
Lectio Divina (465)
"Lectio divina is an authentic source of Christian spirituality recommended by our Rule. We therefore practice it every day, so that we may develop a deep and genuine love for it, and so that we may grow in the surpassing knowledge of Christ. In this way we shall put into practice the Apostle Paul’s commandment, which is mentioned in our Rule: “Let the sword of the spirit, the Word of God, live abundantly in your mouth and in your hearts; and whatever you must do, do it in the name of the Lord.”
Carmelite Constitutions (No. 82)
Jesus appears to the apostles
Luke 24:35-48
1. Opening prayer
Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of Your dwelling place,
lead our mind
to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May our feelings, poor as they are,
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night
and may they open our hearts to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us in the light of the new morning,
brings us,
who have kept vigil close to the divine Master,
the flavor of the holy memory.
2. Lectio
i) The text:
The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."
ii) A moment of silence:
Let us allow the sound of the Word to echo within us.
3) Meditatio
i) A few questions:
a) It happened that along the way, they recognized Him: How many are the occasions of grace along the way of our existence? Do we recognize Him as He breaks the bread at that moment with us in the inn at evening time?
b) Jesus Himself among them. Look and touch: It is really I! Do we touch the lives of each other in a way that acknowledges Him in our neighbor?
c) Startled and frightened, they supposed they were seeing a ghost: Which God attracts us? Is it the unseen God who is always beyond our little world, or is it God as we see in His Son?
d) In their joy they still disbelieved: Is joy our walking stick on the journey? Is the sense of expectation alive in us, or do we move in the shadow of resigning ourselves to our fate?
e) He opened their minds to understand the scriptures: Are we open to the many depths in scripture and seek to hold each?
ii) A key to the reading:
The idea of a journey in Luke mirrors the theological journey of the intervention of grace in human events. John prepares the way for the Lord who is to come (Lk 1:76) and cries to make straight His ways (Lk 3:4); Mary goes out and hurries towards the mountains (Lk 1:39); Jesus, God's way (Lk 20:21), walks with human beings and marks the way of peace (Lk 1:79) and of life (Acts 2:28), walking the way Himself first by His very existence. After the resurrection He continues the journey together with the disciples (Lk 24:32) and remains the protagonist on the journey of the Church that identifies itself with His journey (Acts 18:25). The whole raison d'être of the Church lies in this journey of salvation (Acts 16:17) that leads to God (Acts 18:2). She is called to live the way and to point it out to all so that everyone may leave his/her way (Acts 14:16) and walk towards the Lord who walks with those who belong to Him.
v. 35. Then, returning from Emmaus, the two disciples explained what had happened on the road and how they had recognized the Lord when He broke the bread. The experience of meeting with Life allows one to go back on one's tracks. This is not the going back of remorse or of regret. It is the going back of one who re-reads his/her own story and knows that s/he will meet God in those events. It is God who comes to meet us and walks beside us on the road, which is often dry and barren, with things unfinished. God reveals Himself through the familiar gestures of an experience long relished. People are called to welcome the new presence of God on their road where God reveals Himself in the basic signs of Christian community life: the Scriptures, read in a Christological light, and the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:1-33). The history of humankind, privileged space for God's action, is the history of salvation that is inherent in all human situations and throughout the centuries in a kind of perennial exodus, full of the newness of the proclamation.
v. 36. While the two were telling them this, suddenly the Lord Himself stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Luke wisely weaves the events in order to give a foundation and continuity to the history of salvation. The seeds proclaimed would flower, and the atmosphere of newness, which blows gently through the pages of these events, forms a basis for the development of a “memoria Dei” that crops up from time to time. Jesus returns to those who belong to Him. He stands in their midst, Himself, complete, as before, even though in a different manner that is now definitive. He manifests Himself in His glorified bodily form to show that the resurrection is something that really happened.
v. 37. Startled and frightened they supposed they were seeing a ghost. The disciples' reaction does not seem to fit in well with the preceding story since they already believed in the resurrection on the word of Peter (24:34). Their confusion, however, does not concern the conviction that Jesus is risen, but concerns the bodily nature of the risen Jesus. Thus there is no contradiction in the narrative. It was necessary for the disciples to experience intensely the bodily reality of the resurrection of Jesus for them to carry out adequately their future mission of witnessing to the good news and of clarifying ideas on the Risen One: they did not think it was Jesus Himself, but supposed they were seeing a ghost.
vv. 38-40. But He said to them: "Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds? Look at My hands and My feet, and see that it is I Myself. Touch Me, and you will know, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you can see I have". He said this and showed them His hands and His feet. The Jesus of Luke's Gospel is almost a hero who meets His fate with certainty, and the few shadows there are serve only to underscore and emphasize the fullness of His being. Luke had recalled the humble origins and the genealogy, quite common and devoid of prestigious people, a crowd of obscure people from whom the figure of the Christ sprang. In the turmoil and doubt of the disciples after the resurrection, it is clear that Jesus is not the Savior of the great, but of all, startled and frightened though they may be. He, the protagonist in the journey of the Church, walks the human paths of disbelief in order to heal them with faith and continues to walk in time, showing His hands and feet in the flesh and bones of believers.
vv. 41-42. They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so He asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, which He took and ate in their presence. Every invitation to sit at table includes the desire for intimacy; it is a remaining, a sharing. The resurrection does not take away from Jesus the possibility of presenting Himself as the place for sharing. That cooked fish, for years eaten together with His disciples, continues to be a means of communion: a fish cooked in love for each other; a food that does not cease to reassure the hidden hunger of humankind; a common bond with all people.
v. 44. Then He said to them, "These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the psalms had to come true.” The moments of anxiety, of emotion, of tears for the nation (Lk 19:41), the exertion of going up to Jerusalem, the temptations, all these had defined the eternal border between humiliation-hiding and affirmation-glory focused in the various phases of Jesus' human life in the light of the Father's will. Bitterness, obscurity and suffering had nourished the Savior's heart: "I have a baptism to receive, and how distressed I am until it is over!" (Lk 12:50). Now the work of grace is visible because through the working of the Spirit, the eschaton, already accomplished in Christ and in the believer, creates an atmosphere of praise, a climate of joy and deep peace, typical of things accomplished. The parousia will mark the end of the salvific journey, a time of consolation and restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).
v. 45. Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. The faith of the apostles in the resurrection is the hermeneutic key for an interpretation of the Scriptures and the basis of the paschal proclamation. The Bible is fulfilled in Christ, in Him it is unified in His prophetic value and in Him it acquires its full meaning. Human beings cannot of themselves understand the Word of God. The presence of the Risen One opens the mind to a full understanding of the mystery hidden in the sacred words concerning human existence.
vv. 45-47. "This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, and in His name the message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations beginning in Jerusalem." In Luke, salvation touches all of the human dimensions through the working of Christ who saves from evil, who frees from darkness (Acts 26:18) and from sin (Lk 5:20-26; Acts 2:38), from disease and from suffering, from death, from disbelief and from idols; who realizes human life in the community being of God, happy fraternity of love; who does not leave us orphans but is always present with His Spirit from on high (Acts 2:2). The radical salvation of humankind lies in freeing hearts of stone and in receiving a new heart, which implies a dynamism that frees from every form of slavery (Lk 4:16-22). God guides history. It is He who evangelizes and guides the journey of those who belong to Him. The evangelist of great horizons - from Adam to the kingdom, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth - is also the evangelist of every day events. The historical-eschatological process is taking place through which concrete history is accomplished, transcending human history. Jesus goes on offering salvation through His Spirit who creates witnesses capable of prophecy and of spreading salvation until the time when Christ will return (Lk 21:28) and when the complete freedom of humankind will be manifest. In Acts 2:37 we find a resume of the whole iter salutis suggested here: to welcome the word, to be converted, believe, be baptized, obtain forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit, and to live in the way the Lord has commanded. The word of salvation, word of grace, unfurls its power in the heart of one who listens (Lk 8:4-15), and the invocation of the name of the Savior seals salvation in the one converted to the faith. The action of Jesus through the Spirit, made present by the mediation of the Church (Acts 9:3-5), complements the action accomplished through the Church to whom He Himself refers as in the call of Paul (Acts 9:6-18).
v. 48. You are witnesses of these things. The Christian community, called to map the journey of witnessing in human history, proclaims by word and deed the fulfillment of the kingdom of God among human beings and the presence of the Lord Jesus who continues to work as Messiah, Lord and prophet in His Church. The Church will grow and walk in the fear of the Lord, full of the consolation of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31). This is a journey of service, meant to echo the Word of salvation to the farthest ends of the earth (Acts 1:1-11). Gradually the journey goes farther away from Jerusalem and goes to the heart of the pagan world. When it reaches Rome, the capital of the empire, Luke will put his signature to his evangelizing steps. No one will be excluded in the process. All are meant to receive salvation, especially sinners, for whose conversion there is great joy in heaven (Lk 15:7.10). Like Mary, who for Luke is the model of the disciple who walks in the Lord, believers are called to be completely transformed in order to live the messianic motherhood, whatever one's own "virginal" state, which is an expression of the poverty of being creature (Lk 1:30-35). The yes of the Magnificat is the way to go. We walk carrying within ourselves the word of salvation; we walk in faith, trusting in God who keeps His promises; we walk in the joy of Him who makes us blessed, not through any merit of ours but in humility of life. May Mary's itinerary be ours: to go, carried by the Spirit, towards our brothers and sisters, taking with us as our only baggage the saving Word: Christ the Lord (Acts 3:6).
iii) Reflection
In His meeting with people, Jesus offered His benevolent presence and waited for the seed of the word and of faith to sprout. When the apostles abandoned Him, when Peter denied Him, when the sinful woman loved Him, when the Pharisees were closed to Him, He was neither scandalized nor perturbed. He knew that what He had said and suggested to them would not be lost…and indeed, after Pentecost these same people go before the Sanhedrin without fear to say that it is necessary to obey God rather human beings. Peter preaches openly, even dying on a cross like his Master. The women are sent as witnesses of the resurrection to the apostles, and a Pharisee son of Pharisees, Paul of Tarsus, becomes the Apostle of the Gentiles.
If you, man or woman, cannot avoid living daily the death of yourself, you must not, however, forget that the resurrection is hidden in your wounds to make you live in Him, even now. In your neighbor, who may be for you a sepulchre of death and mud, a cursed cross, you will find new life. Yes, because the risen Christ will take on the appearance of your neighbor: a gardener, a traveler, a spirit, a person on the shore of a lake…When you can welcome the "challenge” of Pilate that echoes through the centuries and not accept the exchange suggested (Jn 18:39-40) because you will have learned in the nights of forsakenness that you cannot barter your brigand's life with the life of Jesus, then you too will shout like Thomas, the apostle, in the wonder of faith: "My Lord and my God" (Jn 20:28), my God and my all, and the beauty of your joy will never set on the horizon of your day.
4. Oratio
Lord, we seek You and wish to see Your face:
one day when the veil will be removed,
we shall be able to contemplate You.
We seek You in the Scriptures that speak of You:
under the veil of wisdom we welcome the cross, Your gift to all.
We seek You in the radiant faces of our brothers and sisters:
we see You in the marks of Your passion on their suffering bodies.
It is not our eyes, but our heart that sees You:
in the light of hope we hope to meet You and speak to You.
5. Contemplatio
Lord, give us the perseverance to walk towards the summits in the light of the only Word that saves. As blood brother or sister, the Blood that makes us all brothers and sisters, I remain here, near the tomb of every interior death to set out like a traveler on the paths of no feeling and come to the paths of friendship and meeting. Today, I would like to share the wonder of human love, the joy of wonderful people who live near me not on the edge of their existence, but in their open secrets, where their hearts embrace the absolute of God. Thank you for giving me His risen face and for Your heart enamored of Life and kissed by the eternal. Thank you for Your freedom of explorer that immerses itself in the depths of the essential. God of the desert that becomes garden, may I always be a small flame lit in the darkness of human endeavor, a heat that spreads where the cold winds of evil destroy and diminish the horizons of truth and beauty, that tells the world of the wonderful adventure of risen human love, the love that knows how to die in order to incarnate the smile of God. Amen.
The mission of the disciples and
the witness of Thomas the apostle
John 20:19-31
1. Opening prayer
Father, who on the Lord’s day gather Your people to celebrate the One who is the First and the Last, the living One who conquered death, grant us the strength of Your Spirit so that, having broken the chains of evil, calmed our fears and indecisions, we may render the free service of our obedience and love, to reign in glory with Christ.
2. LECTIO
a) A key to the reading
We are in the so-called “book of the resurrection” where we are told, in a not-so-logical sequence, several matters concerning the risen Christ and the facts that prove it. In the fourth Gospel, these facts take place in the morning (20:1-18) and evening of the first day after the Saturday and eight days later, in the same place and on the same day of the week. We are faced with an event that is the most important in the history of humanity, an event that challenges us personally. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless and your believing is useless… and you are still in your sins” (1Cor 15:14,17) says Paul the Apostle, who had not known Jesus before His resurrection, but who zealously preached Him all his life. Jesus is sent by the Father. He also sends us. Our willingness to “go” depends on the depth of the faith we have in the Risen One. Are we prepared to accept His mandate and to give our lives for His Kingdom? This passage is not just about the faith of those who have not seen (the witness of Thomas), but also about the mission entrusted to the Church by Christ.
b) A suggested division of the text to facilitate its reading
20:19-20: appearance to the disciples and showing of the wounds
20:21-23: gift of the Spirit for the mission
20:24-26: special appearance to Thomas eight days later
20:27-29: dialogue with Thomas
20:30-31: the aim of the Gospel according to John
c) The text:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
3. A moment of silence
to allow the Word to enter into our hearts
4. MEDITATIO
a) A few questions to help in our meditation:
Who or what drew my interest and wonder in the reading? Is it possible for someone to profess being Christian and yet not believe in the Resurrection of Jesus? Is the Resurrection even separable from the mission of Jesus? What does the gift of the Spirit for the mission mean to me? How does Jesus’ mission in the world continue after the Resurrection? What is the content of the missionary proclamation? What are, if any, my doubts concerning the faith? How do I meet them and still carry on? Am I able to give reasons for my faith? Through different methods Jesus meets and renews the different disciples, to the point of a physical one-on-one encounter with Thomas. At what point do I believe?
b) Comment:
In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week: the disciples are living through an extraordinary day. For the community, at the time of the writing of the fourth Gospel, the day after the Sabbath is already “the Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10), Dies Domini (Sunday), and is more important than the Sabbath was in the tradition of the Jews.
The doors were closed: a detail which shows that the body of the risen Jesus, even though recognizable, is not subject to the ordinary laws of human life.
Peace be with you: this is not just a wish, but the actual peace promised to them when they were saddened by His departure (Jn 14:27; 2Thess 3:16; Rom 5:3), the messianic peace, the fulfillment of the promises made by God, freedom from all fear, victory over sin and death, reconciliation with God, fruit of His passion, free gift of God. This peace is repeated three times in this passage as well as in the introduction (20:19) further on (20:26) in the exact same way.
He showed them His hands and His side: Jesus provides evident and tangible proof that He is the one who was crucified. Only John records the detail of the wound in the side caused by the spear of a Roman soldier, whereas Luke mentions the wounds of the feet (Lk 24:39). In showing His wounds, Jesus wants to say that the peace He gives comes from the cross (2Tim 2:1-13). They are part of His identity as the risen One (Rev 5:6).
The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord: This is the same joy expressed by the prophet Isaiah when he describes the divine banquet (Is 25:8-9), the eschatological joy foreshadowed in the farewell discourse and that no one can take away (Jn 16:22; 20:27). Cf also Lk 24:39-40; Mt 28:8; Lk 24:41.
As the Father sent Me, so am I sending you: Jesus is the first missionary, “the apostle and high priest of the faith we profess” (Rev 3:1). After the experience of the cross and the resurrection, Jesus’ prayer to the Father comes true (Jn 13:20; 17:18; 21:15, 17). This is not a new mission, but the mission of Jesus extended to those who are His disciples, bound to Him as branches are bound to the vine (15:9), so also they are bound to His Church (Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15-18; Lk 24:47-49). The eternal Son of God was sent so that “the world might be saved through Him” (Jn 3:17) and the whole of His earthly existence, fully identified with the saving will of the Father, is a constant manifestation of that divine will that all may be saved. He leaves as an inheritance to the whole Church this historical plan, especially to ordained successors to those apostles within the Church.
He breathed on them: this action recalling the life-giving breath of God on man (Gen 2:7), does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament. It marks the beginning of a new creation.
Receive the Holy Spirit: after Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit was bestowed (Jn 7:39). Here the Spirit is transmitted for a special mission, whereas at Pentecost (Acts 2) the Holy Spirit comes down on the whole people of God.
For those whose sins you forgive they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained: we find the power to forgive or not forgive sins also in Matthew in a more juridical form (Mt 16:19; 18:18). According to the Scribes and Pharisees (Mk 2:7), and according to tradition (Is 43:25), God has the power to forgive sins. Jesus gives this power (Lk 5:24) and passes it on to His Church. In our meditation, it is better not to dwell on this text’s theological development in church tradition and the consequent theological controversies. In the fourth Gospel the expression may be taken in a wide sense. Here it is a matter of the power of forgiving sins in the Church as salvation community and those especially endowed with this power are those who share in the apostolic charism by succession and mission. In this general power is included the power to forgive sins also after baptism, what we call “the sacrament of reconciliation” expressed in various forms throughout the history of the Church.
Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve: Thomas is one of the main characters of the fourth Gospel and his doubting character, easily discouraged, is emphasized (11:16; 14:5). “One of the twelve” is by now a stereotyped expression (6:71), because in fact they were only eleven. “Didimus” means “the Twin”, and we could be his “twin” through our difficulty in believing in Jesus, Son of God, who died and rose again.
We have seen the Lord! When Andrew, John and Philip had found the Messiah, they had already run to announce the news to others (Jn 1:41-45). Now there is the official proclamation by eye-witnesses (Jn 20:18).
Unless I see the holes that the nails made in His hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into His side, I refuse to believe: Thomas cannot believe the eye-witnesses. He wants to experience the event himself. The fourth Gospel is aware of the difficulty that some may have in believing in the Resurrection (Lk 24:34-40; Mk 16:11; 1Cor 15:5-8), especially those who have not seen the risen One. Thomas is their (and our) interpreter. He is willing to believe, but he wants to personally resolve any doubt, for fear of being wrong. Jesus does not see in Thomas an indifferent skeptic, but a man in search of truth and satisfies him fully. This is, however, an occasion to express an appreciation of future believers (verse 29).
Put your finger here, look, here are My hands. Give me your hand; put it into My side. Doubt no longer but believe! Jesus repeats Thomas’ words and enters into a dialogue with him. He understands Thomas’ doubts and wishes to help him. Jesus knows that Thomas loves Him and therefore has compassion for him because Thomas does not yet enjoy the peace that comes from faith. Jesus helps him to grow in faith. In order to enter deeper into this theme, see the parallels in 1Jn 1-2; Ps 78:38, 103:13-14; Rom 5:20; 1Tim 1:14-16.
My Lord and my God! This is a profession of faith in the risen One and in His divinity as is also proclaimed in the beginning of John’s Gospel (1:1). In the Old Testament “Lord” and “God” correspond respectively to “Yahweh” and “Elohim” (Ps 35:23-24; Rev 4:11). It is the fullest and most direct paschal profession of faith in the divinity of Jesus. In Jewish circles these terms had greater value because they applied to Jesus texts concerning God. Jesus does not correct Thomas’ words as He corrected the words of the Jews who accused Him of wanting to be “equal to God” (Jn 5:18ff) thus approving the acknowledgement of His divinity.
You believe because you can see Me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe! Jesus cannot stand those who look for signs and miracles in order to believe (Jn 4:48) and He seems to take Thomas to task. Here we must remember another passage concerning a more authentic faith, a “way of perfection” towards a faith to which we must aspire without the demands of Thomas, a faith received as gift and as an act of trust, like the exemplary faith of our ancestors (Rev 11) and of Mary (Lk 1:45). Two thousand years after the coming of Jesus, we are told that, although we have not seen Him, yet we can love Him and believing in Him, we can exult with “an indescribable and glorious joy” (1 Pet 1:8).
These (signs) are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through His name. The fourth Gospel, like the other Gospels, does not mean to write a complete biography of Jesus, but only to show that Jesus was the Christ, the awaited Messiah, the Liberator, and that He was the Son of God. Believing in Him means that we possess eternal life. If Jesus is not God, then our faith is in vain!
5. ORATIO
Psalm 118 (117)
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.
Hark, glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech Thee, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech Thee, give us success!
6. CONTEMPLATIO
Closing prayer
I thank You Jesus, my Lord and my God, that You have loved me and called me, made me worthy to be Your disciple, that You have given me the Spirit, the One sent to proclaim and witness to Your resurrection, to the mercy of the Father, to salvation and pardon for all men and women in the world. You truly are the Way, the Truth and the Life, the dawn without a setting, the sun of justice and peace. Grant that I may dwell in Your love, bound to You like a branch to its vine. Grant me Your peace so that I may overcome my weaknesses, face my doubts and respond to Your call and live fully the mission You entrusted to me, praising you forever. You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
To see in the night and believe for love
John 20:1-9
1. Let us invoke the Holy Spirit
Lord Jesus Christ, today Your light shines in us, source of life and joy. Send the Spirit of love and truth, so that, like Mary Magdalene, Peter and John, we too may discover and interpret in the light of the Word, the signs of Your divine presence in our world. May we welcome these signs in faith that we may always live in the joy of Your presence among us, even when all seems to be shrouded in the darkness of sadness and evil.
2. The Gospel
a) A key to the reading:
For John the Evangelist, the resurrection of Jesus is the decisive moment in the process of His glorification, inextricably linked with the first phase of this glorification, His passion and death.
The event of the resurrection is not described in the spectacular and apocalyptic details of the synoptic Gospels. For John, the life of the Risen One asserts itself silently, in the discreet and irresistible power of the Spirit.
The state of the faith of the disciples is announced, "While it was still dark" and begins through the vision of the material signs that recall the Word of God. Jesus is the great protagonist of the story, but He does not appear personally.
b) The text:
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
c) A subdivision of the text for a better understanding:
Verse 1: introduction and events prior to the situation;
Verse 2: Mary’s reaction and the first announcement of the newly discovered fact;
Verses 3-5: the immediate reaction of the disciples and the interaction among them.
Verses 6-7: verification of the event announced by Mary;
Verses 8-9: the faith of the other disciple and its relationship to the Sacred Scriptures.
3. A moment of interior and exterior silence
to open our hearts and make room within for the Word of God:
- A slow re-reading of the whole passage;
- I too am in the garden: the empty sepulchre is before my eyes;
- I allow Mary Magdalene’s words to echo within me;
- I too run with her, Peter and the other disciple;
- I allow myself to be immersed in the joyful wonder of faith in Jesus Christ, even though, like them, I do not see Him with my bodily eyes.
4. The gift of the Word to us
* Chapter 20 in John: This is quite a fragmented text where it is clear that the editor has intervened several times to put the stress on some themes and to unify the various texts received previously from (at least three) preceding sources.
* The day after the Sabbath: it is "the first day of the week" and, in Christian circles, inherits the sacredness of the Jewish Sabbath. For Christians it is the first day of the new week, the beginning of the new time, the memorial day of the resurrection called "the day of the Lord" (dies Domini).
Here and in verse 19, the Evangelist adopts an expression that is already traditional for Christians (e.g.: Mk 16:2, 9; Acts 20:7) and is older than the expression that later became characteristic of the first evangelisation: "the third day" (e.g.: Lk 24:7, 46; Acts 10:40; 1Cor 15:4).
* Mary Magdalene: This is the same woman as the one present at the foot of the cross with other women (19:25). Here she seems to be alone, but the words in verse 2 ("we do not know") show that the original story, worked on by the Evangelist, told of more women, as is true of the other Gospels (cf. Mk 16:1-3; Mt 28:1; Lk 23:55-24:1).
However the synoptics (cf. Mk 16:1; Lk 24:1), do not specify the reason for her visit to the sepulchre, seeing that it implied that the rite of burial had already been carried out (19:40); perhaps, the only thing missing is the funereal lamentation (cf. Mk 5:38). In any case, the fourth Evangelist reduces to a minimum the story of the discovery of the empty sepulchre so as to focus the attention of the reader on what comes after.
* Early, while it was still dark: Mark (16:2) says something different, but from both we understand that it was the very early hours of the morning, when the light is very weak and still pale. Perhaps John stresses the lack of light in order to contrast symbolically the darkness - lack of faith and light - welcoming of the Gospel, of the resurrection.
* The stone had been taken away from the tomb: the Greek work is generic: the stone had been "taken away" or "removed" (different from: Mk 16:3-4).
The verb to "take away" recalls Jn 1:29: the Baptist points Jesus out as “Lamb who takes away the sin of the world". Perhaps the Evangelist wishes to recall the fact that this stone, "taken away," flung away from the sepulcher, is the material sign that death and sin have been "taken away" by the resurrection of Jesus?
* So she ran and went to Peter and the other disciple: Mary Magdalene runs to those who share her love for Jesus and her suffering for His atrocious death, now made worse by this new discovery. She turns to them, perhaps because they were the only ones who had not run away with the others and remained in contact with each other (cf. 19:15, 26 - 27 ). She wants to share at least with them this final pain of the outrage committed against His body.
We see how Peter and the "beloved disciple" and Mary Magdalene are characterized by a special love that unites them with Jesus: it is indeed reciprocal love that makes them capable of sensing the presence of the loved person.
* The other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved: is someone who appears only in this Gospel and only beginning with chapter 13, when he exhibits great intimacy with Jesus and deep understanding with Peter (13:23-25). He appears at every decisive moment of the passion and of the resurrection of Jesus, but remains anonymous and many theories have been advanced on his identity. He is probably the anonymous disciple of the Baptist who follows Jesus together with Andrew (1:35, 40). Since the fourth Gospel never speaks of John the apostle, and keeping in mind that this Gospel recounts details clearly known to an eyewitness, the "disciple" has been identified with John the apostle. The fourth Gospel has always been attributed to him even though he may not have materially written it, yet the origin of this particular tradition is that this Gospel and other writings are attributed to John. This also explains why he is someone who is somewhat idealized.
"The one whom Jesus loved": It is clear that this is an addition, not from the apostle, who would not have dared boast of having such a close relationship with the Lord, but from His disciples who wrote most of the Gospel and who coined this expression after reflection on the clearly privileged love between Jesus and him (cf. 13:25; 21:4, 7). Where we read the simpler expression "the other disciple" or "the disciple", obviously the editors did not make the same addition.
* They have taken the Lord out of the tomb: these words, which recur in verses 13 and 15, show that Mary was afraid that body-snatchers had taken the body, a thing common then, so much so that the Roman Emperor had to promulgate severe decrees to check this phenomenon. In Matthew (28:11-15), the chief priests use this possibility to discredit the resurrection of Jesus and, eventually, to justify the lack of intervention on the part of the soldiers who guarded the tomb.
* The Lord: the title "Lord" implies an acknowledgement of divinity and evokes divine omnipotence. That is why this term was used by Christians for the risen Jesus. Indeed, the fourth Evangelist uses this term only in Paschal stories (see also 20:13).
* We do not know where they have laid Him: these words recall what happened to Moses, whose place of burial was unknown (Deut 34:10). Another implicit reference is to the words of Jesus Himself when He says that it is impossible to know where He is going (7:11, 22; 8:14, 28, 42; 13:33; 14:1-5; 16:5).
* They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter…but he did not go in: This passage shows the anxiety that these disciples were living through.
The fact that the "other disciple" stopped is more than just a gesture of politeness or respect towards someone older; it is the tacit acknowledgement that Peter, within the apostolic group, held a place of pre-eminence, even though this is not stressed. It is, therefore, a sign of communion. This gesture could also be a literary device to move from the event in terms of faith in the resurrection to the following and peak moment in the story.
It is also possible that it shows hesitation or fear. As their faith was under strain at this moment, there may have been a hesitation when confronted with confirming the situation one way or the other. Would there be something to further chip at his faith or not? It could be a confirmation of what they had hoped, or nothing at all.
* The linen cloths lying and the napkin…rolled up in a place by itself: although the other disciple did not go in, he had already seen something. Peter, crossing the entrance of the sepulchre, discovers the proof that no theft of the body took place: no thief would have wasted time to unfold the body, spread the cloths in an orderly fashion (on the ground would be translated better by "spread out" or "laid carefully on the floor") and then to roll up the napkin in a place by itself. Such an operation would have been complicated also because the oils with which the body had been anointed (especially myrrh) acted like glue, causing the cloths to stick perfectly and solidly to the body, almost as what happened to mummies. Besides, the napkin is folded; the Greek verb can also mean "rolled," or it could indicate that that piece of light cloth had, in large part, preserved the form of the face over which it had been placed, almost like a mortuary mask. The cloths are the same as those cited in Jn 19:40.
Everything is in order in the sepulchre, even though the body of Jesus is not there, and Peter was well able to see inside the sepulchre because the day was breaking. Different from Lazarus (11:44), then, Christ rises, abandoning completely His funerary trappings. Ancient commentators note that, in fact, Lazarus had to use the cloths again for his definitive burial, while Christ had no further use of them because He was not to die again (cf. Rm 6:9).
* Peter…saw…the other disciple…saw and believed: at the beginning of the story, Mary Magdalene also "saw". Although some translations use the same verb, the original text uses three different verbs (theorein for Peter; blepein for the other disciple and Mary Magdalene; idein, here, for the other disciple), allowing us to understand that there is a growth in the spiritual depth of this "seeing" that, in fact, culminates in the faith of the other disciple.
The anonymous disciple had certainly not seen anything other than what Peter had observed. Perhaps he interprets what he sees differently from others because of the special relationship of love he had with Jesus (Thomas’ experience is emblematic, 29:24-29). In any case, as indicated by the tense of the Greek verb, his is still an initial faith, so much so that he cannot find ways of sharing this experience with Mary Magdalene or Peter or any of the other disciples (there is no further reference to this).
However, for the fourth Evangelist the double "see and believe" is quite meaningful and refers exclusively to faith in the resurrection of the (cf. 20:29), because it was impossible to believe truly before the Lord had died and risen (cf. 14:25-26; 16:12-15). The double vision-faith, then, characterizes the whole of this chapter, and "the beloved disciple" is presented as a model of faith who succeeds in understanding the truth about God through material (cf. also 21:7).
* As yet they did not know the Scripture: this obviously refers to all the other disciples. Even for those who had lived close to Jesus, it was difficult to believe in Him. For them, as for us as well, the only gateway that allows us to cross the threshold of authentic faith is knowledge of the Scriptures (cf. Lk 24:26-27; 1Cor 15:34; Acts 2:27-31) in the light of the events of the resurrection.
5. A few questions to direct our reflection and its practice
a) What, in the concrete, does it mean for us "to believe in Jesus the Risen One"? What difficulties do we encounter? Does the resurrection solely concern Jesus or is it really the foundation of our faith?
b) The relationship that we see between Peter, the other disciple and Mary Magdalene is clearly one of great communion in Jesus. In what persons, realities, or institutions do we today find this same understanding of love and the same "common union" founded on Jesus? Where can we read the concrete signs of the great love for the Lord and "His own" that inspired all the disciples?
c) We see three levels of growth in faith here: Mary, who sees but does not go deeper and instead asks for help to learn more, the other disciple, who is energetic and enthusiastic, yet stops short of totally being immersed in the truth, and Peter, who goes in entirely, to be fully involved in the truth within. These can represent different levels in the growth of one's faith as well. Where am I in this and who best represents my approach to being fully involved in the Lord?
6. Let us pray asking for grace and praising God
A hymn taken from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians (paraphrase of 1:17-23).
The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation
in the knowledge of Him,
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you,
what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power
in us who believe, according to the working of His great might
which He accomplished in Christ when He raised Him from the dead
and made Him sit at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,
and above every name that is named,
not only in this age but also in that which is to come;
and He has put all things under His feet
and has made Him the head over all things for the church,
which is His body,
the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
7. Closing prayer
The liturgical context is of great importance in praying this Gospel and the event of the resurrection of Jesus, which is the hub of our faith and of our Christian life. The sequence that characterizes the Eucharistic liturgy of today and of the whole week leads us to praise the Father and the Lord Jesus.
Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer sacrifice and praise.
The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;
and Christ, the undefiled
has sinners to His Father reconciled.
Death with life contended:
Combat strangely ended!
Life’s own Champion, slain,
Yet lives to reign.
Tell us Mary:
say what you see upon the way.
The tomb the living did enclose;
I saw Christ’s glory as He rose!
The angels there attesting;
Shroud with grave-clothes resting.
Christ, my hope, has risen:
He goes before you into Galilee.
That Christ is truly risen from the dead
we know.
Victorious king,
your mercy show.
We may conclude our prayer also with this lively invocation by a contemporary poet, Marco Guzzi:
Love, Love, Love!
I wish to feel, live and express all this Love,
Which is a joyful commitment in the world
and a happy contact with the others.
Only You free me, only You release me.
And the snows fall to water
the greenest of valleys in creation.
The Passion and Death of Jesus according to Mark
The final defeat as a new call
Mark 14:1 - 15:47
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
2. A reading of the Passion and Death of Jesus according to Mark
a) A key to the reading:
Generally, when we read the story of the passion and death, we look at Jesus and the suffering He had to endure. But it is worthwhile, at least once, to also look at the disciples and see how they reacted to the cross and how the cross impacted on their lives, for the cross is a measure for comparison!
Mark writes for the communities of the 70’s. Many of these communities, whether in Italy or Syria, were going through their own passion. They were faced with the cross in many ways. They had been persecuted at the time of Nero in the 60’s and many had died, devoured by wild beasts. Others had betrayed, denied or abandoned their faith in Jesus, like Peter, Judas and other disciples. Others asked themselves: “Can I bear persecution?” Others were tired after persevering through many trials without any results. Among those who had abandoned their faith, some asked themselves whether it was possible to rejoin the community. They wanted to start their journey again, but did not know if it was possible to rejoin. A cut branch has no roots! They all needed new and strong reasons to restart their journey. They were in need of a renewed experience of the love of God, one that surpassed their human errors. Where could they find this?
For them, as for us, the answer is in chapters 14 to 16 of Mark’s Gospel, which describe the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, the time of the greatest defeat of the disciples and, in a hidden way, their greatest hope. Let us look into the mirror of these chapters to see how the disciples reacted to the Cross and how Jesus reacts to the infidelity and weaknesses of the disciples. Let us try to discover how Mark encourages the faith of the community and how he describes the one who is truly a disciple of Jesus.
b) Looking into the mirror of the Passion to know how to be a faithful disciple
* Mark 14:1-9: Introduction to the story of the passion and death of Jesus
The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to take place in two days' time. So the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to arrest him by treachery and put him to death. They said, "Not during the festival, for fear that there may be a riot among the people."When he was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head. There were some who were indignant. "Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? It could have been sold for more than three hundred days' wages and the money given to the poor." They were infuriated with her. Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me. The poor you will always have with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
Mark 14:1-2: The conspiracy against Jesus.
At the end of His missionary activity, Jesus goes to Jerusalem and is expected by those who hold power: the Priests, Elders, Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and Romans. They control the situation.... they will not allow Jesus, a carpenter from the interior of Galilee, to provoke disorder. They had already decided to put Jesus to death (Mk 11:18; 12:12). Jesus was a condemned man. Now, what He himself had foretold to His disciples will happen: “The Son of Man is destined to be put to death” (cf. Mk 8:31; 9:31; 10:33). This is the background to the story of the passion that follows.
The story of the passion will show that the true disciple who accepts to follow Jesus, the Messiah Servant, and who accepts to dedicate his or her life to the service of his or her brothers and sisters, must take up the cross and follow Jesus. If the story of the passion emphasizes defeat and failure, this is not so as to discourage the readers. On the contrary, it is rather to stress that the welcoming and loving of Jesus is stronger than the defeat and failure of the disciples!
Mark 14:3-9: A faithful disciple.
A woman, whose name is not mentioned, anoints Jesus with an expensive perfume (Mk 14:3). The disciples criticize this gesture. They think it is a waste (Mk 14:4-5). But Jesus defends her: “Why are you upsetting her? What she has done for Me is a good work… she has anointed My body beforehand for its burial” (Mk 14:6.8). In those days, those who died crucified were neither buried nor could they be embalmed. Knowing this, the woman anticipates and anoints the body of Jesus before His sentence and crucifixion. This gesture shows that she accepts Jesus as the Messiah Servant who will die on the cross. Jesus understands the gesture of the woman and approves of it. Earlier, Peter had rejected the idea of a Crucified Messiah (Mk 8:32). This anonymous woman is the faithful disciple, model for His disciples who had understood nothing. This model is for all, “throughout all the world” (Mk 14:9).
* Mark 14:10-31: The disciples’ attitude towards the Cross
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests to hand him over to them. When they heard him they were pleased and promised to pay him money. Then he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?" 'Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there. "The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he came with the Twelve. And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. "They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, "Surely it is not I?" He said to them, "One of the Twelve, the one who dips with me into the dish. For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born. "While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. "Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed. But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee. "Peter said to him,"Even though all should have their faith shaken, mine will not be. "Then Jesus said to him, "Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times. "But he vehemently replied," Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you." And they all spoke similarly.
Mark 14:10-11. Judas decides to betray Jesus.
In complete contrast with the woman, Judas, one of the twelve, decides to betray Jesus and conspires with the enemies who promise him money. Judas goes on living with Jesus, with the sole objective of finding an occasion to hand Jesus over. When Mark was writing his Gospel, there were disciples who were waiting for the right moment to leave the community that was the cause of their persecution. Or, perhaps, they were waiting for the moment to draw some advantage by handing over their companions.
Mark 14:12-16. Preparation for the Paschal Supper.
Jesus knows that He will be betrayed. But, in spite of the betrayal by a friend, He lives the Paschal Supper in a fraternal atmosphere with His disciples. He must have spent a lot of money for the hall, “the large upper room furnished with couches” (Mk 14:15), because this was the eve of Passover. The city was full of people because of the feast. It was difficult to find and reserve a place.
Mark 14:17-21. The announcement of Judas’ betrayal.
Together for the last time, Jesus announces that one of His disciples will betray Him, “one of you eating with me!” (Mk 14:18). This manner of speaking by Mark emphasizes the contrast. For Jews, eating together, the sharing of the table, was the greatest expression of intimacy and trust. Thus, in three lines, Mark conveys the following message to his readers: the betrayal will take place at the hands of a close friend, but the love of Jesus is greater than the betrayal!
Mark 14:22-25. The Eucharist, the celebration of the Paschal Supper.
During the celebration, Jesus shares something. He shares bread and wine, an expression of the giving of himself and invites His friends to take His body and His blood. The Evangelist places this gesture of giving (Mk 14:22-25) between the announcement of the betrayal (Mk 14:17-21) and the flight and the denial (Mk 14:26-31). Thus, he emphasizes the contrast between the gesture of Jesus and that of the disciples, he brings out for the community of his time and for all of us the immense gratuitousness of the love of Jesus that overcomes the betrayal, the denial and the flight of His friends.
Mark 14:26-28. The announcement of the flight of all.
After supper, as He was on His way with the disciples to the mount of Olives, Jesus announces that they would all abandon Him. They will flee and disperse! But even then He says: “After My resurrection I shall go before you into Galilee!” (Mk 14:28) They fall away from Jesus, but Jesus does not fall away from them. He goes on waiting for them in the same place, in Galilee, where three years before He had first called them. The certainty of the presence of Jesus in the life of a disciple is stronger than abandonment or flight! It is always possible to come back.
Mark 14:29-31. The announcement of Peter’s denial.
Simon, called Cephas (rock), is anything but rock. He already had been “a stumbling block” (Mt 16:23) and Satan for Jesus (Mk 8:33), and now he pretends to be the most faithful disciple of all. “Even if all fall away, I will not!” (Mk 14:29). But Jesus says: Peter, you will be the first to deny Me, even before the cockcrow!
* Mark 14:32-52: The attitude of the disciples in the Garden of Olives
Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples,"Sit here while I pray."He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be troubled and distressed. Then he said to them, "My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch. "He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass by him; he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will. "When he returned he found them asleep. He said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. "Withdrawing again, he prayed, saying the same thing. Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open and did not know what to answer him. He returned a third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up, let us go. See, my betrayer is at hand. "Then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. His betrayer had arranged a signal with them, saying, "The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him and lead him away securely. "He came and immediately went over to him and said, "Rabbi." And he kissed him. At this they laid hands on him and arrested him. One of the bystanders drew his sword, struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his ear. Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs, to seize me? Day after day I was with you teaching in the temple area, yet you did not arrest me; but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. "And they all left him and fled. Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.
Mark 14:32-42. The attitude of the disciples during Jesus’ agony.
In the Garden, Jesus begins His agony and asks Peter, James and John to pray for Him. He is sad and begins to be afraid, He seeks the support of His friends. But they fall asleep. They are not able to watch an hour with Him. And this three times! Again, we see an immense contrast between the attitude of Jesus and that of the three disciples! It is here in the Garden and at the time of the agony of Jesus that the courage of the disciples disintegrates. It is also a sign that the disciples didn’t fully understand what was to happen.
Mark 14:43-52. The attitude of the disciples when Jesus was arrested
When night fell, the soldiers led by Judas come. The kiss, a sign of friendship and love, becomes the sign of betrayal. Judas lacks the courage to face his betrayal. He hides it! During His arrest, Jesus stays calm, master of the situation. He tries to read the meaning of what is happening: “This is to fulfill the scriptures!” (Mk 14:49) But all the disciples left Him and fled (Mk 14:50). No one stayed. Jesus was alone!
* Mark 14:53-15,20: The trial: different conflicting views of the Messiah.
They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. Peter followed him at a distance into the high priest's courtyard and was seated with the guards, warming himself at the fire. The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they found none. Many gave false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. Some took the stand and testified falsely against him, alleging, "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.'"Even so their testimony did not agree. The high priest rose before the assembly and questioned Jesus, saying, "Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?"But he was silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him and said to him,"Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?"Then Jesus answered, "I am; and 'you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.'"At that the high priest tore his garments and said,"What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"They all condemned him as deserving to die. Some began to spit on him. They blindfolded him and struck him and said to him, "Prophesy!"And the guards greeted him with blows. While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said,"You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus."But he denied it saying,"I neither know nor understand what you are talking about."So he went out into the outer court. Then the cock crowed. The maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders,"This man is one of them."Once again he denied it. A little later the bystanders said to Peter once more,"Surely you are one of them; for you too are a Galilean."He began to curse and to swear,"I do not know this man about whom you are talking."And immediately a cock crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him,"Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times."He broke down and wept. As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him,"Are you the king of the Jews?"He said to him in reply, "You say so."The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him,"Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of."Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. Pilate answered,"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?"For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate again said to them in reply,"Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?"They shouted again, "Crucify him."Pilate said to them, "Why? What evil has he done?"They only shouted the louder, "Crucify him."So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorian, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, All Hail, King of the Jews!"and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.
Mark 14:53-65. Jesus is condemned by the Supreme Court
Jesus is led before the court of the High Priests, of the Elders and the Scribes, called the Sanhedrin. False accusations were made against Him. He keeps quiet. Without any defense, He is handed over to His enemies. He thus fulfills what Isaiah said about the Servant Messiah, who was taken prisoner, judged and condemned like a lamb He never opened His mouth (cf. Is 53:6-8). When interrogated, Jesus accepts the fact that He is the Messiah: “I am!”, but He accepts this under the title of Son of Man (Mk 14:62). Finally He is slapped by people who laugh at Him calling Him Messiah Prophet (Mk 14:65).
Mark 14:66-72. Peter’s denial.
Peter is recognized by a servant girl as one of those who was in the Garden. Peter denies this. He denies this swearing and cursing. Not even this time is he capable of accepting Jesus as Messiah Servant who gives His life for others. But when the cock crows for the second time, he remembers the words of Jesus and begins to cry. This is what happens to those who are close to people but whose head is lost in the ideology of the Herodians and the Pharisees. This was probably the situation of many in the communities of the time when Mark was writing his Gospel.
Mark 15:1-20. Jesus is sentenced by the Roman powers
The trial goes on. Jesus is handed over to the Roman powers and accused of being Messiah King (Mk 15:2; cf. Mk 15:26). Others suggest the alternative of Barabbas, “in prison with the rebels” (Mk 15:7). They see Jesus as an anti-Roman Warring Messiah. After He is sentenced, they spit on Jesus, but He will not open His mouth. Here again we see the Messiah Servant announced by Isaiah (cf Is 50:6-8).
* Mark 15:21-39: Before the Cross of Jesus on Calvary
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. They brought him to the place of Golgotha— which is translated Place of the Skull —They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews. "With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying,"Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross."Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said,"He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe."Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him. At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Some of the bystanders who heard it said, "Look, he is calling Elijah." One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying, "Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down." Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
Mark 15:21-22. Simon carries the cross
As Jesus was being led to the place of crucifixion, Simon of Cyrene, the father of a family, was forced to carry the Cross. Simon is the ideal disciple who walks along the way that Jesus walks. He literally carries the cross behind Jesus up to Calvary.
Mark 15:23-32. The crucifixion.
Jesus is crucified as one marginalized, between two thieves. Again, the Gospel of Mark recalls the image of the Messiah Servant, of whom Isaiah says: “He was given a grave with the wicked” (Is 53:9). The crime ascribed to Him is “King of the Jews!” (Mk 15:25) The religious authorities ridicule and insult Jesus and say: “come down from the cross now, for us to see and believe!” (Mk 15:32). They are like Peter. They would accept Christ as Messiah if He came down from the cross. As the hymn says: “They wanted a great king who would be strong, dominating, and for this they did not believe in Him and killed the Savior”.
Mark 15:33-39. Jesus’ death.
Abandoned by everyone, Jesus lets out a great cry and dies. The centurion, a pagan, who was keeping guard, makes a solemn profession of faith: “In truth this man was Son of God!” A pagan discovers and accepts what the disciples were not able to discover and accept, that is to see the presence of the Son of God in this tortured, excluded and crucified human being. Like the anonymous woman at the beginning of these two chapters (Mk 14:3-9), so at the end there appears another model disciple, the centurion, a pagan!
* Mark 15:40-47: At the sepulcher of Jesus
There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. When it was already evening, since it was the day of preparation, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a distinguished member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died. And when he learned of it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid.
Mark 15:40-47. The burial of Jesus
A group of women watch from a distance: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. They do not run away. They remain faithful to the end. They witness the death of Jesus. It is from this little group that the new announcement on Easter Sunday will come. They go with Joseph of Arimathea who has asked permission to bury Jesus. After that, two of them, Magdalene and Mary, stay near the closed sepulcher. They also witness the burial of Jesus.
c) The final failure as a new call to be disciple
This is the story of the passion and death of Jesus seen from the point of view of the disciples. The frequency with which this story speaks of the incomprehension and failure of the disciples, most probably corresponds to a historical fact. But the main interest of the Evangelist is not to tell that which took place in the past, rather he wants to provoke a conversion in the Christians of his time and to arouse in them and us a new hope, capable of overcoming discouragement and death. There are three things that stand out and need to be considered deeply:
i) The failure of those chosen: The twelve who were specially called and chosen by Jesus (Mk 3:13-19) and sent in mission by Him (Mk 16:7-13), fail. Judas betrays, Peter denies, all run away, no one stays. Total dispersion! Seemingly, there is not much difference between them and the authorities who decree the death of Jesus. Like Peter, they too want to eliminate the cross and want a glorious Messiah, king, blessed son of God. But there is one deep and real difference! The disciples, in spite of all their faults and weaknesses, hold no malice. They do not have any evil intention. They are an almost faithful replica of all of us who walk the way of Jesus, falling all the time but always getting up again!
ii) Fidelity of those not chosen: As a counterpoint to the failure of some, the strength of faith of others is presented, those who were not part of the chosen twelve: 1. An anonymous woman from Bethany. She accepted Jesus as Messiah Servant and, thus, she anoints Him in anticipation of His burial. Jesus praises her. She is a model for all. 2. Simon of Cyrene, father of a family. He is forced by the soldiers to do that which Jesus had asked of the twelve who ran away. He carries the cross behind Jesus to Calvary. 3. The centurion, a pagan. At the moment of death, he makes his profession of faith and recognizes the Son of God in the tortured and crucified man, one cursed according to Jewish law. 4. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, “and many other women were there who had come up to Jerusalem with Him” (Mk 15:41). They did not abandon Jesus, but determinedly stayed at the foot of the cross and close to the tomb of Jesus. 5. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, who risked everything by asking for the body of Jesus to bury Him. The twelve failed. The continuation of the message of the Kingdom did not pass through them, but through others, particularly the women, who will be given a clear order to go call back those failed men (Mk 16:7).
iii) The attitude of Jesus: The manner in which the Gospel of Mark presents the attitude of Jesus during the telling of the passion is meant to give hope even to the most discouraged and failed of the disciples! Because no matter how great the betrayal of the Twelve was, the love of Jesus was always greater! When Jesus announces that the disciples will run away, He already tells them that He will wait for them in Galilee. Even though He knew of the betrayal (Mk 14:18), the denial (Mk 14:30), the flight (Mk 14:27), He goes on with the gesture of the Eucharist. And on the morning of Easter, the angel, through the women, sends a message to Peter who had denied Him, and to all the others who had fled, that they must go to Galilee. The place where everything had begun is the place where everything will begin again. The failure of the twelve does not bring about a break in the covenant signed and sealed in the blood of Jesus.
d) The model of the disciple: Follow, Service, Go up
Mark emphasizes the presence of the women who follow and serve Jesus from the time He was in Galilee and who go up to Jerusalem with Him (Mk 15:40-41). Mark uses three verbs to define the relationship of the women with Jesus: Follow! Serve! Go up! They "followed and looked after" Jesus and together with many other women “went up with Him to Jerusalem" (Mk 15:41). These are the three words that define an ideal disciple. They are the models for the other disciples who had fled!
* Follow describes the call of Jesus and the decision to follow Him (Mk 1:18). This decision implies leaving everything and running the risk of being killed (Mk 8:34; 10:28).
* Serve says that they are true disciples, for service is the characteristic of the disciple and of Jesus himself (Mk 10:42-45).
* Go up says that they are qualified witnesses of the death and resurrection of Jesus, because as disciples they will go with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem (Acts 13:31).
Having witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, they will also witness to what they have seen and experienced. It is the experience of our baptism. "So, by our baptism into His death we were buried with Him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glorious power, we too should begin living a new life" (Rm 6:4). Through baptism, we all share in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
3. An aid to reflection
i) What would you have done were you present? Would you have acted like the men or the women?
ii) What touched you most in the attitude of Jesus concerning His disciples in the narration of His passion and death? Why?
iii) What is the special message of the narration of the passion and death in Mark’s Gospel? Have you worked out the differences between the narration of the passion and death in the Gospel of Mark and that in the other Gospels? What are these differences?
4. Prayer of a Psalm: Psalm 22 (21)
The Psalm that Jesus prayed on the Cross
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
The words of My groaning do nothing to save Me.
My God, I call by day but You do not answer, at night,
but I find no respite.
Yet You, the Holy One,
who make Your home in the praises of Israel,
in You our ancestors put their trust,
they trusted and You set them free.
To You they called for help and were delivered;
in You they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm, less than human,
scorn of mankind, contempt of the people;
all who see Me jeer at Me,
they sneer and wag their heads,
'He trusted himself to Yahweh,
let Yahweh set him free!
Let Him deliver him,
as He took such delight in him.'
It was You who drew Me from the womb
and soothed Me on My mother's breast.
On You was I cast from My birth,
from the womb I have belonged to You.
Do not hold aloof,
for trouble is upon Me,
and no one to help Me!
Many bulls are encircling Me,
wild bulls of Bashan closing in on Me.
Lions ravening and roaring open their jaws at Me.
My strength is trickling away,
My bones are all disjointed,
My heart has turned to wax,
melting inside Me.
My mouth is dry as earthenware,
My tongue sticks to My jaw.
You lay Me down in the dust of death.
A pack of dogs surrounds Me,
a gang of villains closing in on Me
as if to hack off My hands and My feet.
I can count every one of My bones,
while they look on and gloat;
they divide My garments among them
and cast lots for My clothing.
Yahweh, do not hold aloof!
My strength, come quickly to My help,
rescue My soul from the sword,
the one life I have from the grasp of the dog!
Save Me from the lion's mouth,
My poor life from the wild bulls' horns!
I shall proclaim Your name to My brothers,
praise You in full assembly:
'You who fear Yahweh, praise Him!
All the race of Jacob, honor Him!
Revere Him, all the race of Israel!'
For He has not despised
nor disregarded the poverty of the poor,
has not turned away His face,
but has listened to the cry for help.
Of You is My praise in the thronged assembly,
I will perform My vows before all who fear Him.
The poor will eat and be filled,
those who seek Yahweh will praise Him,
'May Your heart live for ever.'
The whole wide world will remember
and return to Yahweh,
all the families of nations bow down before Him.
For to Yahweh,
ruler of the nations,
belongs kingly power!
All who prosper on earth will bow before Him,
all who go down to the dust will do reverence before Him.
And those who are dead,
their descendants will serve Him,
will proclaim His name to generations
still to come;
and these will tell of His saving justice
to a people yet unborn: He has fulfilled it.
5. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
We wish to see Jesus
John 12:20-33
1. Opening prayer
Father, hear our prayer: we implore You to send Your Spirit abundantly upon us, so that we may learn to listen to Your voice that proclaimed the glory of Your Son who gives himself for our salvation. May this attentive and concerned listening germinate in us a new hope so that we may follow wholeheartedly our Master and Redeemer, even in difficult and dark moments. Who lives and reigns forever and ever.
2. Reading
a) The context:
We have come to the end of the "book of signs", which is the interpretative key that John uses in his Gospel and is already foreshadowing the deadly conflict between the ruling class and Jesus. This passage is like a hinge between what John has told us up to now and ends with this appearance of the "peoples" (marked by the term "Greeks"), and that which is about to take place. John subdivides the next events into two sections. The first section is the dialogue with the disciples alone, in the context of the paschal supper (cc. 13-17); the second will be the public scene of the passion and the apparitions as the risen one (cc. 18-21).
This passage may not be entirely real. It wishes to point out that the opening to the people began with Jesus himself. It is not a question of going to others to convince them of something, but above all of welcoming their seeking and bringing it to maturity. This kind of maturity does not happen by itself but requires the collaboration of others and dialogue with Jesus. John does not tell us whether Jesus spoke to the Greeks. The text seems to abbreviate the story when it points to the "kind of Jesus" those who seek Him must go towards. It is the Jesus who gives His life, who bears fruit through His death. Not, therefore, a "philosopher" or "wise" Jesus, but above all one who is not attached to His own life and who gave His life and placed himself at the service of everyone else’s life.
Verses 27-33, which show the anguished and troubled soul of Jesus when faced with His imminent death, are also called "the Gethsemane of the fourth Gospel", in parallel with the Synoptic Gospels concerning the painful vigil of Jesus in Gethsemane. That which happens to a grain of wheat, that is, only when it breaks and dies can it free all its vitality, is also true of Jesus who in dying will show all His love by giving His life. The story of the grain of wheat is the story of Jesus and of every disciple who wishes to serve Him and have life in Him.
b) The text:
Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus. "Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. "I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. "Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again. "The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, "An angel has spoken to him."Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
3. A moment of silent prayer
to re-read the text with our heart and to recognize in the words and structure, the presence of the mystery of the living God.
4. Some questions
to see the important points in the text and begin to assimilate them.
a) Why is it that precisely Philip and Andrew were the ones approached?
b) What were the "Greeks" really seeking?
c) Have we sometimes been asked similar questions concerning faith, the Church, or Christian life?
d) Jesus does not seem to have met the "Greeks" but He made reference to His coming "hour". Why?
e) Did Jesus expect them to answer in set forms? Or through their witness?
5. A deepening of the reading
"Sir we wish to see Jesus"
This is the request some "Greeks" put to Philip. It is told that they "went up to worship at the feast". They were probably those "who feared God" of whom the New Testament frequently speaks, people who were sympathizers of the Jewish religion, even though they were not Jews. They may have been of "Syro-Phoenician origin as Mark tells us (7:26), when he speaks of the woman who sought the healing of her daughter. By their request, we may think that these "Greeks" were just curious to meet a famous and much talked of person.
But the context within which John places this request shows that they really sought Jesus with all their heart. Especially since they come immediately after it is written: "The whole world followed Him" (Jn 12:19). Then Jesus comments on the statement with "the coming of the hour of the Son of man". The fact that they went to Philip, and Philip then went to Andrew, is due to the fact that both of them came from Bethsaida, a city where people came from mixed background and one needed to understand several languages. These two represent two sensibilities: Philip is more traditional (as we can see from his words when he meets Jesus (Jn 1:45); while Andrew had already participated in John’s movement and was more open to new things (cf. Jn 1:41). This is to show that the community that opens itself to pagans, that welcomes the request of those who seek with a curious heart, is welcomed by a community that lives in a variety of sensibilities.
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth…"
Jesus’ reply seems to be less interested in the Greeks who wish to see Him, and more directed to all, the disciples as well as the Greeks. He sees frontiers opening, hears the tumultuous following of the peoples, but He wishes to point out that this fame, which has attracted them, this "glory" that they would like to know more closely, is quite different from their expectations. His is a life that is about to be destroyed, a "word" that is about to be silenced, trampled to death, buried in the bowels of hatred and the earth to make it disappear. Thus instead of seeing glory in human form, they stand before a "glory" that reveals itself through suffering and death.
This is true for them, but it is also true for every Christian community that wishes to open itself to "Greeks". Such a community must "consult" with the Lord, that is, it must keep in contact with this facet, this death for life, must give its own contemplation of the mystery and not just provide ideas. It must live in full detachment from security and human gratification, so that it may serve the Lord and, it too, receive honor from the Father. Attachment to one’s life and to worldly wisdom – and in the Greek world these were important values – is the great obstacle to a true "knowledge of Jesus". To serve the name of the Lord, welcome the request of those who "seek Him", bring these seekers to Jesus, without living according to the Lord, without above all giving witness to sharing one’s choice of life, one’s gift of life, is useless.
"How is my soul troubled"
This "disquiet" of Jesus is another very interesting element. It is not easy to suffer. The flesh rebels, the natural tendency is to flee from suffering. Jesus too felt this same repugnance and had the same horror before a death that promised to be painful and humiliating. His question, "And what shall I say?", reveals this trembling, this fear, this temptation to avoid such a death. John places this difficult moment before the last supper. The Synoptics, however, place it at the prayer in Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42; Mt 26:36-46; Lk 22:39-46). However, they are all agreed about this trembling and trouble, which makes Him like us, fragile and afraid.
But Jesus deals with this anguish by "entrusting himself" to the Father, reminding himself that this is His plan, that the whole of His life is directed precisely to this hour, that it is here that He reveals himself and makes sense. We know well that the theme of the hour is very important for John: see the first mention at the wedding feast of Cana (Jn 2:4) and then frequently (Jn 4:21; 7:6.8.30; 8:20; 11:9; 13:1; 17:1). It is not so much a matter of a precise time as of a decisive circumstance towards which everything is pointing.
"I will draw all people to myself"
Seen apart from the homicidal violence of one who felt threatened, the hanging on the cross becomes a real elevation, that is, the exhibiting of one who is salvation and blessing for all. From the violence that wanted to marginalize and eliminate, we move to the force exercised by that icon of the elevated. This is an "attraction" generated by curiosity, but which through love will become the source of discipleship, of allegiance in all those who can go beyond the physical event and see in Him total free gift of self.
It will no longer be seen as the ignominious death that creates distance, but the source of a mysterious attraction, a way that gives new meanings to life. A life given that generates life; a life killed that generates hope and new solidarity, new communion, new freedom.
6. Psalm 125
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of 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.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negev!
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!
Whoever goes forth weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.
7. Closing prayer
Lord our God, keep Your Son’s disciples from the easy ways of popularity, of cheap glory, and lead them to the ways of the poor and scourged of the earth, so that they may recognize in their faces the face of the Master and Redeemer. Give them eyes to see possible ways of peace and solidarity; ears to hear the requests of sense and salvation of so many people who seek as by feeling; enrich their hearts with generous fidelity and a sensitivity and understanding so that they may walk along the way and be true and sincere witnesses to the glory that shines in the crucified resurrected and victorious one. Who lives and reigns gloriously with You, Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus, Light of the World
John 3:14-21
1. Opening prayer
Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of Your dwelling place,
lead our mind to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May our feelings, impoverished as they are,
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night,
and may it open our hearts to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
bringing us,
who have kept vigil us close to the divine Master,
the flavor of the holy memory.
1. LECTIO
a) The text:
Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ”For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
b) A moment of silence:
Let us allow the voice of the Word to resonate within us.
2. MEDITATIO
a) Some questions:
- God has loved the world so much…: how many judgments and prejudices on what we think is an insensitive and far away God. Would this not be, perhaps, because we attribute to Him that which instead are our responsibilities?
- Light came into the world, but men have preferred darkness: whoever deludes himself by being only man and lives away from God cannot choose the light, because the illusion would vanish. How much darkness surrounds my days?
- Whoever does the truth comes out into the light. He is not afraid to show what he is. Man is not asked to be infallible, but simply to be man. Are we capable of living our weakness as a place of encounter and of openness to God as well as to others, who like myself, need to work faithfully in their space and in their time?
b) Key to the reading:
3:14-15. “As Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him”. For the sons of Israel, who were bitten by the poisonous snakes in the desert, Moses offered the possibility of salvation by looking at the bronze serpent. If man succeeds in raising his head and looking on high, God prepares an alternative for him. He does not oblige but is there, available. The mystery of human liberty, of freedom, is the most lovable thing which God could invent! The choice of a look, of an encounter, of a new opportunity… the Son of Man in the desert of the world will be raised up on the cross as a sign of salvation for all those who will feel the need to continue living and will not allow themselves to be bitten by poisonous mistaken choices. Christ is there: cursed is he who has no faith, blessed is he who believes. We, like the Israelites in the desert, have been “bitten” by the serpent in Eden, and we need to look at the bronze serpent raised up on the staff of wood in order not to die: “Whoever believes in him has eternal life”.
3:16. For, in fact, God has loved the world so much, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life. God loves us with a preferential love, a tangible love, a love which speaks… Could the Father come directly? Yes, but is the love of a Father, who gives His only Son, not greater? Every mother, if she is able to choose, prefers to die herself rather than see her son die. God has loved us so much, to the point of seeing His Son die!
3:17. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through Him the world would be saved. A God capable of a perfect judgment sends the Son not to judge but to be a place of salvation. Truly, it is necessary to discard every thought and to place oneself before such a great love. Only the One who loves can “judge,” that is, “save”. He knows the fragility of the human heart and knows that His image, which has been darkened, has the possibility to be clear again. It is not necessary to make it anew. The logic of life does not know death: God, who is life, cannot destroy what He himself has wanted to create. That, in some way, would be to destroy himself.
3:18. No one who believes in Him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the Name of God’s only Son. Faith is the discriminating element in every existence. Not to believe in the name of the Only Begotten Son: this is already a condemnation, because he who does not accept love excludes himself from love!
3:19-20. And the judgment is this: though the light has come into the world, people have preferred darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, to prevent his actions from being seen. The only judgment, by which humanity is invested, is the call to live in the light. When the sun rises, nothing can escape from its rays… and the same thing for men. When Christ is born, nobody can escape from this light which inundates everything. But men have constructed their houses to be able to flee from the light of the Love which sheds itself everywhere, houses of egotism, houses of opportunity. They have intertwined tunnels and hiding places to continue freely to carry out their deeds. And can a work deprived of light bear fruit? The light of existence has only one source: God. He who withdraws from the light dies.
3:21. But whoever does the truth comes out into the light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God. Everything which is under the rays of eternal love is filled with light as it happens in nature. It seems that everything smiles when the sun shines. The things which during the day are familiar and beautiful, at night, take a form which inspires fear by the fact that they are not visible. The sun does not change its form, but it exalts it in its beauty. Whoever lives the truth of himself and accepts his fragility as an ornament of his being a man is not afraid of light because he has nothing to hide. He knows that as a creature he acts in the logic of limitation, but this does not diminish the greatness of his work because his life is one with eternal truth.
c) Reflection:
The garden becomes a desert for the man who draws himself away from God. And in the desert of his limitations as man he once again finds the poisonous bites of the serpent. But God does not abandon His children, and when they withdraw from Him, he follows them, ready to intervene when necessary. A serpent, the symbol of healing, is raised every time that the poison weakens the life in man, Christ the Lord. If man prefers to look down to the ground and to remain in the desert of “I do it myself,” God, just the same, offers Himself: as a serpent, as the only way in which man can recognize Him. Christ has made Himself sin, damned, in order to save His image, in order not to let human life die out. Condemnation does not belong to God; it is man’s choice. I am completely free. God’s freedom has a price of condemnation. Only people who are not intelligent enough do not profit from a gift which is given to them. It is simply foolish not to accept what is best so as not to feel as debtors. In the sphere of love the word “debt” does not exist, because gratuitousness is the only term that can be consulted. With the word, gratuitousness light explodes: everything becomes possible, everything becomes an occasion. Works done in darkness or works done in God. It is better to go frequently to halls filled by the sunshine of a never finished apprenticeship! At least there life grows and joy fills all things with beauty.
3. ORATIO
Psalm 35
Sin is the oracle of the wicked
in the depths of his heart;
there is no fear of God before his eyes.
He sees himself with too flattering an eye
to detect and detest his guilt;
all he says is malicious and deceitful;
he has turned his back on wisdom.
To get his way
he hatches malicious plots even in his bed;
once set on his evil course
no wickedness is too much for him.
Yahweh, Your faithful love is in the heavens,
Your constancy reaches to the clouds,
Your saving justice is like towering mountains,
Your judgments like the mighty deep.
Yahweh, You support both man and beast;
how precious, God, is Your faithful love.
So the children of Adam
take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
They feast on the bounty of Your house,
You let them drink from Your delicious streams;
in You is the source of life,
by Your light we see the light.
Maintain Your faithful love
to those who acknowledge You
and Your saving justice to the honest of heart.
Do not let the foot of the arrogant overtake me
or wicked hands drive me away.
There they have fallen, the evil-doers,
flung down, never to rise again.
4. CONTEMPLATIO
When holy fear abandons me, Oh Lord, I feel sin which speaks in my heart: these are moments of illusion, moments in which I go to look for my failures. I experience the sense of guilt without end, and all this is useless because I have not understood that it is only in doing good, that the iniquitous and misleading words of evil are extinguished. To be obstinate to evil is an attraction, almost as if this would give me more importance and honor, more value. When I become aware that what you give me and allow me to live is immense, then I perceive the great abyss of Your fidelity, and I see how Your salvation does not know any limits. Everything inundates and takes me with it, me who are in Your image and all that You have created for me and to which I have given a name. Truly, Your grace is precious. In Your house the abundance of protection is in force, and pleasure and delight flow like water. If I look through Your eyes, Lord, then everything is light. And nothing is now difficult, because my heart, purified from temptation of being God in Your place, tells me that I will be God with You. Rivalry, competition, hostility… vanish in the face of Your offer to participate in Your divine life. God with you. You, the source of the image and I a reflection of that image! Your love as sap runs through the heart, through the depth of my humanity until I find my origin: in your Name.
The one longed-for by all
The presentation of the Child in the Temple
Luke 2:22-40
1. Opening prayer
O God, our Creator and Father, you willed that your Son, generated before the dawn of the world, should become a member of the human family. Rekindle in us an appreciation for the gift of life, so that parents may participate in the fruitfulness of your love, old people may pass on to young ones their mature wisdom, and children may grow in wisdom, piety and grace, all giving praise to your holy name. Through Christ our Lord.
2. Reading: Luke 2:22-40
22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; 30 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation 31 which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel."
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; 34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed."
36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, 37 and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.
3. A moment of prayerful silence
- that the Word of God may dwell in us and that we may allow it to enlighten our lives;
- that before we pass any comments, the very light of the Word may shine and dominate with the mystery of the living presence of the Lord.
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) Why should Jesus, Son of the Most High, and his mother Mary, conceived without sin, obey the prescriptions of Moses? Maybe because Mary was not yet aware of her innocence and holiness?
b) Is there special significance in the words and attitudes of Simeon and the prophetess Anna? Do not their actions and joy perhaps recall the style of the ancient prophets?
c) How can we explain this "sword" that pierces: is it a rending of the consciences before the challenges and richness of Jesus? Or is it only the inner pains of the Mother?
d) Can this scene mean anything to parents today: for the religious formation of their children; for the plan that God has for each of their children; for the fears and sufferings that parents carry in their hearts when they think of the time when their children grow up?
5. A key to the reading
for those who wish go deeper into the text.
a) As laid down in the law of Moses/of the Lord. This is a kind of refrain repeated several times. Luke mixes two prescriptions without making any distinction. The purification of the mother was foreseen in Leviticus (12:2-8) and was to take place forty days after the birth. Until then, the woman could not approach sacred places, and the ceremony was accompanied by the gift of a small animal. But the consecration of the first-born was prescribed in Exodus 13:11-16, and was considered a kind of "ransom" in memory of the saving action of God when he liberated the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. For this also the offering was a small animal. In all of this scene, the parents seem to be in the process of presenting/offering their son as was done with sacrifices and Levites, while through the persons of Simeon and Anna it seems rather God who offers/presents the son for the salvation of people.
b) Simeon and Anna: these are figures full of symbolical value. Their role is one of recognition, that comes from both the enlightenment and action of the Spirit and a life lived in expectation and faith. Simeon especially is defined as prodekòmenos, that is, one entirely absorbed in waiting, and one who goes forward to welcome. He, too, appears to be obedient to the law, the law of the Spirit, who leads him towards the child in the temple. The canticle he proclaims manifests his pro-existentia, he has lived in order to come to this moment and now he withdraws so that others may see the light and the salvation to come for Israel and the pagans. Anna completes the picture, by her very age (symbolical value: 84 equals 7x12, the twelve tribes of Israel; or 84 – 7 = 77, double perfection), but above all by her way of living (fasting and praying) and by her proclamation to all who "looked forward". She is led by the Spirit of prophecy, docile and purified in her heart. Besides, she belongs to the smallest of the tribes, that of Aser, a sign that the small and fragile are those more disposed to recognise Jesus, the Saviour. Both of these old persons – who look like an original couple – are symbols of the best of Judaism, of faithful and meek Jerusalem, that awaits and rejoices and that from now on allows the new light to shine.
c) A sword will pierce: generally these words are interpreted as meaning that Mary will suffer, a drama made visible of the Our Lady of Sorrows. Rather, we need to see the Mother as a symbol of Israel. Simeon feels the drama of his people who will be deeply torn by the living and sharp word of the redeemer (cf Lk 12:51-53). Mary represents the path: she must trust, but will go through times of pain and darkness, struggles and painful silences. The story of the suffering Messiah will be painful for all, even for the Mother. One does not follow the new light of the whole world without paying the cost, without being provoked to make risky choices, without being always born again from on high and in newness. But these images of the "sword that pierces", of the child who will "trip" and shake hearts from their lethargy, are not to be separated from the meaningful action of the two old persons: the one, Simeon, takes the child in his arms to show that faith is a meeting and an embrace, not an idea of theorem; the other, Anna, takes on the role of proclaiming and enkindles a bright light in the hearts of all who "looked forward" to him.
d) Daily life, an epiphany of God: finally, it is interesting to note that the whole episode emphasises the situation of the most simple and homely: the young couple with the child in their arms; the old man who rejoices and embraces, the old lady who prays and proclaims, those listening who appear to be indirectly involved. At the end of the passage, we also get a glimpse of the village of Nazareth, of the growth of the child in a normal context, the impression of a child extraordinarily gifted with wisdom and goodness. The theme of wisdom woven into the fabric of normal life and growth in a village context, leaves the story as if in suspense, and it will be taken up again precisely with the theme of the wisdom of the boy among the doctors in the temple. Indeed, this is the episode that follows immediately (Lk 2:41-52).
6. Psalm 122
I was glad when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the Lord!"
Our feet have been standing within your gates,
O Jerusalem!
Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together,
to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
There thrones for judgment were set,
the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
"May they prosper who love you!
Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers!"
For my brethren and companions' sake I will say,
"Peace be within you!"
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
7. Final Prayer
Father, we praise you and we bless you because through your Son, born of woman by the working of the Holy Spirit, born under the law, has ransomed us from the law and you have filled our life with light and new hope. May our families welcome and remain faithful to your designs, may they help and sustain in their children the new dreams and enthusiasm, wrap them in tenderness when they are fragile, educate them in love for you and for all creatures. All honour and glory to you, Father.
The purification of the temple
Jesus, the New Temple
John 2:13-25
1. Opening prayer
Spirit of truth, sent by Jesus to guide us to the whole truth, enlighten our minds so that we may understand the Scriptures. You who overshadowed Mary and made her fruitful ground where the Word of God could germinate, purify our hearts from all obstacles to the Word. Help us to learn like her to listen with good and pure hearts to the Word that God speaks to us in life and in Scripture, so that we may observe the Word and produce good fruit through our perseverance.
2. Reading
i) Context and structure:
Our passage follows immediately on the first sign that Jesus gave in Cana of Galilee (2:1-12). Some expressions and phrases are repeated in both scenes and lead us to think that the author wanted to contrast the two scenes. In Cana, a village in Galilee, during a wedding feast, a Jewish woman, the mother of Jesus, expresses her unconditional faith in Jesus and invites others to accept His word (2:3-5). On the other hand, "the Jews", during the Paschal celebration in Jerusalem, refuse to believe in Jesus and do not accept His word. In Cana, Jesus worked His first sign (2:11) and here the Jews ask for a sign (2:18) but then do not accept the sign Jesus gives them (2:20).
The development of our little story is quite simple. Verse 13 places in a framework a context of space and time that is very precise and significant: Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Paschal feast. Verse 14 introduces the scene that provokes a strong reaction on the part of Jesus. Jesus’ action is described in verse 15 and is caused by Jesus himself in verse 16. Jesus’ action and words in turn provoke two reactions: first, that of the disciples, one of admiration (2:17); and second, that of the "Jews," one of dissent and indignation (2:18). They want an explanation from Jesus (2:19) but they are not open to receive it (2:20). At this point the narrator intervenes to interpret Jesus’ words authentically (2:21). "The Jews" cannot understand the real meaning of Jesus’ word. However, neither can the disciples, who admire Him as a prophet full of zeal for God, grasp the meaning at this point. It is only after the fulfillment that they will believe in Jesus’ word (2:22). Finally, the narrator offers us a brief account of Jesus’ reception by the crowds in Jerusalem (2:23-25). Yet, this faith, founded only on His signs, does not impress Jesus.
ii) The text:
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace. "His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him,"What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.
3. A moment of prayerful silence
that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions
i) Am I able to entrust myself completely to God’s hands in an act of faith, or do I ask for signs?
ii) God gives me many signs of His presence in my life. Am I capable of seeing and accepting them?
iii) Am I satisfied with exterior worship, or do I try to offer God the worship of my obedience in my daily life?
iv)Who is Jesus for me? Am I aware that only in Him and through Him is it possible to meet God?
5. A key to the reading
for those who wish to go deeper into the theme.
"The Jews"
John’s Gospel is characterized by a long argument concerning the identity of Jesus. In this Christological argument, on the one hand we have Jesus and on the other "the Jews". But this argument, rather than reflecting the historical situation at the time of Jesus, reflects the situation which developed towards the 80s of the first century between the followers of Jesus and the Jews who had not accepted Him as the Son of God and Messiah. It is certain that the conflict had already begun at the time of Jesus, but the gap between the two groups, both of whom were Jews, became set when those who did not accept Jesus as Son of God and Messiah and held Him to be a blasphemer, expelled the disciples of Jesus from the synagogue, that is, from the community of Jewish believers (see Jn 9:22; 12:42; 16:2).
Hence, "the Jews" that we often come across in the fourth Gospel, do not represent the Jewish people. They are literary characters in the Christological argument that evolves in this Gospel. They do not represent a race, but those who have taken the clear position of an absolute rejection of Jesus. In any reading of the Gospel, "the Jews" are all those who refuse Jesus, no matter what the race or time to which they belong.
The signs
The healings and other thaumaturgical acts of Jesus that the synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) call miracles, John calls signs. As signs, they point to something that goes beyond the visible action. They reveal the mystery of Jesus. Thus, for instance, the healing of the man born blind reveals Jesus as light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:1-41), the raising of Lazarus from the dead reveals Jesus as the resurrection and the life (see Jn 11:1-45).
In our passage, "the Jews" ask for a sign in the sense of a proof that will authenticate Jesus’ words and actions. But in the fourth Gospel, Jesus does not work signs as proof guaranteeing faith. A faith founded on signs is shallow and not sufficient. It is only an initial faith that may lead to true faith (see Jn 20:30-31), but may also not do so (see Jn 6:26).
John’s Gospel asks us to go beyond signs, not to dwell on the spectacular, but to see the deepest meaning in the revelation that the signs point to.
Jesus, New Temple
The temple in Jerusalem was the place of God’s presence in the midst of the people. Yet the prophets constantly insisted that it was not sufficient to go to the temple and offer sacrifices there in order to be accepted by God (see Is 1:10-17; Jer 7:1-28; Am 4:4-5; 5:21-27). God wants obedience and a life morally straight and just. If the exterior cult does not express such a vital attitude, then it is empty (see 1 Sam 15:22). Jesus inserts Himself in that prophetic tradition of the purification of the cult (see Zec 14:23 and Mic 3:1 for the action of the coming "Messiah" in this context). The disciples admire Him for this and immediately think that for this attitude He will have to pay personally like Jeremiah (see Jer 26:1-15) and other prophets. But in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ action is more than a prophetic gesture of zeal for God. It is a sign that prefigures and proclaims the great sign of the death and resurrection of Jesus. More than just a purification, that which Jesus does is to abolish the temple and the cult there celebrated, because from now on the place of the presence of God is the glorified body of Jesus (see Jn 1:51; 4:23).
6. Psalm 50
The cult according to God’s will
The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
Our God comes, He does not keep silence;
before Him is a devouring fire,
round about Him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above and to the earth,
that He may judge His people:
"Gather to Me My faithful ones,
who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice!"
The heavens declare His righteousness,
for God himself is judge!
"Hear, O My people, and I will speak.
O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
I will accept no bull from your house,
nor he-goat from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
"If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world and all that is in it is mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows to the Most High;
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
But to the wicked God says,
"What right have you to recite My statutes,
or take My covenant on your lips?
For you hate discipline,
and you cast My words behind you.
If you see a thief, you are a friend of his;
and you keep company with adulterers.
You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother's son.
These things you have done and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart,
and there be none to deliver!
He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me;
to those who go the right way
I will show the salvation of God!
7. Closing prayer
Father, You have constituted Your Son, Jesus, new temple of the new and eternal covenant, built not by the hands of human beings but by the Holy Spirit. Grant that, as we welcome in faith His Word, we may dwell in him and thus adore You in spirit and in truth. Open our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters who are the members of the body of Christ, so that in serving them we may offer You the cult that you desire from us. We ask You this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The transfiguration of Jesus: the cross on the horizon The passion that leads to glory
Mark 9:2-10
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.
2. Reading
a) A key to the reading:
On this second Sunday of Lent, the Church meditates on the Transfiguration of Jesus in the presence of the three disciples who joined Him on the mountain. The Transfiguration takes place after the first announcement of the death of Jesus (Lk 9:21-22). This announcement had confused the disciples and especially Peter. When we take a close look at the small details, we see that the text describes the transfiguration in a way that makes us aware of how this unusual experience of Jesus was able to help the disciples overcome the crisis in which they found themselves. As we read, let us try to pay attention to the following: "How did the transfiguration take place and what was the reaction of the disciples towards this experience?"
b) A division of the text to help our reading:
Mark 9:2-4: The Transfiguration of Jesus in the presence of his disciples
Mark 9:5-6: Peter’s reaction to the transfiguration
Mark 9:7-8: The voice from heaven that explains the meaning of the Transfiguration
Mark 9:9-10: Keeping secret what they had seen
c) Text:
Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.
3. A moment of prayerful silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) Which part of the text did you like most or touched you most? Why?
b) How does the transfiguration take place and what is the reaction of the disciples to this experience?
c) Why does the text present Jesus with brilliant clothes while He is speaking with Moses and Elijah? Who are Moses and Elijah for Jesus? Who are they for the disciples?
d) What is the message of the voice from heaven for Jesus? And what is the message for the disciples?
e) How can we transfigure, today, our personal and family life and the life of the community in our area?
5. For those who wish to go deeper into the theme
a) The context then and now
The foretelling of the passion sank the disciples into a deep crisis. They lived among the poor, but in their minds they were confused, lost as they were in the propaganda of the government and of the official religion of their time (Mk 8:15). The official religion taught that the Messiah would be glorious and victorious! That is why Peter reacts strongly against the cross (Mk 8:32). Someone condemned to die on the cross could not be the Messiah, rather, according to the Law of God, he had to be considered cursed by God (Dt 21:22-23). In these circumstances, the experience of the Transfiguration of Jesus was able to help the disciples overcome the trauma of the Cross. In fact, at the Transfiguration, Jesus appears in glory and speaks with Moses and Elijah of His passion and death (Lk 9:31). The journey towards glory, then, is through the cross.
In the 70’s, when Mark is writing his Gospel, the Cross was a great obstacle for the Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah. How could it be that one crucified, one who died as one marginalized, was the great Messiah expected for centuries by the people? The cross was an obstacle to believing in Jesus. "The cross is a scandal," they said (1Cor 1:23). The community did not know how to respond to the critical questions put to them by the Jews. One of the great efforts of the early Christians was that of assisting people to see that the cross was neither scandal nor madness, but rather the expression of the power and wisdom of God (1Cor 1:22-31). Mark’s Gospel contributes to that effort. He uses texts from the Old Testament to describe the scene of the Transfiguration. He shed light on the events of the life of Jesus and shows that Jesus fulfills the prophecies and that the Cross is the way that leads to Glory. It was not just the cross of Jesus that was a problem! In the 70’s, the cross of persecution was part of every-day life for Christians. In fact, just a little time before, Nero had launched his persecution and many died. Today, many people suffer because they are Christians and because they live the Gospel. How do we approach the cross? What does it mean? With these questions in mind we meditate and comment on the text of the transfiguration.
b) A commentary on the text:
Mark 9:2-4: Jesus looks different.
Jesus goes up a high mountain. Luke adds that He goes there to pray (Lk 9:28). There, on the summit of the mountain, Jesus appears in glory in the presence of Peter, James and John. Together with Him appear Moses and Elijah. The high mountain recalls Mount Sinai, where in times past, God had made known His will to the people by presenting the law to Moses. The white clothes of Jesus recall Moses shrouded in light as he speaks to God on the mountain and receives the law from God (cf. Ex 34:29-35). Elijah and Moses, the two great authorities of the Old Testament, speak with Jesus. Moses represents the Law and Elijah the prophets. Luke says that they talked about the death of Jesus in Jerusalem (Lk 9:31). Thus it was clear that the Old Testament, both the Law and the Prophets, taught that the way to glory is through the cross (Cf Is 53).
Mark 9:5-6: Peter likes what is happening but does not understand.
Peter likes what is going on and wants this pleasing moment on the Mountain to last. He suggests building three tents. Mark says that Peter was afraid and did not know what he was saying, and Luke adds that the disciples were sleepy (Lk 9:32). For them, as it is for us, it is difficult to understand the Cross!
The description of the transfiguration begins with an affirmation. Six days later. What six days are these? Some scholars explain this phrase thus: Peter wants to build three tents, because it was the sixth day of the feast of tents. This was a very popular feast of six days that celebrated the gift of the Law of God and the forty years spent in the desert. To recall these forty years, the people had to spend six days in temporary tents. That is why it was called the Feast of the Tents. If they could not celebrate the whole six days, they had to celebrate at least the sixth day. The affirmation "six days later" would then be an allusion to the feast of the tents. That is why Peter recalls the duty of building tents. And spontaneously, he offers to build the tents. Thus Jesus, Moses and Elijah would have been able to go on talking.
Mark 9:7: The voice from heaven shed light on the events.
As soon as Jesus is shrouded in glory, a voice from heaven says: "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to Him!" The expression "Beloved Son" recalls the figure of the Servant Messiah, proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah (cf. Is 42:1). The expression "Listen to Him" recalls the prophecy that promised the coming of the new Moses (cf. Dt 18:15). In Jesus, the prophecies of the Old Testament are being fulfilled. The disciples could not doubt this. The Christians of the 70’s could not doubt this. Jesus is truly the glorious Messiah, but the way to glory is through the cross, the second proclamation made in the prophecy of the servant (Is 53:3-9). The glory of the Transfiguration is proof of this. Moses and Elijah confirm this. The Father is the guarantor of this. Jesus accepts this.
Mark 9:8: Only Jesus and no one else!
Mark says that after the vision, the disciples see only Jesus and no one else. The emphasis on the affirmation that they see only Jesus suggests that from now on Jesus is the only revelation of God for us! For us Christians, Jesus, and only Jesus, is the key to understanding the complete meaning of the Old Testament.
Mark 9: 9-10: Knowing how to keep silent.
Jesus asks His disciples not to say anything to anyone until He has risen from the dead, but the disciples do not understand Him. Indeed, anyone who does not link suffering to the resurrection, does not understand the meaning of the Cross. Jesus is stronger than death.
Mark 9:11-13: The return of the prophet Elijah.
The prophet Malachi had proclaimed that Elijah was to return to prepare the way of the Messiah (Ml 3:23-24). This same proclamation is also found in the book of Ecclesiastes (Ec 48:10). How could Jesus be the Messiah if Elijah had not returned yet? That is why the disciples asked: Why do the say that Elijah must come first? (9:11). Jesus reply is clear: I tell you that Elijah has come and they have treated him as they pleased, just as the scriptures say about him (9: 13). Jesus was referring to John the Baptist who was murdered by Herod (Mt 17:13).
c) Further information:
i) The Transfiguration: the change that takes place in the practice of Jesus
In the middle of conflicts with the Pharisees and Herodians (Mk 8:11-21), Jesus leaves Galilee and goes to the region of Caesarea Philippi (Mk 8:27), where He begins to prepare His disciples. On the way, He puts a question to them: "Who do people say I am?" (Mk 8:27) After listening to their reply that they considered Him the Messiah, Jesus begins to speak of His passion and death (Mk 8:31). Peter reacts: "Heaven preserve You, Lord!" (Mt 16:22). Jesus replies: "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because you are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do!" (Mk 8:33) This was a moment of crisis for the disciples, who still held on to the thought of a glorious Messiah (Mk 8:32-33; 9:32), not understanding Jesus’ reply and trying to divert it in another direction. It was close to the Feast of the Tents, (cf Lk 9:33), when the popular messianic expectation was much stronger than usual. Jesus goes up the mountain to pray (Lk 9:28). He overcomes temptation by prayer. The revelation of the Kingdom was different from that which the people imagined. The victory of the servant would take place through the death sentence (Is 50:4-9; 53:1-12). The cross appears on the horizon, not just as a possibility, but as a certainty. From this moment on a change takes place in Jesus practice. Here are some important signs of this change:
Few miracles. At first there are many miracles. Now, beginning with Mk 8:27; Mt 16:13 and Lk 9:18, miracles are almost an exception in Jesus activities.
Proclaiming the Passion. Earlier there was talk of the passion as a remote possibility (Mk 3:6). Now there is constant talk of it (Mk 8:31; 9:9.31; 10:33.38).
Taking up the Cross. Earlier, Jesus proclaimed the imminent coming of the Kingdom. Now He insists on watchfulness, the demands on those who follow Him, and the necessity to take up one’s cross (Mt 16:24-26; 19:27-30; 24:42-51; 25:1-13; Mk 8:34; 10:28-31; Lk 9:23-26.57-62; 12:8-9.35-48; 14:25-33; 17:33; 18:28-30).
He teaches the disciples. Earlier He taught the people. Now He is more concerned with the formation of His disciples. He asks them to choose again (Jn 6:67) and begins to prepare them for the future mission. He goes out of the city so as to stay with them and busy Himself with their formation (Mk 8:27; 9:28. 30-35; 10:10.23.28-32; 11:11).
Different parables. Earlier, the parables revealed the mystery of the Kingdom present in the activities of Jesus. Now the parables tend towards the future judgment, at the end of time: the murderous vine growers (Mt 21:33-46); the merciless servant (Mt 18:23-35), the workers of the eleventh hour (Mt 20:1-16), the two sons (Mt 21:28-32), the wedding banquet (Mt 22:1-14), the ten talents (Mt 25:14-30).
Jesus accepts the will of the Father that is revealed in the new situation and decides to go to Jerusalem (Lk 9:51). He takes this decision with such determination as to frighten His disciples, who cannot understand what is going on (Mk 10:32; Lk 18:31-34). In the society of that time, the proclamation of the Kingdom as Jesus proclaimed it could not be tolerated. So either He had to change or He had to die! Jesus did not change His proclamation. He continued to be faithful to the Father and to the poor. That is why He was sentenced to death!
ii) The transfiguration and the return of the prophet Elijah
In Mark s Gospel, the scene of the transfiguration is linked to the question of the return of the prophet Elijah (Mk 9:9-13). In those days, people expected the return of the prophet Elijah and were not aware that Elijah had already returned in the person of John the Baptist (Mk 9:13). The same thing happens today. Many people live in expectation of the return of Jesus and even write on the walls of cities: Jesus will return! They are not aware that Jesus is already present in our lives. Every now and then, like an unexpected flash of lightning, this presence of Jesus breaks out and shines, transforming our lives. A question that each one us should ask is: Has my faith in Jesus offered me a moment of transfiguration and intense joy? How have such moments of joy given me strength in moments of difficulties?
6. The prayer of a Psalm: Psalm 27 (26)
The Lord is my light
Yahweh is my light and my salvation,
whom should I fear?
Yahweh is the fortress of my life,
whom should I dread?
When the wicked advance against me to eat me up,
they, my opponents, my enemies,
are the ones who stumble and fall.
Though an army pitch camp against me,
my heart will not fear,
though war break out against me,
my trust will never be shaken.
One thing I ask of Yahweh,
one thing I seek:
to dwell in Yahweh's house all the days of my life,
to enjoy the sweetness of Yahweh,
to seek out His temple.
For He hides me away under His roof on the day of evil,
He folds me in the recesses of His tent,
sets me high on a rock.
Now my head is held high above the enemies who surround me;
in His tent I will offer sacrifices of acclaim. I will sing,
I will make music for Yahweh.
Yahweh, hear my voice as I cry,
pity me, answer me!
Of You my heart has said,
'Seek His face!'
Your face, Yahweh, I seek;
do not turn away from me.
Do not thrust aside Your servant in anger,
without You I am helpless.
Never leave me, never forsake me,
God, my Saviour.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
Yahweh will gather me up.
Yahweh, teach me Your way,
lead me on the path of integrity because of my enemies;
do not abandon me to the will of my foes
- false witnesses have risen against me,
and are breathing out violence.
This I believe: I shall see the goodness of Yahweh,
in the land of the living.
Put your hope in Yahweh,
be strong,
let your heart be bold,
put your hope in Yahweh.
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Temptation overcome with the strength of the Spirit Jesus begins the proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom
Mark 1:12-15
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.
2. Reading
a) A key to the reading:
The text of this Sunday’s liturgy presents us with the beginning of Jesus’ public life: the forty days in the desert, the temptations of Satan, the arrest of John the Baptist, the beginning of the proclamation of the Good News of God and a brief summary of four points concerning the things that Jesus proclaimed to the people in His land. During the reading, let us pay attention to the following two points: What is Jesus proclaiming to the people and what is He asking of us?
b) A division of the text as an aid to the reading:
Mark 1:12-13: The Good News is tried and put to the test in the desert.
Mark 1:14: Jesus begins the proclamation of the Good News of God.
Mark 1:15: A summary of the Good News of God.
c) The text:
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and He remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
3. A moment of prayerful silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) What part of the text did you like best and what made an impression on you? Why?
b) Forty days in the desert and, after that, the temptations. What is the significance of this bit of information for the community at the time of Mark s writing? What is its significance for us today?
c) It was the fact that John the Baptist was arrested that led Jesus to go back to Galilee and begin the proclamation of the Good News of God. What is the significance of this bit of information for the community at the time of Mark’s writing? What is its significance for us today?
d) The Good News that Jesus proclaimed has four points. What are they? What does each point signify?
e) What is the message given by all these points for us today?
5. A key to the reading
for those who wish to go deeper into the theme.
a) The context of the text in Mark s Gospel:
* The Good News of God, prepared throughout history (Mk 1: 1-8), was solemnly proclaimed by the Father at the time of Jesus baptism (Mk 1: 9-11). Now, in our text, this proclamation is put to the test in the desert (Mk 1: 12-13) and the result of the long preparation becomes apparent. Jesus proclaims the Good News in public to the people (Mk 1:14-15).
* In the 70s, when Mark is writing, as the Christians read this description of the beginning of the Good News, they also looked into the mirror of their own lives. The desert, temptations, prison, these were things with which they were familiar. Nevertheless, like Jesus, they tried to proclaim the Good News of God.
b) Comments:
* Mark 1:12-13: The Good News is tried and tested in the desert.
After the baptism, the Spirit takes possession of Jesus and leads Him into the desert, where for forty days He prepares Himself for His mission (Mk 1: 12s). Mark says that Jesus remained in the desert for forty days and was tempted there by Satan. In Matthew 4: 1-11, the temptations are made explicit, the temptation of the bread, the temptation of prestige and the temptation of power. These were the three temptations experienced by the people in the desert after they went out of Egypt (Dt 8:3; 6: 13.16). Temptation is whatever draws someone away from the way towards God. The letter to the Hebrews says, "Jesus was tempted in all things like us, except in sin" (Heb 4:15). Taking His direction from the Word of God, Jesus faced the temptations (Mt 4: 4.7.10). Placed in the midst of the poor and united to the Father in prayer, Jesus remains faithful to both, resists and continues on the way of the Messiah-Servant, the way of service of God and of the people (Mt 20:28).
* Mark 1:14: Jesus begins to proclaim the Good News.
While Jesus was preparing Himself in the desert, John the Baptist was arrested by Herod. The text says, After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of God. John the Baptist’s arrest did not surprise Jesus, rather the opposite. The experience of the baptism had opened His eyes. In John’s arrest He saw a sign of the coming of the Kingdom. John the Baptist’s arrest was connected with the politics of the country. Today, too, politics influences our proclamation of the Good News to the people. Mark says that Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of God. Jesus tells us that God is Good News for all human beings. Saint Augustine says, "You have made us for You, and our hearts will not rest until they rest in You". Jesus proclamation responds to the deepest searching of the human heart.
* Mark 1:15: A summary of the Good News of God.
The proclamation of the Good News of God contains four points: i) The waiting is over. ii) The Kingdom of God has come. iii) A change of life. iv) Belief in the Good News.
i) The waiting is over! For the other Jews, the time of waiting for the Kingdom was not yet over. For the Pharisees, for instance, the Kingdom would come only when the observance of the law was perfect. For the Essenes, when the country was purified. For the Herodians, when they would take over dominion over the world. Jesus’ way of thinking is different. He reads events differently. He says that the time of waiting is over.
ii) The Kingdom of God is at hand! For the Pharisees and the Essenes, the coming of the Kingdom was dependent on their efforts. The Kingdom would come only when they had played their part, that is the observance of the whole of the Law, the purification of the whole country. Jesus says the opposite: "The Kingdom is at hand". The Kingdom was already there, among them, independently of any effort. When Jesus says, "The Kingdom is at hand", He is not saying that it is on the way at a particular moment, but that it is already there. What all were hoping for was already present in the midst of the people, and they did not know it, nor did they see it (cfr Lk 17: 21). Jesus saw it because He could see reality with different eyes. It is this hidden presence of the Kingdom in the midst of the people that Jesus reveals and proclaims to the poor of His land. It is this seed of the Kingdom that will receive the rain of His Word and the warmth of His love.
iii) A change of life! Some translate this as, “to do penance”, others translate it as, "to convert" or "to repent". The exact meaning is to change the way of thinking and living. In order to be able to perceive this presence of the Kingdom, a person must begin to think, live and act differently. The person must change their way of life and find a new form of living. We must set aside the legalism taught by the Pharisees and allow the new experience of God to invade our life and allow new sight to read and understand what goes on.
iv) Belief in the Good News! It was not easy to accept the message. It is not easy to begin to think in a completely different way from that learned since childhood. This is only possible by an act of faith. When someone comes with an unexpected piece of news which is difficult to accept, one accepts it only if the person who brings the news is worthy of trust. We would then also say to others, "You can believe this because I know the person and he/she does not deceive. This person can be believed because he/she speaks the truth". Jesus is worthy of our trust!
c) Further information:
The beginning of Jesus preaching of the Good News of God in Galilee
The arrest of John made Jesus go back and begin His proclamation of the Good News. It was an explosive beginning! Jesus goes throughout Galilee, its villages, towns and cities (Mk 1: 39). He visits communities. He even changes His residence and goes to live in Capernaum (Mk 1:21; 2:1), a city at the crossroads, which made it easy for Him to spread the message. He almost never stays in the same place. He is always on the move. The disciples accompany Him everywhere, on the beach, on the road, on the mountain, in the desert, in the boat, in the synagogues, in the houses. They are full of enthusiasm.
Jesus helps people by serving them in several ways: He drives out evil spirits (Mk 1:39), He heals the sick and afflicted (Mk 1: 34), purifies those marginalized on account of the laws concerning purity (Mk 1: 40-45), welcomes the marginalized and treats them with familiarity (Mk 2: 15). He proclaims, calls, convokes, attracts, consoles, helps. He reveals His passion, passion for the Father and for the poor and abandoned people of His land. Wherever there are people who will listen to Him, He speaks and conveys the Good News of God. Everywhere!
Jesus reveals everything that animates Him from within. Not only does He proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom, but He Himself is a figure and a living witness of the Kingdom. In Him we see what happens when someone allows God to rule and take possession of his/her life. By His life and manner of acting, Jesus reveals what God had in mind when He called the people at the time of Abraham and of Moses. Jesus put to rest a nostalgia and transformed it into hope. Suddenly it became clear for the people: "This is what God was asking for when He called us to be His people!". The people savored listening to Jesus.
Such was the beginning of the proclamation of the Good News of the Kingdom, which spread rapidly through the villages of Galilee. It started small like a seed, but grew to become a large tree where people could find shelter (Mk 4: 31-32). Then the people themselves began to spread the news.
The people of Galilee were impressed by the way Jesus taught. "A new doctrine is taught with authority, not like that of the " (Mk 1: 22.27). Teaching was what Jesus did mostly (Mk 2: 13; 4:1-2; 6:34). It was His custom (Mk 10:1). Over fifteen times, the Gospel of Mark says that Jesus taught. But Mark almost never says what He taught. Perhaps he was not interested in the content? It depends on what we mean by content. Teaching is not just a matter of passing on new truths to people. The content that Jesus preached manifests itself not only through His words, but also through His actions and in the manner of His relating to people. The content is never divorced from the person who communicates it. Good content without personal goodness is like spilled milk.
Mark defines the content of Jesus’ teaching as "the Good News of God" (Mk 1: 14). The Good News that Jesus proclaimed comes from God and reveals something about God. All that Jesus says and does, manifests the traits of the face of God. They manifest the experience that Jesus has of God as Father. Revealing God as Father is the source, while the content is the object of the Good News of Jesus.
6. Psalm 25 (24)
The God of Jesus calls us to conversion
To thee, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.
O my God, in thee I trust, let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Yea, let none that wait for thee be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
Make me to know thy ways, O Lord;
teach me thy paths.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,
for thou art the God of my salvation;
for thee I wait all the day long.
Be mindful of thy mercy, O Lord,
and of thy steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth,
or my transgressions;
according to thy steadfast love remember me,
for thy goodness' sake, O Lord!
Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble His way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who is the man that fears the Lord?
Him will He instruct in the way that He should choose.
He himself shall abide in prosperity,
and His children shall possess the land.
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him,
and He makes known to them His covenant.
My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for He will pluck my feet out of the net.
Turn thou to me, and be gracious to me;
for I am lonely and afflicted.
Relieve the troubles of my heart,
and bring me out of my distresses.
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Oh guard my life, and deliver me;
let me not be put to shame,
for I take refuge in thee.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for thee.
Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles.
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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Jesus heals a leper. Reintroducing the marginalized into human society.
Mark 1:40-45
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in creation and in the scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we, too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, Son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.
2. Reading
a) A key to the reading:
The Gospel of this sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time tells us how Jesus receives a leper. In those days, lepers were the most excluded people of society, avoided by all. Lepers could not take part in anything. In olden days, the lack of effective medicines, the fear of contagion and the necessity of defending the life of society led people to isolate and exclude lepers. Besides, among the people of God whose defense of the gift of life was one of the most sacred duties, they thought that the exclusion of lepers was a divine duty because it was the only way to defend the community from deadly contagion. Thus, in Israel, the leper felt impure and excluded not only by society, but even by God (cf. Lev 14:1-32). Gradually, however, as better remedies came to light and, above all, thanks to the deep experience communicated to us by Jesus concerning God our Father, lepers began to be accepted and reintegrated as brothers and sisters in human society.
In spite of two thousand years of Christianity, the exclusion and marginalization of some categories of people goes on even today, whether in society or in the Church. For instance, those suffering from AIDS, migrants, homosexuals, divorced persons, etc. Today, in your society and in the Church, what are the categories of excluded and avoided people? With these questions in mind, let us read and meditate on the Gospel for this Sunday.
b) A division of the text as a help to our reading:
Mark 1:40: The state of abandonment and exclusion of a leper
Mark 1:41-42: Jesus welcomes and heals the leper
Mark 1:43-44: Reintroducing those excluded into fraternal society
Mark 1:45: The leper proclaims the good Jesus did to him, and Jesus becomes an excluded person
c) Text:
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged Him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out His hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning the him sternly, He dismissed him at once. He said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them." The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to Him from everywhere.
3. A moment of prayerful silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) What did you like best and what touched you most in this text? Why?
b) How does this text express the exclusion of lepers?
c) How does Jesus welcome, heal and reinstate the leper? Try to observe each detail carefully.
d) How can we, today, imitate Jesus’ attitude towards those excluded?
5. For those who wish to go deeper into the theme
A) The context of then and of today:
Whether in the 70’s, when Mark was writing, or today in our times, it was and still is very important to hold to some criteria or models to know how to live and proclaim the Good News of God and how to carry out our mission as Christians. In verses 16 to 45 of the first chapter of Mark, in gathering together eight episodes, describes how Jesus proclaimed the Good News. Each episode contains the criterion for the community of His time, so that people then could examine their own mission. This Sunday’s text makes concrete the eighth criterion: reinstating those excluded. Here is the overall scheme to clarify what follows:
TEXT
ACTIVITIES OF JESUS
AIM OF THE GOOD NEWS
Mark 1:16-20
Jesus calls His first disciples
forming community
Mark 1:21-22
The people are amazed at His teaching
creating a critical conscience
Mark 1:23-28
Jesus drives out an evil spirit
fighting against the power of evil
Mark 1:29-31
The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law
restoring life through service
Mark 1:32-34
The healing of the sick and those possessed by devils
welcoming the marginalized
Mark 1:35
Jesus gets up to pray while it is still dark
staying united with the Father
Mark 1:36-39
Jesus goes on proclaiming the Good News
not allowing results to stop us
Mark 1:40-45
Jesus heals a leper
reinstating those excluded
b) A commentary on the text:
Mark 1:40: The state of abandonment and exclusion of a leper
A leper approaches Jesus. He was an excluded man, impure! He was to be sent away from human society. Anyone who came close to him would also be impure. But the leper had much courage. He broke the rules of religion so as to approach Jesus. He says, “If You are willing, You can cleanse me!” In other words, “There is no need for You to touch me! If You are just willing that is enough to heal me!” This sentence reveals two evils: 1) the evil of the disease called leprosy that made him impure; 2) the evil of solitude to which he was condemned by society and religion. It also reveals the great faith people had in the power of Jesus.
Mark 1:41-42: By receiving and healing the leper, Jesus reveals a new face of God
Deeply compassionate, Jesus heals both evils. Firstly, to heal the evil of solitude, He touches the leper. It is as though He says to him, "For Me you are not an outcast. I welcome you as a brother!" Secondly, He heals the disease called leprosy, saying, “I am willing. Be cleansed!” In order to come into contact with Jesus, the leper had broken the rules of the law. For Jesus to be able to help this excluded one and thus reveal a new face of God, He breaks the laws of His religion and touches the leper. In those days, anyone who touched a leper became impure in the sight of the religious authorities and before the law of that time.
Mark 1:43-44: Reinstating those excluded into fraternal life
Not only does Jesus heal, but He wills that the healed person be able to live with others. Reinstating a person to society. In those days, for a leper to be received within the community, he or she had to have a declaration of healing from a priest. Thus it was written in the law concerning the purification of a leper (Lev 14:1-32). This still happens today. The sick person leaves the hospital with a letter signed by the doctor of a particular section. Jesus obliges the leper to get the document from the competent authority so that he may be reinstated into normal society. He is thus obliging the authorities to confirm that the man has been healed.
Mark 1:45: The leper proclaims the good that Jesus worked for him and Jesus becomes excluded.
Jesus had forbidden the leper from speaking of his healing. But the leper did speak. The leper started freely proclaiming the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but stayed away in desert places. Why did Jesus stay away in desert places? Jesus had touched the leper. Thus, according to opinion in those days, now He was impure and had to live away from all. He could not enter any city. But Mark implies that people did not much care about official rules, because people from all around kept coming to Him! A complete turn around!
The double news that Mark conveys to the communities of his time and to all of us is this: 1) that proclaiming the Good News means witnessing to the concrete experience that one has of Jesus. What does the leper proclaim? He proclaims to others the good that Jesus did to him. That’s all! And it is precisely this witness that drives others to accept the Good News that Jesus proclaims. Anyone who has no experience of Jesus will have little to proclaim to others. 2) To take the Good News to others one need not fear breaking religious rules that are contrary to God’s plan and that render communication, dialogue and a life of love difficult, even if such an attitude may create difficulties for people as it did for Jesus!
c) Further information:
The eight criteria for evaluating the mission of the Community
A double slavery marked the situation of people at the time of Jesus: the slavery of the official religion, upheld by the religious authorities of the time, and the slavery of Herod’s politics, upheld by the Roman Empire and supported by the whole organized system of exploitation and repression. Because of all this, many of the people were excluded by religion and by society: the very contrary of the fraternity that God dreamt of for all! And it is precisely in this context that Jesus begins to carry out His mission of proclaiming the Good News of God.
This Sunday’s Gospel is part of a broader literary unit (Mk 1:16-45). Apart from the description of the preparation of the Good News (Mk 1:1-13) and of the proclamation (Mk 1:14-15), Mark brings together eight activities of Jesus to describe His mission of proclamation of the Good News and to describe how the mission of the community should be (Mk 1:16-45). This is the same mission that Jesus received from the Father (Jn 20:21). Mark puts together these episodes, which were passed on orally in the communities, and links them together like old bricks in a new wall. These eight episodes are eight criteria that serve the community to revise and check whether they are carrying out their mission well. Let us see:
i) Mk 1:16-20: Creating community.
The first thing that Jesus does is to call people to follow Him. A fundamental task of mission is to gather people around Jesus in order to create community.
ii) Mk 1:21-22: Creating a critical conscience.
The first thing that people see is the difference between the teaching of Jesus and that of the . Part of mission is to create a critical conscience in people, even in the face of the official religion.
iii) Mk 1:23-28: Fighting the power of evil.
Jesus’ first miracle is the driving out of an impure spirit. Part of mission is fighting the power of evil that destroys life and alienates people from themselves.
iv) Mk 1:29-31: Restoring life through service.
Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, and she gets up and begins to serve. Part of mission is the care of the sick, so that they may be able to get up and once more serve others.
v) Mk 1:32-34: Welcoming the marginalized
After the Sabbath, people bring to Jesus the sick and the possessed that He may heal them, and, by laying His hands, He heals them all. Part of mission is to welcome the marginalized.
vi) Mk 1:35: Staying united with the Father through prayer.
After a day of labor that extends far into the night, Jesus gets up quickly so that He may pray in a desert place. Part of mission is staying united with the source of the Good News, that is, the Father, through prayer.
vii) Mk 1:36-39: Keeping up an awareness of mission.
The disciples were happy with the results and wanted Jesus to return. But He carried on with His journey. Part of mission is not to be content with results, but to keep alive an awareness of mission.
viii) Mk 1:40-45: Reinstating the marginalized into human society.
Jesus heals a leper and asks him to present himself to a priest so that he may be declared healed and may be able to live among people. Part of mission is reinstating the excluded to human society.
These eight points, so well chosen by Mark, indicate the purpose of Jesus’ mission: “I came that all may have life, and may have it abundantly!” (Jn 10:10). These same eight points may serve to evaluate our own community. Thus we can see how Mark built up his Gospel - a beautiful structure that keeps in mind two things at once: (1) it informs people of what Jesus did and taught; (2) and it forms the community and people in the mission of proclaimers of the Good News of God.
6. Praying a psalm: Psalm 125 (124)
Anyone who trusts in the Lord will not waver!
Whoever trusts in Yahweh is like Mount Zion:
unshakable, it stands for ever.
Jerusalem! The mountains encircle her:
so Yahweh encircles His people,
henceforth and forever.
The scepter of the wicked will not come to rest
over the heritage of the upright;
or the upright might set their own hands to evil.
Do good, Yahweh,
to those who are good,
to the sincere at heart.
But the crooked, the twisted, turn them away,
Yahweh, with evil-doers. Peace to Israel!
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice what Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and the proclamation of the Reign of God in Galilee Meeting with Jesus, the merciful Healer Mark 1:29-39
1. Opening prayer
Lord, it is not herbs or emollients that can cure the wounds and diseases of our souls, but Your Word, which sustains everything, creates everything anew every day. Come, stretch forth Your strong hand over us so that, held by You, we may let ourselves be raised and begin to be Your disciples, Your servants. Jesus, You are the Gate of the sheep, the Gate that opens onto heaven; to You we come with all that we are and all that we have in our hearts. Take us with You, in silence, into the flowering desert of Your company and there teach us to pray with Your voice, Your word, so that we too may become heralds of the Kingdom. Send now Your Spirit upon us in abundance so that we may listen to You with all our hearts and minds. Amen.
2. Reading
a) Placing the passage in its context:
Continuing from the preceding verses (21-28), this passage describes the conclusion of a typical day with Jesus. He is in Capernaum, on a Sabbath, and after taking part in the liturgy in the synagogue, Jesus continues the celebration in Peter’s house, in an intimate atmosphere.
When sunset comes and after a rest, Jesus continues His ministry going throughout Galilee. The Gospel presents me with three sequences that are historical and lets me know what Jesus did in Capernaum, but also reveals the great mystery of the salvation by Christ that upsets my life. These events may help to fix my attention on the journey Jesus took: from the synagogue to the house, to the desert and to all the villages in Galilee. The Evangelist also emphasizes the passing of time, the coming of the night, that is, sunset, and then the morning still immersed in darkness.
b) Some assistance in the reading of this passage:
vv. 29-31: Jesus enters Peter’s house and accepts the disciples’ request. He cures Peter’s mother-in-law, who is lying in bed with a fever.
vv.32-34: After the Sabbath, Jesus heals many sick and possessed persons who are brought to Him.
vv.35-39: Jesus wakes up before dawn and goes to pray in a solitary place, but many people follow Him and finally find Him.
He leads them to a wider ministry that embraces the whole of Galilee.
c) The text:
On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.