What is the kingdom of God like?

 

 Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."  And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."

 

 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"  And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.'  But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

 

- Luke 13:18-30 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.  But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity."  And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day."  The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite!  Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?  So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -- think of it -- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

 

  Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches." And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  The Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) comments here that the mustard plant grows to a height of ten feet in Palestine.  These parables of the mustard seed and the leaven are grouped together both here in St. Luke's Gospel, and also in the Gospel According to St. Matthew (Matthew 13:31-33).  According to the OSB, the mustard seed and the leaven represent the disciples who, according to Theophylact's commentary, began as just a few men, but "soon encompassed the whole earth."  These also stand for faith entering a person's soul, which causes an inward growth of virtue.  The soul will become godlike and can receive even angels (symbolized by the birds of the air nesting in its branches).  

 

  And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.  Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?"  And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able."  Again, we turn for a parallel in St. Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 7:13-14).  There in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contrasts the narrow way with the broad, teaching, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."  This understanding of the "two ways" was widespread in Judaism, the OSB comments (Deuteronomy 30:14-20; Psalm 1; Proverbs 4:17-18, 12:28, 15:23; Sirach 15:17).  It also appears prominently in early Christian writings (Didache, Barnabas).  The OSB notes that St. Luke's version is more eschatological, as it refers to the end of the age.  Common to both contexts is the understanding that because we wrestle against sins and human weaknesses as well as spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12), entering the kingdom is the more difficult and narrow way.

 

"When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.'  But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'"  Here Jesus offers another parable of the time of His return, giving us the eschatological setting here in St. Luke's Gospel.  The OSB comments that neither verbal confessions (Lord, Lord) nor sacramental experiences (We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets) avail anything unless we also do the works of faith (see Luke 6:46-49).  

 

"There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."  The OSB again cites the commentary of Theophylact, who sees the first who becomes last as not only faithless Jews, but also those in the Church who "from infancy have put on Christ and have been taught the Word, but who become last by transgressing against it."

 

Whatever way we look at the parables in today's reading, there is a strong statement about judgment to be found in Christ's final words here.  Even those who are seemingly the elect, those whom the Lord has seemed to favor, are subject to losing this place.  It is a strong warning against complacency, and the dire consequences of a lack of vigilance in exercising and living one's faith.  As the OSB comments, Jesus cites nominal aspects of worship practice and even prayer as fruitless if it is not given with earnestness from the heart.  And there we can touch on the meaning of the first two parables given in today's reading, those of the Mustard Seed and Leaven.  For these illustrate two ways of the working of the Holy Spirit both in us and in the world.  The mustard seed is a metaphor Jesus will use again to illustrate what a small amount of faith can do (Luke 17:6).  Here the parable, as the OSB says, illustrates the explosive growth of the reality of the Kingdom through even the smallest and seemingly insignificant of beginnings, both in the world and in us as human beings.  But we should note that the growth is mysterious, it is the working of grace and mercy that builds this growth, together with our cooperation, our active faith responding.  In the traditions of Orthodox Christianity, this process in an individual is called theosis, where we grow in virtue and in resemblance (likeness) to Christ, in the patterns (or icon/image) He has set for us.  This is a process that occurs over time; it is not an instantaneous sort of creation nor a one-time avowal of faith that is involved here.  The leaven also illustrates something similar, but it is a thorough transformation (or transfiguration) of substance.  Leaven is a natural yeast which works through enzymatic action to change the make up of a dough, the qualities working in it.  So it is within a community, a world, and particularly in us as well.  This, once again, is akin to what is understood as theosis, a process of becoming more "like" our Creator, allowing the "enzymatic" action of the energies of God (God's mercy and grace, understood to be the active but subtle work of the Holy Spirit) to transform us.  The fullness of such action is union with God, an ultimate perfection of becoming, the fullness of purpose for us set by God.  In the context of the eschatological words of Jesus, we can understand a couple of things.  First of all, He is drawing near toward Jerusalem and the time of His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  He has but a short time left of His active ministry as the incarnate Jesus, and so His warnings come against that backdrop of the time when He will no longer be physically present in human form.  That is, the time in which we are now and have been since then, while we await His return and judgment.  These warnings He leaves also for us, subsequent generations of faithful born in this time "of the end," for in the eyes of the Church, the whole of the Christian era constitutes "end times."  His warning about the return of the Master strikes us in particular, as we seek to live faithful lives, for He wishes us to keep always in mind that we must be ready for His return.  Perhaps what is most striking here are His repetitions of imagery which suggests the action and effect of God as that which turns perception and understanding upside down, topsy-turvy, in ways we would not expect nor predict.  What we think we know in our complacency and even certainty may not be so.  "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.  They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.  And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."  It is language found in the Magnificat, for example, Mary the Theotokos' song upon receipt of the word of God at the Annunciation, also given to us by St. Luke (see Luke 1:46-55):  "He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty."  Even in Mary's song, the language is reflective of other songs found in the Old Testament as well.  A time of surprising upheavals and reversals may in some ways have always been with us at all times and places in our world; perhaps such is our perception as human beings often powerless to control much of life.  In today's world, we have a great deal of worldly power in all kinds of forms which seeks to control many things, and yet surprises and insecurities are also with us.  It is frequently remarked upon that people's insecurities are at a surprising level.  Perhaps it is true that as we seek to control more and more things, and cultivate the power of new technologies, policies, and governmental organization to do so, we incur all the more the things we can't really control.  At any rate, Christ's words suggest that we can expect surprises, that reality in the spiritual sight of God is not truly what we think it is by material appearances.  We can expect, perhaps, only the unexpected.  But Jesus gives us a way through this uncertainty, the one thing needed, and that is the narrow way of our faith as taught by Him.  For whatever we don't know, there is one thing that we do know -- and that is His teaching that has remained with us of His narrow gate.  Especially in times of change and uncertainty, there are many, many temptations to follow this way or that, this theory or solution, or some other, and there will be myriads.  But His is the narrow gate, and that is the true way we know when all else fails.

 

 

 

 

 

So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -- think of it -- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?

 

 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.  But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity."  And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day."  

 

The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite!  Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?  So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -- think of it -- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

 

- Luke 13:10-17 

 

Yesterday we read that there were present at that season some who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."  He also spoke this parable:  "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.  Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?'  But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.  And if it bears fruit, well.  But if not, after that you can cut it down.'"

 

  Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.  But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity."  And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.  But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day."  According to the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), there were certain traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law which held that healing was considered work.  Being work, therefore, it was not permissible on the Sabbath.  See Leviticus 23:3, from which the ruler of the synagogue seems to be quoting.  These men believed they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but such legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.  

 

The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite!  Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?  So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -- think of it -- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.  The OSB comments on Jesus' command, "Think of it."  It notes that in patristic commentary this command is seen as directing us to a spiritual meaning for the eighteen years of this woman's infirmity.  The Greek expression is literally translated "ten and eight years."  In light of this, both St. Ambrose of Milan and Theophylact see ten as representing the Ten Commandments and eight as representing grace, as the day of Resurrection is often called the "eighth day."  So therefore, humanity is lifted up by faith in Christ, who fulfills both law and grace. 

 

 It's important to note the terms within which Jesus frames the healing of this woman.  She's been bent over for eighteen years, unable to raise herself up.  This suggests a great burden, an imposition of such great oppression that she can't even lift herself.  Adding to this sense of oppression and imposition, Jesus uses the word bound to describe how her infirmity has been imposed upon her.  To be bound suggests one who is captive, a prisoner, and even a slave.  Jesus' words of loosing her bond -- and on the Sabbath -- suggest to us liberation and deliverance.  She's freed by His work.  In the Jewish context, this hearkens back to the Old Testament story of the Exodus, the liberation from bondage and slavery by the Lord (Exodus 13:3).  Christ is the Lord, the Deliverer, the One who sets the captives free.  See Isaiah 61:1, which is the very Scripture read by Jesus in His first recorded preaching in St. Luke's Gospel, at the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30).  On that occasion, He was also rejected and condemned, saying Himself, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country" (Luke 4:24).  His neighbors from Nazareth mirror the indignation of the synagogue ruler.  In this way, Jesus teaches an important meaning of the Sabbath, and what it is for.  Consecrated to the Lord, this day marks the coming of the Lord, and this action of liberation and deliverance and healing teaches us all about the Lord, and the nature of His ministry.  Let us note that this healed woman understands implicitly, for the first thing she does in being loosed of her bond, and being made straight, is to glorify God.   This in turn illumines the multitude, who then rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.  Christ's healing of this afflicted woman teaches us that salvation and freedom are interconnected, for He brings her liberation from what He terms being bound by Satan.  Freedom is an essential piece of salvation, for as Christ has said also, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34; see also Romans 6:6).   Let us therefore rejoice with this multitude, for to be united to Christ is to find both our freedom and our salvation.  Finally, her standing upright forms an icon of the Resurrection.  She's not only restored to life, but also to her proper place in the true reality of God.  This, indeed, is true liberation, in which we are free to join the cosmic reality of the communion of saints in rejoicing and glorifying God. 

 

 

Unless you repent you will all likewise perish

 

 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."

 

He also spoke this parable:  "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.  Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?'  But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.  And if it bears fruit, well.  But if not, after that you can cut it down.'"

 

- Luke 13:1-9 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!  Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?  I tell you, not at all, but rather division.  For from now on five in one house will be divided:  three against two, and two against three.  Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."  Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is.  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather'; and there is.  Hypocrites!  You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?  Yes, and why, even of yourselves do you not judge what is right?  When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite."

 

 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."  According to the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), Jesus is here referring to two historical incidents, which are only reported in the Gospel of St. Luke.  The slain Galileans were probably Zealots, the OSB notes; that is, Jewish nationalists, who triggered a disturbance against the Romans.  The collapse of the tower in Siloam, whether by accident or sabotage, was believed to be divine justice on sinners.  But Jesus here denies that this suffering was God's judgment.  Instead, He uses these events as illustrations for those who perish because they will not repent.  

 

 He also spoke this parable:  "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.  Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?'  But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.  And if it bears fruit, well.  But if not, after that you can cut it down.'"  The OSB claims that the fruitless fig tree is universally interpreted in the Church to be fallen humanity.  The three years, it says, represent God's covenants with God's people through Abraham, Moses, and Christ, all of which are rejected, as well as the three-year earthly ministry of Christ.  The keeper of the vineyard is, of course, Christ Himself.  He intercedes on our behalf through suffering His Passion and sending the Holy Spirit to us before the final judgment takes place.  

 

 It's interesting that in Christ's talk to the people, His preaching to the crowds, He seizes on superstitious views and challenges them.  Whether these views interpret God's wrath as visiting people who have suffered tragedy, or perhaps a fatalistic belief that to be unfortunate means that one meets with God's disfavor, He refutes these popular ideas.  He does so on the basis of a much deeper and grounded understanding of the nature of our reality and its spiritual basis in God's redemptive work.  We are called to repent, and the reality of the death we suffer or risk in spiritual terms without the repentance necessary to meet God's call to us is the true failure to meet God's love and grace.  Our own spirituality must be called to a far deeper place than popular superstitions or a belief in luck or fatalistic condemnation as the cause of all misfortune.  A similar teaching takes place in St. John's Gospel when the disciples see a man blind from birth at the Feast of Tabernacles, in the final year of Christ's earthly life (John 9:1-10:21).  The disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  This question represents a similar belief to the one Jesus challenges in today's reading, that misfortune of this kind was the result of personal sin.  But Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."  This forms the basis for Christ's sixth sign of seven in St. John's Gospel, the healing of the man blind from birth.  In a certain sense, we might perhaps view such popular beliefs as connected to popular superstition, even the work of demonic forces misunderstood by people, and even tangentially connected to pagan beliefs of other neighboring peoples.  But Jesus wants to focus our attention, and that of the crowds, on something far deeper and more important.  The one thing that really matters is their response to the work of God in the world, and standing before them is, in fact, the presence of God.  In Christ's ministry, moreover, the kingdom of heaven has come near (Luke 10:9-11), and it is our response to that reality that is truly a matter of life and death.  It is our response to that reality alive and at work in the world, and in us, which determines true life or death at the deepest levels of our existence.  That is, this is the one reality we have to face that both undergirds all things, and encompasses all that we are and experience, even to the level of soul and spirit.  It is this which He teaches and preaches, and for this He has come into the world to save all of us.  It is here our focus must be in His sight.  We might blame luck, fortune, foresight, planning; but ultimately it is this foundational faith that determines real life or death, our relationship with God in Whom all things and all aspects of creation are held.  This is what matters in our lives and for each of us in our hearts.

 

I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

 

 "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!  

 

"Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?  I tell you, not at all, but rather division.  For from now on five in one house will be divided:  three against two, and two against three.  Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

 

Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is.  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather'; and there is.  Hypocrites!  You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?

 

"Yes, and why, even of yourselves do you not judge what is right?  When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite."

 

- Luke 12:49–59 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught, "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.  Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?"  And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.   Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.  But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.  And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.  For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."

 

  "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!"  According to the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), fire references the proclamation of the gospel and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It says that this fire both enlivens the faithful and judges the faithless; it purifies virtue and destroys sin (see Luke 3:16; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15).  

 

 "But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!"  Baptism here is a reference to Christ's Passion.  In Matthew 20:20-23, the mother of James and John Zebedee, together with her sons, comes to Jesus and asks for a high place for the two of them in Christ's kingdom (on His "right hand and the left").  In Jesus' response, He tells them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  The reference here to His cup is to His crucifixion and His death a baptism.  According to the OSB, the Cross is a cup because Christ drank it willingly (Hebrews 12:2), and His death is baptism, for He was completely immersed in it, yet it cleansed the world (Romans 6:3-6).  Indeed, in Holy Baptism, the process of being submerged in water and again lifted up is symbolic of death and rebirth in the Spirit.

 

"Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?  I tell you, not at all, but rather division.  For from now on five in one house will be divided:  three against two, and two against three."  The OSB tells us that there are two kinds of peace.   False peace, to which Christ refers here, is a shallow harmony that results from ignoring issues of truth.  But genuine peace is reconciliation to God through faith in Christ and surrender to truth.  It says that genuine peace has division as a byproduct, because not everyone wants truth.  In the fallen world, divisions are necessary for truth to be manifest (see 1 Corinthians 11:18-19).  

 

"Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."  This is a fulfillment of the prophecy recorded in Micah 7:6.  Besides its literal meaning, which has been experienced in the Church since the time of Christ, there are also symbolic meanings here.  According to the OSB, the older generation being divided from the younger generation symbolizes (1) the rejection of the new covenant by followers of the old covenant, and (2) the spiritual struggle between our old, sinful state and our renewal in Christ (see Ephesians 4:20-24).  

 

 Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is.  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather'; and there is.  Hypocrites!  You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?"  This time, the OSB says, is the revelation of the kingdom of God in the first coming of Jesus Christ.  

 

 "Yes, and why, even of yourselves do you not judge what is right?  When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite."  The OSB notes that, just as a guilty person would attempt to reconcile with an opponent before facing an earthly judge, even more so should one be reconciled to God in Christ before facing His dread judgment.  

 

To discern the signs of the time is clearly a skill that is lacking both in the religious leadership whom Christ criticizes for their hypocrisy, and even in the multitudes, whom He also calls hypocrites in today's reading.  So, what Jesus is saying is important for all people, not just the religious leadership.  We will all be called to face the questions which Christ is effectively putting before people in His teaching.  We will all be called to make choices.  Do we reconcile with Christ, and the fire which He brings into the world and our lives, or do we not?  Christ reminds the crowds that we seek to reconcile with an adversary before we reach the judge.  How much more so should we seek to reconcile with God's work in the world, the work of the holy power of God which they can see working through Christ, and the Holy Spirit that He brings with Him in this baptism of fire?  Fire recalls the energies of God, as they are characterized in the historic theology of the Church.  That is, a holy fire -- as the OSB explains -- which both purifies, burning away what is false and unnecessary, as well as revivifies, making things new.  This is the action of the grace and mercy of God at work in the world.  We either cooperate and reconcile with this living "fire," or we resist and refuse it.  This is a choice which is with us all the time, at every moment.  It is with all of us since the advent of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit He has left with us for all, not just a select few in the world.  The language Jesus uses in today's text is a warning, and it is apocalyptic.  This word apocalyptic comes from the Greek which means to un-hide, or to reveal something, to uncover.  (It is the word translated as "Revelation.")  The reality Jesus is uncovering here is an absolute one; it is ontological and cannot be avoided.   He is the scandal, the center of history and even of time, but at the end time or at the end of our lives, we will all face this same reality with which we must deal during our lifetimes.  Hence, the urgency of His call to discern the signs of the time.  We face the same choice, all the time, and most especially in the span of our worldly lifetimes.  There is no getting away from it, no escaping, no hiding from this truth, this reality.  This fire cannot be evaded; either we accept and allow it to burn away what it will, or we choose to resist and we ourselves are burned along with whatever it is we hold onto.  This is a spiritual fire, and we speak of the soul.  But that reality is just as deep and true as our experiences in the material sense of this world.  

 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

 

 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

"Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.  Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

 

Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?"  And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.   Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.  But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.  And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.  For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."

 

- Luke 12:32-48 

 

Yesterday we read that one from the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."  Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If God then so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

 

  "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) states that "Do not fear" is a recurring theme in this discourse.  Little flock is a reference to all believers.  The OSB explains that they are "little" in two ways.  First, they are insignificant in the eyes of the world; and second, they are small in number when compared to the earthly and heavenly creation. 

 

 "Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  The beginning of the parable, speaking of servants waiting for the master to return from a wedding, suggests imagery from the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).  The OSB names this a call to be vigilant.  To "let your waist be girded" is a reference to the robes worn as common dress at the time of Christ, to gird them at the waist was to be prepared for swift and virtuous action, to work in response to the master's command.  To keep lamps burning is to have spiritual discernment (see Luke 11:34).  "Watch" in this context was the common way of noting periods of time.  The second watch indicates the hours between 9:00 PM and Midnight; the third watch is Midnight to 3:00 AM.  The OSB says that these are interpreted as hours of heightened temptation.  So, therefore, the servants are most blessed who remain faithful during the night.  We are to remain watchful and vigilant.  Christ's final admonition here teaches that it isn't the place of anyone to try to predict the time of the return of the Son of Man.  Instead, Jesus is teaching via this parable that believers are to remain faithful and ready at every hour for His return.  See also Matthew 24:45-51.

 

 Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?"  And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.   Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.  But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at  an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.  And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.  For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."  The OSB states that while the previous parable was indicated for all people, this parable is directed to the apostles and their successors, the rulers and teachers of the Church.  It says that the exhortations to principles of virtue and the warnings against corruption apply specifically to those entrusted with spiritual leadership.  Moreover, the parable indicates that the judgment of the teachers of the Church will be strict (James 3:1).  The many stripes given to those who are willfully and knowingly disobedient symbolize condemnation ("stripes" indicate strokes of a whip used for punishment).  The few stripes are for those disobedient out of ignorance and indicate chastisement or correction.  

 

 Jesus' words indicate a readiness that is asked of us; that is, a readiness to get down to work, to be prepared to answer the Master's call, and to follow His commands.  He frames the time of His return as the time of a wedding, and (like the parable of the Wedding Feast), such a time asks us to be prepared for it.  What is it that we need to be busy doing?  What are the commands we need to carry out in His absence?  Jesus begins the second parable, directed to the disciples following St. Peter's question, by saying, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes."  This is aimed, as the OSB says, at those who would be leaders in His Church, like St. Peter.  Their role is not to lord it over others as rulers, but rather to care for the "little ones" in their flocks.  In other words, they are to be the opposite of the example set by the scribes and Pharisees, whom Jesus has just chastised for their hypocrisy and their poor leadership (see this reading, the one that followed).  Today's reading begins with these words:  "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  What is it to be given the kingdom?  In Jesus' words, we're given a picture of generosity, and in particular, help for the poor -- that is, for those who cannot help themselves.  We are reminded of Christ's words that it is in the "least of these" that we see Him, and of His parable of the Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46), in which we will be judged not by merit, but rather by our active compassion.  Or, if we're being really specific, on the particular things we do out of compassion, and even love for Him.  As Jesus says in that parable to those whom He calls His sheep, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."  To help those who cannot pay back is also to invite this treasure of the Kingdom into our lives, which Jesus will teach in chapter 14 (Luke 14:12-14).  Thus readiness, preparedness, following the commands of the Master even in His absence sets us in a place where what we do is actually how we become the people we need to be.  Jesus teaches, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  In the language of the Bible, the heart is the center of who we are, the very place where Christ knocks and seeks to enter, and where, through cooperation with His grace, we are transformed.  This is the reality of salvation.  Let us pay attention to the treasure we build, for there our heart is also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you

 

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  

 

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

 

Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If God then so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

 

- Luke 12:13-31 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus spoke to them of their practices, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him. In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than any sparrows. Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

 

 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  The Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) states that it was customary for respected rabbis to arbitrate personal disputes.  However, a dispute over an inheritance, it says, is detrimental to salvation.   This greed is pure idolatry (Colossians 3:5), and it is unfitting for those who know God.  The OSB asks us to notice how incompatible this question is with what the Lord had just finished saying (in yesterday's reading, above).

 

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:  "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'  So he said, 'I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'  But God said to him, 'Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."  According to the OSB, the question "Whose will those things be which you have provided?" is the key to understanding the saving up of material goods.  It says that St. Chrysostom writes that the only barns we need we already have:  "the stomachs of the poor."  St. Basil the Great taught that the bread in our cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging unused belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in our closet belong to the one who has no shoes; and the money we hoard belongs to the poor.  The OSB notes that St. Ambrose of Milan teaches, "The things which we cannot take with us are not ours.  Only virtue will be our companion when we die."  Even when Joseph stored up grain in Egypt (Genesis 41), it says, it was for the benefit of the whole nation.  These teachings apply to parishes as well as to each person.  

 

 Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?  And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If God then so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind."  According to the OSB,  Jesus' warnings here are against anxiety, not thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, it says, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  Anxiety over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care; thus He says, "O you of little faith?"

 

"For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things."  The nations of the world are the Gentiles.  The OSB comments that because they served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence. 

 

"But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."  The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, the OSB says.  Jesus calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings. 

 

Although we in the West enjoy levels of prosperity and economic development which have never been seen in the past, it seems that coupled with this nominal abundance is a great deal of anxiety and insecurity.  These developments, for whatever reason, seem to go hand in hand.  I once read a statistic that the most widely prescribed medicines are anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications, seemingly confirming this.   Perhaps particularly in an age of technology which generates new emerging digital means of commerce and communication, we should think of security as ever more sophisticated.  But, in fact, each new development brings with it the risk of piracy and hacking, granting access to criminal and other hostile enterprises such as those of state bureaucratic mechanisms funding such efforts.  In that picture of threats to security frameworks, we might be living in an environment more precarious and vulnerable to seemingly more catastrophic damage than in the past.  Be that as it may, we can consider these things importantly in the light of Christ's teachings in today's reading.  Just like the man who had built his great storehouses, presumably with an advanced (for his time) capacity for storage, and yet the security he sought wasn't there.  For all of his efforts, he was unable to predict his own future; moreover, he was not secure in his soul toward God.  We still remain, as Jesus says, needful of our faith, even in a highly technologically advanced world in which we seemingly are able to control so many things.  Weather and natural disaster may still be unpredictable.  The vagaries of public policy remain captured by the demands for profit, at times hostage to prevailing political influence and even the easy persuasion of propaganda techniques (which also grow in sophistication with new technologies).  The world remains in its spiritual state in which there are unseen forces seeking hearts and minds of human beings, and battles over our souls, in which the errors of the historical passions we know still play a great part, albeit in new guise and with new slogans.  We remain in a world in which we choose Christ, or we choose the other seeming options on the table, like the pursuit of what we can acquire in other ways.  But it is the kingdom of God which guides us with a particular security, and a particular faith, and which can help us make discerning choices for what is ultimately trustworthy and even restful for our souls.  Jesus has come into the world to lead us and to teach us this, even in a complex world ever more demanding in what we think we need to know, and to do, and to pursue.  Christ tells us that our Father knows that we have need of these things.  But let us seek God's kingdom, and be assured in that foundation first.  

 

 

 

Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known

 

 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him. 

 

 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. 

 

And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than any sparrows. 

 

"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

 

- Luke 11:53—12:12 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him.  So He went in and sat down to eat.  When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.  Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.  Foolish ones!  Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?  But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.  But woe to you Pharisees!  For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God.  These you  ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Woe to you Pharisees!  For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them."  Then one of the lawyers answered and  said to Him, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also."  And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers!  For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you!  For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.  In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.  Therefore the wisdom of God also said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,' that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple.  Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.  Woe to you lawyers!  For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."  

 

  And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.  Here we see the response of the scribes and Pharisees to Christ's criticisms.  They respond with rage, so much so that now they lie in wait for Him and will seek to catch Him in something He might say, in order to find ways to accuse Him. 

 

  In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops."  In yesterday's reading and commentary, we discussed the problems of hypocrisy, which Christ illuminates and here names directly.  Here Jesus indicates that hypocrisy, in the end, will always be exposed.  St. Cyril of Alexandria comments, "Christ told His friends, that is, His disciples, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and scribes, meaning by leaven their false pretense. Hypocrisy is hateful to God and humanity. It does not bring a reward, and it is utterly useless for the salvation of the soul. It is rather the cause of its damnation. Although sometimes it may escape detection for a little while, before long, it is sure to be uncovered and bring disgrace on them." COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 86.

 

"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins?  And not one of them is forgotten before God.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than any sparrows."  The Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) says that Christ's teaching regarding "whom you should fear" is a reference to God (Proverbs 9:10).  The body will die eventually, one way or another, it says.  It cites St. Ambrose of Milan, who states that the death of the body is not itself a punishment, but rather it marks the end of earthly punishments.  The soul continues for all eternity; since God is the judge of the soul, our efforts in this world are to please God alone.

 

 "Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.  And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.  Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."  According to the OSB, to say a word against the Son of Man is to reject Jesus as the Messiah.  Jesus seemed to be a mere man to many people before their conversion.  The scandal caused by the Incarnation and Crucifixion of the Son of God (1 Corinthians 1:23) makes this sin more easily forgiven.  But the Holy Spirit, by contrast, is without bodily form, and invisibly works divine goodness.  The OSB cites St. John Chrysostom and many other Church Fathers, who agree that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  The OSB notes that Jesus never calls the sin itself "unforgivable."  Jesus makes this declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and are beyond repentance by their own choice. To reject the Holy Spirit is, effectively, to reject the very healing medicine that allows us to repent; thus, it is a categorical rejection of God's very mercy and forgiveness.

 

 Once again, as in yesterday's reading (see above), Jesus condemns the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees.  In today's reading, He goes further in His condemnation in order to assure us all who may be tempted to live life the same way that regardless of appearances, everything hidden will be exposed:  "For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.  Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops."  If we take His words to indicate a spiritual metaphor already common in St. Luke's Gospel, we understand that ultimately the light of Christ will pervade all things, for we know that "God will be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28).  In this sense, we are all assured that nothing will be hidden by hypocrisy.  It is a confirmation of the all-pervading nature of Christ the Logos, and the discernment of judgment.  St. Paul also writes, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:12-13).  Hypocrisy may successfully hide who we are in the inner life of our souls from the world of human beings and common understanding.  It might even successfully hide the state of the soul from our own awareness -- at least for a time.  But nothing can evade the light of Christ the Logos, the word of God that pervades all things, for Whom nothing is impermeable.