The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath

 

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

 

 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 

- Mark 2:23-3:6

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse  and no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

 

  Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  Once again, as in yesterdays reading (above), the Pharisees begin to criticize, based on their understanding of the Law and the traditions built up around it.  But Jesus brings up a blameless violation of the Law, when David and his men ate the showbread which was meant only for the priests (see 1 Samuel 21:1-6).  According to St. Ambrose of Milan, this is an illustration of the old and new covenants.  Under the new covenant, the food which was at one time not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat is now freely given to all by the Lord of the Sabbath.  This was prefigured by David in giving the showbread to those who were with him. 

 

  And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.  My study Bible comments that, according to certain traditions built up by the scribes and Pharisees around the Law, healing was considered to be work.  So, therefore, it was not permissible on the Sabbath.  Once again, as in yesterday's reading and commentary, we observe that these men believed that by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, they were serving God.  But their legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.   The text tells us that Jesus looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts.  My study Bible comments on this that righteous anger is a natural human emotion experienced in the face of sin.  There is anger that is sinful (Matthew 5:22), but there is also anger that is God-given and proper to humanity (Psalm 4:4).  Christ's anger here, it notes, is in response to people who profess God, but who have such hardness in their hearts that they could not rejoice in the healing of one of their brothers.  

 

Today's reading expands on St. Mark's orientation, observed in yesterday's reading, to Christ's ministry as one of healing.  Healing involves all kinds of aspects of what it is to be a human being.  In today's case, we observe two:  one is the aspect of human hunger; the other is of a wounded limb. In yesterday's reading and commentary, we noted that Christ's sense of healing is for the full wholeness of a person, and it extends to the soul.  Ultimate healing is connected, therefore, to repentance and the forgiveness of sin, for it is in the freedom from the kind of bondage that sin brings that we may find ourselves.   But essential to concepts of healing in today's reading is yet another gift from God, and that is the Sabbath.  Jesus says,  "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  In our modern age, we might think about the Sabbath rest as a time simply to forget about our usual work, or to relax, or as is common, to exercise.  But the Sabbath is a holy day; we put aside our normal concerns and come to sit in rest in the Church, to be surrounded by the beauty there in worship services, and to consider ourselves a part of the kingdom of God and what that means.  If we come to participate in the Eucharist, then confession, putting ourselves before God, considering how God might guide us forward in life, and giving ourselves to our faith, is also part of our Sabbath.  So when Christ tells us that the Sabbath was made for man, He's indicating that indeed, all of this is necessary for us.  It restores us and heals us.  The spiritual life isn't separate from everything else in our lives, it gives us nourishment, rest in the places and ways that we need it, a refreshment of ideas and orientation, and perhaps most of all the Lord of the Sabbath.  For Christ, the Son of Man as Lord of the Sabbath, is our champion who heals us, and He is the one setting down the terms of mercy and true nourishment, caring for need, on the Sabbath in today's reading.  He is our Physician, who cares for soul, body, heart, mind, and spirit -- and guides us to the things which are truly needful.  

 

 

 

 

How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?

 

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  

 

 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse  and no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

 

- Mark 2:13-22 

 

Yesterday we read that again Jesus entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

  Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   Levi the son of Alphaeus is also known to us as Matthew (Matthew 9:91-13).  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  It notes that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Jesus dining with them and accepting a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") is an offense to the scribes and Pharisees.  But Christ's defense of His ministry is simple:  He goes where the need of a physician is the greatest.  He clarifies His mission:  "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  

 

  The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse  and no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."  Typically, fasting practices for the Jews included fasting on Mondays and Thursday (Luke 18:12).  Moreover, my study Bible tells us, fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), and most particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and also in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But for the Jews, the day of the Messiah was foreseen as a wedding feast; that is, a time of joy and gladness.  Here Jesus is proclaiming that day, and subtly declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  For Christians, my study Bible comments, fasting is not gloomy but desirable.  It is a "bright sadness" because in fasting, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  Moreover, the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, according to my study Bible.  They are viewed as imperfect and temporary, while the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

 

 Of course, we know from an important story in the Gospels, that wine was essential to the celebration of a wedding feast (see John 2:1-12; Christ's first divine sign of seven in St. John's Gospel).  So Christ's comparison of old and new wine here is significant, because wine is symbolic and essential to covenant.  So it is also in our Eucharist; in addition to the understanding of the mystical presence Christ's Blood in the wine of the Eucharist, wine retains its covenantal meaning as well, for in taking our Eucharist we affirm that He is our Bridegroom and we wish to be united to Him as His Church, the Bride.  So when Jesus speaks of old and new wine in today's reading, we need to pay attention to the depth of what He's saying.  This isn't simply about a kind of preference in terms of a simple metaphor about what we drink, but its deeper sense is about how we live covenant, what we live by, what we know, and how we participate in the divine life of God.  One hallmark of that new wine is no doubt the element of forgiveness that is so crucial to Christ's ministry, and that becomes a counterpoint to the criticism of the Pharisees and the scribes.  Just as Jesus touched a leper (and therefore "unclean" person) in Monday's reading, something forbidden in the Law, Jesus' proximity to these sinners as He eats and drinks with them is offensive to the Pharisees and scribes, who follow the Law and the traditions built up around it as scrupulously as possible.  They, in fact, live their scrupulosity in seeking to serve God.  We can simply imagine, then, how they view Christ's behavior with these tax collectors and sinners.  But Jesus has a mission that they can't understand, and it is a mission of repentance for the purpose of forgiveness of sins.  So, as He says, He's come to call sinners to repentance, because repentance is essential to forgiveness -- and it is the freedom from sin that is the true state of wholeness or healing.  Thus, He likens Himself to a physician seeking to treat the cause of illness in those who are sick.  The Law for its purposes sought to ameliorate the effects of sin in community, to limit it, to protect the community from it.  But it did not have the power to forgive sin, for only God has that power.  As Jesus here insinuates, He has that power, for He is God.  Jesus does not openly declare Himself to be the Messiah (or to be divine) in an open or obvious sense.  But He does fulfill this role, and He is doing things that only a Messiah who was both human and divine could do.  The religious leaders will understand this, and therefore be offended by it.  His followers are those who drink the new wine and need it, for it heals what ails them, and they follow Him in the ways that He leads them.  But this wine needs new wineskins, which will expand with time and age and the powerful enzymatic properties of the wine.  As time passes, and the Church continues in the world, we continue to discover that these wineskins must expand.  We find new ways in which healing and repentance go hand in hand.  We discover that our own healing depends upon freedom from sin, not just limiting sins effects.  Real healing asks for a radical turnaround, and it needs what Christ gives.  Moreover, the Holy Spirit, the real new wine, must lead from there, always expanding, always producing new saints, always giving us its creative responses to what unfolds with time.  Let us remember we must be the product of that new wine, and continue expanding as it asks of us, for that is what repentance is for.  Today's reading is also a valuable and important lesson about the deceptiveness of appearances.  For the Pharisees and scribes are judging by what they see, and indeed Jesus is sitting with those who are considered to be notorious sinners.  But with the new wine we're taught that life is not always what it appears to be, and we must find God's way for us regardless of social appearances and pressures otherwise. With social media and new technologies, the powerful manipulation of image (and the demand that we pursue the same) is more potent and persuasive than ever.   Let us make that commitment with our covenant in the new wine of Christ, who teaches us to be wise as serpents and simple as doves, and gives us the Spirit for discernment midst all of the things we think we see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath

 

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 

- Mark 2:23-3:6 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me.  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

 

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  For the incident referred to when David and his men ate the showbread from Abiathar the high priest, see 1 Samuel 21:1-6.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke about the new wine and new wineskins, which symbolize the people coming to God under the New Covenant He initiates.   Here, my study Bible comments that under the New Covenant, the gospel of Christ, the food which was at one time not lawful for anyone to eat except for the priests,  is now freely given to all by the Lord of the Sabbath.  This was prefigured by David when he gave the showbread ... to those who were with him.

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.  My study Bible comments that, according to certain traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered to be work.  So, under the Law it was not permissible on the Sabbath.  It notes that they believed that they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but their legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.  Note that the Herodians are supporters of the Herodian dynasty, who rule for Rome, and it is these with whom the Pharisees begin to plot against Jesus.

 

 In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke of the new wine and the new wineskins, indicating those tax collectors and other sinners with whom He had associated, and even called as disciples (Matthew, or Levi, the tax collector).  In that context, Jesus referred to Himself as a healer, stating, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance," indicating that repentance was the medicine that made possible renewal and grace through this work of Christ the Physician.  Here in today's reading, He heals directly a man with a withered hand, and thus violates one of the peripheral traditions that had been built up around the Law, and which were zealously followed by the Pharisees and the scribes, as my study Bible comments.  In Christ's actions, we see the triumph of mercy, but there is more than that -- there is the illustration of the renewal of life and its possibilities, something akin to the practice of repentance and grace within the gospel of Christ.  Unlike the rigid Pharisees and scribes, who here seem far more concerned with their own authority than with the healing of the man with the withered hand (or even pausing to consider what it means that Christ is able to heal, or to hear His doctrine), illustrate what "legalism" means.  A kind of unvarying strictness in following rules set up and abstracted from principles of spiritual teachings inspired by God teaches us about the inevitable clash between our own sense of what seem like good ideas, and the true grace of God as given through the Spirit.  For God's love is what is expressed through such inspiration, and given all for our good.  Abstraction from such inspired gifts to us might be well-intended, but nonetheless it's fallible and human.  Therefore we always need to practice sincere prayer, to be open to the love of a merciful God, and to practice mercy in situations where harm may result otherwise, or even and including in circumstances where we don't always know the answers.  Perhaps the most important lesson we take from today's reading is the hope found in the potential for healing, for this points the way to Christ's love and the power of grace at work in our lives.  In the time we're given for repentance, in the repeated offerings of love and forgiveness to all in Christ, even in the illustration of God's repeated sending of servants (prophets) and finally the Son in this parable, for example, calling us back to God, we learn of the abundance of mercy and the deep desire of God for relationship and reconciliation to us.  Christ's death on the Cross remains, in a real sense, an extended hand of forgiveness to all (Luke 23:34), should we choose to realize it and follow Him.  The teachings of Jesus Christ, or so it seems to this author, can only be fully understood and accepted within this context of the sense of a living God who is both powerfully loving and merciful beyond our human concepts and expectations -- and it is to this God that we are asked to come and to learn from, and to find community and hope for our lives.  For without that understanding of love, we cannot function in accordance with Christ's teaching appropriately, because we fail to know the One in whom we put our faith and hopes, and with whom we form the depth of relationship as One who knows us better than we know ourselves.  Let us consider God's love and grace, and Christ's power to renew and to heal.  For it is in this context that "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

 

 

 

For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found

 

 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."

* * *

Then He said:  "A certain man had two sons.  And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'  So he divided to them his livelihood.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.  But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.  

 

"Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.  

 

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants."'  

 

"And he arose and came to his father.  But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  

 

"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.  And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  And they began to be merry.  

"Now his older son was in the field.  And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'  But he was angry and would not go in.  Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.  

 

"So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'"

 

- Luke 15:1–2, 11–32 

 

Yesterday we read that all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."  So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.  Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

 

  Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."  These first two verses from chapter 15 of Luke's Gospel set us up for the parable that follows.  In between, Jesus gave two parables in response to the complaint of the Pharisees and scribes:  the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Lost Coin.  See yesterday's reading, above, for those two parables.  The third parable that Jesus offered is the parable of the Lost or Prodigal Son, which follows in today's reading.  

 

 Then He said:  "A certain man had two sons.  And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'  So he divided to them his livelihood.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.  But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. "  My study Bible remarks on this request for his portion of goods (in the Greek, οὐσία/ousia is here translated as "goods."  It can also more frequently and literally mean "essence," or "substance"; here it may be translated as "property").  It notes that this indicates human beings receiving free will and a rational mind from God.  As Adam did in Eden, my study Bible says, the younger son uses these possessions to rebel against his father.  The far country represents life in exile from God.  

"Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything."   To feed swine as livelihood is something my study Bible likens to being on "Jewish Skid Row."  It's a place from which the man could not sink much lower.  

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants."'"  This striking phrase, that he came to himself, is important to note.  My study Bible comments that to be immersed in sin is living outside one's true self (Romans 7:17-20).  This prodigal or lost son realizes his hopeless condition.  The bread is a symbol of Christ, who is known through the Scriptures and through the Eucharist.  

"And he arose and came to his father.  But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'"  My study Bible comments that, in Jewish culture, it was considered to be unseemly for an older man to run.  But here the father did not simply passively stand by and wait for his son to return.  He ran to him.  This is self-humiliation for the sake of the lost -- as Christ humbled Himself on the Cross -- and indicates the way in which our father, through Christ's sacrifice, actively seeks those who stray.

"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.  And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  And they began to be merry."  My study Bible has notes on the significance of several elements in these verses.  The robe indicates the righteousness which is granted by baptism (Isaiah 61:10), the signet ring is family identity (Haggai 2:23), and the sandals indicate walking according to the gospel (Ephesians 6:15).  The fatted calf, it says, is more closely translated "wheat-fed bull-calf," or even more literally "a bull-calf formed from wheat."   This is a male calf raised on wheat in preparation for use as a religious offering.  So, as the reconciliation of the prodigal son was not complete without the sacrifice of the calf, my study Bible notes, so the reconciliation of humankind to God is not by our repentance only -- but by Christ offering Himself on the Cross.  The festive dining on an animal offering "formed from wheat" is a clear reference to our partaking of the eucharistic bread.

"Now his older son was in the field.  And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'  But he was angry and would not go in.  Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him."  This resentful older son represents the hardheartedness of the Pharisees and their attitudes, to whom Christ was telling the parable (see the first verses at the top of today's reading).  My study Bible cites St. Cyril of Alexandria, who comments that that God requires followers to rejoice when even the most blamable man is called to repentance.  

"So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'"  The older son tells his father, "I never transgressed your commandment at any time."   My study Bible points out that this failure of the older son to recognize his own sins leads to his self-righteous and merciless attitude.  It asks us to contrast this with the contrition of the younger son. St. Ambrose of Milan is quoted as commenting, "The one who seems to himself to be righteous, who does not see the beam in his own eye [Luke 6:42], becomes angry when forgiveness is granted to one who confesses his sin and begs for mercy."   This older son's ingratitude is apparent in his accusation against his father, "you never gave me a young goat" -- as his father has given him all that he has.

 

One striking aspect of the story of the Prodigal or Lost Son is the ingratitude of the older brother.  While he clearly resents the younger brother, who has gone off in a kind of rebellion against his father, and squandered what he was given, it says something about the older one that he is subsequently ungrateful to his father.  So much so, that he doesn't recognize that, in his life with his father, he has always had all that the father has.  It gives us a picture of the poisonous nature of ingratitude, in that he is blinded to the great goodness and substance that was already his.  His resentment of the younger son is important, too, because the rivalry in which he engages is destructive to both relationships, that with his father and his brother also.   It's important to note that both brothers suffered from ingratitude, but the youngest learned a lesson by experience, while the second is corrected by his father.  The Gospels give us a picture of our relationship to God which teaches us that comparison with others is not appropriate and not helpful.  At the memorable ending of John's Gospel, Jesus asks St. Peter three times, "Do you love Me?" and three times, when Peter responds in the affirmative, Jesus tells him, "Feed My lambs."  But then Peter turns toward the disciple John, the author of the Gospel, and asks the risen Christ, "But Lord, what about this man?"  Jesus tells him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me" (see John 21:15-22).  That story forms the close of John's Gospel, and it leaves us with a very important teaching, pertinent to today's story of the Prodigal or Lost Son.  We're not to compare ourselves to one another.  Each of us has a particular cross to bear of our own, and in that drama of the cross in our own lives, only God knows the heart and can judge how we do, what is appropriate to each of us, where our progress is in discipleship.  As these two young men in the story are brothers, so each one of us is a brother or a sister as a disciple in Christ, and so we need to learn what Jesus says to St. Peter at the end of John's Gospel, "What is that to you? You follow Me."  Each of us needs to hear and follow this teaching.  But perhaps in that context, we should review our commentary from yesterday's reading, in which we read the two preceding parables in this chapter of Luke's Gospel, of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.  We must continually return to the subject of God's tremendous love and longing for us, exemplified in the sacrifice of the Son, Jesus.  There is no sacrifice so great that it is beyond God's love for us, God's desire that we return, like the Prodigal, who "was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."  Clearly the older brother was meant as an example to the Pharisees and scribes, who considered themselves to be faithful to God's commandments, and complained that Christ received and ate with tax collectors and sinners.  Our relationship with God exists on two levels for us to consider.  There is a communal or collective level in which we worship (the phrase "Our Father" in the prayer given to us by Jesus teaches us that we are to pray and worship in that sense).  In this sense, both the prodigal and the older son are sons of the father and must accept their roles as such; Christ uses these parables to explain God's love for the "lost" to the "obedient" Pharisees.  But then there is the personal level, in which we are each asked to carry our crosses daily by Christ, and this is where we must consider that how we follow Christ is not something to compare with another.  Our cross is the one given to us; our devotion to God must be as a child who returns to the One who loves us beyond all our understanding of love and desire.  If the Lord is patient with others, let us then consider God's patience and love for us, for each of us is desired in God's kingdom.  Each of us is longed for, and welcomed back to the point of God's own humiliation in the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:21), just as the elderly father runs toward his younger, straying, shamed, and humiliated son.  We should be nothing but joyful over that aspect of God's love for us all.  There's a final hidden note here in the humiliation and failure of the son who returns to his father, and that is the shame he bears, who yet goes home.  It's God's love that overcomes our shame, God's love that receives us when we fail and when others might heap shame and dishonor upon us, God's love that welcomes us back if we will but return that love and return to God.  Like St. Peter returning back to Christ and to the disciples after his denial three times in the courtyard of the high priest, and his bitter tears as testimony to his shame and failure (Luke 22:31-34, 54-62), we are all desired back by a loving Father and Lord, if we but pay attention to what we truly need and where we have failed.  Life is a continual test of bearing that cross, and carrying it back to our Lord to show us how, to take away our shame and failure, to give us God's love.   But it is we who must be humble enough to turn back to Him.  

 

 

Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!

 

 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."  

 

So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. 

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

 

- Luke 15:1–10 

 

 Yesterday we read that, at this stage in Christ's ministry, great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.  Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" 

 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."   Our reading begins with the criticism (or complaint) of the Pharisees and the scribes against Jesus, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."   My study Bible comments that fellowship with sinners defiled pious Jews.  Jesus responds with three parables in this chapter as His answer to this complaint.  The parables that follow (two in today's reading; and another in tomorrow's, which is the parable of the Prodigal or Lost Son) are seen by St. Ambrose of Milan as representing Christ, the Church, and God the Father.  He comments, "Christ carries the sinner, the Church seeks and intercedes, and the Father receives."

 

 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."  In the spiritual interpretation in patristic commentary, these hundred sheep represent all rational creation, says my study Bible.  In this perspective, the one sheep who goes astray is symbolic of human beings, and the ninety-nine represent the angelic realm.   In this understanding, Christ descended from heaven to pursue the one sheep -- humankind -- who had fallen into corruption on earth. 

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."  My study Bible comments that ten silver coins comprise a single necklace worn by a married woman, a bride, which is an image of the Church (Ephesians 5:32).  The lost coin (in Greek δραχμή, a drachma) carried an image of the king.  Symbolizing humankind, who, although we bear the image of God, fell from grace.  Through the Church, my study Bible says, Christ enlightens the world, sweeps away sin, and finds His lost creation.  

The images Jesus gives in the parables we find in today's reading all speak to us of completion.  The necklace of the ten coins is simply not complete without the missing tenth coin.  Without that coin, it's not just a diminished necklace or even a broken one.  The implication is that it is no longer the bridal necklace for a married woman, it's not the necklace proper to who she is.  The same is true of the missing sheep.  Christ's implication is that without that missing sheep, and even having the ninety-nine, the flock is not full, it's not complete -- and God asks always for fullness, completeness, the fullness of God's creation and plan.  It's tells us that fullness is part of God's reality, God's identity.  If something is not full in the sense of completeness, it is not of the nature of God, our Creator.  The fullness of time, in this sense, is something else implied in these parables.  If Christ has come into the world to search for the lost sheep, to reclaim that which has been lost, He has come even as Physician, to heal those who are sick and in need, to create the fullness of the healing of humanity by calling sinners to repentance (see Luke 5:30-32).   All of this implies that the fullness of time is part of the necessary understanding of Christ's mission and what He is doing as the incarnate Jesus in the world.  This is a mission in which the central point is the culmination of the worldly ministry in the Cross and Resurrection, but the fullness of that mission is only seen through the fullness of creation.  What we might understand from this is that we need to understand our Lord as the One who seeks us with a need that is beyond what we can even understand, because if indeed we are so ultimately necessary that He would seek out the one stray and leave the ninety-nine, that the necklace is simply not complete without that missing coin, then each of us has a kind of belonging in God's love that is impossible for us to calculate.  This is because only God really knows what the fullness of God's creation is, and is supposed to be.  Only the Lord knows our purpose and calling in that ultimate fullness of what hope lies in creation, and particularly in the creation of human beings.  What these parables illustrate also is the heart of God, because it is God who seeks us, and who suggests to us that without every one of us, God feels this deep need to call us back, to come and seek and find us, to call us to repentance, to return God's love (for this is really the meaning of repentance).  In fact, perhaps the deepest form of unrequited love, beyond anything that you or I could understand through our own painful experiences, might be the love that God has for us -- so often have prophets been sent, and Christ Himself was sent, to call us back to God.  Here is a parallel mystery, that God loves us so much that God will not be content without our love which must be given freely, not coerced or compelled, for without freedom there is no love.  We have that freedom to stray because of God's love for us, for God wants us from our whole hearts, a returned love freely given.  If we want to understand Christ's suffering to come, let us understand the Cross in this light, "for God so loved the world" that the Son will suffer and die and undergo human death to call us back with His whole heart -- with a love so great it's beyond our knowing.  Jesus tells us that "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."  The joy of this completeness is rooted in God's love for each one of us.

 

It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found

 

Icon of the story of the Prodigal Son, 16th cent.   Khilandari Monastery, Mt Athos

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."

* * *

Then He said:  "A certain man had two sons.  And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'  So he divided to them his livelihood.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.  But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.  Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.  But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants." ' And he arose and came to his father.  But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.  And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  And they began to be merry.

Now his older son was in the field.  And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the  fatted calf.'  But he was angry and would not go in.  Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.  So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.' "

 

- Luke 15:1–2, 11–32 

 

Yesterday we read that all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."  So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.  Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, swept the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 

 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."   We begin today's reading with the setting from yesterday's reading.  In response to the complaint of the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus told the parable of the Lost Sheep, and the parable of the Lost Coin (see yesterday's reading, above).  Each parable was given to illustrate the heavenly joy over a repentant sinner, at finding and reclaiming someone who had been lost.  Then He told them the parable of the Lost Son (also known as the parable of the Prodigal Son), which is what we're given in today's reading.  My study Bible says that the man in the first parable, the woman in the second, and the father in today's reading are considered in patristic literature to represent successively Christ, the Church, and God the Father.  St. Ambrose of Milan comments, "Christ carries the sinner, the Church seeks and intercedes, and the Father receives."

Then He said:  "A certain man had two sons.  And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'  So he divided to them his livelihood.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living."   In the son's request for his portion of goods, the Greek word ousia/οὐσία is used for "goods."  This word literally means "essence" (sometimes used as "substance").  My study Bible says that it indicates humankind receiving free will and a rational mind from God.  As did Adam in Eden, the younger son uses these possessions to rebel against his father.  The far country represents life in exile from God.

"But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.  Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything."  My study Bible says that feeding swine could rightly be called "Jewish Skid Row," and that he could not sink much lower.

 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants." ' And he arose and came to his father."  It's significant that the text says, "He came to himself."  My study Bible comments that a person immersed in sin is living outside of one's true self (Romans 7:17-20).   The prodigal recognizes that his is a hopeless condition.  The bread is a symbol of Christ, who is known both through the Scriptures and also through the Eucharist. 

"But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."   In Jewish culture of the time, it was considered unseemly for an old man to run.  But the father in Christ's parable does not passively stand by waiting for his son to return -- he ran to him.  My study Bible says that this self-humiliation for the sake of the lost indicates the way in which our Father, through Christ's sacrifice, actively seeks those who stray.

"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'   But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet."   My study Bible explains that there is symbolic significance to each of the things the father gives to his son.  The robe signifies righteousness granted by baptism (Isaiah 61:10), the signet ring is family identity (Haggai 2:23), and the sandals refer to walking according to the gospel (Ephesians 6:15).  

"And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  And they began to be merry."   Fatted calf is more closely translated from the Greek as "wheat-fed bull-calf," my study Bible comments. Even more literally is means "a bull-calf formed from wheat."  This would be a male calf which would be raised on wheat in preparation for specific use as a religious offering.  As the reconciliation of the prodigal son would not be complete without the sacrifice of the calf, so our reconciliation to God not done by repentance only, but by Christ offering Himself on the Cross out of love for us.  My study Bible says that the festive dining on an animal offering "formed from wheat" is a clear reference to our partaking of the eucharistic bread. 

"Now his older son was in the field.  And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the  fatted calf.'  But he was angry and would not go in."  My study Bible tells us that the resentful older son is an illustration of the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees to whom Christ is telling this parable.  It cites the commentary of St. Cyril of Alexandria, who writes that God requires the faithful to rejoice when even the most blamable person is called to repentance.

Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.  So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.' "  The elder son says to his father:  "I never transgressed your commandment at any time."  This statement truly invites comparison to the Pharisees and scribes, as Christ has often portrayed them.  My study Bible says that the failure of the older son to recognize his own sins leads to his self-righteous and merciless attitude.  This is in contrast to the contrition of the young son.  St. Ambrose of Milan is quoted as saying, "The one who seems to himself to be righteous, who does not see the beam in his own eye, becomes angry when forgiveness is granted to the one who confesses his sin and begs for mercy."   The ingratitude of the older son is also clear when he states that "you never gave me a young goat" to his father, who has already given him "all that I have."

Sometimes we can't help but evoke the jealousy or envy of others.  This is just one thing made clear in the story of the Prodigal Son (or the Lost Son, a title which highlights the nature of Christ's response to the Pharisees).  Jesus tells this parable, as He did the two parables in yesterday's reading (above), in order to illustrate the immense joy in all of heaven over even one sinner who repents -- someone who was lost to heaven but who returns through repentance.  So it is with this younger son.  But if we look at the older son, it's important to understand that he has always had all that the father owned at his disposal.  This is not a stingy or mean father, but one with immense, boundless love for his sons, and great generosity that accompanies it.  But the older son nevertheless envies the young when he returns, as he sees the father's joy clearly expressed in this reunion banquet.  Perhaps he feels taken for granted, or he's simply failed to understand his father's love for him.  Possibly he does not know the difference between a kind of obedience that is about following the rules, and one borne of love and loyalty.  There is an interesting story in the Old Testament, about Jacob wrestling with a mysterious person, and finally receiving a blessing (Genesis 32:22-31).  Jacob says afterward, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."  The notion that wrestling with God is a good thing takes us to a place where we are to understand that love is not a legalistic form of servitude, but one of communion, of addressing difficult issues, and in particular our own ways of thinking that might need change, repentance, reconsidering.  And there we find the older brother:  perfect in every way, but not perfect in understanding and accepting the fullness of what love is.  The "lost son" was not necessarily wrong because he went away, but he was wrong in his prodigal and wasteful behavior, in not realizing what he had and who he was.  He failed to treat his father's gift with respect.  His going away was, in effect, a selfish act and an expression of his own blindness.  But in the older brother we see a similar blindness in terms of his understanding of the love of the father.  Love of God invites a joy when that love is shared and renewed in others.  It invites us to be expansive, and not limited in our understanding of grace and its infinite capacities for us and for others as well.  We are not diminished when love is a circle, but rather, we are expanded. Envy seems to be at the heart of so many ills, a type of root sin that causes problem after problem in Scripture, including in the angels who rebel against God.  This is a type of pride and selfishness, an unwillingness to understand humility as leading to gracious and abundant life.  The lost son's loss of everything, his "rock bottom" in being forced to feed and eat the food of swine due to his reduced circumstances, actually serves as a favor for his true well-being and realization of who he is.  When everything is stripped away, we stand a chance to come to terms with who we really are, and to realize the love of God which is always there for us when it seems like nothing else is.  We can take pride in our possessions and good fortune, including our own image of perfection, and take everything else for granted.  This is a false confidence that results in envy, a false kind of sense of self that is betrayed by its own lack of understanding of God's unlimited and abundant love, and our own need to grow in that love as well.  Let us contend with our own failure to take root and confidence in God's ever-surprising and eye-opening love, and see where it leads us in life.  We may find that life is even more infinitely abundant than we thought -- and that we in turn may be expanded ourselves.  In the icon above, the story shows Christ as the character of the father, and we are meant to understand the love and forgiveness of Christ, the repentance that turns us back to finding our place with Him, and with the angels above, who rejoice.

Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells on it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

- Matthew 23:13-26

Yesterday we began what is understood to be Jesus' final sermon, given in the temple at Jerusalem.   He spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."  My study bible comments that because the example of a leader can be so influential, leaders who do not love God can hinder others from finding God as well.  Thus, leaders are held to a higher standard (James 3:1).   The sayings here are similar to the condemnations Jesus gave when He called these leaders "blind leaders of the blind" (15:14).   But let us note the progression from bad to worse; these hypocrites make their proselytes twice as much a son of hell as themselves. 

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells on it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it."  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus forbade his followers from swearing oaths at all (5:33-37).  In this case, following up on His accusation that these blind guides "devour widows' houses," He shows also their focus on the accumulation of wealth rather than the more important reality of the presence of God. 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."   My study bible calls these warnings (and those which will follow in the next readings) especially important to Orthodox Christians, as the Church has maintained these ancient practices of tithing and sacred vessels, as well as holy rites which Christ will mention in our next reading.  As the Church continues to follow the tradition that comes from the ancient Church, these practices can be expressions of deep faith, leading to a deeper commitment to God and safeguarding our life in Christ -- or they can be observed without ever taking them to heart, and lead to condemnation.  Strain out a gnat and swallow a camel:  my study bible explains that the Pharisees would attach strainers to the mouths of decanters to avoid accidentally consuming a ritually unclean substance. 

Clearly in these last verses, Jesus combines the images of ritual practice with the need for internalizing that practice so that it is meaningful and truly spiritually effective.   To pay tithes is one thing, but the weightier matters are actually the intangibles and internal practices from the heart of justice and mercy and faith.   To cleanse the outside of the cup and dish are ritual practices regarding what is considered clean, but to cleanse the inside of the cup and dish so that the outside may be clean also is a metaphor for how we live our lives and, more specifically, the practice of repentance and safeguarding the heart.  Everything that Christ says and preaches reminds us of the need to practice what He names as the greatest commandment:  to love God with all one's heart and soul and mind.  Therefore, to swear an oath by the treasure of the temple is to lack the awareness of the presence of God which sanctifies all; to clean the outside of the cup or to tithe spices are meaningless without the internal counterpart of faith, of the love of God.  It is this depth of awareness and faith -- and the love of God -- which is missing in their practices, a growth of corruption through time which Jesus is criticizing in His final sermon, here in the temple in Jerusalem.  Clearly my study bible indicates the dangers of such practices in forgetting God remain with us.  We may do just the same as the ones He criticizes, even as we attend services or engage in practices designed to shore up faith, but without the internal commitment of the heart and soul.  Jesus criticizes the purely external focus, the one that needs the "praise of men" more than the "praise of God" (John 12:43).  As we return to the theme of social media so frequently on this blog, let us consider how easily image shaped in the eyes of others can be used to distort and hide from a true image of ourselves -- and especially in the context of today's reading and Jesus' words to the hypocrites of His own time.  Just as He criticizes their love of public honors, and do things in order to be "seen by men" (23:5, in yesterday's reading, above), so our lives today can so easily focus around social media and the image that we create for others to see.  If our images in the eyes of others become more important than the image that God will give us, then our communication is flawed, over-emphasizing the material over the spiritual, and the communication from the heart with God.  Including heart and mind and soul means we lead a balanced and grounded life.  Life becomes an organic process in which we live a fullness of growth that proceeds naturally out of and through all that we do.  By a constant practice of prayer and being mindful of God we sort through our life with grounding in the knowledge that life is meant to unfold as a place of growth:   a constant discovery of where we need to change, what we need to emphasize, and new things we need to learn.  This is how we are meant to be, and all else is secondary to that.  It is so easy to lose ourselves in a false image.  Let us learn to guard ourselves so that we are always true.





 

What comes out of a man, that defiles a man

 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.  Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.  For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.  When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.  And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"  He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

'This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'  

"For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men -- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."  He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" -- ' (that is, a gift to God), "then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.  And many such things you do." 

When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand:  There is nothing that enters a man from the outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"  When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.  So he said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also?  Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?"  And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

- Mark 7:1-23

Yesterday, we read that when evening came, after the feeding of five thousand in the wilderness, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land.  Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them.  Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.  And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled.  But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."  Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased.  And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.  For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.  When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there.  And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was.  Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment.  And as many as touched Him were made well.

 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.  Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.  For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.  When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.  And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"  He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:  'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'  For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men -- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."  He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" -- ' (that is, a gift to God), "then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.  And many such things you do."   My study bible suggests that the issue here is not the observation of Jewish customs or traditions, which Jesus most certainly doesn't prohibit (Matthew 5:17-19, 23:23).  The real issue here is setting human tradition which is contrary in practice to the tradition of God.  The tradition of the elders is a body of interpretations of the Law.  For the Pharisees and the scribes this tradition of the elders was as authoritative as the Law, and often superseded it.  It was their tradition.  In accordance with it, offerings (called Corban) could be promised to God in such a way so that property or earnings could still be used for oneself during one's lifetime -- and were excluded for anyone else's use, including parents, as in Christ's example.  My study bible comments that secondary traditions like these obscured the primary tradition of the Law, contained in God's commandments.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 29:13. 

When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand:  There is nothing that enters a man from the outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"  When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.  So he said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also?  Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?"  And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within and defile a man."   My study bible comments here that food does not defile a person, because it is created by God, and is therefore pure.  Evil things are not from God, and these are what defile a person.

One important thing to note in today's reading is how Jesus defends His own disciples when they are criticized by others, and corrects them in private.  He really goes on the offensive, so to speak, when the Pharisees and scribes criticize the disciples because they haven't performed a ceremonial washing.  But Jesus will always remind us of the primary aims of the Law, and the true love of God.  He does not tear down the Law given to Moses by God, but rather asserts what He says of Himself in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 5:17-19), that He has come to fulfill the Law.  He comes, as the prophets who were sent before Him, to draw people back to God, to remind us of the love of God, and what that love of God means in terms of our behavior toward one another.  The real heart of our understanding of how we are to regulate our behavior in this world in accordance with the will of God is understanding what evil is and what it does.  Foods to eat cannot in and of themselves be evil.  The good things of creation cannot be inherently evil.  But we can define evil in terms of a spiritual battle, a theme which is always, so far, either overtly or subtly behind everything we've read in Mark's Gospel.  There are "two kingdoms" seemingly at war here, although to really understand what evil is, we go to the Patristic tradition of the Church, and come to understand evil not as an equal force, but rather the absence of the good.  In other words, where we ignore God or choose to defy what we know of God's love and the teachings that stem from this love, there we find evil.  Jesus cites the things that are evil which may be found within human beings.  He says, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness."  All these things that Christ names are the things we find where we ignore or defy what we know of God, where selfishness (in the sense of the absence of the love of God in our choices) comes first.  Moreover, a loving God asks us always to return to that love, and extends to us mercy and forgiveness.  So much, in Christ's teaching, comes down to the heart, the true inner self of a human being, because that is the place where we allow God to dwell within us, or we shut the love of God out.  Even in terms of a broader spiritual battle (such as the temptations offered to Christ by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13), Jesus' repeated response is simply to invoke the love of God as that which guides all choices.  When Jesus performs exorcisms in the Gospels, the demons are forces that defy God, yet they have no power against Christ and must obey His direct commands.  In other words, even in the direct expressions of the demonic, or of the evil one, the Gospels tell us a story about hearts and minds, about choices regarding the love of God.  This is what it all comes down to, as Jesus will teach when He's asked what are the greatest commands of the Law (see Matthew 22:36-40,Mark 12:28-34).  This is what we need always to remember for ourselves.  It is what it all boils down to.  It is why the practice of constant prayer is so important.  In order to find our way in life, we need the discipline that keeps us in the right place and on the right road.  It is why, if we are serious about our faith, we learn to "guard the heart" by coming to know ourselves better, by observing our own thoughts and impulses, coming to terms with our own internal weaknesses and temptations, and seeking a humility that asks of us dependence upon God, knowing how grace can be at work in us and helping us through all things.  This is where we start:  with the love we know of God, and in the love we may return and share, in which we can participate and commune (1 John 4:19).  Let us start with Christ who came to be one of us simply so that we may know this truth.  Let us consider His deep loyalty to His disciples, and how we share in that love.  Let us remember God.