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Commentary on Acts 7:51—8:1

Today’s passage continues the story of Stephen, although most of his long discourse to the Sanhedrin on the history of the Jewish people has been omitted in our readings. This reading describes just the climax of the story.

Stephen calls those who have arrested him “uncircumcised in heart and ears”. Although they are physically circumcised, their behaviour is more like the uncircumcised pagans around them. They were resisting the spirit of God, who spoke through Moses and the prophets. Paul will speak later on of the ineffectiveness of bodily circumcision if there is not a corresponding circumcision of the heart. It is not circumcision which makes the Jew, but his commitment to following God’s will. And similarly for us, it is not just the pouring of water at Baptism that makes the Christian—to be a Christian means a lot more.

Stephen attacks his judges as doing what their predecessors did to the long line of prophets God sent to his people. Now they have killed Jesus, the greatest prophet of all. It is not Stephen, but they, his judges, who are not keeping the Law. This, not surprisingly, infuriated the council members, but Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, now had a vision of God in glory and Jesus standing at his right hand:

Look…I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!

This was the title that Jesus had used of himself to emphasise his links with Messianic prophecies and, in the New Testament, it is very unusual for anyone but Jesus himself to use this title. The Sanhedrin knew very well that the one he was speaking about was the one they had executed for his own blasphemies. To say that this executed blasphemer was now sharing God’s own glory was beyond the beyond. The religious leaders and trial judges could not stand hearing such ‘obscenities’ and:

…they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.

At this point, all thought of a proper trial went out the window. Stephen was driven beyond the walls of the city and stoned there and then, just as Jesus, too, was crucified outside the city on Golgotha. It was the right of the hostile witnesses in a case (here, perjured witnesses) to initiate the execution of a sentence.

Almost as an aside, Luke tells us that the witnesses put their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul, who “approved of their killing him”. It is believed that it must have been this experience which sowed the seeds of Paul’s future Christian faith. As Tertullian wrote:

The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.

As he saw Stephen dying with such dignity and grace, Paul must have been deeply moved—and disturbed.

Stephen, as he dies, follows the example of his Lord. He surrenders his life into God’s hands:

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

Stephen prays also for his executioners and all their supporters:

Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

So many elements in Stephen’s death resonate with the experience of his Master:

All in all, Stephen is the paradigm of the perfect follower of Jesus, and hence a model for our lives. So too, we have here all the ingredients of a true Christian life:

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Commentary on Acts 3:13-15,17-19; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48 Read Sunday of Week 3 of Easter (Year B) »

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Commentary on Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31

Today’s Gospel begins in an atmosphere of fear. It is Easter Sunday, two days after the death of Jesus. The disciples are inside the house with the doors firmly locked because they are terrified that, as companions of Jesus, they too will be liable to arrest and punishment. The words of assurance they had been given earlier are all forgotten.

Suddenly, Jesus is standing in their midst. The very fact that he can be present in spite of the locked doors indicates that he is not the same as before, that he is present in a new way.

Peace with you.

His greeting is the normal Jewish greeting of Shalom, but, coming from Jesus – the Prince of Peace – to this group of frightened people, it has special meaning. And, in the Greek, there is no verb, so it can be taken either as a wish or a statement of fact – where Jesus is truly present to us, there is peace.

He shows them his hands and side. He is not just a disembodied ghost, but the same Jesus who died on the cross – and yet there are differences. The disciples’ fear is gradually transformed into an indescribable joy at the return of their Master. He continues to speak to them. Repeating his greeting of peace, he proceeds to give them their mission. There is no word critical of their failure to stand by him in his final moments.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Then he breathed on them:

Receive the Holy Spirit.

The breath of life is reminiscent of God breathing on the dust of the earth and creating human life in the first man. It is also the breath of the Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son.

A new mission
Then comes their mission:

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

Is that all he gave them to do? It does not seem much. What about all the other things the Gospel talks about? And yet, it is all there in those words.

With reconciliation comes the full benefit of the forgiveness of sin. The disciples’ task is to bring about the reconciliation of all with their God, with their brothers and sisters and with the whole of creation. That is their primary mission, to which all their other efforts and teaching will be subordinated. To restore right relationships between God and his people, among the people themselves, and with the rest of creation. That is a pretty big programme.

In practice, it involves a lot more than just saying words of forgiveness. It involves much more than ‘going to confession’ and being absolved by a priest. It involves working to create a whole society based on these right relationships. It is the making of the Kingdom of God. And, of course, their mission is also ours. The words of Jesus spoken to them are also spoken to us.

An ideal community
This is very well expressed in the description of the ideal Christian community we find in the First Reading.

…whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul…

This is the unity of community and fellowship.

…no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

None of that individualistic greed and competitiveness that so marks our societies today.

As a result,

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold…and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Can we find that today anywhere in the Church? Actually yes. It is present in communities of religious life, where it is properly lived. But it needs to be lived more widely among all Christians. Some Christian communities of lay living are moving in that direction.

The Second Reading speaks of keeping God’s commandments. And, the writer tells us, those commandments are not difficult. That may not be our experience, and yet, it is true because those commandments are only a call to be totally true to our human nature. They are not asking us to do things which are not in accord with our nature or transcending our nature. And, of course, in the New Covenant, the commandments in question are those telling us to love each other as Jesus loves us – to be agents of peace and reconciliation and justice, which ties in with the Gospel and the First Reading.

The doubter
On that Easter, there was one apostle missing – Thomas. When he was told that his companions had “seen the Lord”, he said he would not believe unless he saw with his own eyes the marks of the wounds and put his hand in the wound in Jesus’ side.

And then, one week later – today, in fact – they were all, including Thomas, gathered together in the room. Although the doors were locked, Jesus was suddenly there among them. After the greeting of peace, he invited Thomas not just to look, but to touch the wounds in his hands and side saying:

Do not doubt but believe.

Thomas yields completely to the experience saying,

My Lord and my God!

It is one of the most powerful acknowledgements of Jesus’ real identity in the whole Gospel and the only time anyone directly calls him God. Ironically, too, it is an act of faith. Thomas could not see directly that Jesus was God. No one can see God directly. But the experience convinced Thomas that he was in the presence of God himself.

The following words of Jesus are meant to encourage us, all those who have not had Thomas’ experience:

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

We, too, need to be always open to experiences where God’s unmistakable presence can be recognised.

Finally, we are reminded that everything that is in the Gospel is to help us to come to that stage of faith by which we:

…believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing [we] may have life in his name.

Untold numbers of people have tried this and found that it is altogether true. They have found in following Christ, a meaning, a direction and a very special quality to their lives which cannot be found anywhere else. May that be our experience too.

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Commentary on Mark 7:1-13

A group of self-righteous scribes and Pharisees come to Galilee from Jerusalem to observe Jesus. Obviously, word has reached Jerusalem about what Jesus has been doing up in Galilee. They immediately notice that Jesus and his disciples do not observe some of the “traditions of the elders”, especially with regard to the washing of hands before eating. These traditions were a body of highly detailed, but unwritten human laws, which the scribes and Pharisees regarded as having the same binding force as the Law of Moses. Paul admits to having been a fanatical upholder of these traditions (see Gal 1:14).

It is hard not to come to the conclusion that many of these observances were originally based on practical experience. Eating without washing one’s hands could be a source of sickness, although they knew nothing about germs or bacteria. Because sometimes it could be diseased, eating pork made some people seriously sick, so the meat was banned altogether. But in order to ensure these hygienic requirements would be observed, they were linked to a religious sanction. Violating them was not just bad for your health, but a violation of God’s will. In the thinking of the Jewish leaders, to ignore them was to disobey God.

Clearly Jesus was not against the washing of hands as such, even as a religious observance. What he was against was the legalism by which the mere observance of some external actions was equated with being a devout lover of God. He quotes from the prophet Isaiah:

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines. (Is 29:13)

The real commandments of God, like unconditional love of the neighbour, are neglected in favour of what are purely human traditions. Jesus illustrates the hypocrisy involved by showing how some supposedly devout people got around the basic responsibility of respect for parents (which the Mosaic law demanded) by claiming that they had consecrated all they owned to God and the temple, while in fact keeping it for their own use. The Corban (or Qorban in some translations) was a way of supposedly making a gift to God by an offering to the Temple, but in such a way that the donor could continue to use it for himself and not give it to others, even needy parents. This is like the story about the pastor who said, “Each week I throw all the collection up in the air for God. What stays up, he keeps; the rest comes to me”.

We sometimes meet Catholics who confuse the essential service of God with some religious rule. They judge people by whether they eat fish on Friday or not. They piously go through all kinds of devotional exercises, but their conversation is full of gossip and destructive criticism of others.

Others get tied down by scruples (“Did I say my penance after Confession?”) when the more important question would be, “Did I change my behaviour?” or “How did I keep my promise not to repeat the same sins?” Some ask: “Did I observe the full hour of fasting before communion?” when the more important issue would be, “Does my going to communion bring me closer to God and make me a more loving person with others?”

There can be a bit of the Pharisee in all of us, and that is the real subject of the teaching today. We will be judged by the depth of our love and nothing else.

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Commentary on John 3:1-8

Read Monday in Second Week of Easter »

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Commentary on Mark 5:1-20

Today we see Mark at his best—a story full of drama and excitement. Compare this to a much more bland version of the story in Matthew where, for some reason, there are two men. It takes place in the “region of the Gerasenes”, which was gentile territory.

There was a man who was possessed by several “unclean spirits”, i.e. demons (“My name is Legion, for we are many.”). He was absolutely uncontrollable, could smash through chains and lived in isolated places, an outcast and a source of fear to people everywhere.

But when Jesus appears, it is the demons’ turn to fear. They begged not to be sent out of that district (as gentile territory it was fertile ground for their activities—perhaps even a demon’s paradise). They offer a deal. They ask to be allowed to enter a herd of pigs. Clearly, the presence of pigs indicates this was gentile territory. Jesus grants their request, and once possessed:

…the herd, numbering about two thousand, stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.

To the thinking of many today, this seems like a terrible waste of good pigs! How could Jesus do such a thing? But we need to remember that this was written in a Jewish context where pigs were regarded as unclean and to be avoided at all costs. We remember how the Prodigal Son was condemned in his hunger to get a job tending pigs and even to eating their food. For a Jew, this was the very lowest any human could go in terms of humiliation and degradation. So getting rid of these pigs was a case of good riddance. A better place to put evil spirits could not be imagined!

On the other hand, the swineherds were naturally upset at losing their means of livelihood and went back to the towns to announce what had happened. Subsequently, the people from those towns came out to see this extraordinary happening. They found Jesus and the man, perfectly composed and fully dressed—and they were afraid. Naturally, they realised that, in Jesus, they were in the presence of someone very special who had such powers. They were also very upset that their herds of pigs had been destroyed and, not surprisingly, they begged Jesus to go elsewhere.

The man, however, asked to follow Jesus. Jesus’ response is interesting:

Jesus refused and said to him, “Go home to your own people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy he has shown you.”

This was, in fact, another kind of following and is a message each of us can hear.

Some of us think that following Jesus means spending a lot of time ‘with Jesus’ in religious activities or joining the priesthood or religious life. For most of us, our calling and our following of Jesus takes place right where we are. It is there that we need to share with others our experience of knowing and being loved by Jesus.

Let us go home and tell others what Jesus means in our lives. And, like the people in this Gospel, they may be amazed.

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Commentary on Hebrews 11:32-40

We continue today another part of this wonderful passage about faith and what our Old Testament predecessors were prepared to undergo in order to preserve the integrity of their faith and trust in God. Many of the sufferings described are similar to those experienced by Christian martyrs in later centuries.

The author begins by mentioning some well-known personalities but does not describe particular qualities in detail. Among those mentioned are Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and “the prophets”.

Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah all appear in the Book of Judges, as leaders of God’s people. David is, of course, King David who succeeded Saul, and is one of the most human and endearing characters in the whole Bible, as well as an ancestor of Jesus. Samuel is the prophet who lived in the time of Saul and David, and he anointed both Saul and David as kings, one succeeding the other (see 1 and 2 Samuel).

The writer then gives a brief list of exploits done for God but without attributing the actions to particular people. His readers would have known well the examples given. These include:

– People who have conquered kingdoms, administered justice, or obtained promises.

– Some have even shut the mouths of lions:

Samson “tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid” (Judg 14:6); David told Saul that, as a shepherd, he had killed a lion to protect his sheep (1 Sam 17:34-35); Daniel remained unharmed though cast into a den of lions (Dan 6:19-23).

– Others quenched raging fire:

Three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, friends of Daniel, survived unharmed in the furnace into which Nebuchadnezzar had had them thrown (Dan 3:12-97).

– Some escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, or put foreign armies to flight:

Gideon, who lamented his weakness, is given strength to overcome the Midians (Jud 6:15-16); Samson, made weak after his hair is cut, destroys the Philistines when it grows again (Jud 16:15-30); women like Esther overcame powerful enemies of God’s people (Est 1:1—10:10).

– Some prophets assisted women to receive their dead by resurrection:

The prophet Elijah restores life to the son of the widow of Zarephath in whose house he was given hospitality (1 Kings 17:17-24); the prophet Elisha brought the young son of a Shunammite woman back to life (2 Kings 4:8-37).

– Some people were tortured, refusing to accept release in order to get a better resurrection:

Among those tortured were Eleazar (2 Macc 6:18-31), who chose death rather than eat pork and so deny his Jewish faith, or the seven brothers, who were martyred, killed in front of their mother, for the same reason (2 Macc 7:1-42).

– Some suffered mocking and flogging, even chains and imprisonment:

This may refer to Jeremiah.

– Others were stoned to death, sawn in two, or killed by the sword:

According to 2 Chron 24:21, Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest, was stoned, and legend has it that Jeremiah met the same fate; there was also a legend that Isaiah had been sawn in two by order of King Manasseh.

– Finally, there were those who went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted and tormented, as well as people who wandered in deserts and mountains, or in caves and holes in the ground.

And yet:

…all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised…

Only when Jesus came and made his supreme sacrifice to reconcile all of us with God could they also, together with us, be made perfect.

The heroes of the Old Testament obtained their full reward only after the saving work of Christ had been accomplished. This is the meaning of Jesus’ actions, after his death, descending to Sheol (the place of the dead) and bringing all of these people with him to glory. After the death of Jesus, Matthew tells us:

The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. (Matt 27:52)

And we are also told:

He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison… (1 Pet 3:18-19)

Now, however, they already enjoy what we Christians who are still struggling do not yet possess in its fullness. Although we live in the age of Jesus, we still have to prove ourselves by our faith and the record of our lives lived in that faith. But we have many models in both the Old Testament and in Christian times to inspire us.

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Commentary on Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1—19:42

On Good Friday, let us contemplate these two scenes:

All early cultures sacrificed blood to their gods. Blood was associated with the life principle—we can bleed to death. The most precious offering to God was blood, and the most precious blood of all was human blood.

Historians tell us that many ancient cultures engaged in human sacrifice (Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac is seen by some as related to this practice—see Gen 22:1-18). Later, human sacrifice was eliminated and only animals were used. By the time of Jesus, the Temple had become a giant butchery, with priests killing animals non-stop. When Jesus drove out the money-changers, it was estimated that 90 percent of commerce was linked to animal sacrifices.

Why, then, so much blood at Jesus’ death? For so many centuries people had been spilling blood to reach out to God. But in the Crucifixion, it is reversed—God spills his own blood to reach out to us. This is to take away our old fear, that we need to spill blood to try to appease an angry God. There is no such thing as an ‘angry’ God. There is only an unconditionally loving God.

Paul tells us that Jesus “emptied himself” (Phil 2:6-7). He emptied himself of all egoism, of all anger, fear and anxiety, of all human dignity in the sight of others. He let go of everything and because he did so, he was fully taken up in union with his Father.

For us it has to be the same. Our lives are so tied up with all kinds of concerns, desires, ambitions, fears and anxieties. We need to remove these blocks and just let go. We need to break down the barriers separating us from total union with the Source and Goal of all being.

The Way is shown clearly in the Gospel, and most of all in the Way of the Cross—leading to resurrection, new life and ascension, and to union with God in Christ.

Paul was very close to it when he said:

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

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Commentary on John 13:1-15

The Gospel reading links all of what happened on that day with the concrete reality of our lives. It says nothing about the Pasch or the Passover. It says nothing about the Eucharist, or the Body and Blood of Jesus.

Instead it speaks of Jesus, Lord and Master, getting down on his knees and washing the feet of his disciples. It is this spirit of love and service of brothers and sisters which is to be the outstanding characteristic of the Christian disciple.

And this is the true living out of the Eucharistic celebration. To have one without the other is not to live the Gospel. And so the words of the Eucharist (“Do this in memory of me”) are also echoed here by Jesus as he says:

…I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

To not celebrate the Eucharist in community, and to not spend our energies in love and service of each other, is to not live the Gospel. Our Christian living is a seamless robe between Gospel, liturgy and daily life and interaction.

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Commentary on Matthew 26:14-25

The stage is being set for the final drama of Jesus’ mission. Judas has gone to the chief priests to make a deal for handing Jesus over to them—to betray him. The term, ‘betray’ (or in the Greek, ‘hand over’), is like a refrain all through the Gospel and reaches a climax here. John the Baptist was handed over. Now, we see Jesus being handed over—the term ‘betray’ occurs six times in today’s passage alone. Later, the followers of Jesus will also be handed over, betrayed into the hands of those who want to put an end to their mission.

Judas sells his master, betrays him, for 30 pieces of silver. Only Matthew mentions the actual sum given to Judas. The sum derives from a passage in Zechariah (11:11-13), where it is the wages paid to the shepherd (Zechariah himself) rejected by the people. He is then told by God to throw the money into the Temple treasury as a sign of God’s rejecting those who reject him. Judas, too, will throw back the money to the priests after realising what he has done.

What people will do for money! Judas is not alone. What he did is happening every day. Perhaps I, too, have betrayed and handed over Jesus more than once.

On the first day of the Feasts of Unleavened Bread, Jesus’ disciples ask him where he wants to celebrate the Passover. Little do they know the significance of this Passover for Jesus—and for them. 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover are closely linked, but there is a distinction between them. The Passover was the commemoration of the Israelites being liberated from slavery in Egypt, their escape through the Red Sea (perhaps the Sea of Reeds?), and the beginning of their long trek to the Promised Land. The feast began at sunset after the Passover lamb had been sacrificed in the Temple, on the afternoon of the 14th day of the month Nisan.

Associated with this, on the same evening, was the eating of unleavened bread—the bread that Jesus would use when he said over it: “This is my Body”. The eating of this bread continued for a whole week (to Nisan 21) as a reminder of the sufferings the Israelites underwent, and the hastiness of their departure. It was a celebration of thanks to God for the past, and of hope for the future.

Jesus tells the disciples they are to contact a man who will provide all that they need for a Passover meal.

During the meal Jesus drops the bombshell:

One of you is about to betray me. [Greek, ‘hand me over’]

It is revealing that none of them points a finger at someone else. They ask, “Is it I, Lord?” Each one realises that he is a potential betrayer of Jesus. And, in fact, in the midst of the crisis, they will all abandon him.

Nor is it one of his many enemies who will betray Jesus. No, it is one of the Twelve; it is someone who has dipped his hand into the same dish with Jesus, a sign of friendship and solidarity.

All of this has been foretold in the Scriptures, but how sad it is for the person who has to take this role, even though it is a role he has deliberately chosen. There is a certain cynicism when Judas asks with an air of injured innocence:

Surely not I, Rabbi?

Jesus’ brief reply to him is:

You have said so.

The whole approaching drama is now set in motion.

Let us watch it carefully during the coming three days, not just as spectators, but as participants. We too have so often betrayed Jesus, we too have so often broken bread with Jesus and perhaps have sold him for money, out of ambition, out of greed, out of anger, hatred, revenge or even violence for our own personal gain. We can, like Judas, either abandon him in despair or, like Peter, come back to him with tears of repentance.