveness, than the fact that to leave truth and goodness is to head for darkness and failure and pain.

Following the ways of God and Jesus is not just a question of obedience to a higher authority; it is to follow a way of life which is in total harmony with our deepest needs.

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Commentary on Wisdom 3:1-9 or 1 John 3:13-18; John 15:12-16

Not surprisingly, the Gospel reading speaks of Jesus’ commandment to love. It comes from the long discourse that Jesus has with his disciples during the Last Supper, recorded for us by John.

This reading contains what we may regard as the core of Jesus’ teaching—the command that we love each other in the same way that Jesus loved us. This love is universal and unconditional and is a deep desire for the well being of every other person. It is to be at the heart of all our living.

And Jesus goes on to say that:

…no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Which, of course, is just what Jesus did for us. To love as he loves is to be ready to do exactly this. And who are our ‘friends’? They are those who have this love also.

Later in the passage Jesus says that we have been chosen by him to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will endure. Earlier, Jesus had said:

I AM the True Vine. (John 15:1)

His disciples are those who are branches taking life from the vine and bearing fruit, lasting fruit.

We can see how all of this applies so aptly to St Maximilian. Here is someone who was ready, unhesitatingly, to give his life for a brother, a stranger whom he did not really know. This is the love of which Jesus speaks. And, of course, it is an act that has not been forgotten. It bears fruit to this day and inspires us to imitate such great unselfishness and care for the brother and sister.

There is a choice of two First Readings. The first of these comes from the Book of Wisdom and speaks of good people who suffer. To the less wise, their deaths seem meaningless and pathetic.

In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster
and their going from us to be their destruction,
but they are at peace.

What they suffered was small in comparison with what they achieved.

Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself…

Again, these are words which well describe the sacrificial offering Maximilian gave of his life for the sake of Francis and his family.

In the alternative First Reading from the First Letter of John, we are told not to be surprised if we, because we are disciples of Jesus, are targets of hatred. In fact, because we love and care for our brothers and sisters, we are truly alive. It is those who are without this love who are dead. In fact, everyone who hates his brother or sister, is a murderer.

And how do we know what true love is? We look at Jesus and see how he laid down his life for every one of us. Similarly, then, says the writer, we must be prepared to surrender our lives in love for brothers and sisters.

All those in Auschwitz were, for one reason or another, objects of hatred by the Nazi regime which was determined to exterminate them. They included Maximilian and all those imprisoned with him. But he responded, not by returning that hatred, but by reaching out in love and in particular by his offering of his life for a fellow prisoner. It is actions like his which shine like stars in a world of utter barbarity.

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Commentary on Philippians 3:8-14; Matthew 19:27-29

The Gospel reading comes from the end of the story about the rich man who approached Jesus and asked what he should do to gain eternal life. Jesus said he should keep the commandments. The man asked which ones he should keep. Jesus then listed a number of the Ten Commandments. Significantly, all those mentioned by Jesus refer to relations with other people; commandments relating to God are not mentioned.

The man said that he had been observing them all since he was young. He then asked if there was anything still lacking. Jesus then told him that, if he wanted to be perfect, he should sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor and then become a disciple of Jesus. On hearing this, the man:

…went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
(Matt 19:22)

The question one could ask is, did he have possessions or did the possessions have him?

The man had thought perfection consisted in observing certain legal requirements. But Jesus was pointing out that observance of law was not enough. There had to be love, compassion and sharing. His life needed more than keeping commandments; it had to be modelled on the life pattern of Jesus himself.

After this, Jesus then told his disciples how difficult it was for rich people to be part of God’s Kingdom, a Kingdom of truth, of love, of justice, of compassion, of sharing. Their very possessions in a world where there were so many in need was a negation of everything that Jesus, stood for. The disciples were quite shocked on hearing this because, in their book, wealth was something to be sought after and was indeed a sign of God’s blessing.

It is at this point that today’s reading begins. Peter, beginning to see the light, says to Jesus:

Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?

In other words, we have given away all hope of ever being materially rich. Is there anything else for us to look forward to?

Yes, said Jesus:

…everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

This is not just an empty promise, because when everyone surrenders what they have to the community, everyone benefits. No one has more than they need; no one has too little. And this is the road to eternal life—exactly the thing the rich man was looking for.

Clare, filled with the spirit of Francis, took this text very seriously indeed and lived a life of radical simplicity in community. In doing so, she was enormously enriched as were all her Sisters and many others besides. In these days of gross inequality, if not to say irresponsibility in our world, it is a message we need to listen to very carefully and take very seriously.

The First Reading, taken from the Letter to the Philippians, complements the teaching of the Gospel. Paul says that to have Christ and his Vision is to have everything:

I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

And he continues:

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…

To have Christ, to be in Christ, to be with Christ, that is supreme wealth.

And at the conclusion of the passage Paul says:

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Clare would certainly have totally identified with this prayer. For her, too, Jesus was everything. With him she had all that she needed. Can we, even in a small way, walk in her footsteps?

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Commentary on 2 Corinthians 9:6-10; John 12:24-26

The Gospel reading for the feast is from John and presents an ideal image of Laurence. In a passage just before today’s reading begins, we are told by John that some ‘Greeks’ had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. They were non-Jews who had probably converted to the Jewish faith. It is clear, too, that in Jerusalem they had heard people talking about Jesus and what he was saying and doing.

So they approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They may have approached him because ‘Philip’ (Filippos, literally ‘one who loves horses’) was a Greek name. They also probably knew that Philip was with Jesus, so they said to him, “We would like to see Jesus.” Philip then went to consult with his fellow disciple, Andrew (another Greek name, Andreas) and they both went to Jesus with the request.

It is at this point that our reading begins. Jesus answers their request in what seems a very strange and enigmatic manner. He says three things:

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.

In fact, this is a very clear answer to the ‘Greeks’. They asked to ‘see’ Jesus, but just to lay one’s eyes on him was not to see him. To ‘see’ Jesus fully or properly requires that one have an insight and understanding of the inner mind of Christ. So Jesus cannot be ‘seen’ or understood unless one grasps the purpose and meaning of his death and resurrection. In order for it to be fruitful, a grain of wheat has to fall into the ground and effectively be disintegrated, so that it will be transformed into a new plant which in time will reproduce itself many times over.

This is exactly what Jesus will do. He will surrender his life through his suffering and death on the cross, only to rise again in new life. But not only that, he will bring new life to countless numbers of people who, inspired by him, will become other ‘Christs’. And that is what we celebrate in the Eucharist when we take the bread, the fruit of wheat grains, and say the words:

This [bread] is my Body which will be handed over for you.

And we then share this Bread as a sign of our total identification with the Vision and the Way of Jesus.

That is why Jesus says that not only must he die, but all who wish to follow his Way will also have to be ready to surrender their lives; they will have to be grains of wheat losing themselves to bring more life to others. All who serve Jesus must go his Way, because where Jesus is, his servant is there too.

All of this, of course, applies beautifully to Laurence, who gave his life so generously for the sake of the gospel. His death was an inspiration to large numbers of people who were inspired by his example.

Laurence, like the grain of wheat, fell to the ground and died, but out of his death, life came for many. Far from being wiped out, the persecuted Church only flourished and continued to flourish—and it continues to thrive in easier, but still challenging conditions.

In the First Reading, which is from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, he is urging the Christians of Corinth to be “a cheerful giver”—generous in giving help to the impoverished Christian community in Jerusalem. As they excel in many Christian virtues, he wants them to excel, too, in their generosity to their brothers and sisters in need.

Paul says he is not ordering or compelling them, but rather making the suggestion as a test of their love and concern. And Paul has previously given the example of Jesus himself, who became poor and emptied himself so that we might be enriched—enriched in those things which really matter:

For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Cor 8:9)

Laurence was noted for his generosity in helping the poor and needy. And it is a message that we need to learn and to live, because the real source of riches is not in accumulating things for ourselves, but in giving to others from the gifts we have received.

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Commentary on Matthew 14:13-21

The announcement of John the Baptist’s death is followed immediately in Matthew by the feeding of the 5,000 in the desert. Matthew says that Jesus, on hearing of his cousin’s tragic death, withdrew by boat to a desert place by himself. He clearly wanted time to reflect. He knew that, if things continued as they were, he too would be facing trouble.

However, the crowds knew where he had gone and followed along the shore on foot and:

When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.

His own troubles were set aside as he saw the greater need of the people. We have here, of course, an image of our God, filled with compassion for all of us and anxious to bring us healing and wholeness.

As evening comes down, the disciples suggest that the people be sent to neighbouring villages for food. It is the first mention of the disciples’ presence. In Mark’s version of this story, the disciples had accompanied Jesus in the boat at his invitation, so that they could all have a period of quiet away from the crowds. Jesus’ response is simple and to the point:

They need not go away; you give them something to eat.

They reply:

We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.

This, of course, is a sign of the future. It will be the responsibility of Jesus’ followers to give the people the nourishment they need for their lives. At times, their resources will seem very inadequate, but time will show that wonders can be done with very little. Just look at what St (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta achieved with nothing of her own.

The people are then ordered to sit down on the grass. Jesus takes the loaves and fish, looks up to heaven in the direction of his Father, blesses the food, breaks it and gives it to the disciples, who in turn distribute it among the people. The whole action clearly prefigures the Eucharist and leads up to it.

It is not explained how it all happened, but “five thousand men”, not counting the women and children also present, had their fill. Matthew alone notes the presence of women and children. As Jews did not permit women and children to eat together with men in public, they would have been in a separate place by themselves. And what was left over filled 12 baskets—a perfect number symbolising both abundance, and also the number of the Apostles.

There are two clear lessons. The first is that God takes care of his people. We can read the feeding in two ways. On the one hand, we can simply take it as a miraculous event, pointing to the divine origins of Jesus. On the other hand, there is another possibility with its own meaning. Once the disciples began to share the little food they had with those around, it triggered a similar movement among the crowd, many of whom had actually brought some food with them. When everyone shared, everyone had enough—a picture of the kind of society the Church should stand for. Some might say that this is explaining away the miracle, but it also makes an important point for us to consider in our own lives.

The second lesson is that it was the disciples and not Jesus who distributed the bread and fish. And so it must be in our own time. If the followers of Jesus do not share with others what they have received from him, the work of Jesus and the spreading of the Gospel will not happen.

Lastly, and as already mentioned, there are clear Eucharistic elements in the story—especially the ritualistic way in which Jesus prayed, blessed, broke and distributed the bread. The breaking of the bread (a name for the Mass) is very important because it indicates sharing and not just eating. The Eucharist is the celebration of a sharing community. If sharing of what we have in real life is not taking place, then the Eucharist becomes a ritualistic sham, like:

…whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of the bones of the dead… (Matt 23:27)

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Commentary on Numbers 11:4-15

We move on today to the Book of Numbers and we will just have four readings from it (Monday through Thursday). Its Hebrew title is “In the Wilderness”, which seems a more appropriate description of its contents. ‘Numbers’ simply refers to the beginning of the book where a census of the people is described.

The book, as a whole, is divided into three main sections:

1. Preparing to leave Sinai (1:1—10:10);
2. The journey to Kadesh, where a first attempt to enter Canaan was made (10:11—21:13); and
3. the journey from Kadesh via Transjordan with the intention of approaching Canaan from the east. (21:14—36:13).

Following the estimation of the book itself, the Israelites spent more than 35 years of their 40 years of ‘wandering’ in Kadesh.

Numbers immediately follows on the book of Leviticus as the fourth book of the Pentateuch, (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). It continues the story of the journey in the desert, but also includes various legal prescriptions which either supplement the Sinaitic code, or prepare for the time when the people will have settled in Canaan.

The first four chapters of Numbers consist of a census of all the tribes of Israel (hence the title of the book). There follow various laws and the offerings of the leaders and consecration of the Levites. Chapter 9 consists of a supplement to Exodus about the Passover. In chapter 11 we come to a section describing halts in the wilderness. Today’s reading comes from this section, and we find the Israelites still grumbling about their lot.

The foreigners among them were so anxious to have meat that the Hebrews also complained that they wanted some too:

If only we had meat to eat!

In fact, meat would not have been part of their regular diet when they were slaves in Egypt. Now that they were in a new type of distress, they romanticised the past and minimised its discomforts. And they do not mention meat as food they had in Egypt, but only fish, vegetables and fruits.

Now, they claim they are starving, with nothing to eat, but manna. Manna seems to have had quite a pleasant taste, but as we also know, too much of anything can become tiresome. It also seems to have been quite nutritious, so the claim about starvation was somewhat exaggerated.

We are given a description of manna and how it was prepared. It was like coriander seed, and in Exodus we are told that it was white (lying on the ground it looked like hoar frost) and it tasted like wafers made with honey. It had the appearance of bdellium, a transparent, amber-coloured gum resin, which is also mentioned in Genesis as being found in the Garden of Eden. Every night (except on the Sabbath) when the dew came, the manna fell also. To eat it, the people ground it into a kind of flour, cooked it in a pot and made it into loaves which tasted like cakes made with oil.

The target and scapegoat of their troubles was, as usual, Moses, whom they blamed for their present situation. God, too, was not very happy with the ingratitude of the people for whom he had done so much.

Poor Moses! He was caught in the middle, receiving flak from both sides. In great distress he spoke to God. He had his own complaints to make:

Why have you treated your servant so badly?

He wants to know why he has to carry the burden of blame when it was God’s own idea to bring the people out of Egypt:

Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a wet nurse carries a nursing child, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors’?

Moses felt he could no longer carry the burden alone. Our reading ends with Moses saying he would prefer death than to have to carry on like this.

In fact, God was listening. It is not in today’s reading, but God did hear his prayer and spread Moses’ responsibilities among 70 elders. As for the people’s cry for meat, they would get an abundance of quail every day for a month, until they would get so sick at the very sight of meat that they would never want to see it again! They got what they asked for, but it was turned into a punishment for their grumbling.

How much of our conversation with colleagues and friends consists of grumbling about all kinds of things? How many people do we see made the scapegoats for what we think has gone wrong? How many of the things we think we cannot do without lose their attractiveness once we have got them in abundance? We are not so different from the Israelites.

Let us today once again count our blessings. Most likely, we will see they far outweigh our grievances.

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Commentary on Matthew 17:14-20

In today’s Gospel, we have the story of a father distraught over the erratic behaviour of his son. As usually is the case, Mark’s telling of this story is much more dramatic than Matthew’s. Nevertheless, Matthew keeps the main points.

There is the desperation of the father who feels helpless at the apparent uncontrollable behaviour of his son. The symptoms appear very similar to epilepsy, a condition which is quite well understood today and whose causes—at least in general—are known. But it must have been easy for people in those days to believe that some evil power had suddenly taken hold of an otherwise normal person to make them behave in such bizarre ways.

The man had at first approached the disciples who were of no help. Jesus expresses dismay and disappointment at the people’s lack of faith, presumably including that of his own disciples, in his criticism:

You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you?

Jesus then drives out the demon plaguing the boy and he was made whole. The disciples, who had done their share of healing on their missionary excursions, wondered why they were not able to heal the boy. Jesus tells them:

Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

How strong is my faith and trust in God’s care of me? Jesus’ words, of course, are not a carte blanche just to ask for anything that comes into our heads. It is not an invitation to manipulate God; on the contrary, it is a call to put all our trust in God knowing that, whatever happens to us, he has our best interests at heart. Such a faith, accompanied by a deep love, is what brings happiness and peace into our lives.