Holy Family B

Holy Family B

Readings: Sirach 3:2-6,12-14  Colossians 3:12-21  Luke 2:22-40

During the Christmas season the Church celebrates the Incarnation by dwelling on various aspects of this mystery.  Holy Family Sunday reminds us that Jesus was both called to a unique saving mission by his Father but also fully shared our experience of living in a family with all its joy, confusion, pain and mystery.  As we struggle with the obligations of our commitments to God and family, let us pray in faith the words of this Sunday’s responsorial psalm: “Happy are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways” (Ps 128).

The Sirach reading is a wisdom instruction based on the commandment to honor father and mother (Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16).  This obligation is about caring for elderly parents when their health and minds fail. “My son, take care of your father when he is old;/ . . .  Even if his mind fail, be considerate with him;/ revile him not in the fullness of your strength” (Sir 3:12-13).

According to Sirach, care for elderly parents will be reciprocated by God.  “He who honors his father atones for sins;/ he stores up riches who reveres his mother” (3:3).

Paul’s instructions to the Colossians put family obligations in a Christian context.  Christians are to divest themselves of their old lives of sin (see Col 3:5-9) and clothe themselves with Christian virtues: heartfelt mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and especially love “which binds the rest together and makes them perfect” (3:12-14).  They are to pray in joyous thankfulness to God the Father, as their words and actions are done “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Paul concludes with specific words for each member of the family.  Wives are to be submissive to their husbands; husbands are to love their wives and avoid any bitterness toward them; children are to obey their parents; fathers are not to nag their children “lest they lose heart.”

Luke’s account of Jesus’ presentation in the Temple both celebrates the surprisingly joyful fulfillment of Israel’s messianic expectations but also ominously foreshadows that this messianic child will know opposition, rejection and suffering.  Like the pious Zechariah and Elizabeth (Lk 1:6), Jesus’ parents fulfill the Jewish law by presenting Mary for purification (cf. Lev 12:2-8) and dedicating Jesus their first-born son (Ex 13:2,12).  The centerpiece of the scene is Simeon’s prayer.  As a representative of the poor of Israel who await the kingdom of God’s justice, the elderly Simeon is moved by the Holy Spirit to take Jesus in his arms and proclaim the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel of the Savior who will be “a revealing light to the Gentiles.” “Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace;/ you have fulfilled your word. For my eyes have witnessed your saving deed/ displayed for all the peoples to see:/ A revealing light to the Gentiles,/ the glory of your people Israel.” But Simeon’s prophetic vision also foreshadows the divisive character of Jesus’ ministry.  After blessing the marveling parents, the prophet informs Mary his mother: “This child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed– and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword–so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare.”  Jesus’ proclamation of the Father’s forgiving love will divide Israel between those who repentantly accept this message and those who self-righteously refuse it (cf. Lk 7:18-50).  We later learn that Mary’s own blessedness will also involve the challenge of following God’s call when Jesus himself announces that true blessedness “is hearing the word of God and observing it” (see Lk 1:38-45; 8:20-21; 11:27-28).

Advent IV

4^th Sunday of Advent B

Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-11,16   Romans 16:25-27   Luke 1:26-38

As the Feast of Christmas approaches, the readings for the final Sunday of Advent present us with the mystery and scandal of God’s plan for our salvation in Jesus.  The divine purpose does not proceed according to human ambitions and calculations.  Although Nathan’s prophecy to David and Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary may lead us to expect a powerful Messiah who will bring peace by ruling in splendor “from the throne of David his father,” we have hints in the readings that God’s will often overturns human expectations.  David is not allowed to build the glorious house (temple) of his dreams; instead the Lord will build a house (dynasty) for him.  God’s fulfillment of “the mystery hidden for many ages” is first revealed to Mary, a lowly virgin from the insignificant town of Nazareth in the obscure region of Galilee.  As Mary obediently submits herself to the Lord’s impossible plan for the birth of the Messiah, we may already expect that her child’s rule is not going to conform to the standards of earthly power and prestige.  Let us praise the Lord for his mysterious ways in the lyrics of our responsorial psalm: “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 89).

Nathan’s prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 is a culminating point in both Israel’s history and David’s own life.  The Lord has finally given Israel and David “rest” from all their enemies. After Saul’s death, the Lord guided David in uniting Judah and Israel, defeating the Philistines, and centralizing the nation by establishing Jerusalem as the capital where he placed the ark in a tent shrine (see 2 Samuel 1-6).  Now David, who has already built himself a splendid palace of cedar, proposes to the prophet Nathan that he wishes to build a “house of cedar” (i.e. a temple) for the ark.  At first, Nathan encourages David in his ambitions, but that night the prophet learns that the Lord’s plan does not depend upon David’s limited vision.  A mysterious divine purpose has been operative since David was taken as a shepherd boy to be commander of God’s people, and it ultimately will culminate in God’s giving Israel peace from its enemies and the establishment of a lasting house (i.e. dynasty) for David.  The editors of 2 Samuel 7, using the royal ideology of the Solomonic period, envision Solomon’s reign as a partial fulfillment of this promise.  He is the son who “will build a house for my name” (2 Sam 7:13; 1 Kings 5-9), but even they also recognize that neither David nor Solomon, for all their glory, were the complete realization of Nathan’s prophecy; both kings bring tragedy upon themselves and their people by their sins in the latter stages of their reigns (see 2 Samuel 11-20; 1 Kings 2 and 1 Kings 11-12).  With the fall of the Davidic monarchy, Nathan’s promise became the basis for Davidic messianic hopes, as are found in our responsorial Psalm.

Romans 16:25-27 is a doxology, praising God who is able to strengthen the Christian community in the gospel which has now been revealed to the Gentiles through Paul’s preaching.  It emphasizes the hidden mystery of God’s plan, which completes the message of the prophets and is now revealed to all nations. This plan for salvation, now open to the Gentiles, is not manifest according to human timetables, but “at the command of the eternal God.”

With an aura of solemn wonder and joy, Luke’s annunciation narrative describes the beginning of the fulfillment of the long-awaited time of salvation.  In the style of birth stories in the Old Testament, the angel Gabriel announces Jesus’ birth and destiny to Mary, as he had previously done for John the Baptist to the doubting Zechariah (see Lk 1:5-23).  The scene is filled with improbabilities.  The site is Nazareth in Galilee; there has been no Davidic court in Jerusalem for almost 600 years.  The recipient is a virgin, who is “deeply troubled” by the angel’s greeting and later has to ask, “How can this be since I do not know man?”  Rather than normal human conception, the child will be conceived by the power of the Most High, and the confirming sign that Mary’s baby is indeed to be called Son of God is that her kinswoman Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age.  In language reminiscent of the annunciation of Isaac’s birth to Abraham and Sarah (see Genesis 18), Gabriel ends by affirming “nothing is impossible to God.”  In contrast to the incredulous Zechariah and her laughing and doubting ancestress Sarah, Mary acquiesces to the mysterious divine plan. “I am the maidservant of the Lord.  Let it be done to me according to your word.”

Christmas Midnight

Christmas Midnight A B C

Readings: Isaiah 9:1-6  Titus 2:11-14  Luke 2:1-14

            The readings for Christmas at midnight proclaim the joyous, yet humble, arrival of Jesus as the light of the world.  He comes to bring peace to all and calls Christians to live temperate and just lives as they await his return in glory.  Let us rejoice as we hear the angel’s proclamation to the shepherds: “’Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.’”

Isaiah’s messianic oracle expresses the hope for a king in the Davidic line who will bring peace in the aftermath of an Assyrian invasion of Israel.  The prophet prefaces his description of the king’s just rule by praising the Lord for delivering the nation from the Assyrian yoke.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;/ Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone./ You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing./ For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder,/ And the rod of their taskmaster/ You have smashed, as on the day of Midian.”  Isaiah believes this liberation is only the initial act of a two part drama.  He expects that “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” will raise to the Davidic throne a king who will rule with wisdom, power, paternal care and peace.  Although Jesus did not assume a worldly throne, we Christians believe he is the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s oracle though his life, preaching, death and resurrection, and return in glory (see Peter’s sermon in Acts 2).  Jesus has begun the Kingdom of God that will ultimately triumph in the peace and justice Isaiah so urgently awaited.

The Titus reading presents us with the whole mystery of salvation: the appearance of God’s grace in Christ’s offering salvation to all, the challenge of the Christian life, and our hope for the final appearance of God’s glory and our savior Jesus Christ.  Even on the feast of Christmas, the Church does not lose sight of the demands of our renewed life and the urgent expectation of the second coming.  As the letter to Titus proclaims, all have been cleansed and redeemed in Christ, but we still wait in hope, as did Isaiah, for the appearance of the full glory of God’s kingdom.  In the interim, we are called to reject godless ways and to live temperately and justly.

Luke’s beautiful nativity story is best understood in relation to the major themes of his gospel, especially his insistence that Jesus is a universal savior, who was prophesied in the Scriptures and will overturn worldly expectations for greatness.  This universality is most explicit in the angel’s greeting to the shepherds which is the center piece of his entire narrative. “’I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.’”

By dating Jesus’ birth in the reign of Caesar Augustus, Luke contrasts the powerful Roman emperor with the lowly Jesus who is born as an exile.  Luke’s initial readers were aware that Augustus had inaugurated the Pax Romana and that many entertained messianic expectations about his rule.  For Luke, however, Jesus’ humble birth is the joyous beginning of the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s promises of salvation in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Salvation and peace will not come from the emperor who has the power to order a census of the whole world, but from Jesus whose parents must obey the emperor’s commands.

Luke’s special emphasis on the fact that Jesus has come for the lowly is evident in the role of the shepherds.  In Jewish tradition, they were considered disreputable and their testimony was invalid.  Yet in Luke’s account they receive the initial annunciation of Jesus’ birth and even function as evangelists.  When they proceed to Bethlehem, they witness the truth of the angel’s message and then make it known to others.  Likewise, when they return, they glorify and praise God “for all they have heard and seen.”

Other details of Luke’s story make symbolic allusion to Jesus as the unexpected fulfillment of the Scriptures.  The swaddling clothes recall a saying associated with King Solomon who says: “I was nurtured in swaddling clothes, with every care./  No king has known any other beginning of existence” (Wis 7:4-5).  Despite the lowly circumstances of Jesus’ birth, he is already a king like the great Solomon.  The manger (feeding trough) also has more that literal significance.  Isaiah had criticized his generation’s failure to understand the Lord in the following oracle: “An ox knows its owner,/ and an ass its master’s manger./  But Israel does not know, my people has not understood” (Is 1:2-3).  In contrast to the senseless people of Isaiah’s time, the humble shepherds, representative of a renewed people of God, go in haste to the infant lying in the manger who is food for the world.  Setting aside our pride, let us follow the shepherds to adore the Christ-child.

Mass at Dawn

Christmas Mass at Dawn A B C

Readings: Isaiah 62:11-12      Titus 3:4-7       Luke 2:15-20

            The Christmas Mass at dawn has a special character.  It is meant to be celebrated only at or near dawn because its theme is Christ the sun of justice and the light to the nations.  The words of the responsorial psalm best express the uniqueness of this special liturgy. R. “A light will shine on this day: the Lord is born for us./ The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice;/ let the many isles be glad./ The heavens proclaim his justice,/ and all the peoples see his glory./ Light dawns for the just;/ and gladness, for the upright of heart./ Be glad in the Lord, you just,/ and give thanks to his holy name” (Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12).

            The Isaiah reading is from the conclusion of a larger song (Is 62:1-12) which celebrates the restoration of Jerusalem, or Zion, after the Babylonian exile.  Combining images associated with Jewish wedding customs and the celebration of the grain and grape harvest at the joyous feast of Tabernacles, the prophet envisions daughter Zion being visited by her savior God who remarries his forsaken bride and repopulates the once abandoned city. “Say to daughter Zion, your savior comes!/ Here is his reward with him,/ his recompense before him./ They shall be called the holy people,/ the redeemed of the Lord,/ and you shall be called ‘Frequented,’/ a city that is not forsaken.”

            The short reading from Titus is a succinct summary of the central tenants of Paul’s gospel.  Like the reading from Titus for the Mass at Midnight, it is a joyful proclamation of the full Christian mystery. In the course of reminding Titus that Christians are to be responsible citizens, the Pauline author speaks of the change effected in them by the coming of Christ and their baptism.  Formerly, he says, “we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another” (3:5).  But now through “the kindness and generous love of God our savior” and without any merit on our part, we have been saved “through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” that was poured out on us “through Jesus Christ our savior.”  The next section insists that this transforming “bath of rebirth” should make Christians “devote themselves to good works.”

            The Gospel reading for the Mass at Dawn is the continuation of the Gospel for the Mass at Midnight.  The shepherds, most unlikely candidates for God’s revelation, become the first apostles of the Christian message.  They decide to go to David’s city to verify the message that the angels have given them.  “’Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’”  When they find “Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger,” just as the angels had announced, they understand “what had been told them concerning this child,” namely that he is destined to be “a savior . . . the Messiah and Lord.”  Not content with keeping this news as a private revelation, the shepherds report it to others, and we are told “all who heard of it were amazed.”  As the shepherds return, they glorify and praise God “for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.”

            Mary’s reaction is singled out and distinguished from the others.  Luke notes that she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  The verb translated “reflected” is dielogizeto which is also used by Luke to describe Mary’s reaction to Gabriel’s initial greeting in the annunciation scene (1:29) and later her response to Jesus’ saying that he must be in his Father’s house in the story of his remaining behind in the Temple at the Passover festival when he was age twelve (2:51).  It has the sense of intense deep thought which returns to the subject time and again.  In Luke’s theology Mary is a model of discipleship.  She hears God’s word, reflects deeply upon it, and then acts in accord with it.  This is most clear in her acceptance of Gabriel’s message at the annunciation where she responds by saying, “’Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word’” (1:38).  Later in the Gospel, Jesus also says, “’My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it’” (8:21).

Christmas Mass during the day

Christmas Mass During the Day A B C

Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10  Hebrews 1:1-6  John 1:1-18

            The readings for Christmas Mass During the Day have a note of unrestrained joy over God’s final act of salvation in the coming of Christ, the very word of God, who has come in the flesh to share and redeem our fallen humanity.  This mood is most evident in the lyrics of the responsorial psalm. R. “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God” (Ps 98:3c). “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds;/ his right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm” (Ps 98:1). 

            The Isaiah reading is a joyful poem addressed to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon whose situation appears to be hopeless.  Their homeland is in ruins; the Temple has been destroyed, and they have been living in bondage for several decades.  Despite the bleakness of their situation, the prophet announces the joyous, good news of the restoration of Jerusalem.  The artful poem moves through three stages.  First, the prophet rejoices over the arrival of the messenger who brings “the glad tidings” of peace (shalom) for Zion as the God returns to the city in triumph as their “king.”  “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings,/ announcing peace, bearing good news,/announcing salvation, and saying to Zion,/ ‘Your God is king!’”  Secondly, he envisions Jerusalem’s watchmen raising a cry and shouting for joy as the Lord begins to restore Zion.  “Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry,/ together they shout for joy,/ for they see directly, before their eyes,/ the Lord restoring Zion.”  Finally, he invites the “ruins of Jerusalem” to “break out together in song” because the Lord “comforts his people” and “redeems Jerusalem.”  The prophet’s vision is not limited to a narrow nationalism.  Jerusalem’s salvation is meant as a revelation to “all the nations.”  “The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations;/ all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.”

            The second reading from the beginning of Hebrews emphasizes the completeness and finality of God’s spoken word through the Son (Jesus), in contrast to the “partial and various ways” of revelation “in times past . . . to our ancestors through the prophets.”  Hebrews is more of a homily than a letter, and it asserts that with the coming of Jesus, “the final age” has arrived in which God’s saving acts have come to their completion.

            In this opening section, Hebrews insists on Jesus’ superiority to the angels, whom some were tempted to revere above Jesus because they had not been contaminated by descending into this material world of impermanence and change.  Using many of the same concepts as the evangelist John, the author of Hebrews stresses the Son’s unique greatness, power, and closeness to God.  Like Lady Wisdom in the Old Testament, the Son is the agent of creation (Prv 8:30; Wis 7:22), “the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being” (Wis 7:26), and the “mighty word” which sustains all things.  Although Jesus did descend into the world and “accomplished purification from sins,” he now has taken “his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high” where he has received the titles “Son” and “heir” which make him superior to the angels who are commanded to worship him.

            The Gospel reading is the prologue of John which is a hymn to Jesus as the incarnate Word (Logos) of God and the Light that has come into a darkened world.  It celebrates the whole sweep of salvation from creation to the coming of the Word in the flesh.  Periodically, it is punctuated with asides about the role of John the Baptist as witness to Jesus, the light (1:6, 7, 15).  The first two strophes speak of the Word’s relation to God (1:1-2) and to creation (1:3-5).  John uses several allusions to the first creation story in Genesis: the opening words, “In the beginning,” creation through a word of command, and the references to light and darkness (Gen 1:1-5).  Just as in the initial act of creation light entered a darkened world, so in the re-creation of the world darkened by sin, the Word as “the light shines in the darkness,/ and darkness has not overcome it.”  The third strophe (1:9-13) speaks of the Word’s relation to humans in the world.  It evokes rejection and acceptance, death and rebirth.  Although the Word is “the true light, which enlightens everyone,” and “all things came to be through him,” the world did not know him and “his own people did not accept him.”  But to those who do accept him, the Word gives the power “to become children of God.”  The final strophe (1:14, 16-18) concentrates on the Word’s relation to believers.  Like God’s presence through the Tabernacle and the Law in the Old Testament (Ex 25:8-9; Sir 24:4-8), the Word has “made his dwelling among us” and revealed “his glory.”  But this presence in the Word become flesh is superior to the law given through Moses.  It is a revelation of “grace (love) and truth.”  The law was inscribed on tablets of stone (Ex 31:18), and Moses was not allowed to see God (Ex 33:18-23), but now the Son, who has been with God from all eternity, has revealed him. “From his fullness we have all received,/ grace in place of grace,/ because while the law was given through Moses,/grace and truth came through Jesus Christ./ No one has ever seen God./  The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.”

            On this feast of the Incarnation, let us rejoice in God’s coming to us in our humanity with all its pain and suffering, joys and delights, sin and hatred.  And let us take hope in the continued presence of God with us through the incarnate Son.

Advent III B

3^rd Sunday of Advent B

Readings Isaiah 61:1-2,10-11  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 

 John 1:6-8,19-28

“My soul glorifies the Lord,/ my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.”  These words of Mary’s canticle (Luke 1:46-54) are the responsorial psalm for the Third Sunday of Advent that celebrates the task of proclaiming the Lord’s salvific work.  Like John the Baptist in John’s Gospel, we Christians are called to witness to the light, Jesus God’s incarnate Son, and to rejoice in his presence without claiming any exalted status for ourselves.

The first reading is the commissioning of the anonymous prophet whom scholars call Third Isaiah.  In the opening verses, he is anointed to bring good news to the discouraged exiles who have just returned from Babylon.  They are the `anawim, the poor of Yahweh, who are totally dependent upon God for their justice.  In Isa 61:3-9, which are not included in our reading, the prophet announces a glorious future for the returnees.  With the help of strangers and foreigners, they will rebuild the ancient ruins of Jerusalem. Instead of the shame and degradation of exile, they will experience the Lord’s justice when they become priests in the midst of the world’s nations who now honor and acknowledge them as a nation blessed by the Lord.

In the last two verses of our reading the prophet sings a psalm of thanksgiving rejoicing for restored Zion, now “wrapped in the mantle of justice,/ like a bridegroom adored with a diadem,/ like a bride bedecked with her jewels.”  With unassailable confidence, the prophet announces that the Lord God will cause “justice” and “praise” to spring up like plants from the earth.

The second reading is from the conclusion of 1 Thessalonians in which Paul addresses the Thessalonian Christians’ anxiety over a number of problems connected with the delay of Jesus’ expected return in glory.  Some were anxious that those who had died would not participate in the general resurrection at Jesus’ return; others had degenerated into immoral or irresponsible behavior.  Paul assures them that the dead will participate in the resurrection and exhorts the community to live vigilantly as “children of the light.”  In our passage, Paul gives a rapid fire series of exhortations before closing.  The community should live in joyous, as opposed to anxious and fearful, expectation of the Lord’s coming.  With great confidence, Paul prays that the Lord will preserve them in wholeness until he comes.                 

In the Gospel reading, John the Evangelist presents John the Baptist as a joyful witness who gives testimony to the Jewish leaders that the light is in their midst, although they do not recognize him.  The first part of the reading is taken from John’s prologue, a great hymn to Jesus as the Word of God who is the light which has now entered the world.  In a kind of aside in the hymn, we are reminded that John the Baptist “was not the light,” but was only a witness to the light.

In his actual testimony, John takes almost perverse delight in giving negative answers to the questions of the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem.  He refuses to accept for himself the titles of Messiah, Elijah, or prophet.  His sole task is to be “a voice in the desert, crying out: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord!’”  When asked why he is baptizing if he is not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet, John points to Jesus’ unrecognized presence and speaks of his unworthiness to even unfasten the strap of his sandal.

In the other appearances of John in the Fourth Gospel, the evangelist continues to present the Baptist as a joyful witness to Jesus.  On the very next day when John sees Jesus, he gives the testimony: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  John has seen the Spirit of God descend upon Jesus, and now he can testify to him.  On the third day he allows two of his disciples to leave him and follow Jesus, and later when he learns that Jesus’ disciples are also baptizing, he rejoices and says: “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven.  You yourselves can testify that I said I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him.  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.”  (Jn 3:27-30)                                                       

Advent II B

2^nd Sunday of Advent B

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11    2 Peter 3:8-14            Mark 1:1-8

Semper paratus! “Always prepared!” This motto describes the mood of the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent.  John the Baptist, the messenger and herald in the wilderness, alerts us to be prepared for the arrival of the One who will bring God’s creative Spirit to make all things new.  With confidence, let us pray the lyrics of the responsorial psalm.  “The Lord will make us prosper/ and our earth shall yield its fruit.  Justice shall march before him/ and peace follow his steps” (Ps 85:14).

The first reading is the commissioning of the prophet scholars call Second Isaiah.  He is given the task to prepare the weary Jewish exiles in Babylon for God’s glorious action in bringing them home to Jerusalem.  Without the preparatory message of this “herald of glad tidings,” the exiles might never have understood that their release from Babylon by Cyrus, the King of the Persians, was God’s saving action in their behalf.  The prophet is called to ready this people by proclaiming “comfort” to Jerusalem which has paid double for her past sins and will now see her Lord God bringing home his flock like a shepherd gathering his lambs.  In the imaginative poetry of the prophet, the way home from Babylon to Jerusalem will be a super highway across the Arabian desert.  “In the desert prepare the way of the Lord!  Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!”

Sometimes an event which we most eagerly anticipate is delayed by circumstances beyond our control, causing us to lose the fervor of our initial anticipation.  The Second Peter reading challenges those who are disappointed by the delay of Jesus’ expected return in glory.  Some Christians, concluding that Jesus will never come in judgment, are leading dissolute lives (see 2 Peter 2).  Second Peter reminds them that God’s time table is different from humans and that what appears as a “delay” should be grasped as an opportunity for “all to come to repentance.”  In the time of waiting, the letter exhorts Christians to be people of exemplary conduct whose lives hasten the arrival of God’s kingdom, the “new heavens and new earth where, according to his promise the justice of God will reside.”

Mark’s presentation of John the Baptist in our Gospel both calls us to repentance in preparation for the arrival of God’s kingdom and alerts us to expect the mighty action of God’s Spirit with the coming of Jesus.  Although Mark attributes the opening prophecy to Isaiah, it is actually a combination of elements from Exodus 23:20, Malachi 3:1, and Isaiah 40:3.  John the Baptist is identified with Elijah, the messenger expected in the apocalyptic Book of Malachi, who will return to prepare the way for God’s final judgment by his sudden appearance in the Temple.  Contrary to Malachi’s expectations, John appears in the Judean wilderness where his message is like that of Second Isaiah: “Make ready the way of the Lord,/ clear him a straight path.”  But John’s “baptism of repentance which led to the forgiveness of sins” is only preparatory to the theme of his preaching. John proclaims: “One more powerful than I is to come after me. I am not fit to stoop and untie his sandal straps. I have baptized you in water; he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”

John’s proclamation is the beginning of the “gospel,” the good news of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.  It prepares us for the powerful wonders Jesus will perform in the early chapters of Mark’s Gospel where he will authoritatively gather a group of apostles and begin to attack the evil dominion of Satan with the healings, exorcisms, and the proclamation of forgiveness to outcasts.  At this stage, the initial reader would never guess that the story of this gospel will entail the violent deaths of both John, at the hands of Herod Antipas, and Jesus, at the hands of Pilate.  Later in the Gospel, Jesus will explicitly link his fate with John’s.  When Peter, James and John descend from the mount of transfiguration, they ask Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”  Jesus answers, “Elijah will indeed come first and restore all things, yet how is it written regarding the Son of Man that he must suffer greatly and be treated with contempt?  But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written to him.”  In choosing to follow John and Jesus we choose the path that leads to the cross.

A New Liturgical Year - Advent I B

Year B - the gospel of Mark

1^st Sunday of Advent B

Readings: Isaiah 63:16-64:7   1 Corinthians 1:3-9     Mark 13:33-37

We all know what it’s like to await the return of a loved one.  During Advent the whole Christian community waits in partial darkness, but also in hope and trust, for the Second coming of our light: Jesus the Messiah.  The liturgy for the First Sunday of Advent in the B Cycle confronts us with our sin and need for God but also challenges us to await Christ’s return in hope.  We pray in the words of the Entrance Antiphon: “No one who waits for you is ever put to shame.”

The Isaiah reading is a lament pleading that God save the Jewish community which has just returned from exile in Babylon.  Haunted by guilt over their sin, the returning exiles, through the voice of the prophet, beg in desperation that the Lord come in a mighty theophany as on Mount Sinai: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,/ with mountains quaking before you. . .”  They pray that the Lord will find them living justly.  “Would that you might meet us doing right/ that we were mindful of you in our ways!”   Although tortured by guilt over sin, the exiles must have a deep confidence in the Lord who has saved them in the past.  The prophet both confesses the nation’s sins and places absolute trust in God’s care: “We have all withered like leaves,/ our guilt carries us away like the wind./ . . . O Lord, you are our father;/ we are the clay and you are the potter;/ We are all the work of your hands.”

The second reading from the thanksgiving section in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians captures the mood of the Church during Advent.  We Christians live in hope because of the gift of salvation brought by Jesus’ death and resurrection, but we also confidently await his future return in power.  We, like the Corinthians, have been “richly endowed with every gift of speech and knowledge,” and therefore we can trust that we will “lack no spiritual gift” as we “wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus.”  But our challenge is to be found “blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Advent always dove tails with the readings at the end of the previous Church year because they are about Jesus’ second coming to complete the Kingdom of God.  During this year’s B cycle of readings, we will read Mark’s Gospel, and so this Sunday gives us part Mark’s version of Jesus’ apocalyptic sermon to his disciples at the end of his public ministry in Jerusalem.

The setting is ominous.  Jesus has just cleansed the temple and been engaged in violent controversy with the temple leaders over his authority for this prophetic action (see Mark 11-12). Now he and his disciples have left the temple, and when they express admiration for its building, Jesus announces, “Do you see these great buildings?  There will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down.”  When Mark is writing his gospel, these events have probably already happened, as the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D. during the Jewish-Roman war.

In the first part of his sermon Jesus warns his disciples about wars and persecutions that will threaten them from without and the false prophets and Messiahs from within the community who will attempt to lead them astray.  Despite the apparent signs of the end time, Jesus insists that the day or the hour is known only to God.   Therefore he urges the disciples to be alert and watchful like servants put in charge by a master who travels abroad or like a doorkeeper who is to open to the master of a house upon his return at some unknown hour of the night.  Although these images emphasize the need for being watchful, they do not provoke anxiety.  The completion of the kingdom will be the work of the returning Son.  Each disciple is only expected to be doing the assigned task.  There may be no better way to keep Advent than to be attentive to our assigned duties as we long for the return of our Master.

Christ The King A

Christ the King A

Readings: Ezekiel 34:11‑12,15‑17  1 Corinthians 15:20‑26,28  Matthew 25:31‑46

            The Feast of Christ the King marks the end of the liturgical year with readings that speak of Christ's triumph over sin and death and the final judgment in which he as shepherd will separate the nations, like sheep and goats, on the basis of their kindness to his suffering brothers. With confident faith, let us pray for the completion of Christ's kingdom of peace and justice in the words of the responsorial psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want" (Ps 23).

            Ezekiel's shepherd allegory speaks of the Lord God coming to rescue the strayed and lost sheep and to destroy "the sleek and the strong" who have abused them.  The prophet was living with the Jewish exiles in Babylon, and in the first part of his allegory he denounces Judah's latest kings and leaders as "shepherds . . .  who have been pasturing themselves" and fleecing the flock entrusted to them.  Because of their selfish rule, the nation has gone into exile; its people have been "scattered for lack of a shepherd and become food for the wild beasts."  But now, through Ezekiel, God announces, "I myself will look after and tend my sheep."  God will restore the nation from exile; the lost and strayed sheep will be sought out and brought back; the injured and sick will be bandaged and healed.  "The sleek and the strong," who have taken advantage of their weaker brethren, will be destroyed, as the Lord God judges "between one sheep and another, between rams and goats."

     In the 1 Corinthians reading, Paul is responding to those who claim that Christians already live in a resurrected state and that there will be no resurrection of the body at the end time.   Paul argues that Christ's bodily resurrection is the heart of the Christian good news, and, in this section, he insists that the resurrected Christ is like the first fruits of a harvest which will affect all humanity.  Paul understands Christ as the new Adam: as "death came through a man (Adam)," so resurrected life has come through the new man, Christ.  In the interim between Christ's resurrection and the final resurrection, "Christ must reign until God has put all enemies under his feet . . ."   The greatest and "last enemy to be destroyed is death" which has already been defeated in the resurrection of Christ.                                                                                      

            Jesus concludes his final discourse in Matthew with the scene of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) in which acts mercy will be the criteria by which all will be judged. When the nations are assembled before him as the glorious Son of Man seated upon his throne, they will be separated like sheep from goats and blessed or cursed by the mercy or neglect they have shown to the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and prisoners—the traditional corporal works of mercy in the Jewish and Christian traditions.    The surprising feature of the judgment is that in showing mercy for or neglecting these needy they have been encountering Jesus himself who in his public ministry has identified himself with the poor and suffering and who has come “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (20:28). “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”  Jesus is truly Emmanuel, God with us, present in the neediest of all until he returns in glory.

33RD Sunday A

33^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time A

Readings: Proverbs 31:10‑13,19‑20,30‑31  

1 Thessalonians 5:1‑6   Matthew 25:14‑30

As we approach the close of the liturgical year, the readings continue to remind us that we are to be "children of the light," engaged in wise and productive activity in anticipation of our Master's return.  The responsorial psalm promises that those "who fear the Lord" by walking in his ways will be happy and will enjoy the fruit of their labors (Ps 128).

The reading from Proverbs is part of an alphabetic acrostic poem (each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) in praise of the worthy wife.   It is the conclusion of Proverbs and echoes the themes of the entire book where Wisdom is personified as a Lady who is to be courted by young men.  The "worthy wife" is the practical and concrete "incarnation" of the divine and exalted figure of Lady Wisdom (see Proverbs 1‑9). 

The poem begins by praising her inestimable value to the husband who finds her: "When one finds a worthy wife,/ her value  is beyond pearls."  Her gifts come from her ceaseless activity in providing clothing, food, economic security, and wise counsel for both her own household and the needy.  Such concrete and practical care for others is what Proverbs means by "fear of the Lord."  The poem ends by contrasting the deceptive and fleeting character of charm and beauty with the enduring worth of "the woman who fears the Lord."

In the reading from 1 Thessalonians, Paul continues to address their concerns about "the day of the Lord" when Jesus will return in glory.  Paul does not want them to speculate about "specific times and moments."  They already know "that the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night."  Jesus' sudden return, however, should not cause anxiety.  Using an apocalyptic contrast between darkness/night and light/day, Paul reminds the Thessalonian Christians that they are different from the children of darkness who live with a false sense of security, like people who are asleep or drunk.  As the "children of the light and day," Christians should not be caught "off guard," because they are "awake and sober."  Paul goes on to describe this sobriety as living a life of faith, love and hope‑‑ the very virtues he praised the Thessalonians for at the beginning of the letter (see  1 Thess 1:2‑3).

The Gospel parable of the talents continues Matthew's theme of the need for responsible behavior by the church when the Master's return is delayed.  The disciples are challenged by a parable about servants who are entrusted with funds by a very demanding master while he goes on a long journey.  They are to see themselves in the servants, because they too have been left in charge of the Christian community after Jesus' resurrection.

The three servants are given amounts of money ‘according to each man's abilities,’ but they are judged on the basis of whether they prove to be ‘industrious and reliable’ while the master is gone.  The servants who received five thousand and two thousand talents ‘invest’ their money and thereby double the master's funds.  Upon his return, he praises and rewards them: “Well done! You are an industrious and reliable servant. Since you were dependable in a small matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs.  Come, share your master's joy.”  The third servant, however, is paralyzed by fear of failure and brings the master no return upon his gift.  He really condemns himself in his speech to the master.  “My lord, I knew you were a hard man.  You reap where you did no sow and gather where you did not scatter, so out of fear I went off and buried your thousand silver pieces in the ground.  Here is your money back.” He is summarily condemned by the severe master as a "worthless, lazy lout."  His money is taken away, and he is thrown "into the darkness outside."

In Matthew's earlier missionary discourse to the disciples (Matthew 10), we learn that the threat of persecution and suffering for the preaching of the gospel may cause the disciples to fear (Mt 10:16‑33), but Jesus consoles them with the following words. “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.  Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. . . . So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Mt 10:28‑31).

32nd Sunday A

32^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time A

Readings: Wisdom 6:12‑16  1 Thessalonians 4:13‑18  

Matthew 25:1‑13

          As the Church year draws to a close, the liturgy reminds us of the return of Jesus in glory to complete the Kingdom of God in judgment.  Our readings stress the need for vigilance and preparedness as we await the arrival of the Master.  Let us pray for the coming of God's kingdom in the words of the responsorial psalm: "My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God" (Ps 63).    

The first reading from the Book of Wisdom is a praise of Lady Wisdom who personifies the justice and power of God which rules the universe and human affairs.  This section is part of an exhortation to the kings and magistrates of the earth to act justly in behalf of the lowly and oppressed (Wisdom 6:1‑21).   Those in authority will be judged severely if they do not "keep the holy precepts" of Wisdom.  In this context, the ruler is urged to love and seek for Lady Wisdom who is "resplendent and unfading."  "She makes her rounds, seeking those worthy of her."   Only those who are "watching for her at dawn" and prudently "keeping vigil" will be found worthy of her gifts.

     In the reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul addresses their fears that loved ones who have died before Jesus' return in glory will be forgotten by God.  Paul initially expected Jesus' triumphant coming within his own lifetime, but this apparently led some to conclude that only those "who survive until his coming" would partake in the completion of Jesus' victory over sin and death.  Lest they "yield to grief like those who have no hope,"  Paul reminds them that Christian hope is founded upon the belief "that Jesus died and rose, (and) God will bring forth with him from the dead those also who have fallen asleep believing in him."  Speaking as if he were the Lord himself, Paul assures the Thessalonians that the living "will in no way have an advantage over those who have fallen asleep."  Paul tells them to console one another with the message that "those who have died in Christ will rise first," and then the living will "meet the Lord," and all "shall be with the Lord unceasingly."

     The Gospel parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids is part of Jesus' final apocalyptic discourse in Matthew.  In this section Jesus is warning his disciples that his return will both be delayed and will come suddenly.  He uses an image from prophetic literature where the final age is often depicted as a wedding feast (see Hos 2; Isa 62:1‑5; and Matt 22:1-14). 

In the parable the ten bridesmaids, who are to welcome the groom, are judged by whether or not they are prepared for the delay in his coming to the wedding feast.  The foolish bridesmaids “brought no oil along,” while the sensible ones “took flasks of oil.”  When “the groom delayed his coming” and suddenly arrived at midnight, the foolish virgins had no oil to keep their torches burning and frantically asked the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil; our torches are going out.”  The wise, however, replied, “No, there may not be enough for you and us.  You had better go to the dealers and buy yourselves some.”  At this point, the groom arrived, and only those “who were ready went in to the wedding with him.”  When the foolish bridesmaids return, the door has already been barred.  Their cry, “Lord, lord, open the door for us,” only brings the master's sharp reply: “I tell you I do not know you.

Elsewhere in Matthew's Gospel we learn very specifically what it means to be prepared for the hour of the master's return.   At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns that  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the  kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my  Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).  The Father’s will is spelled out very clearly in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus teaches the demands of God's law including the command to “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and unjust” (Mt  5:43‑44).     

31st Sunday A

31^st Sunday of Ordinary Time A

Readings: Malachi 1:14‑2:2,8‑10  1 Thessalonians 2:7‑9,13    Matthew 23:1‑12

            This Sunday's liturgy is concerned with leadership in the community of God's people.  The reading from Malachi is a stinging indictment of the Levites for careless neglect of their duty to instruct Israel in Torah, while Paul provides a positive example of a leader who was willing to share his very life in preaching "God's good tidings."   Finally in Matthew, Jesus attacks the teaching of “the scribes and Pharisees” because “their deeds are few” and “all their works are performed to be seen.”  Let us be mindful that true leadership in the Christian community is service to God and others, as we sing the  responsorial psalm, "In you, Lord, I have found my peace" (Ps  131).

            The prophecy in the Book of Malachi was spoken after the Jewish people returned from their captivity in Babylon and rebuilt the temple.  Unfortunately in the post‑exilic community the Levitical priests did not provide proper leadership.  The prophet castigates them for their failure to "lay . . . to heart" the glory of Lord's name and for "turning away from the path" of the Torah which they were obligated to teach.  Because the Levites were partial in their judgments in legal matters, the prophet condemns them in the name of the Lord of hosts: “You have made void the covenant of Levi/. . . I, therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people . . .”

            In sharp contrast to the negligent leadership of the post‑exilic Levites, Paul defends his preaching of the gospel among the Thessalonians by recalling how he and his apostolic co‑workers "were as gentle as any nursing mother fondling her little ones."  Rather than being a financial burden on the Thessalonians, Paul's group "worked day and night" while they were preaching the gospel.  Paul can look back at his preaching to them with gratitude to God because they did not confuse it with "the word of men" who use rhetoric and teach for a fee; rather, they received his message as "the word of God."

            In the Gospel Jesus tells "the crowds and his disciples" not to follow the example of leadership set by “the scribes and Pharisees.”  This means that Matthew intended this warning for his own Christian church.  Although the scribes and Pharisees are to be respected because their teaching office goes back to Moses, they are not to be imitated because of their hypocrisy in using their authority to oppress others and to advance themselves.   The first example Jesus cites is that “Their words are bold, but their deeds are few.”  Rather than teaching a heartfelt love for the important commands of the Torah, the scribes and Pharisees “bind up heavy loads . . ., while they themselves will not lift a finger to budge them.”   Secondly, Jesus laments that “all their works are performed to be seen.”  They have made religion a matter of prestige rather than service.  Jesus cites several examples of their concern for status symbols: their wide phylacteries and huge tassels which give them higher visibility at prayer and their fondness for places of honor and for obsequious greetings and titles.

            In contrast to the oppressive and pompous hierarchy of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus tells his disciples that there is to be no rank and hierarchy among them.  The reasons are simple.  They have only one teacher, “the Messiah,” and they have only one father, “the One in heaven.”  Greatness in the community of Jesus' followers is based on service and humility rather than prestige of office. “The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest.  Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

30th Sunday A

30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

 Readings: Exodus 22:20‑26                                  

1 Thessalonians 1:5‑10            Matthew 22:34‑40

            In today's Gospel Jesus, facing an extremely hostile situation, teaches that the whole of the Jewish Torah and the teaching of the prophets can be summarized in the twofold command to love God and neighbor.  Because the love of God cannot be separated from the command to love the neighbor, the Lord's Torah is a source of protection for the weak and needy.  Let us thank God for the gift of the Torah in the words of the responsorial psalm: "I love you, Lord, my strength" (Ps 18).

            The laws in our Exodus reading are from the Book of the Covenant which is a law code designed for Israel's settled agricultural life in the land of Canaan.  They all protect the rights of the weakest members of ancient society.  Israelites are forbidden to molest resident aliens; they are not to wrong widows and orphans, and they are not to demand interest from the poor who are forced to go into debt.  Two reasons are given for these laws.  First of all, the Israelites should remember their own experience of being oppressed aliens in Egypt.  Secondly, God is compassionate, and therefore he hears the cries of the oppressed and will act to vindicate them.

            In the reading from Thessalonians Paul continues his defense of his apostolic work in that community by recalling the great success that his preaching of the gospel had among them.  He goes on to praise them for "receiving the word despite great trials."   He notes that they have become a model for the churches in Macedonia and Achaia because of their sincere conversion from idolatry to the service of the one "living and true God" as they await the return of the resurrected Jesus.

            The Gospel continues the controversies between Jesus and the religious leaders in the Temple which have been the subject of our readings from Matthew for the last several Sundays.  In this week's gospel reading the Pharisees, having heard Jesus silence the Sadducees in a debate about resurrection, "attempt to trip him up" on a matter of major concern to them: the importance of the Mosaic Torah.  A lawyer, representing the Pharisees, asks him, “Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?”   One must remember that the Torah contains 613 precepts.  Some rabbis held that all were equally important, while others offered some sort of summary or gradation of the commands.  Jesus' answer is deeply rooted in the traditions of his people.  He names as the greatest command the love of God demanded in the greatest Jewish prayer, the Shema`: "Hear, O Israel . . . You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole self, and with all your mind" (Deut 6:4‑5).  Jesus then goes on to link this to a second command taken from  the Holiness Code in the Book of Leviticus: "You shall love your  neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18).  For Jesus these commands are the two pegs on which hang the whole of the Torah and the prophets.  All their teachings are founded on these two commands, and all the details of the Torah legislation are reducible to them.  When we are confused by the endless controversies and hostilities that tend to swirl around religion, Jesus' simple and straightforward teaching provides a welcome guide.

29th Sunday A

29^th Sunday of the Year A

Readings: Isaiah 45:1, 4‑6  1 Thessalonians 1:1‑5  

Matthew 22:15‑  21

            Throughout much of the biblical period the Jewish people were dominated by various foreign powers: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, the Greeks, and finally Rome.  In today's readings both Second Isaiah and Jesus offer us visions of how God's power and demands are operative, even in situations where the chosen people have no political power.  As we listen to the wonders of God's power in shaping human events for his saving purposes, let us acknowledge his greatness in the words of the responsorial psalm: "Give the Lord glory and honor" (Ps 96).

            The Isaiah reading is the famous Cyrus oracle of Second Isaiah in which the prophet announces that the Persian king Cyrus is God's "anointed" agent for freeing the exiled Jews from their captivity in Babylon.  Although Cyrus does not even know the Lord's name, from the prophet's perspective, his victories over nations, including Babylon, are the Lord's actions "for the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel, my chosen one."  

            The prophet's vision separates God's saving plan from Israel's political ambitions.  Many exiles may have preferred a Jewish deliverer like Moses or David, but Second Isaiah daringly gives the pagan king, Cyrus, the title of "anointed" or Messiah.   If God can use an unbelieving, foreign king to further his saving purposes, then Israel's task is not to become a great political power.  Rather, she is called to be a "servant" and "witness" to the one true God (see chapters 42, 44-45, 53).

            For the next several weeks, the Epistle reading will be taken from the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, probably the earliest writing in the New Testament.  This Sunday we have Paul's greeting at the beginning of the letter.  Because of tensions within the community, Paul had to leave Thessalonica rather abruptly, and therefore in the traditional thanksgiving section, he assures the Thessalonian Christians of his continued union with them in prayer and encourages them to maintain their commitment to the Christian virtues: faith, love and hope. “We keep thanking God for all of you and we remember you in our prayers, for we constantly are mindful

before our God and Father of the way you are proving your faith, and laboring in love, and showing constancy in hope in your Lord Jesus Christ.”

            There has also been some criticism of Paul since his departure, and, therefore, he begins to defend the way in which he preached the gospel among them.  Paul insists that his preaching was not a matter of mere rhetoric but an authentic proclaiming of the gospel. “Our preaching of the gospel proved not a mere matter of words for you but one of power; it was carried on in the Holy Spirit and out of complete conviction.”

            This Sunday's Gospel continues the controversies between Jesus and the religious leaders who are attempting to "trap him in speech" during his last days in Jerusalem.  The question of paying taxes to the Roman emperor is raised by two groups who had very different views on the question.  The Pharisees, as devotees to the Jewish written and oral law, opposed the tax because it forced them to admit Israel's subjection to pagan Rome and to use coinage bearing the image of Caesar.  But the Herodians, who supported the descendants of Herod the Great, advocated cooperation with Rome.  In this situation, Jesus apparently cannot win, when the disciples of the Pharisees ask: “Is it lawful to pay tax to the emperor or not?”  Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by asking them for a coin of tribute.  He does not carry such coins; they do.  His question goes on to intimate that to carry such coins, bearing Caesar's image, is to cooperate with the emperor’s rule. "Why are you trying to trip me up, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax . . . Whose head is this, and whose inscription?" The Pharisees are forced to say the image is “Caesar's,” and they thereby concede that they recognize the claims of Rome on their lives.  This makes the meaning of Jesus' final challenge something like this.  Because you carry Caesar's coin, it is clear that you "render to Caesar what is Caesar's," but I challenge you hypocrites to "give to God what is God's."  

            Throughout Christian history many have been tempted to identify a particular political cause with God's will.  Jesus' challenge forces us to be aware that God's demands and purposes transcend any particular political project.

28th Sunday A

28^th Sunday of the Year A

Readings: Isaiah 25:6‑10  Philippians 4:12‑14, 19‑20  

Matthew  22:1‑14

            In today's Gospel Jesus attacks the chief priest and elders with the parable of the wedding feast.  As we hear the repeated  invitations to come to God's joyful banquet, let us sing in hope  the refrain of this Sunday's responsorial psalm: "I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Ps 23).

            Isaiah's vision in the first reading gives a joyful picture of the final messianic banquet on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.  There are places for both Jews and Gentiles at the "feast of rich food and choice wines."  The prophet envisions "the Lord of hosts" providing "for all peoples" and destroying "the veil that veils all peoples."  He also speaks of the Lord God removing "the reproach of his people" (the Jews) who rejoice in his salvation. “On that day it will be said:/ ‘Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!/ This is the Lord for whom we looked;/ let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!’"

            The second reading continues the selections from Paul's letter to the Philippians with a "thank you note" to the community for the care package they have sent to him in prison through their brother Epaphroditus.  It reflects Paul's understanding of the "share" that he and the church at Philippi have in the spreading of the gospel of the crucified Christ.  Paul, somewhat proud of  his capacity to suffer for the gospel, is almost embarrassed by the gift, and therefore begins by insisting that in Christ, he has "learned how to cope with every circumstance‑‑ how to eat well  or go hungry, to be well provided for or do without."  But, almost despite his tendency to rugged independence in Christ, Paul is grateful for the Philippians' "share" in his "hardships," and he prays that God in turn will supply their needs in Christ.

            The parable of the king's wedding feast for his son is the last of three parables that Jesus addresses to the chief priests and elders, condemning them for their failure to respond to God's repeated calls to repentance and entrance into the kingdom.   (Recall the two previous Sundays in which we read the parables of the two sons and the wicked tenants.) 

            The allegory of the wedding feast begins with great joy as the king issues a twofold invitation to the guests who have been invited to his son's wedding feast. “Tell those who were invited, See, I have my dinner prepared!  My bullocks and corn‑fed cattle are killed; everything is ready.  Come to the feast.” Sadly, the invited guests refuse both invitations out of worldly concerns and even react violently against the king's servants. “Some ignored the invitation and went their way, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, insulted them, and killed them.” At this point, it is clear that the parable is an allegory for the religious leaders' repeated refusal to respond to God's invitation to the son's kingdom and the joys of the messianic banquet.

            The king's response is twofold.  In anger, he sends his army against the leaders' city to destroy it, an allegory for the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies in 70 A.D.  And secondly, he sends his servants “into the byroads" to "invite to the wedding anyone you come upon."  For Matthew, this is an allegory for the spread of the gospel message among the Gentiles. These new guests fill up the wedding hall, but, we learn, they are made up of both “bad as well as good.” 

            For Matthew, to be invited to the banquet is not enough.   One must also respond with the proper deeds of repentance and good works (see Matt 5:13‑48), and therefore he adds a second  parable about the man without the proper wedding garment who is asked by the king, “My friend how is it you came in here not  properly dressed?”  Those "invited are many," but they must respond properly if they are to be considered the elect who will fully enjoy the wedding feast of the son.

            Although Matthew understood this parable as an allegory for the rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders of his time, we, Christians living in the early twenty-first century, should hear the parable as an invitation and warning not to miss the joyful summons to experience God's kingdom in the midst of our busy lives.  In the parable some of those invited respond violently, but others miss the invitation simply because they are distracted by the ordinary affairs of life.  “Some ignored the invitation and went their way, one to his farm, another to his business.”  Are we those who are distracted by the business of our daily lives?