Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading I
Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,
who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman,
Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah;
her pious parents had trained their daughter
according to the law of Moses.
Joakim was very rich;
he had a garden near his house,
and the Jews had recourse to him often
because he was the most respected of them all.
That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges,
of whom the Lord said, “Wickedness has come out of Babylon:
from the elders who were to govern the people as judges.”
These men, to whom all brought their cases,
frequented the house of Joakim.
When the people left at noon,
Susanna used to enter her husband’s garden for a walk.
When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk,
they began to lust for her.
They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments.
One day, while they were waiting for the right moment,
she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only.
She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.
Nobody else was there except the two elders,
who had hidden themselves and were watching her.
“Bring me oil and soap,” she said to the maids,
“and shut the garden doors while I bathe.”
As soon as the maids had left,
the two old men got up and hurried to her.
“Look,” they said, “the garden doors are shut,
and no one can see us;
give in to our desire, and lie with us.
If you refuse, we will testify against you
that you dismissed your maids
because a young man was here with you.”
I am completely trapped,” Susanna groaned.
"If I yield, it will be my death;
if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.
Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt
than to sin before the Lord.”
Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,
as one of them ran to open the garden doors.
When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden,
they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.
At the accusations by the old men,
the servants felt very much ashamed,
for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.
When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day,
the two wicked elders also came,
fully determined to put Susanna to death.
Before all the people they ordered:
“Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah,
the wife of Joakim.”
When she was sent for,
she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.
All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.
In the midst of the people the two elders rose up
and laid their hands on her head.
Through tears she looked up to heaven,
for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
The elders made this accusation:
“As we were walking in the garden alone,
this woman entered with two girls
and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.
A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.
When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime,
we ran toward them.
We saw them lying together,
but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we;
he opened the doors and ran off.
Then we seized her and asked who the young man was,
but she refused to tell us.
We testify to this.”
The assembly believed them,
since they were elders and judges of the people,
and they condemned her to death.
But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”
The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him, “What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”
Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”
After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him,
“Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you,
lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.
+++
The last two chapters of the Book of Daniel are not part of the Jewish canon of Scripture. The short stories in these two chapters may have originally been about some other Daniel or Daniels different from the hero of the main part of the book. The texts exist now only in Greek, but probably were first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. They do not appear in non-Catholic bibles either. However, the Catholic Church has always included them among the inspired writings.
They contain two famous stories, one of Susanna, who was falsely accused of adultery, and the other of the events which led to Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den.
A certain prudery has often led to the Susanna story being dropped or substituted by a more innocuous text. (Or worse, being dropped because of its length by those celebrants who think that that the only good liturgy is a short one!) But, as Cardinal Newman once said, we cannot have a sinless literature and that applies very much to the Bible. It is only in the context of our sinful weakness that we can fully appreciate the greatness and the compassion of our God.
The story itself needs little explanation. It is about two lecherous men and an innocent married woman who is led into a clever trap from which there seems no escape. However, the woman defends her integrity at the risk of being falsely accused of being unfaithful to her husband in a society that was even less forgiving in these matters than our own. In fact, the whole community, after hearing the evidence from the two men, was ready to stone her for her adultery and indicated this by laying their hands on the woman’s head.
She would certainly have been executed by stoning if the “young boy Daniel” had not come on the scene. The rest of the story is a description of his integrity, his sense of justice and insight. Through his clever and separate examination of the woman’s accusers he proves them liars and the sharp contrast between the two trees mentioned – one being quite small and the other tall and majestic – only made clearer the inconsistency of the two men’s evidence. They end up receiving the punishment originally intended for the woman.
Really, the focus of this long and dramatic story is on Daniel and on his perception and wisdom and as a champion of justice.
But, in two of the three years of the Sunday cycle, the story of Daniel and Susanna is paired with the gospel of the woman in adultery which was read yesterday, a situation where the woman is clearly guilty and yet wins Jesus’ total forgiveness.
Reading both these stories, we might reflect on how much we enjoy reading explicit and titillating media accounts of sexual wrongdoing and, with the media, sit smugly in judgment on people who are being rubbished. We read avidly of the doings of ‘sexual monsters’ on page 1 and then go and drool over page 3 and see no inconsistency in so doing.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 23
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 8:12-20
Jesus spoke to them again, saying,
“I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
So the Pharisees said to him,
“You testify on your own behalf,
so your testimony cannot be verified.”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Even if I do testify on my own behalf,
my testimony can be verified,
because I know where I came from and where I am going.
But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
You judge by appearances, but I do not judge anyone.
And even if I should judge, my judgment is valid,
because I am not alone,
but it is I and the Father who sent me.
Even in your law it is written
that the testimony of two men can be verified.
I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me.”
So they said to him, “Where is your father?”
Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father.
If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
He spoke these words
while teaching in the treasury in the temple area.
But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
+++
“I AM the Light of the world.” This is one of the seven “I AM” statements which Jesus makes in the course of John’s gospel.* When Jesus uses the term ‘I AM’ it is not just a version of the verb ‘to be’. It echoes the name that God gave when Moses at the burning bush asked the voice he was hearing to identify itself. The Hebrew is variously translated as “I AM who I AM.” Later philosophers and theologians will see in this statement God identifying himself as pure existence and the source of all that exists. Jesus also lays claim to use this term also and does so seven times in John’s gospel. It also appears in other contexts as when Jesus identifies himself as the Messiah to the Samaritan woman (John 4).
In the Prologue to John’s gospel the author also says:
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life
and this life was the light of the human race. (John 1:3-5)
We are to walk in that light, and, in a reflected way, that is, insofar as we reflect Jesus in ourselves, we too are to be the light of the world. After delivering the Beatitudes, Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth… you are the light of the world (cf. Matt 5:13-14). We are to be the moon to Jesus’ sun.
But Jesus’ self-testimony is challenged by some Pharisees because they say there are no other witnesses to his words. Jesus counters by saying that he knows what he is talking about while his hearers know nothing of his real origins. As far as they are concerned he is a carpenter’s son from Nazareth. They are looking at him from a merely human point of view and, contrary to what they see, Jesus is not alone. There is a witness to back him up, namely, his own Father.
Speaking from their human perspective, they ask where his Father is. Jesus tells them that they neither know him (that is, his real identity) nor do they know the Father. If they really knew Jesus, they would know the Father as well because, for those who know, Jesus is the mirror of his Father. “Who sees me sees the Father,” Jesus will tell Philip at the Last Supper.
It is therefore very important for us to know Jesus intimately for through him we go to God and in him we begin to understand something about the nature of God. We do that principally in two ways: by steeping ourselves in the Scriptures and by prayer. If we have not been very good at doing either of these things, Lent is an excellent time to start. It may already be the fifth week, but, where getting closer to God is concerned, it is never too late.
________________________________
*The seven statements are:
I AM the Bread of Life (6:34,48)
I AM the Light of the World (8:12)
I AM the Gate (10:7)
I AM the Good Shepherd (10:11)
I AM the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (14:6)
I AM the true Vine (15:1)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Let The One Who Is Without Sin Be The First To Throw A Stone.
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Reading I
Isaiah 43:16-21
Thus says the LORD,
who opens a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
who leads out chariots and horsemen,
a powerful army,
till they lie prostrate together, never to rise,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick.
Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the desert I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.
Wild beasts honor me,
jackals and ostriches,
for I put water in the desert
and rivers in the wasteland
for my chosen people to drink,
the people whom I formed for myself,
that they might announce my praise.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 126
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Reading II
Philippians 3:8-14
Brothers and sisters:
I consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law
but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God,
depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
It is not that I have already taken hold of it
or have already attained perfect maturity,
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I for my part
do not consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
+++
Gospel
John 8:1-11
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
+++
GOD HAS A POOR MEMORY.
That is one way to express the theme of today’s Scriptures. The readings speak of how God is always compassionate to his people. No matter how often the Israelites ignore the word of God; no matter how many times they become “stiff-necked” and refuse to do his will, He persists in calling them back.
Throughout the New Testament we see God, in the person of Jesus, calling his sinful people to turn back to him, to trust in his message, to follow his way, the way of truth and of life. Jesus can be called the sacrament of God among us. A sacrament is a visible sign of the power of God through which we receive grace. When people see Jesus, they are seeing God (imperfectly, because they see the humanity of Jesus, not the fullness of his divine nature). When Jesus speaks and acts, it is not a mere human being like us, but God who is acting and speaking. So, in today’s Gospel, when we see Jesus with the sinful woman, we are seeing God.
There are two kinds of sinners in today’s Gospel. First, there is the woman caught in the act of adultery, a very serious matter. But it takes two, a man and a woman, to commit adultery, and there is no mention of the man. In the Jewish culture, and in other societies as well, where the purity of the family line is vital, because it is the woman who bears the child, the stigma of adultery and of the birth of an illegitimate child rests upon her alone. Moreover, if a married woman commits adultery, it may not be certain who the real father of the child she bears actually is. On the other hand, an adulterous man might produce an illegitimate child but, from this perspective, it is the problem of the woman and her family, not of him or his family.
In this story, the Pharisees and Scribes are also presented as sinful. Not, of course, in their own eyes, but in the eyes of Jesus and his Gospel, since they are totally lacking in the compassion that God exercises toward his children, and that he expects his followers to exercise as well: “Be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful.” The Scribes and Pharisees are proud and arrogant; they give themselves the prerogative to sit in judgment on others. They don’t have the slightest notion how to love or how to forgive – they only know how to keep the Law of Moses according to their own norms. But they are far from God: they do not obey the first and greatest of God’s laws: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your might; and you shall love your neighbor as God has loved you.
But, before we sit in judgment on them, we ought to sincerely ask ourselves whether we would have acted differently in this particular situation. How would we respond if it were our son, our daughter, our spouse – not to mention a stranger or a public figure – who was caught in an adulterous relationship?
The woman in this story is not an isolated sinner. She represents everyone who has ever committed a sin. She represents you and me. The Scribes and Pharisees, who are sinners also, also represent you and me. We sin in both ways: we hurt others by indulging our sinful desires; and we hurt others by setting ourselves up as superior to them.
If you had been there that day, what would you have done? Would you have condemned the guilty woman? Last week, how many people have we condemned in our thoughts or by our words? On the other hand, to how many have we extended a hand of love and compassion?
Now, let us look at Jesus in this gospel. First, Jesus does not deny the woman’s sin. She has sinned, and very seriously. Adultery involves an intimate sexual liaison between two people, at least one of whom is married to someone else. It is a serious breach of trust in the marriage relationship, a serious injustice to the innocent partner in the marriage. The seriousness of the offence is the injustice to one’s partner and the breach of trust; the sexual activities, while serious in themselves, are secondary. The story does not tell us whether or not this woman was married. What is clear, according to the judgment of the Pharisees and of Jesus, and by own her admission, is that she has sinned.
But there is another element of the story that made explicitly clear: This woman has been brought before Jesus as a pawn in a game – a game of entrapment. “In the Law, Moses ordered women like this one to be stoned to death. What do you have to say?” They hope to put the rabbi from Nazareth on a collision course with the sacred traditions that come from Moses, and to condemn him by the words of his mouth. If he agrees with the Law of Moses, he belies his own teaching and behavior toward sinners; if he rejects the Law of Moses, he can be denounced as not a man of God.
At first, Jesus ignores the question. He bends down and starts writing in the sand with his finger. There has been much speculation about what he may have been writing; but whatever he wrote Jesus’ purpose was to avoid walking into their obvious trap. When they persist, he says, “If there is one among you that has never sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Not one took up the challenge. One by one, starting with the oldest, they went away. Only Jesus and the woman are left. “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Neither do I! Go on your way and sin no more.”
If God acted like the Pharisees, how often would I have been condemned? Yet, no matter how often I sin, or how seriously, God continues to call me to start over again, to change my ways of living my life and dealing with other people. Once? Twice? No, seventy times seven times! (Or, in another translation: seven hundred times seven times! ) In other words, all the time.
One commentator on today’s Mass writes: “The utter completeness of Christ’s forgiveness is nearly incredible. When he says, ‘Neither do I condemn you’, the past is dead, snuffed out like a wick, forgotten.” That is what is meant by “God has a poor memory”. He sees and knows only the person who is standing in front of him at this very moment. “No need to recall the past, no need to think about what has gone before”, says Isaiah in the first reading.
That is also the experience of Paul, once a zealous Pharisee, and persecutor of Christians. As a Pharisee, he thought he was a perfect person by keeping the letter of the Law and hating those who did not. Now he knows that he is a good person because he has been filled with the love of Jesus. Now he hates no one. He loves, he forgives, and like God, he forgets.
We will find a great deal of happiness and peace in our lives if, on the one hand, we truly grasp the attitude of God toward the sinner, and, on the other hand, if we can make God’s attitude our own in our relationship with others.
Reading I
Isaiah 43:16-21
Thus says the LORD,
who opens a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
who leads out chariots and horsemen,
a powerful army,
till they lie prostrate together, never to rise,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick.
Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the desert I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.
Wild beasts honor me,
jackals and ostriches,
for I put water in the desert
and rivers in the wasteland
for my chosen people to drink,
the people whom I formed for myself,
that they might announce my praise.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 126
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Reading II
Philippians 3:8-14
Brothers and sisters:
I consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law
but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God,
depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
It is not that I have already taken hold of it
or have already attained perfect maturity,
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I for my part
do not consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
+++
Gospel
John 8:1-11
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
+++
GOD HAS A POOR MEMORY.
That is one way to express the theme of today’s Scriptures. The readings speak of how God is always compassionate to his people. No matter how often the Israelites ignore the word of God; no matter how many times they become “stiff-necked” and refuse to do his will, He persists in calling them back.
Throughout the New Testament we see God, in the person of Jesus, calling his sinful people to turn back to him, to trust in his message, to follow his way, the way of truth and of life. Jesus can be called the sacrament of God among us. A sacrament is a visible sign of the power of God through which we receive grace. When people see Jesus, they are seeing God (imperfectly, because they see the humanity of Jesus, not the fullness of his divine nature). When Jesus speaks and acts, it is not a mere human being like us, but God who is acting and speaking. So, in today’s Gospel, when we see Jesus with the sinful woman, we are seeing God.
There are two kinds of sinners in today’s Gospel. First, there is the woman caught in the act of adultery, a very serious matter. But it takes two, a man and a woman, to commit adultery, and there is no mention of the man. In the Jewish culture, and in other societies as well, where the purity of the family line is vital, because it is the woman who bears the child, the stigma of adultery and of the birth of an illegitimate child rests upon her alone. Moreover, if a married woman commits adultery, it may not be certain who the real father of the child she bears actually is. On the other hand, an adulterous man might produce an illegitimate child but, from this perspective, it is the problem of the woman and her family, not of him or his family.
In this story, the Pharisees and Scribes are also presented as sinful. Not, of course, in their own eyes, but in the eyes of Jesus and his Gospel, since they are totally lacking in the compassion that God exercises toward his children, and that he expects his followers to exercise as well: “Be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful.” The Scribes and Pharisees are proud and arrogant; they give themselves the prerogative to sit in judgment on others. They don’t have the slightest notion how to love or how to forgive – they only know how to keep the Law of Moses according to their own norms. But they are far from God: they do not obey the first and greatest of God’s laws: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your might; and you shall love your neighbor as God has loved you.
But, before we sit in judgment on them, we ought to sincerely ask ourselves whether we would have acted differently in this particular situation. How would we respond if it were our son, our daughter, our spouse – not to mention a stranger or a public figure – who was caught in an adulterous relationship?
The woman in this story is not an isolated sinner. She represents everyone who has ever committed a sin. She represents you and me. The Scribes and Pharisees, who are sinners also, also represent you and me. We sin in both ways: we hurt others by indulging our sinful desires; and we hurt others by setting ourselves up as superior to them.
If you had been there that day, what would you have done? Would you have condemned the guilty woman? Last week, how many people have we condemned in our thoughts or by our words? On the other hand, to how many have we extended a hand of love and compassion?
Now, let us look at Jesus in this gospel. First, Jesus does not deny the woman’s sin. She has sinned, and very seriously. Adultery involves an intimate sexual liaison between two people, at least one of whom is married to someone else. It is a serious breach of trust in the marriage relationship, a serious injustice to the innocent partner in the marriage. The seriousness of the offence is the injustice to one’s partner and the breach of trust; the sexual activities, while serious in themselves, are secondary. The story does not tell us whether or not this woman was married. What is clear, according to the judgment of the Pharisees and of Jesus, and by own her admission, is that she has sinned.
But there is another element of the story that made explicitly clear: This woman has been brought before Jesus as a pawn in a game – a game of entrapment. “In the Law, Moses ordered women like this one to be stoned to death. What do you have to say?” They hope to put the rabbi from Nazareth on a collision course with the sacred traditions that come from Moses, and to condemn him by the words of his mouth. If he agrees with the Law of Moses, he belies his own teaching and behavior toward sinners; if he rejects the Law of Moses, he can be denounced as not a man of God.
At first, Jesus ignores the question. He bends down and starts writing in the sand with his finger. There has been much speculation about what he may have been writing; but whatever he wrote Jesus’ purpose was to avoid walking into their obvious trap. When they persist, he says, “If there is one among you that has never sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Not one took up the challenge. One by one, starting with the oldest, they went away. Only Jesus and the woman are left. “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Neither do I! Go on your way and sin no more.”
If God acted like the Pharisees, how often would I have been condemned? Yet, no matter how often I sin, or how seriously, God continues to call me to start over again, to change my ways of living my life and dealing with other people. Once? Twice? No, seventy times seven times! (Or, in another translation: seven hundred times seven times! ) In other words, all the time.
One commentator on today’s Mass writes: “The utter completeness of Christ’s forgiveness is nearly incredible. When he says, ‘Neither do I condemn you’, the past is dead, snuffed out like a wick, forgotten.” That is what is meant by “God has a poor memory”. He sees and knows only the person who is standing in front of him at this very moment. “No need to recall the past, no need to think about what has gone before”, says Isaiah in the first reading.
That is also the experience of Paul, once a zealous Pharisee, and persecutor of Christians. As a Pharisee, he thought he was a perfect person by keeping the letter of the Law and hating those who did not. Now he knows that he is a good person because he has been filled with the love of Jesus. Now he hates no one. He loves, he forgives, and like God, he forgets.
We will find a great deal of happiness and peace in our lives if, on the one hand, we truly grasp the attitude of God toward the sinner, and, on the other hand, if we can make God’s attitude our own in our relationship with others.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
O Lord, My God, In You I Take Refuge!
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Reading I
Jeremiah 11:18-20
I knew their plot because the LORD informed me;
at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.
Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter,
had not realized that they were hatching plots against me:
“Let us destroy the tree in its vigor;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will be spoken no more.”
But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge,
searcher of mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause!
+++
Jeremiah, as a prophet of God, is the target of vicious conspiracies which want to wipe him out.
In 622 BC, King Josiah of Judah undertook a religious reform (described in 2 Kings 22) after the Book of the Law was discovered, having lain hidden for years. It seems that Jeremiah took an active role in the reform. By championing the reform, which included the suppression of local shrines, Jeremiah incurred the hatred of his fellow citizens, the people of Anathoth.
It is then that he compares himself to a “trustful lamb being led to the slaughterhouse”. A phrase which will later be applied to Jesus as he is led to his execution. For Jeremiah’s enemies are plotting to get rid of him, “Let us destroy this tree in its strength, let us cut him from the land of the living, so that his name may no longer be remembered!” Jeremiah had no children so, in the eyes of his enemies, that would be the end of him forever.
But they were ironic words because, as in the case of so many martyrs in the cause of right, his name is all the more remembered after his enemies tried to blot him out of existence. And Jeremiah knows that too: “I shall see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.”
Ultimately God is Jeremiah’s only protection against his enemies. But God will see that ultimately truth and justice prevail. And, of course, this is true most of all of Jesus. “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22). That is what we reflect on and celebrate as we watch Jesus go through his Passion in the coming days.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 7
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
Lest I become like the lion’s prey,
to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Do me justice, O LORD, because I am just,
and because of the innocence that is mine.
Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,
but sustain the just,
O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
A shield before me is God,
who saves the upright of heart;
A just judge is God,
a God who punishes day by day.
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 7:40-53
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.
+++
Today we have a continuation of confusion about the identity of Jesus. There is a conflict between what people are seeing and hearing and what they have been taught to believe. On the basis of his words and actions, Jesus looks like the Messiah but, as every Jewish child knows, the Messiah is not going to come from Galilee (where Nazareth is) but is to come from Bethlehem and the family of David. This is a good example of Johannine irony. Of course, Jesus did come from Nazareth but he was of the family of David and, as Matthew and Luke tell us, born in David’s town of Bethlehem.
Even the police are confused. When asked by the religious leaders why they have not arrested Jesus, they reply: “There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.” They are scolded for their ignorance. Never mind how impressively he speaks. Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? And the crowds are written off as ignorant and cursed.
But one Pharisee, Nicodemus, who had earlier (John 3) spoken with Jesus in secret and had been won over, protests. Even the Law says a man should be given a hearing before judgement is passed. He is swept aside by the leaders’ preconceived ideas: prophets do not come from Galilee.
We need to remember we are not reading this passage simply to condemn the Jewish religious leaders or the Pharisees but to reflect on our own prejudices and short-sightedness. How do we see Jesus, the Gospel message, the whole Bible, the Church, our parish community and its leaders, our family, friends, neighbours, not to mention strangers and outsiders…? Let him or her who is totally without prejudice or who has never passed judgement on another cast the first stone.
Let us pray for an open mind to accept in its totality the message of Jesus. And also be very open about the many and surprising ways in which Jesus can speak to us. If we are honest, there is something of the Pharisee in every one of us.
Reading I
Jeremiah 11:18-20
I knew their plot because the LORD informed me;
at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.
Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter,
had not realized that they were hatching plots against me:
“Let us destroy the tree in its vigor;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will be spoken no more.”
But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge,
searcher of mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause!
+++
Jeremiah, as a prophet of God, is the target of vicious conspiracies which want to wipe him out.
In 622 BC, King Josiah of Judah undertook a religious reform (described in 2 Kings 22) after the Book of the Law was discovered, having lain hidden for years. It seems that Jeremiah took an active role in the reform. By championing the reform, which included the suppression of local shrines, Jeremiah incurred the hatred of his fellow citizens, the people of Anathoth.
It is then that he compares himself to a “trustful lamb being led to the slaughterhouse”. A phrase which will later be applied to Jesus as he is led to his execution. For Jeremiah’s enemies are plotting to get rid of him, “Let us destroy this tree in its strength, let us cut him from the land of the living, so that his name may no longer be remembered!” Jeremiah had no children so, in the eyes of his enemies, that would be the end of him forever.
But they were ironic words because, as in the case of so many martyrs in the cause of right, his name is all the more remembered after his enemies tried to blot him out of existence. And Jeremiah knows that too: “I shall see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.”
Ultimately God is Jeremiah’s only protection against his enemies. But God will see that ultimately truth and justice prevail. And, of course, this is true most of all of Jesus. “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22). That is what we reflect on and celebrate as we watch Jesus go through his Passion in the coming days.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 7
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
Lest I become like the lion’s prey,
to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Do me justice, O LORD, because I am just,
and because of the innocence that is mine.
Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,
but sustain the just,
O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
A shield before me is God,
who saves the upright of heart;
A just judge is God,
a God who punishes day by day.
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 7:40-53
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.
+++
Today we have a continuation of confusion about the identity of Jesus. There is a conflict between what people are seeing and hearing and what they have been taught to believe. On the basis of his words and actions, Jesus looks like the Messiah but, as every Jewish child knows, the Messiah is not going to come from Galilee (where Nazareth is) but is to come from Bethlehem and the family of David. This is a good example of Johannine irony. Of course, Jesus did come from Nazareth but he was of the family of David and, as Matthew and Luke tell us, born in David’s town of Bethlehem.
Even the police are confused. When asked by the religious leaders why they have not arrested Jesus, they reply: “There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.” They are scolded for their ignorance. Never mind how impressively he speaks. Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? And the crowds are written off as ignorant and cursed.
But one Pharisee, Nicodemus, who had earlier (John 3) spoken with Jesus in secret and had been won over, protests. Even the Law says a man should be given a hearing before judgement is passed. He is swept aside by the leaders’ preconceived ideas: prophets do not come from Galilee.
We need to remember we are not reading this passage simply to condemn the Jewish religious leaders or the Pharisees but to reflect on our own prejudices and short-sightedness. How do we see Jesus, the Gospel message, the whole Bible, the Church, our parish community and its leaders, our family, friends, neighbours, not to mention strangers and outsiders…? Let him or her who is totally without prejudice or who has never passed judgement on another cast the first stone.
Let us pray for an open mind to accept in its totality the message of Jesus. And also be very open about the many and surprising ways in which Jesus can speak to us. If we are honest, there is something of the Pharisee in every one of us.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Joseph Was A Righteous Man
Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Reading I
2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
The Lord spoke to Nathan and said:
“Go, tell my servant David,
‘When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.’”
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 89
The son of David will live for ever.
The promises of the Lord I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness,
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
The son of David will live for ever.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.”
The son of David will live for ever.
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.”
The son of David will live for ever.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Reading II
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
Brothers and sisters:
It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,
and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not to those who only adhere to the law
but to those who follow the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all of us, as it is written,
I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
+++
Gospel
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
+++
All we know about Joseph, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus comes from the Scriptures. We know that he was a working man, a carpenter, since the skeptical people of Nazareth as about Jesus, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (Matt. 13-55; Mark 6:3). He was not a wealthy man, since when he took the infant Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised, and Mary to be purified he offered of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, which was allowed for those who could not afford to sacrifice a lamb (Luke 2:24).
In spite of his humble occupation and his poverty, Joseph came from royal stock. Although Matthew and Luke differ in some details of his genealogy, both mark his descent from King David (Matthew 1:1-16, Luke 3:23-38). The angel who tells Joseph how Jesus came to be conceived addresses the carpenter from Nazareth as “son of David”, a royal title used later for his foster son, Jesus.
Joseph was a compassionate and caring man. When he discovered the Mary was with child, after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his, and he considered divorcing her according to the Law of Moses, but was concerned for her safety and wellbeing. He decided to divorce her quietly, and not expose her to the penalty for women accused of adultery: death by stoning (Matthew 1:19-25).
Joseph was a man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him, without knowing the outcome. When the angel revealed to him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately, without question or concern for gossip, took him into his home as his spouse. Later, when the angel warned him that his family was in danger, he left everything he owned, his family and friends, and fled to a foreign land with his young wife and the baby. He remained in Egypt without question until the angel announced that it was safe to return to Israel (Matthew 2:13-3).
Later, when the boy was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Joseph brought him and his mother on a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. On the way back to Galilee, he learned that Jesus was not with the men or with the women, who traveled separately, he brought Mary back to Jerusalem, where they spent three days searching for him, eventually finding him in the Temple, discussing the Scriptures with the Teachers of the Law (Luke 2:48). When the family returned to Nazareth, Joseph treated Jesus as his own son, since the people of Nazareth are recorded as saying about Jesus, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph, the carpenter? Where did he get such knowledge?” (Luke 4:22).
Since Joseph is not mentioned during Jesus’ public life, or at his death and resurrection, the scholars conclude that Joseph had likely died before Jesus began his public ministry. Assuming that this is accurate, Joseph is honored as the patron of happy death, since he left this world with Jesus and Mary at his side.
Joseph is the patron saint of carpenters, of fathers, and of the universal Church.
There is much more we wish we could know about Joseph, but the gospels leave us with the most important knowledge of who he was: “a righteous man” (Matthew 1:18). Through his intercession, may we, like his foster-son, grow in wisdom, knowledge and righteousness before God and before men.
Reading I
2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
The Lord spoke to Nathan and said:
“Go, tell my servant David,
‘When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.’”
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 89
The son of David will live for ever.
The promises of the Lord I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness,
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
The son of David will live for ever.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.”
The son of David will live for ever.
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.”
The son of David will live for ever.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Reading II
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
Brothers and sisters:
It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,
and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not to those who only adhere to the law
but to those who follow the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all of us, as it is written,
I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
+++
Gospel
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
+++
All we know about Joseph, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus comes from the Scriptures. We know that he was a working man, a carpenter, since the skeptical people of Nazareth as about Jesus, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (Matt. 13-55; Mark 6:3). He was not a wealthy man, since when he took the infant Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised, and Mary to be purified he offered of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, which was allowed for those who could not afford to sacrifice a lamb (Luke 2:24).
In spite of his humble occupation and his poverty, Joseph came from royal stock. Although Matthew and Luke differ in some details of his genealogy, both mark his descent from King David (Matthew 1:1-16, Luke 3:23-38). The angel who tells Joseph how Jesus came to be conceived addresses the carpenter from Nazareth as “son of David”, a royal title used later for his foster son, Jesus.
Joseph was a compassionate and caring man. When he discovered the Mary was with child, after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his, and he considered divorcing her according to the Law of Moses, but was concerned for her safety and wellbeing. He decided to divorce her quietly, and not expose her to the penalty for women accused of adultery: death by stoning (Matthew 1:19-25).
Joseph was a man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him, without knowing the outcome. When the angel revealed to him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately, without question or concern for gossip, took him into his home as his spouse. Later, when the angel warned him that his family was in danger, he left everything he owned, his family and friends, and fled to a foreign land with his young wife and the baby. He remained in Egypt without question until the angel announced that it was safe to return to Israel (Matthew 2:13-3).
Later, when the boy was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, Joseph brought him and his mother on a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. On the way back to Galilee, he learned that Jesus was not with the men or with the women, who traveled separately, he brought Mary back to Jerusalem, where they spent three days searching for him, eventually finding him in the Temple, discussing the Scriptures with the Teachers of the Law (Luke 2:48). When the family returned to Nazareth, Joseph treated Jesus as his own son, since the people of Nazareth are recorded as saying about Jesus, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph, the carpenter? Where did he get such knowledge?” (Luke 4:22).
Since Joseph is not mentioned during Jesus’ public life, or at his death and resurrection, the scholars conclude that Joseph had likely died before Jesus began his public ministry. Assuming that this is accurate, Joseph is honored as the patron of happy death, since he left this world with Jesus and Mary at his side.
Joseph is the patron saint of carpenters, of fathers, and of the universal Church.
There is much more we wish we could know about Joseph, but the gospels leave us with the most important knowledge of who he was: “a righteous man” (Matthew 1:18). Through his intercession, may we, like his foster-son, grow in wisdom, knowledge and righteousness before God and before men.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Remember Us, O Lord, As You Favor Your People
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Reading I
Exodus 32:7-14
The LORD said to Moses,
“Go down at once to your people
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt,
for they have become depraved.
They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,
making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,
sacrificing to it and crying out,
‘This is your God, O Israel,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’
The LORD said to Moses,
“I see how stiff-necked this people is.
Let me alone, then,
that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.
Then I will make of you a great nation.”
But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,
“Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up
against your own people,
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt
with such great power and with so strong a hand?
Why should the Egyptians say,
‘With evil intent he brought them out,
that he might kill them in the mountains
and exterminate them from the face of the earth’?
Let your blazing wrath die down;
relent in punishing your people.
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
and how you swore to them by your own self,
saying,‘I will make your descendants
as numerous as the stars in the sky;
and all this land that I promised,
I will give your descendants
as their perpetual heritage.’
“So the LORD relented in the punishmen
he had threatened to inflict on his people.
+++
While Moses was up on the mountain conversing with God and receiving the law from him, the people below became impatient. “That Moses, the man who brought us here from Egypt - we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron, the brother of Moses, then collected all the gold that the women and children wore and melted it down to make a golden ‘calf’.
The word ‘calf’ is somewhat derisive because it was in fact the statue of a young bull, a symbol of divinity in the ancient East. It seems that a group in competition with Moses’ group, or a dissident faction in Moses’ group, wished to have the figure of a bull to symbolise the presence of God, instead of the Ark of the Covenant. However, the God being worshipped was still the Yahweh who had brought them out of Egypt. The bull was itself an image of Yahweh but regarded as the footstool of the unseen deity (as indeed was the Ark which the bull was intended to replace).
In paying worship to the bull they saw the saviour who brought them out of slavery in Egypt. They were worshipping a god of their own making - something people in all ages, including our own, tend to do.
God is portrayed as reacting very angrily to this and asks Moses, who is still in his presence, not to stand in his way. “Leave me, now, my wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them.” But Moses, while not denying their sin, pleads on behalf of his people. Later, he will plead on behalf of his sister, Miriam, and frequently on behalf of the people all during their journey through the desert. His intercession foreshadows that of Christ, who won forgiveness for our sin on the Cross.
Moses’ argument is that, if God destroys his people, he will become a laughing stock among the pagans for rescuing his people and then destroying them in the wilderness. In addition, Moses reminds God of the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the great and unending future of their descendants. So, God seen here in very human terms, relents and withdraws his promise of vengeance.
Of course, this is not at all the kind of God the New Testament asks us to believe in. We should be careful about speaking of our God in such anthropomorphic terms. God does not get angry, he does not take revenge… Our sinfulness brings its own punishment because every sin is a denial of what we are meant to be and become.
As with most passages of Scripture, what we need to look at here is not what is being said and done but at the underlying meaning of the passage. The emphasis here is on the thanklessness of God’s people and on God’s readiness to forgive and give them another chance.
We are constantly in the same situation. Let us be aware at this time of the countless gifts God has given us and continues to shower on us. At the same time, we know that, when we fail, his mercy and compassion are there for us always. But let that compassion draw us closer to him and to Jesus and help us to leave behind every lack of love in our lives.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 106
Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 5:31-47
Jesus said to the Jews:
“If I testify on my own behalf,
my testimony is not true.
But there is another who testifies on my behalf,
and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.
You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept human testimony,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
But I have testimony greater than John’s.
The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf
that the Father has sent me.
Moreover, the Father who sent me
has testified on my behalf.
But you have never heard his voice
nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you,
because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.
You search the Scriptures,
because you think you have eternal life through them;
even they testify on my behalf.
But you do not want to come to me to have life.
“I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.
I came in the name of my Father,
but you do not accept me;
yet if another comes in his own name,
you will accept him.
How can you believe,
when you accept praise from one another
and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:
the one who will accuse you is Moses
,in whom you have placed your hope.
For if you had believed Moses,
you would have believed me,
because he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?”
+++
Today we continue with yesterday’s words of Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders. Jesus re-affirms that God himself is the witness - in four ways - to the truth of all that Jesus says:
1. The testimony of John the Baptist, although that was only human testimony (vv.33-34)
2. The works of Jesus give clear testimony of the divine origin of all that Jesus does:
"The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.” The leaders could not see this but the crowds often testified to it with enthusiasm. (v.36)
3. The Father himself has given testimony, although that has not been seen directly by some of the Jews. “The Father who sent me has testified on my behalf but you have never heard his voice nor seen his form.” (vv.37-38)
4. A careful reading of the scriptures will show they give testimony to Jesus. “You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.” This is clearly shown later on by Jesus when explaining the scriptures to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. (vv.39-40).
Although Jesus clearly comes in the name of his Father, he is not accepted or believed in.
Yet some individual will come in his own name and they will accept him. Further they keep looking into their own traditions rather than looking further to someone who clearly comes from God.
Jesus will not accuse them before his Father. Moses, in whom they claim to believe, will be their accuser. “If you have believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you refuse to believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?” By “Moses” is meant the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch and whose authorship is attributed to Moses, although we know now by the dating of the various parts that this could not be possible. It was common in ancient times to attribute the authorship of a work to a well-known personality.
How much of all this applies to us? Where do we ultimately put our faith? In the Christ of the New Testament or in a Jesus we have tailored to our own wants? How familiar are we with the Word of God in the New (and Old) Testament? Where do we clearly see the Risen Jesus bringing God into our lives every single day?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The LORD Is Gracious And Merciful.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Reading I
Isaiah 49:8-15
Thus says the LORD:
In a time of favor I answer you,
on the day of salvation I help you;
and I have kept you and given you
as a covenant to the people,
To restore the land
and allot the desolate heritages,
Saying to the prisoners: Come out!
To those in darkness: Show yourselves!
Along the ways they shall find pasture,
on every bare height shall their pastures be.
They shall not hunger or thirst,
nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;
For he who pities them leads them
and guides them beside springs of water.
I will cut a road through all my mountains,
and make my highways level.
See, some shall come from afar,
others from the north and the west,
and some from the land of Syene.
Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
break forth into song, you mountains.
For the LORD comforts his people
and shows mercy to his afflicted.
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.
+++
The reading is part of a celebration of the people’s joyful return from their exile in Babylon to their home in Jerusalem. It comes from Second Isaiah, a book full of hope and consolation which looks forward to the end of the exile and the people’s going home again.
They are still in exile. Their lives are led in hardship and bitterness but the prophet assures them that better times are on the way. This is in response to the cry of God’s people.
“At the time of my favour I have answered you.” The reference is probably to the year of jubilee but the return from exile will bring about the same restoration of land for the people as the jubilee did for those who, because of debt problems, may have had to sell their land.
So the Lord now calls on his people “to restore the land, to return ravaged properties, to say to prisoners ‘Come out’, and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves’.” It is a time for the restoration of justice to all. The end of their sorrows is symbolised in phrases like “they will never hunger or thirst, scorching wind and sun will never plague them.”
Their God is with them: “He who pities them will lead them, will guide them to springs of water.” The way will made clear for their return: “I shall turn all my mountains into a road and my highways will be raised aloft.”
He will give them back their land, seized by the foreign invader. He will bring freedom to the prisoners and light to those in darkness. They will be surrounded by fertile lands, untouched by heat or thirst and luxuriate in springs of fresh water. The ways to the homeland will be cleared and exiles will return from as far away as the “land of Sinim” (now known as Aswan, the first cataract on the River Nile in Egypt).
It is a time for great rejoicing, in which the whole of nature should take part - “Shout for joy, you heavens; earth exult! Mountains break into joyful cries!”
Yet, Zion is still sceptical: “Yahweh has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me.” But they are wrong. Utterly wrong.
God does not forget his people. He is full of tenderness and compassion, as gentle as that of any mother, expressed in those extraordinary gentle and affectionate words: “Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you.”
In our darkest moments, let us not forget the unchanging intensity of God’s love for us.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 145
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 5:17-30
Jesus answered the Jews:
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father,
making himself equal to God.
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming
in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.
“I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.”
+++
Let us not be afraid or cast down; God is on his way in the person of Jesus.
Today’s Gospel follows immediately on yesterday’s story of the healing of the crippled man by the pool. That passage had ended with the words: “The Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this [i.e. the healing] on a sabbath.” We might point out, as with some other sabbath healings, that there was absolutely no urgency to do the healing on a sabbath for someone who had waited 38 years. It is just another indication of the divine authority with which Jesus works.
So Jesus’ reply is direct and unapologetic: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” Because Genesis speaks of God resting on the seventh day (the origin of the Jewish sabbath), it was disputed whether God was in any way active on the sabbath. Some believed that the creating and conserving work of his creation went on and others that he continued to pass judgement on that day. In any case, Jesus is claiming here the same authority to work on the sabbath as his Father and has the same powers over life and death.
The Jewish leaders are enraged that Jesus speaks of God as his own Father. They want to kill him. They understand by his words that Jesus is making himself God’s equal. Jesus, far from denying the accusation, only confirms it.
“A son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will also do.” This saying is taken from the model of an apprentice in a trade. The apprentice son does exactly what his father does. Jesus’ relation to his Father is similar. “For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, so that you may be amazed.” And “just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes” – and whenever he wishes. And such giving of life is something that belongs only to God. As does the right to judge, which Jesus says has been delegated to him.
Jesus is the perfect mirror of the Father. The Father is acting in him and through him. He is the Word of God – God speaks and acts directly through him. God’s Word is a creative Word. Jesus, like the Father, is life-giving, a source of life.
The right to judge has been delegated by the Father to the Son. And to refuse to honour the Son is to refuse the same honour to the Father. In everything Jesus acts only according to the will of his Father and does what his Father wants.
Jesus, then, is the Way, the Way through whom we go to God. For us, there is no other Way. He is God’s Word to us and for us.
Reading I
Isaiah 49:8-15
Thus says the LORD:
In a time of favor I answer you,
on the day of salvation I help you;
and I have kept you and given you
as a covenant to the people,
To restore the land
and allot the desolate heritages,
Saying to the prisoners: Come out!
To those in darkness: Show yourselves!
Along the ways they shall find pasture,
on every bare height shall their pastures be.
They shall not hunger or thirst,
nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;
For he who pities them leads them
and guides them beside springs of water.
I will cut a road through all my mountains,
and make my highways level.
See, some shall come from afar,
others from the north and the west,
and some from the land of Syene.
Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
break forth into song, you mountains.
For the LORD comforts his people
and shows mercy to his afflicted.
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.
+++
The reading is part of a celebration of the people’s joyful return from their exile in Babylon to their home in Jerusalem. It comes from Second Isaiah, a book full of hope and consolation which looks forward to the end of the exile and the people’s going home again.
They are still in exile. Their lives are led in hardship and bitterness but the prophet assures them that better times are on the way. This is in response to the cry of God’s people.
“At the time of my favour I have answered you.” The reference is probably to the year of jubilee but the return from exile will bring about the same restoration of land for the people as the jubilee did for those who, because of debt problems, may have had to sell their land.
So the Lord now calls on his people “to restore the land, to return ravaged properties, to say to prisoners ‘Come out’, and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves’.” It is a time for the restoration of justice to all. The end of their sorrows is symbolised in phrases like “they will never hunger or thirst, scorching wind and sun will never plague them.”
Their God is with them: “He who pities them will lead them, will guide them to springs of water.” The way will made clear for their return: “I shall turn all my mountains into a road and my highways will be raised aloft.”
He will give them back their land, seized by the foreign invader. He will bring freedom to the prisoners and light to those in darkness. They will be surrounded by fertile lands, untouched by heat or thirst and luxuriate in springs of fresh water. The ways to the homeland will be cleared and exiles will return from as far away as the “land of Sinim” (now known as Aswan, the first cataract on the River Nile in Egypt).
It is a time for great rejoicing, in which the whole of nature should take part - “Shout for joy, you heavens; earth exult! Mountains break into joyful cries!”
Yet, Zion is still sceptical: “Yahweh has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me.” But they are wrong. Utterly wrong.
God does not forget his people. He is full of tenderness and compassion, as gentle as that of any mother, expressed in those extraordinary gentle and affectionate words: “Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you.”
In our darkest moments, let us not forget the unchanging intensity of God’s love for us.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 145
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 5:17-30
Jesus answered the Jews:
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father,
making himself equal to God.
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming
in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.
“I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.”
+++
Let us not be afraid or cast down; God is on his way in the person of Jesus.
Today’s Gospel follows immediately on yesterday’s story of the healing of the crippled man by the pool. That passage had ended with the words: “The Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this [i.e. the healing] on a sabbath.” We might point out, as with some other sabbath healings, that there was absolutely no urgency to do the healing on a sabbath for someone who had waited 38 years. It is just another indication of the divine authority with which Jesus works.
So Jesus’ reply is direct and unapologetic: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” Because Genesis speaks of God resting on the seventh day (the origin of the Jewish sabbath), it was disputed whether God was in any way active on the sabbath. Some believed that the creating and conserving work of his creation went on and others that he continued to pass judgement on that day. In any case, Jesus is claiming here the same authority to work on the sabbath as his Father and has the same powers over life and death.
The Jewish leaders are enraged that Jesus speaks of God as his own Father. They want to kill him. They understand by his words that Jesus is making himself God’s equal. Jesus, far from denying the accusation, only confirms it.
“A son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will also do.” This saying is taken from the model of an apprentice in a trade. The apprentice son does exactly what his father does. Jesus’ relation to his Father is similar. “For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, so that you may be amazed.” And “just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes” – and whenever he wishes. And such giving of life is something that belongs only to God. As does the right to judge, which Jesus says has been delegated to him.
Jesus is the perfect mirror of the Father. The Father is acting in him and through him. He is the Word of God – God speaks and acts directly through him. God’s Word is a creative Word. Jesus, like the Father, is life-giving, a source of life.
The right to judge has been delegated by the Father to the Son. And to refuse to honour the Son is to refuse the same honour to the Father. In everything Jesus acts only according to the will of his Father and does what his Father wants.
Jesus, then, is the Way, the Way through whom we go to God. For us, there is no other Way. He is God’s Word to us and for us.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
“Rise up! Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.”
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Reading I
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
The angel brought me, Ezekiel,
back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east;
the water flowed down from the right side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He led me outside by the north gate,
and around to the outer gate facing the east,
where I saw water trickling from the right side.
Then when he had walked off to the east
with a measuring cord in his hand,
he measured off a thousand cubits
and had me wade through the water,
which was ankle-deep.
He measured off another thousand
and once more had me wade through the water,
which was now knee-deep.
Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade;
the water was up to my waist.
Once more he measured off a thousand,
but there was now a river through which I could not wade;
for the water had risen so high it had become a river
that could not be crossed except by swimming.
He asked me, “Have you seen this, son of man?”
Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit.
Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides.
He said to me,
“This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”
+++
”In the Middle East, desert land was commonplace and water all-important. Water was a symbol of God’s saving grace. The prophet Ezekiel described a future idealised Temple, the source of deepening waters and fertile abundance.” (Vatican II Missal)
A marvellous river, flowing out from under the Temple, is a manifestation of the blessings conferred on the land by Yahweh’s return to live among his people. It is linked today with the healing of the man who was waiting for the waters of the ‘Sheep Pool’ to move.
An ever-increasing life-giving stream of water flows out from the Temple. It is clear that a healing, life-giving water is understood. And, in the background, there is the image of the river flowing through the Garden of Eden, a symbol of the life that God gives to all creation. In the world of the Middle East, a world of parched deserts, water signifies great blessings, just as dryness and drought signify a curse.
Although not fed by any tributaries, the river continues to increase remarkably till it is too deep to wade across. Then it is seen to have an abundance of trees, which are reminiscent again of the fertility of Eden (Genesis 2:9). The river flows on into the deep depression that marks the course of the River Jordan and into the Dead Sea, so named because its high salt level makes life impossible. But this river will make the waters wholesome. Literally, the Hebrew says that the river will ‘heal’ the waters of the Sea. That this lowest (1,300 feet below sea level) and saltiest (25%) body of water in the world should be able to sustain such an abundance of life indicates the wonderful renewing power of this “river of the water of life” (cf. Revelation 22:1).
“Fish will be plentiful, wherever the water goes it brings health and life teems wherever the river flows”. Here we have the image of miraculous water flowing from the Temple and conferring a marvellous fertility. The power of the water is such that, as it flows into the Dead Sea where nothing can live because of its saltiness, the sea flourishes with fish and fruit trees of every kind grow along its shores. There are also overtones of the creation of the teeming waters in the Creation story (Genesis 1:20-21). “Wherever the water goes, it brings health”: in the context of the Gospel, this water is the Life that Jesus gives. “He who comes to me will never thirst.”
Truly, this is a symbol of the kind of life that God wishes us to share with him. “I have come that they may have life, life in abundance” (John 10:10).
Let us during this Lenten season experience the healing power of Jesus, a healing power which was initiated at our Baptism but which needs to continue for as long as we live.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 46
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,
the astounding things he has wrought on earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 5:1-16
There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
“It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
He answered them, “The man who made me well told me,
‘Take up your mat and walk.’“
They asked him,
“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
“Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.”
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.
+++
Today we see Jesus back in Jerusalem for an unnamed festival. He goes to the pool near the Sheep Gate. John says it had five porticoes and the ruins of such a pool have been excavated in recent times. Around the pool are large numbers of people blind, lame and paralysed. These are the ailments that we Christians often suffer from:
* blindness
** we cannot see where Jesus is leading us or where we should go in life;
* lameness and paralysis
** we can see but have difficulty walking or even moving along Christ’s Way.
During this Lenten season let us hear Jesus asking us the question he puts to the man: “Do you want to be well again? Do you want to be made whole again?”
For 38 years the man has been trying to get into the water when it is “disturbed” but someone else always gets in before him. It seems that a spring in the pool bubbled up from time to time and it was believed that it had curative qualities.
Jesus wastes no time. “Rise up! Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.” The man is immediately cured and walks away. Again we have in the words of Jesus the intimation of resurrection to new life of which Jesus is the Source. “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
It is at this point that the legalists step in. On his way the man is challenged for carrying his sleeping mat on a sabbath day. How petty one can get! Here is a man who has been a cripple for 38 years and is now taken to task for carrying his sleeping mat on a sabbath. The wonder is that he can do it at all!
It is like those people who get upset because the vestments the celebrant at Mass is wearing are not the right colour for the day or because he changes some unimportant words or because a woman is not wearing a hat. Or people who worry that they have not been fasting for the full hour. As if there can be any comparison between sharing the Body of the Lord in the Eucharist and observing a minor man-made regulation. It is so easy to lose our sense of proportion. For some, a rubrically correct but deadly boring Mass is more important than one where there is a real spirit of celebration and community and a coming together in Christ even if the rules are not being followed to the letter. The man answers that the one who cured him told him to carry his mat but he did not know who that person was, as Jesus had disappeared into the crowds. Later, Jesus and the man meet in the Temple. The man is told to complete his experience of healing by abandoning a life of sin, bringing body and spirit into full harmony and wholeness. This is not to say that Jesus is implying that the man had been a cripple because of his sin. Jesus did not teach that. But what he is saying is that physical wholeness needs to be matched by spiritual wholeness, the wholeness of the complete person.
This is the third of Jesus’ seven signs – again bringing life and wholeness. Let us ask him to do the same for us.
Reading I
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
The angel brought me, Ezekiel,
back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east;
the water flowed down from the right side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He led me outside by the north gate,
and around to the outer gate facing the east,
where I saw water trickling from the right side.
Then when he had walked off to the east
with a measuring cord in his hand,
he measured off a thousand cubits
and had me wade through the water,
which was ankle-deep.
He measured off another thousand
and once more had me wade through the water,
which was now knee-deep.
Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade;
the water was up to my waist.
Once more he measured off a thousand,
but there was now a river through which I could not wade;
for the water had risen so high it had become a river
that could not be crossed except by swimming.
He asked me, “Have you seen this, son of man?”
Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit.
Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides.
He said to me,
“This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”
+++
”In the Middle East, desert land was commonplace and water all-important. Water was a symbol of God’s saving grace. The prophet Ezekiel described a future idealised Temple, the source of deepening waters and fertile abundance.” (Vatican II Missal)
A marvellous river, flowing out from under the Temple, is a manifestation of the blessings conferred on the land by Yahweh’s return to live among his people. It is linked today with the healing of the man who was waiting for the waters of the ‘Sheep Pool’ to move.
An ever-increasing life-giving stream of water flows out from the Temple. It is clear that a healing, life-giving water is understood. And, in the background, there is the image of the river flowing through the Garden of Eden, a symbol of the life that God gives to all creation. In the world of the Middle East, a world of parched deserts, water signifies great blessings, just as dryness and drought signify a curse.
Although not fed by any tributaries, the river continues to increase remarkably till it is too deep to wade across. Then it is seen to have an abundance of trees, which are reminiscent again of the fertility of Eden (Genesis 2:9). The river flows on into the deep depression that marks the course of the River Jordan and into the Dead Sea, so named because its high salt level makes life impossible. But this river will make the waters wholesome. Literally, the Hebrew says that the river will ‘heal’ the waters of the Sea. That this lowest (1,300 feet below sea level) and saltiest (25%) body of water in the world should be able to sustain such an abundance of life indicates the wonderful renewing power of this “river of the water of life” (cf. Revelation 22:1).
“Fish will be plentiful, wherever the water goes it brings health and life teems wherever the river flows”. Here we have the image of miraculous water flowing from the Temple and conferring a marvellous fertility. The power of the water is such that, as it flows into the Dead Sea where nothing can live because of its saltiness, the sea flourishes with fish and fruit trees of every kind grow along its shores. There are also overtones of the creation of the teeming waters in the Creation story (Genesis 1:20-21). “Wherever the water goes, it brings health”: in the context of the Gospel, this water is the Life that Jesus gives. “He who comes to me will never thirst.”
Truly, this is a symbol of the kind of life that God wishes us to share with him. “I have come that they may have life, life in abundance” (John 10:10).
Let us during this Lenten season experience the healing power of Jesus, a healing power which was initiated at our Baptism but which needs to continue for as long as we live.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Responsorial
Psalm 46
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,
the astounding things he has wrought on earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
+++ +++ +++ +++
Gospel
John 5:1-16
There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
“It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
He answered them, “The man who made me well told me,
‘Take up your mat and walk.’“
They asked him,
“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
“Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.”
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.
+++
Today we see Jesus back in Jerusalem for an unnamed festival. He goes to the pool near the Sheep Gate. John says it had five porticoes and the ruins of such a pool have been excavated in recent times. Around the pool are large numbers of people blind, lame and paralysed. These are the ailments that we Christians often suffer from:
* blindness
** we cannot see where Jesus is leading us or where we should go in life;
* lameness and paralysis
** we can see but have difficulty walking or even moving along Christ’s Way.
During this Lenten season let us hear Jesus asking us the question he puts to the man: “Do you want to be well again? Do you want to be made whole again?”
For 38 years the man has been trying to get into the water when it is “disturbed” but someone else always gets in before him. It seems that a spring in the pool bubbled up from time to time and it was believed that it had curative qualities.
Jesus wastes no time. “Rise up! Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.” The man is immediately cured and walks away. Again we have in the words of Jesus the intimation of resurrection to new life of which Jesus is the Source. “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
It is at this point that the legalists step in. On his way the man is challenged for carrying his sleeping mat on a sabbath day. How petty one can get! Here is a man who has been a cripple for 38 years and is now taken to task for carrying his sleeping mat on a sabbath. The wonder is that he can do it at all!
It is like those people who get upset because the vestments the celebrant at Mass is wearing are not the right colour for the day or because he changes some unimportant words or because a woman is not wearing a hat. Or people who worry that they have not been fasting for the full hour. As if there can be any comparison between sharing the Body of the Lord in the Eucharist and observing a minor man-made regulation. It is so easy to lose our sense of proportion. For some, a rubrically correct but deadly boring Mass is more important than one where there is a real spirit of celebration and community and a coming together in Christ even if the rules are not being followed to the letter. The man answers that the one who cured him told him to carry his mat but he did not know who that person was, as Jesus had disappeared into the crowds. Later, Jesus and the man meet in the Temple. The man is told to complete his experience of healing by abandoning a life of sin, bringing body and spirit into full harmony and wholeness. This is not to say that Jesus is implying that the man had been a cripple because of his sin. Jesus did not teach that. But what he is saying is that physical wholeness needs to be matched by spiritual wholeness, the wholeness of the complete person.
This is the third of Jesus’ seven signs – again bringing life and wholeness. Let us ask him to do the same for us.
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