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Commentary on Matthew 23:27-32

We come today to the last two of the seven ‘Woes’ which Jesus throws against pharisaism.  Again it is an attack on hypocrisy and he gives two examples:

6. You are like whitewashed tombs…(vv 27-28)

On the one hand he compares the Pharisees to “whited sepulchres” (“whitewashed tombs” in the NRSVue translation), a phrase (like many others) that has found its way into everyday English through the King James version of the Bible. In other words, they are like the tombs that people in Palestine could often see spotlessly clean in their whitewashed stones, but which inside were full of the decaying and rotting bodies of the dead. 

One reason they were whitewashed was because a person who unwittingly stepped on a grave became ritually unclean.  Whitewashing made them more visible, especially in the dark. The Pharisees put on an external show of religious perfection down to the tiniest detail, but inside their hearts and minds were full of pride and hatred and contempt for their fellow men.  It was epitomised in the story that Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the temple to pray.  The sanctimonious prayer of the Pharisee was:

God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. (Luke 18:11)

It was, of course, to some extent true, but it closed his mind to a different kind of sin altogether—his pride and imagined self-sufficiency.  As Jesus will say in another place, the greatest sin of the pharisaical is their sheer blindness, the inability to see themselves for what they really are. This, I suppose, is the most dangerous sin of the pious in any age, and yet the one least likely to be confessed and repented. And it can happen to any of us.

7. You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous…(vv 29-32)

Mention of tombs leads Jesus to comment on the Pharisees’ pride over the tombs they have built in memory of the prophets and other holy people.  They congratulate themselves that, if they had been present, they would never have partaken in the actions which brought persecution and death to the prophets.  Yet here is Jesus, the prophet of all prophets, whom they are preparing to kill. 

In the last verse of our reading, Jesus tells them to go ahead and complete the murdering of the prophets, referring to what is going to happen to himself.  Another classic example of the blindness of the self-righteous. The more committed we are to our Christian faith and to the behaviour that it expects, the greater the danger that we, too, can fall into the same trap and see ourselves on a higher level than others whose behaviour we deplore and perhaps even attack. 

Whole groups of such people have been appearing in recent years, people who claim to know the Church better than the Pope, who still deplore the “heresies” of the Second Vatican Council, who close themselves off into elitist groups afraid of being contaminated not only by the ‘world’, but even by other Catholics!

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Commentary on Luke 20:27-40

Today we move on to the middle of chapter 20 of Luke’s Gospel. In previous passages which are not included in these readings, Jesus had rebutted a challenge to his authority and left his critics literally speechless (Mark 11:27-33). This was followed by his speaking a parable about tenant farmers (Mark 12:1-12). He was clearly referring to his questioners and identifying them with the wicked tenants who abused all the emissaries (the prophets) sent by the owner of the vineyard—an episode which culminated in the killing of his son. The identity of the tenants and of the Son is clear. This is followed by Jesus’ being confronted with a seemingly innocuous question about paying taxes to Caesar which again resulted in the silence of his critics (Mark 12:13-17).

Today another group, the Sadducees, thought they might do better. The Sadducees, among whom were numbered some of the most powerful Jewish leaders, including high priests, restricted their beliefs to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, reputedly written by Moses and containing the essence of the Jewish Law.

For that reason, unlike the Pharisees, they did not accept some beliefs which occur only in later books of the Old Testament. Among these, for instance, were the existence of angels and the resurrection of the dead.

The Sadducees thought then they could stump Jesus with an unanswerable conundrum. They first quote a prescription from the Law of Moses by which a man was expected to marry the widow of his eldest brother, if there had been no children by the marriage. They then propose an imagined situation of seven brothers. The first brother married, but was childless when he died, so in accordance with the requirements of the Law the second married the widow, then the third and so on. Eventually, all seven brothers married the woman but there were still no children.

The unanswerable question they proposed was that, if there really was a resurrection after death, which of the seven men would be the woman’s husband in the next life? For them, there was no problem; they did not believe in the resurrection. Death was the end of everything. For one who believed in the resurrection, it was an embarrassing difficulty—or so they thought.

Jesus quickly brushes the problem aside. To begin with, in the next life there are no marriage relationships:

Those who belong to this age [i.e. those who belong to this world] marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

In the new life, all live face to face with God in a life that never ends. All are equally children of God—brothers and sisters to each other—taking their life and existence from him. That is now the focus of their relationship and it is through that relationship that they are bound together.

Jesus then goes on to challenge the Sadducees’ unbelief about life after death. He shrewdly quotes from a part of the Bible which they recognise as true. He reminds them of the scene where the voice from the burning bush identifies itself to Moses:

I AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (Ex 3:6)

God, says Jesus, is the God of the living and not of the dead (i.e. of those who no longer exist). If Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive, then the Sadducees’ argument fails. Perhaps we would not be convinced by such an argument, but it clearly worked in this case.

Some scribes who were listening in were delighted at the refutation of the Sadducees. Most of them were Pharisees and believed in the resurrection. At the same time, after these replies of Jesus to both the Pharisees and the Sadducees:

…they no longer dared to ask him another question.

We, of course, believe in the resurrection not so much because of Jesus’ arguments here, but because of his own resurrection and his promise to share his life with us forever.

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Commentary on Revelation 7:2-4,9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

The Solemn Blessing prayed during the Mass for today’s Feast of All Saints is:

God’s holy Church rejoices that her children are one with the saints in lasting peace.

As we come to the end of the Church year we celebrate this great feast of All Saints. It is important to emphasise from the beginning what we mean here by ‘saints’. Normally we apply the word to people of extraordinary holiness who have been canonised or beatified by the Church. Among them, each one has their favourites: St Francis of Assisi, St Therese of Lisieux, St Anthony, St Joseph, St Jude and so on.

But today’s feast uses the word ‘saints’ in a much wider sense. It refers to all those baptised Christians who have died and are now with God in glory. It also certainly includes all non-Christians who lived a good life sincerely in accordance with the convictions of their conscience. While we do not know how many people we are talking about, we know it is a very large number. Putting it another way, there is no way we can decide which people have made an irrevocable choice of rejecting what is true and good and have chosen to be alienated from God forever. But hopefully, their number is much smaller.

There is a third group which we will remember tomorrow, and they are those who have died but still need a process of purification before they can come face to face with the all-holy God.

The Gospel chosen for today’s feast is interesting. It gives us what we know as the Eight Beatitudes from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. It is, in fact, a charter for holiness. When many people think of holiness, they think of keeping the Ten Commandments and perhaps some other requirements of the Church like going to Mass on Sundays or fasting during Lent. What we often tend to forget is that the Ten Commandments really belong to the Old Testament and are part of the Jewish law. Of course, they are still valid and Jesus said clearly:

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)

We might say that the Beatitudes are an example of that fulfilling. The Beatitudes go far beyond the Ten Commandments in what they expect of a follower of Christ, and yet the sad thing is that one hears of relatively few Christians saying that they base their lives on the Beatitudes. When we go to Confession it is the Ten Commandments we normally refer to and not the Beatitudes. And this is sad, because it is clear from their position in Matthew’s Gospel that the Beatitudes have a central place. They are a kind of mission statement saying what kind of person the good Christian will be.

Let us look at them briefly, but first we need to clarify a few of the terms used. The word ‘blessed’ is sometimes translated ‘happy’. It might be more accurate to translate it as ‘fortunate’. In other words, people who have these qualities are really in an envious position. All of these beatitudes are indications that we belong to the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’. This is to be understood not as a place, still less as referring to life after death. It rather describes the kind of society that exists when we live according to these values—a place of truth and love, of compassion and justice, of peace, freedom and sharing.

The general message is that those are really blessed when they know their dependence on God and on their sisters and brothers—when they commit themselves totally to the Way that Christ invites them to follow.

The Gospel says that particularly blessed are:

• Those who are poor in spirit: They are those who are aware of their basic poverty and fragility and of how much they need the help and support of God as opposed to those who foolishly claim independence and full control of their lives.
• Those who are meek: These are the people who reach out to others in care and compassion and tenderness, who constantly are aware of the needs of others.
• Those who mourn: Those who are in grief or sorrow for whatever reason will be assured of comfort from the loving community in Christ they have entered.
• Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: Whatever the price, these people will work that everyone will be given what is their due to live a life of dignity and self-respect. The price they may have to pay could be high, very high, even life itself.
• Those who are merciful: They are the ones who extend compassion and forgiveness to all around them.
• Those who are pure in heart: This does not refer to sexual purity, but rather to a simplicity and total absence of duplicity, prejudice or bias. Not surprisingly, they are described as being able to see God. For such people, God’s presence is all too obvious in every person and experience.
• Those who are peacemakers: This is perhaps one of the most beautiful of the Beatitudes. These are people who help to break down the many barriers which divide people—whether it is class, occupation, race, religion, gender or anything that creates conflict between individuals or groups. Not surprisingly, these people are called “children of God”. God sent Jesus among us precisely to break down the barriers between God and his people and between people themselves.
• Those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness: Persecution of itself is not a pleasant experience, and may result in loss of life. But blessed indeed are those who have the strength and courage to put the values of truth and love and justice for all above their own survival. Among the saints we most honour today are the martyrs, those who gave their lives in the defence of truth, love and justice.

This is the kind of Christian we are all called to be. It is these qualities which made the saints and which will make saints of us too. They go far beyond what is required by the Ten Commandments. If taken literally, the Commandments can be kept and not with great difficulty. Many of them are expressed in the negative, “You shall not…” So we can observe them by doing nothing at all! “I have not killed anyone… I have not committed adultery… I have not stolen…” Does that make me a saint?

Being a Christian is a lot more than not doing things which are wrong. The Beatitudes are expressed in positive terms. They also express not just actions, but attitudes. In a way, they can never be fully observed. No matter how well I try to observe them, I can always go further. They leave no room for smugness, the kind of smugness the Pharisees had in keeping the Law. The Beatitudes are a true and reliable recipe for sainthood.

The Second Reading reminds us today:

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.

Saints are not self-made people. They are people who have responded generously to the love of God showered on them. And the completion of that love is to be invited to share life with God forever in the life to come.

The Second Reading also says:

…what we will be has not yet been revealed.

We do not know, and have no way of knowing, what that future existence will be like, and it does not help very much to speculate. In fact, some of the conventional images of heaven are not terribly exciting! Kneeling on clouds and playing harps for eternity—partly derived from a too literal reading of the book of Revelation—is not exactly a turn-on!

It is better to go along with St Paul who says that life face to face with God is something totally beyond our comprehension. Let us rather concentrate on the life we are leading now and let it be a good preparation for that future time.

Indeed, the First Reading from the book of Revelation presents an apocalyptic vision of those who have died in Christ. They are numbered at 144,000—a number taken literally by some Christian sects. However, the number is clearly symbolical. It consists of the sacred number 12, squared and multiplied by another complete number, 1,000. It simply represents the total of all those who have died faithful to Christ their Lord. They represent “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages”, for access to Christ is open to all. They are dressed in white robes with palms in their hands. They are the robes of goodness and integrity. The palms of victory are a reference to the joyful Jewish feast of Tabernacles, for these are the ones invited to live in God’s tent or tabernacle.

Together with them are the angels, the 24 elders (perhaps representing the 12 patriarchs and the 12 Apostles) and the four living creatures (a very high rank of angels), all prostrate in adoration before the glory of God. The song they sing has been magnificently set to music by Handel in his “Messiah”. Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength are seven attributes of perfect praise.

And who are these people in white robes?

These are they who have come out of the great ordeal…

In other words, they are those who have been through persecution, particularly the persecution of Nero, which occurred about the time this book was written. And, paradoxically:

…they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

It is the blood of Jesus Christ which brings salvation, but only to those who have united with him in sharing its effects. Many of them, of course, are martyrs and they have mingled their own blood with that of Jesus.

It is a picture of total victory, and the end of all the pains and sorrows they endured in this life. It is not a newspaper reporter’s description of heaven!

Today’s feast is first of all an occasion for great thanksgiving. It is altogether reasonable to think that many of our family, relatives and friends who have gone before us are being celebrated today. We look forward to the day when we, too, can be with them experiencing the same total happiness when:

They will hunger no more and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat,
for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
(Rev 7:16-17)

Today is a day also for us to pray to them—both the canonised and the uncanonised—and ask them to pray on our behalf that we may live our lives in faithfulness so that we, too, may experience the same reward.

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Commentary on Numbers 24:2-7,15-17

Today’s first reading is from the book of Numbers. It is from that part of the Bible (the five books of the Pentateuch) which deals with the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law to Moses, the long trek through the desert for 40 years and the settling in to the Promised Land.

In today’s reading, the Israelites are close to reaching their destination, but understandably, their arrival is not welcomed by those already in possession of these lands. The reading features the strange character of Balaam. He was a prophet or diviner from Pethor, near the River Euphrates in Mesopotamia. He had been asked by Balak, king of the Moabites, to put a curse on the invading Israelites. Babylonia was renowned in those times for divination.

Although he was in Jewish terms a non-believer, not one of God’s people, Balaam does not seem to be able to carry out his mission, much to the surprise of Balak. Instead, he becomes an instrument of God’s plan. The author of Numbers puts four oracles in the mouth of Balaam and we have two of them, the third and fourth, in today’s reading. They are inserted rather artificially into the narrative with which they do not seem to have a direct connection.

Our reading opens by telling us that Balaam sees the Israelites, encamped according to their tribes. He then speaks, but the implication is that the words are not his own, and certainly not what he was expected to say. He describes himself as a “man whose eye is clear”, as “one who hears the word of God” and “who sees the vision of the Almighty” (from the Hebrew Shaddai), “with eyes uncovered”.

Earlier in the chapter (not in our reading), there had been the strange experience with his donkey. On his way to curse the Israelites, the donkey suddenly stopped and refused to go further because the way was blocked by an angel of the Lord. Even though he beat the animal severely, it refused to go forward. Eventually God spoke through the mouth of the donkey, and Balaam’s eyes were suddenly opened to the presence of God before him. The implication is that even Balaam’s donkey could see better than he could.

The words that flow from Balaam’s mouth speak in high praise of Israel and of its prosperous future:

How fair are your tents, O Jacob….
Like palm groves that stretch far away,
like gardens…like aloes…like
cedar trees beside the waters.

Here is an image of the “land flowing with milk and honey” which Yahweh had promised earlier. The lushness of their new home is reminiscent of the fertility and peace of Eden.

The oracle continues:

…his king shall be higher than Agag,
and his kingdom shall be exalted.

Agag, representing the Amalekite kings, will give way to a greater king from Israel, perhaps indicating Saul, Israel’s first king, whose victory over King Agag is described in the First Book of Samuel (chap 15). Or it may be a reference to Saul’s successor, David. In any case, it leads us on to the second part of today’s reading, which contains the fourth oracle of Balaam.

Much of this oracle is a repetition of the previous one. Balaam, being now able to see and now able to hear the word of God, is endowed with knowledge passed on to him by God. It is a statement which looks to the future, to a time when Israel will rule over the kingdoms on the east side of the Jordan—Moab and Edom—a prophecy realised under the reign of David. And what Balaam sees is leadership emanating from Israel. He says a “star shall come out of Jacob”, referring most directly to David.

But this oracle also points to the expected Messianic ruler who will bring the ultimate victory over the enemies of God’s people:

…a star shall come out of Jacob, and a
scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the foreheads of Moab
and the heads of all the Shethites

And in that star, we clearly recognise Jesus, the One truly chosen by God as leader not only of Israel, but of the whole world. This is the star that the Magi followed until they came across the Child in the arms of his Mother.

The oracle shows how God wants to proclaim a wonderful future for his people before the whole world, coming from the mouth of a man who had been specially chosen to bring the curse of the gods on Israel. It is something we too need to consider. In the Gospel, the chief priests and elders found it difficult to hear the voice of God in the words and actions of Jesus. In our lives, too, Jesus can speak to us through very unexpected channels. We need to be constantly ready and make no exceptions.

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