If David then calls Him "Lord," how is He his Son?

 

 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

 

- Matthew 22:41-46 

 

In our current readings, the lectionary has taken us through the Gospel of St. Matthew, and into the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).   But this week, as Ascension Day occurs tomorrow (in the Western and Armenian Apostolic Churches; for the Eastern Orthodox, it is a week later), the lectionary begins prepares us for the celebration of Christ's Ascension, with passages that affirm His identity.  On Friday the lectionary will resume texts starting with the final verses of the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus was explaining to His disciples the parable of the Sower (given in Monday's reading):  "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." 

 

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.  The setting for today's reading is Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  He is in Jerusalem in the temple, where He has been questioned, and been in dispute with the religious leaders.  Here, Jesus in turn asks the Pharisees a question.  What do you think about the Christ? is a question about the Messiah (Christ is the Greek word meaning "Anointed" and so refers to the Messiah).  After they answer, the Son of David, Jesus then poses a question to these experts, who do nothing but pore over the Scriptures, a question about the Scriptures and their understanding, pointing to a psalm of David that refers to the Lord, the Christ.  Jesus refers to Psalm 110, quoting its first verse.  My study Bible comments that He does so to lead the Pharisees to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God incarnate.  They suppose the Messiah to be a mere man, and in this is the understanding that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as the king of Israel, could never call anyone else "Lord" except if he were addressing God.  But here in this psalm, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  So, therefore, the Messiah must be God, the only "lord" loftier than the king.  The only possible conclusion, my study Bible notes, is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but that He is also truly divine, sharing His Lordship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It's clear that the implications have not been lost on the Pharisees, as they refuse to answer, out of fear of confessing Jesus is the Son of God.  Following this encounter, Jesus will begin His grand critique of the scribes and Pharisees, His final public sermon (Matthew 23).

 

There are times in life when we really do seek to avoid saying a truth that has become obvious to us, but which is threatening to our identity, to our understanding of ourselves.  Here it is the case with the Pharisees, whose authority is something they stake their lives on.  Their positions within the society are firm, and they seek to uphold the values and meanings of the tradition upon which they stand.  Since their position is that which considers themselves to be the experts in the Scriptures and their interpretation, this is indeed an almost perilous question that Christ poses to them.  How could they, who do nothing but study Scripture and derive numerous commandments from the Scriptures which they scrupulously obey, have missed this implication of this extraordinary psalm of David?  Could the Messiah truly be the Son of God in the sense that Jesus is implying?  And could Jesus Himself, then, be the Messiah (as His disciples and followers seem to believe, having welcomed Him into Jerusalem in His Triumphal Entry a few days prior to this)?   Do they dare to admit that His logic and intuition are the only possible answer to the writing of this psalm by King David?  We do know that there are Pharisees among Christ's followers, such as Nicodemus (see, for example, John 3:1-21).  St. John's Gospel tells us, "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43). In Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees in the chapter that follows (Matthew 23), He focuses chiefly on their hypocrisy in His grand critique of their practices.  They care for image more than substance; to be seen as holy and pious becomes more important than dealing with the internal life of the soul.  In their refusal to answer is a sign of this hypocrisy, a fear that to state what is, in fact, recognized as true is to tear down their own houses, to force a kind of repentance that needs to reconcile with the One standing in front of them whom they reject and consider an enemy, One whom they wish to destroy.  We might call this behavior outrageous, given the colossal, cosmic importance of what they are rejecting.  But we can observe this behavior all around us as a part of life.  That is, truths we are afraid of admitting openly for fear we'll have to change too much in our lives, disrupting the present order, should we acknowledge such to ourselves.  Denial goes on all the time, whether we speak of small circles such as an individual in denial about themselves, a family that does not acknowledge some harmful habit or practice or failure of a particular member, to larger groups such as social communities of all sorts, even to nations or groups of nations and international institutions.  A self-chosen blindness is frequently the theme of concern in the Gospels, a failure or even deliberate blindness to what and whom Christ is.  In the case of these Pharisees, it comes down to hypocrisy in Jesus' words and His criticism of them and their blindness, and His light is something they do not want.  This hiding from the light is an overarching theme, one that touches all of us and our world (John 1:5), and it is an ongoing reality for all of us to grapple with in one form or another, whether we fight against it or must face our own tendencies to hide from that light which may come to illuminate our dark corners and ask us to change.  But Jesus, the Son, "my Lord" to David, is the central figure here, the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), to whom all need to turn and with whom we will all reconcile (Philippians 2:9-11, Isaiah 45:23), in whom all things converge (Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:17).  

 

 

 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

 

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.  Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. 

 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 7:1-12 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

  "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  My study Bible comments here that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the same things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin also.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  Moreover, my study Bible points out that the second part of this verse is found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38, each used in a different context, as Christ clearly repeated this message many times.  This repetition teaches us something about the significance of the principle He names here.

 

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Here is an elaboration on the warning against judgment, and a teaching on our own blindness to our flaws and what that does to us.  We are to look to ourselves to correct our own errors and mistaken thinking and practices before we can ever help others.  For Christ's teaching on mutual correction in the Church, see Matthew 18:15-35.  Let us remember also that Jesus is preaching to those who are His disciples, and who will in turn become teachers and authorities in His Church.

 

 "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."   Dogs and swine, my study Bible explains, refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic teaching, "dogs" are those who are so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  On the contrary, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  Additionally, this extends the warning about judgment to protection from those who would respond with hostility to what is intended as helpful correction given through grace ("removing the speck in another's eye") such as Christ gives to His disciples.  

 

 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  My study Bible tells us that in the Greek, the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives:  "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  Note the synergy here:  our effort is commanded, but not ever apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer; seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.  Human beings are called evil not to condemn all of us, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (in other words, our goodness is also mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, my study Bible explains, all the more will God work perfect good.  

 

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  This verse is known as the Golden Rule.   Jesus' expresses that it fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets; my study Bible remarks that it is also a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (see Jesus' statement of the two greatest commandments, found at Matthew 22:37-40).  This Golden Rule is a first step in spiritual growth, according to my study Bible.  There is also a negative form of the Golden Rule which was already well known in Judaism ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you").  But Christ's fulfillment of the Law and Prophets renders this into a positive statement:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.  

 

Jesus teaches, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  We may be tempted to think of these words, taken apart from the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, as indicating material blessings to be given by God in exchange for our good behavior.  But to keep asking, and keep seeking and keep knocking in this context is to seek the blessings of discipleship, the blessedness of the Kingdom, the reality of what it is to be an adopted "son" of your Father who is in heaven.  The good things Jesus preaches about are the fruits of discipleship, the spiritual gifts meant for those who love God, and seek to do God's will.  Jesus begins today's reading by teaching, "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."   These are words that teach us, as followers of Christ, to pay attention to what we are to be about -- not to what everyone else is supposed to be doing.  In the final verses we find in St. John's Gospel, there is a story that is illustrative of this same principle.  Jesus comes, in one of His resurrectional appearances, to St. Peter.  In a striking dialogue, meant to be taken as a restoration of St. Peter to his place as apostle after his three-time denial of Christ (Matthew 26:69-75), Jesus asks St. Peter three times, "Do you love Me?"  Each time Peter answers positively, and Jesus indicates that his work going forward is to feed His lambs (John 21:15-19).  This moving scene is tremendous in and of itself.  But -- perhaps just because it's St. Peter -- that's not all there is to the story.  Peter then turns, see the apostle St. John (the author of the Gospel) following, and asks Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?"  Jesus' response bears out His teaching in today's reading.  He tells St. Peter, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me" (John 21:20-22).  If it is even so for one as great as St. Peter, the first among equals of the apostles, consider how it is so for us that our job is to look to ourselves, our place as disciples, the "plank" in our own eye that needs removal, our own flaws, and our own ways we're called to follow Christ.  If we think about it carefully, casting pearls before swine or giving what is holy to dogs is also outside of our purview, not staying in our own lane, so to speak, nor remembering what it is we are supposed to be about.  Moreover, the grace and mercy we are capable of expressing will be measured back to us.  Let us remember that Jesus is speaking to those who would be His disciples, and that this sermon's theme is the righteousness of the Kingdom.  Beginning with the Beatitudes, He teaches us about blessings that seem to stand the values of the world on their heads, and here the promises and teachings are all about how we grow in discipleship, and the good things bestowed by our Father.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone

 

 Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedrssers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture:

'The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

 This was the LORD's doing,

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away. 

 

- Mark 12:1–12

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples came again to Jerusalem.  The setting is Holy Week, and this is Christ's third day in the Holy City, the day after He has cleansed the temple.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."   

 

Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"  And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away.  My study Bible explains that, in this parable, the man represents God the Father, and the vineyard refers to God's people.  The vinedressers are the leaders of the Jews -- such as the men to whom Christ speaks -- who are entrusted to care for the people.  Every servant who is sent by the owner stands for an Old Testament prophet who was sent to call people back to God.  The son, his beloved, of course, refers to Christ Himself.  That the son who is cast out of the vineyard and killed is understood in two ways.  Golgotha, the place of Christ's Crucifixion was outside the walls of the City, and also that He was crucified by foreign soldiers.  Those others to whom the vineyard is given are the Gentiles brought into the Church. 

 

 At the end of Christ's parable told to the chief priests, scribes, and elders, Jesus quotes from Psalm 118.  (He quotes verses 22-23.)  This is quite significant, because this Psalm was one of a group repeated each day during the Feast of Tabernacles.  The Feast of Tabernacles was the Feast of the Coming Kingdom, heralding the expected Messiah and the Kingdom anticipated at the time of the Messiah.  When the people welcomed Christ into Jerusalem at His Triumphal Entry, just days before, it is from this Psalm that they cried, "Hosanna [meaning "Save, I pray"]! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (see Mark 11:9-10).  But here, Jesus reminds these authorities -- who have come to question Him about His authority to cleanse the temple -- of one of the promises in this Psalm.  Coupled with the parable, the implication is clear.  They are the ones who reject Him, and He declares Himself to be the rejected stone which will become the "chief cornerstone" who will then give the vineyard to others.  The entire story of Holy Week -- and particularly this time when Jesus has been welcomed with acclaim into Jerusalem and His subsequent actions and teaching in the temple -- is infused with the extraordinary tension of messianic expectation and the people's hope in Christ.  It is for this reason they dare not lay hands on Him at this time, and openly in daylight in the temple, for as the text tells us, they feared the multitude.  In such an atmosphere of heightened expectation and tension, Jesus goes toward the Cross.  We can imagine what a crushing blow it will be to the disciples, who will initially go into hiding.  Certainly the religious leaders, treating Jesus with disdain at the Cross, gloat and feel triumphant.  But death cannot hold Him, will not stop this rejected stone from becoming the Chief Cornerstone of his Church, which will be spread to all the world.  And that is just the point, for only He could "trample death by death," as the Orthodox Paschal hymn declares.  For the Eastern Orthodox, Holy Week begins on Monday.  For the Western Churches and the Armenian Apostolic (Oriental Orthodox) Church, Easter is this Sunday.  As we move toward the moment Christ has predicted three times to His disciples, let us consider how what appeared to be the greatest defeat was the greatest triumph, one shared with all of us.  At the tomb Mary Magdalene and the other women will become Apostles to the Apostles, giving to the others, and thence to the world, the greatest news of all.

 

 

I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them

 

 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.  Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  

 

"O righteous Father!  The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."  

 

- John 17:20–26

 

On Thursday, we began reading the High Priestly Prayer; that is, Christ's final prayer at the Last Supper.  Yesterday we read that Jesus continued, "I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.  And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.  Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.  Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth."

 

  "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.  Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."  Jesus prays for those who will believe.  My study Bible comments that the Church in every generation participates in the life and glory of the Trinity.  Christians enjoy two kinds of unity, it says:  first with God and also with one another -- the latter being rooted in the former.   See Christ's naming of the two greatest commandments in the Law (Matthew 22:36-40).  

 

 "O righteous Father!  The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."   My study Bible says that the ultimate goal of Christ's prayer, and even of life itself, is for the love of the Father to dwell in each person.  

 

 Let us note how Christ frames our unity.  Our unity is in love.  He says to the Father about His followers, "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."  Through faith in Christ's words and teachings, which come from the Father, we enter into God's love in the kind of unity that is one way to understand what it means to have eternal life.  For if the love with which the Father loves the Son is also in us, and Christ is also in us, then this means we may dwell with them.  Effectively, we are united in love.  John's Gospel is known as the Gospel of love, for it is St. John who teaches us so much about Christ's love and how it is inextricably linked to our faith.  For if the relationship between Father and Son is love to begin with, then for the Father and the Son (and the Spirit) to dwell within us, and we are to know that love, then love becomes all in all, and this is a kind of declaration in Jesus' prayer that ultimately, love is everything.  It is St. John also who will write in his Epistle that God is love.  "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).  So really, at its heart, our faith is all about love, and that is what one reads in His prayer.  It opens up a line of inquiry necessary for us to understand what we are about to wonder exactly, what is love?  For many people seem to define and live a variety of versions of love, or what people believe that love is.  There is the love that is covetous, that wants something, and wants it all to oneself. There is a kind of love that seeks to control, or wants others to be stamped in their image (say, a child, for example).  But throughout the Gospels, Jesus does not speak of love as taking or controlling.  Jesus speaks most often of actions that indicate expansiveness, giving.  He speaks of forgiveness (Matthew 18:35).  He speaks of giving up our lives to save our lives ("For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" - Matthew 16:25; "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" - John 12:25).  Jesus prepares His disciples for His Passion at the Last Supper by telling them, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13).  All of these actions of love as given to us by Christ as actions of grace, actions that in some way emulate or express the love of God.  This love is generous, and cares for each one as is necessary for each one.  As the Good Shepherd, He calls us all by name; in Him we are known and we know Him (John 10:2-4).  Through His truth our Shepherd does not compel or enslave, but makes each one free who hears and follows ("If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" - John 8:31-32).  Moreover, in this love through which the Father, Son, and Spirit may dwell in us is a home with many rooms, many dwelling places, room for each one ("In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" - John 14:2).  Let us consider carefully this understanding of Christ's indwelling, for the whole purpose seems to be to enfold us in love, so that we also become like God, and able to live and practice this love in our hearts also.  For this is a love we don't fully know, not a love like the world loves; this is a reconciliation of true peace for it is truly gracious ("Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" - John 14:27).  Let us learn from Him, follow Him, remain true to His word and grow in His love as His disciples.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him

 

 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:  "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  I have glorified You on the earth.  I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.  And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. 

 

 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.  They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.  Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.  For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me."

 

- John 17:1–8 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."   

 

  Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:  "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him."  Jesus' prayer (verses 1-26) is often called the High Priestly Prayer.  This is because it contains the basic elements of prayer a priest will offer to God when a sacrifice is about to be made:  glorification (verses 3-5, 25), remembrance of God's works (verses 2, 6-8, 22-23), intercession on behalf of others (verses 9, 11, 15, 20, 21, 24), and a declaration of the offering itself (John 17:1, 5).  My study Bible explains that His words, the hour has come, signifies that Christ is Lord over time.  A hymn declares that Christ "voluntarily willed to ascend the Cross in the flesh."  To glorify refers to the redemption of all creation which will be accomplished through the Cross and Resurrection.  This, my study Bible says, was the purpose for which Christ was sent into the world.  In this redemption, the Father and the Son are glorified.  This is why the Cross, which is a sign of death, is glorified in the Church as "life-giving" and the "weapon of peace."

 

 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."  My study Bible comments that the knowledge of the only true God is far more than intellectual understanding.  It is participation in God's divine life and in communion with Him.  So, therefore, eternal life is an ongoing, loving knowledge of God in Christ and in the Holy Spirit.  

 

"I have glorified You on the earth.  I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.  And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."  My study Bible notes that Christ's work can never be separated from who He is.   This verse is a statement every believer can make at the end of life, no matter how long or short that life may be.  

 

  "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.  They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.  Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.  For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me."  The men whom You have given Me are Christ's apostles.  According to my study Bible, they are the ones through whom God's word comes to us.  This handing down of God's word to successive generations is called apostolic tradition.  It was prophesied by Isaiah that in the days of the Messiah, the knowledge of the Name of God would be revealed (Isaiah 52:6).  Your name:  In Old Testament times, the phrase "the Name" was reverently used as a substitute for God's actual name, "Yahweh," which was too sacred to pronounce.  The fuller revelation of the Name, my study Bible explains, was given to those who believe in Christ, for Christ manifested the Name not only by declaring the Father, but by being the very presence of God and sharing the Name with Him.  

 

Jesus begins His prayer this way:  "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him."  It seems quite remarkable that we should be given to understand -- through the words of this prayer, heard by the apostles, and passed on for our knowledge -- that God and God's Son are glorified by giving eternal life to all those whom the Father has given to the Son.  In other words, Christ's prayer reveals that God the Father and God the Son -- neither in need of further glory -- are glorified through giving to us the gift of eternal life.  Following in this sense, it would seem to indicate that glory for God is magnified through graciousness, through the granting of this unsurpassable gift of eternal life for God's creatures.  Those who are given to Christ are those who come in faith.  That is, those like St. Peter, who upon His confession that Jesus is the Christ, was told by Jesus, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven"  (see Matthew 16:16-18).  It seems to indicate that the grand plan of salvation is, in fact, the grand plan of creation in the first place.  For we fallible creatures are capable of becoming perfected through faith and by the grace of God.  If God's glory is indeed magnified and made manifest through the granting of such a gift of eternal life to we who were created as finite and imperfect, then we live in a world that is a creation of the one true God who above all is gracious and loving.  This is a God who makes all things possible, for whom the gift of eternal life is a goal for His finite creatures and seemingly has been all along.  To be gracious, and magnanimous, to give impossibly expansive and ineffable gifts such as the life we're offered is what it means for our glorious God to be further glorified.  Does it not follow that, if for God Himself it is glory to extend what is infinite to the finite, then for we finite creatures to emulate glory is simply to be gracious?  We become glorious not by collecting but by giving, if we are to be "like" our God.  The very concept of what it is to be gracious becomes, through Christ, a transfiguring understanding extended to kings and nobles of what it means to have glory.  Let us extend our own capacity for grace through the gifts of the infinite God for His finite creatures.  For God's purposes have a meaning and a fullness to attain, and that glory is apparently attained in us.

 

 

 

 

This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day

 

 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

- John 6:27-40 

 

On Saturday we read that, when evening came following Christ's feeding of the five thousand, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water of the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.  On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."

 

  "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  We remember that these people have sought to make Christ king by force, because of the miraculous food He gave them (see this reading).  So, He is speaking now in response to them and the things they seek Him for.  Note how Christ frames faith as the work of God, for faith includes not simply belief but faithful living, following the One whom God sent.  But yet again, the people respond with a demand for a sign, a work such as producing bread from heaven (see Exodus 16).  

 

 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."   Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  As has been remarked upon several times during our reading of John's Gospel, Jesus once again turns from "earthly" words and meanings to elevate them to spiritual meanings, to the meaning of His ministry and gifts to the world.  Here, the people must turn their minds from earthly bread, to the manna given during Moses' time, to Christ as the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  

 

 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."  My study Bible explains Christ's teaching, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."  It notes that since Christ has two natures, He has two wills -- one divine and one human.  At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, it explains, which was held at Constantinople (AD 680-681), it was proclaimed that the two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another, but "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will."

 

 Christ's closeness to the Father has already been repeatedly emphasized in St. John's Gospel.  In John 1:14, we read, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."  Christ's glory is beheld by human beings, as He is the Word in the flesh, inseparable from His identity as only begotten of the Father.  In John 5:30, Jesus teaches, "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  At the Last Supper, Jesus will teach, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father; . . . Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works" (see John 14:8-10).  Fidelity in the words and actions of Christ is linked to both faith and obedience.  In this sense of faith that Christ teaches, we observe that to work the work of God through belief is to live in accordance with that belief, as He does in this collaboration with the Father.  Even the words He speaks to the disciples and to us are those given Him by the Father.  In our reading for today, Christ teaches that He has come into the world -- as the bread of heaven -- not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him.  As human beings, we may wonder how it is possible to be so closely identified and allied with another being, and yet not lose our own distinct identity.  But this is the nature of the divine, and it is also the relationship to which Christ invites us, the participation in the life of Christ we may also enter, especially through the "bread" He will give us.  This is the very nature of the divine, and in Him it is mingled inextricably with His humanity, precisely so that we human beings may also share in and participate in this life.  Baptism gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit which dwells in us; divinity itself may also lead us through our faith, and thus through our own works and life, as we are able to accept that "grace and truth" given to us.  In this sense, Christ enters into our world as one of us ("in the flesh") so that we might become like Him in all the senses made possible for human beings.  Thus we are capable of receiving grace and truth to the extent that we are able, and as our human wills may embrace that faith.  This is the way Christ models faith and fidelity for us, so that we learn and are made capable of "working the works of God" as faith is taught to us in today's reading.  This is more than an intellectual process, but one that works through grace, as even the faith we're given relies also on God's work in us.  St. Paul writes, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).  And the foundation of all that Christ teaches is love; that is, the love of Father and Son, and that love extended to us.  For here is the first thing He then teaches about the Father's will:  "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."   That we will not be lost to God, but forever found and kept and raised to life.  Let us enter into His love and live our faith that we're given.  As we will come to read, the "bread of heaven" invites us into that life of participation and belonging, the cup of salvation.

 

 

 

 

For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man

 

 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. 

 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

 

- John 5:19–29 

 

Yesterday we read that there was a feast of the Jews (the Feast of Weeks, or the Jewish Pentecost, commemorating the giving of the Law), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool  when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."   Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

 

 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  In yesterday's reading (see above), in the verses just prior to this section, Jesus declared God to be "My Father."  The religious leaders have clearly understood that this implies absolute equality.  That the Son can do nothing of Himself, my study Bible says, proves that His every act and word is in complete unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It notes that this discourse reveals that the Father and the Son are completely united in nature, will, and action.  So, therefore, the Son fully shares the divine prerogatives of both giving life and executing judgment.  Christ's judgment is based on both faith and works, as the following verses reveal.

 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."  Christ says, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God."   According to my study Bible "the dead" refers both to the spiritually dead, who will find life in Christ, and to the physically dead, who will rise in the general resurrection.  This statement is confirmed when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-44) before He goes to His own death.  John 5:24-30 is read at the Orthodox funeral service, which my study Bible says confirms the same reward for those who fall asleep in faith. 

 

 In today's reading, Jesus expands upon the relationship between the Father and the Son, expressing the things they share completely, and even the prerogatives of the Father which have been given to the Son (such as judgment).  In theological language, the state of relations between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is described as "perichoresis."  This is a Greek word which describes how each divine Person can exist within and among one another, sharing all attributes, while maintaining distinct and separate identities as Father, Son, and Spirit.  This word was originally suggested by the great Theologian and early Church Father St. Gregory Nazianzus, who used it to describe the particular union of human and divine natures in Jesus Christ.  Jesus says, "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man."  This utterly remarkable statement seems to combine both of these applications of periochoresis.  That is, Jesus not only states the life of the Father as granted to the Son, but also that the authority to execute judgment comes because He is the Son of Man.  That is, He is the divine Son who has come into this world as Incarnate human being.  But perhaps the most important thing we take away from this understanding is the sense of love that underpins all that is, and the workings of the Holy Trinity as well as the inner life of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.  This kind of mutual sharing without diminishing the distinction between the Divine Persons nor between Christ's divine and human natures teaches us, in fact, about the love that undergirds the structure of reality as created by God.  And, of course, Christ's own hypostatic union of God and man in Himself lends itself to our own journey of faith and the possibility of grace permeating and transforming us as well, as we might also take on characteristics of the divine, the things St. Paul alluded to when he defined the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).  Christ's Incarnation has in turn made it possible for us also to share in union with Him; indeed, with God.  Indeed, this applies even to the Church as community, for she is the Bride of Christ the Bridegroom.  It gives us pause even to understand the holiness of matrimony, and what it means that "two become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).  All of this is about love, the "founding principle" we might say, of all that is, of God's very existence as well as God's creation.  St. John gives us these statements by Christ teaching us about this essential reality of God.  In his First Epistle, he is the one who writes for us that "God is love" (1 John 4:8).  This is the truth behind the words Christ speaks, His revelation to all of us of Father and Son and the relation therein.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rise, take up your bed and walk

 

 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  

 

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool  when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 

 

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.   

 

For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."   Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

 

- John 5:1–18 

 

Yesterday we read that after spending two extra days with the Samaritans, Jesus departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

 

 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  According to my study Bible, Church Fathers teach that this feast is the Old Testament Pentecost (also referred to as the "Feast of Weeks").  It is the celebration of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.  The references to the Law of Moses later in this chapter seem to confirm this interpretation. 

 

   Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  This double-basin pool, which was believed to have curative powers, has been discovered about a hundred yards north of the temple area, near the Sheep Gate.  My study Bible explains that the water for this high-ground pool came from underground springs and it was used to wash down the sacrificial lambs before they were slain.  So this pool functions as a type of Christian baptism.  (A biblical "type" is an Old Testament event, person, or institution which foreshadows a greater reality revealed the New Testament.)  Under the old covenant, my study Bible notes, a great multitude waited to enter the water for physical healing after an angel touched it.  The waters were special in that they were a way to indirectly participate in the animal sacrifices of the temple, since the animals were washed with the same water.  But its grace was limited to the first person to enter.  Under the new covenant, baptism is given to all nations as a direct participation in Christ's own sacrificial death (Romans 6:3-6) without the mediation of angels.  So, therefore, baptism grants healing of the soul and the promise of the eternal resurrection of the body, and its grace is inexhaustible.  

 

 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  According to St. John Chrysostom, Jesus singles out this man who had waited for thirty-eight years in order to teach us perseverance, and also as a judgment against those who lose hope or patience in much lesser troubles lasting a shorter time.  

 

 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool  when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.   Christ's question is relevant for many reasons, according to my study Bible. First, it made public the fact that the sick man kept his faith even in a situation which was seemingly hopeless, for how could a paralytic ever be first into the water?  Second, Christ draws attention away from the water and toward the need we have for a man to help us.  This need is fulfilled in Christ, who became a Man to heal all. Finally, my study Bible notes that not everyone who is ill actually desires healing.  Sadly, some may prefer to remain infirm in order to have license to complain, to avoid responsibility for their lives, or to continue to elicit the pity of others.  The healing of this man is the third sign of seven given in St. John's Gospel.

 

 And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  My study Bible comments that although the Law itself doesn't specifically forbid the carrying of burdens on the Sabbath, this is prohibited in Jeremiah 17:21-22 and is explicitly forbidden in rabbinical teachings.  That Christ is Lord over the Sabbath is made clear here both by His commands and also the man's obedience (see also Matthew 12:1-8).  As is often the case in John's Gospel, my study Bible reminds us, the term Jews is used here to refer to the leaders and not to the people in general (for all the people in the story are Jews, including Jesus and the author of this Gospel).  It asks us to notice the malice of these leaders, because they focus solely on the Sabbath violation, asking the man, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed'?" but ignoring completely the miraculous healing.

 

 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  That this man was found in the temple shows his great faith, my study Bible notes, for he had gone there directly to thank God for his cure rather than going to someone's home or to the marketplace.  Jesus tells him, "Sin no more."  My study Bible comments on this that while there is a general connection between sin and suffering (Romans 6:23), this connection is not always one-to-one, for the innocent frequently suffer, and the guilty are often spared earthly sufferings (see also John 9:1-3).  However, sometimes our sins do lead directly to our own suffering. According to St. Chrysostom, this was the case with the paralytic.  But Christ's warning here is that the sins that destroy the soul lead to a far worse result than an affliction of the body.  My study Bible comments that the only hope is to flee from sin altogether.  The man doesn't report Jesus to the leaders  of the Jews in a way that is malicious, but rather as a witness to the goodness of Christ.  Although these leaders are only interested in the violation of the Sabbath, this healed man emphasizes that it was Jesus who had made him well, and says nothing about carrying his bed.  

 

 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."   Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.  When Jesus declares God to be My Father, my study Bible explains, the Jews (the religious leaders) clearly understand that it implies total equality.  In the following reading, Jesus will continue expressing the truth of the nature of the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 

Sometimes, we might observe, telling the truth doesn't solve all of our problems in a difficult situation.  Like the case is with Jesus, the truth about something is often jarring or disconcerting, particularly among an audience that cannot and does not want to accept its ramifications and meanings.  The implication of Christ's words here is perfectly clear to these religious leaders, who know the Scriptures and understand what Jesus language is telling them, but they cannot accept the conclusions that so disagree with their assumptions and what they think they know.  How can this Man, Jesus, possibly make Himself equal with the Father without blaspheming?  Moreover, their exclusive focus on the Sabbath violation -- that is, the violation they perceive this healing to be -- already sets them into their trajectory of hostility toward Jesus.  The Gospel has told us already that these religious leaders have before now become aware that Jesus baptizes more than John, and this was already enough cause for concern and alarm that Jesus departed for Galilee (which meant going through Samaria) to avoid them (see John 4:1-4).  In this case, the truth of who Christ is reveals something which is beyond what they can accept, and they are outraged as a result.  Envy, fear of losing their positions and authority, and a host of other passions play a driving role in the hostility of these men, and the eventual death of Jesus via their machinations.  But for now, Jerusalem, and this time of Christ's third sign of seven given in John's Gospel, the healing of this man, is the place Christ has chosen to reveal these truths about Himself.  The healing as a sign reveals the divine power to restore a person to wholeness, my study Bible says, and we have no reason to doubt that this is also not lost on the religious leaders, and it is something they wish to reject.  Certainly they fear the people should they choose to embrace Jesus as Messiah, preferring His authority to theirs.  For all kinds of reasons, it's often assumed that simply telling or revealing the truth about something will solve problems, take away anger and dissension, resolve arguments.  But Christ's story teaches us that this is not at all necessarily the case.  Far from it, Christ's truth instead, as He has told us Himself, works as a sword (Matthew 10:34-39).  Human beings accept the reality of Christ and His mission of salvation and deliverance, or they don't.  This is the real power of truth on this level, that it bears no compromise.  We can't say that He was "sort of" divine, or that His relationship to the Father was partial, or that the revelations in the Gospels don't really impact spiritual history the way that they do.  Often, the truth in any situation has a similar impact, where the reach of its implications clashes with things people don't want to accept or acknowledge as real.  So it is with the story of Christ, and remains so for us today.  But we should notice that Christ's own mission is gradual.  He does not immediately declare Himself in the fullness of His identity from the beginning, nor does He perform His marvelous signs all at once and on the first day of public ministry.  We should look to this for ourselves in our own lives, for Jesus teaches us discernment in what we do and how we live, in whom we approach and why, and in those whom we do not.  It's a very important and essential lesson to learn for all of us.  As human beings, our truths are always partial; we don't know God in the fullness of who God is.  But Jesus has come into the world to reveal God to us (John 14:9), as we can accept and understand it.  He is here to minister to us, to bring the gospel of grace and love, to save and not to condemn (John 12:47).  But our rejection of what He offers will also have its effect.  Let us look to Him and learn from Him. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone

 

 "Hear another parable:  There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedresers, that they might receive its fruit.  And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'  So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"  They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."  

 

Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:

'The stone which the builders rejected 

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the LORD's doing,

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?

Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given  to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.  But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

 

- Matthew 21:33-46 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, referring to the cleansing of the temple, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- where was it from?  From heaven or from men?"  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet."  So they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know."  And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.  But what do you think?  A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.'  He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went.  Then he came to the second and said likewise.  And he answered and said, I go, sir,' but he did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father?"  They said to Him, "The first."  Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."  

 

"Hear another parable:  There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedresers, that they might receive its fruit.  And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'  So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"  My study Bible explains that in this parable, the man represents God the Father, and the vineyard refers to God's people.  The vinedressers are the leaders of the Jews (to whom Jesus tells the parable), who are entrusted to care for the people.  Each servant who is sent by the owner stands for an Old Testament prophet coming to call the people back to God, while the beloved son is Christ Himself.  When the Son is cast out of the vineyard and killed, it's understood on two levels, according to my study Bible.  First, that Jesus was killed outside Jerusalem (Golgotha at that time was outside of the city walls); and second, that Jesus was crucified by foreign soldiers, not by those of His own "vineyard."  

 

They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."   Note how these religious leaders once again convict themselves, as in yesterday's reading in their answer to the parable of the "two sons" (see above).  They are correct in naming the other vinedressers, who are the faithful among the Gentiles.

 

 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?  Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given  to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.  But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.  Jesus quotes from Psalm 118:22-23.  My study Bible comments that this stone is Christ.  According to St. John Chrysostom, it adds, this saying illustrates the two ways of destruction.  Those who fall on the stone are people who suffer the consequences of their sins while still in this life, but those upon whom the stone falls are the unrepentant who suffer utter destruction in the final judgment. 

 

 In the letters of both St. Paul and St. Peter there is reference to Christ as this stone mentioned in today's reading.  Perhaps of particular importance is the fact that in each case, the saints refer to Christ as both stumbling block and rock of offense.  Both saints quote from Old Testament Scripture to teach this lesson also noted in the commentary by St. John Chrysostom cited above.  St. Paul quotes, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."  St. Peter writes, "Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed."  See Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:6-8; Isaiah 8:14-15, 28:16.  So the "two ways" cited by St. John Chrysostom are found in the earliest years of the Church, and directly from the apostles.  How are we to understand this in a modern context, in which the weight of the words of Christ fails to impact many people?  Let us understand the prophetic reality of what He is saying here.  These religious leaders (if we pay careful attention to the parable) are the inheritors of the spiritual history of Israel.  They are the last in a very long line of leaders of Israel who reject the word of the prophets that are sent to them.  We may read, for instance about the prophet Amos, who lived in the 8th century before Christ.  According to my study Bible, his were the first prophecies to be written down, and he was the first prophet to proclaim the end of God's covenant with Israel because of stubborn unrepentance, oppression of the poor, and other sins of passion.  Israel had grown wealthy at this time from control of trade routes.  He preached repentance in warning the king and the people.  But the priests, tired of his prophecies, clubbed him to death.  So the setting here is important, as is Christ's parable; it tells us of things these men know very well as the religious leaders and stewards of the people. In fact, in chapter 23, Jesus will speak to the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, saying, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers'guilt" (Matthew 23:29-32).  Adding to this, He further prophesies their future persecution of the Christian "prophets, wise men, and scribes."  It tells us of a whole history, a pattern, a "filling up," in Jesus' language, of the fullness of intentions and behaviors borne out by a refusal to honor and fulfill covenant. So let us consider this in a current setting, in which there is no state religion within modern democracies.  It seems that, first of all, we who call ourselves Christians do indeed have a responsibility to uphold, nevertheless, not simply the tenets of our declared faith, but also the courage of what it means to bear covenant and particularly to pay attention to the promptings of God in our spiritual lives.  It means that when we preach Christ crucified we bear witness to something more powerful than mere words and theories, for we carry with us the Spirit promised by Christ, and we owe an allegiance to God's calling for us.  It means that those of us who live among any society in which we hold ourselves to a particular faith bear responsibility for living that faith, and being a light even to those who may reject it for themselves (Matthew 5:16).  But let us not doubt the power of that stone, for this is embedded in the words of Christ in today's reading, and there can be no doubt about His intent and the serious nature of His warnings.  He remains for all the world both a stumbling block and an offense, and a stone that some reject.  But He is for us the chief cornerstone, and His truth we cannot deny, for it is a wisdom to be cherished.