You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times

 

 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  

 

 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

- Matthew 16:1-12 

 

In yesterday's reading, we read that after healing the daughter of the Canaanite woman, Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples aid to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

 

  Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."  My study Bible explains that a sign from heaven means a spectacular display of power.  It tells us that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these men are hypocrites who have not recognized the signs already being performed by Jesus because their hearts were hardened.  Thus they ignore the works happening all around them.  

 

 "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  Adulterous generation is an echo of the prophets, who used this term to indicate the faithlessness of the people in response to God (Jeremiah 2; Hosea 2:2-13).  Jesus refuses to prove Himself in a spectacular way, my study Bible tells us, for a sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God.  See also Matthew 4:5-7.  The sign of the prophet Jonah is a veiled prediction of Christ's death and Resurrection (Matthew 12:40), which will be the ultimate sign that He is the Christ.  

 

  Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  My study Bible explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  It notes that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith; they would not fully realize Christ's teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given.  Jesus here refers to the two separate feedings in the wilderness; found at this reading, and in yesterday's reading (see above).

 

Today's reading shows the disciples in a rather iconic place of incomprehension.  They don't understand what Jesus is talking about when He tells them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  We, the readers, are supposed to understand this, which is quite interesting, because St. Matthew has just reported Christ's interaction with the Pharisees and Sadducees, in which He called them hypocrites.  But the apostles can't understand what He is talking about, and they come to the conclusion (after they reasoned among themselves) that "it is because we have taken no bread."  This answer seems to strike Christ in a way that we haven't quite seen Him react before.  He reminds them of the feedings of thousands of people in the wilderness, which happened not just once but twice, going over the explicit details of each multiplication of bread from a few loaves to thousands.  And He asks, "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Finally, they begin to understand.  Throughout the Bible, leaven functions as an image of adulteration, and almost always in a negative way.  St. Paul writes, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9), speaking about a bad influence within the community, a doctrine that is not true.  Interestingly, in one of His parables of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus uses the image of leaven in a positive way, speaking of the influence of the kingdom which is transformational in its action (Matthew 13:33).  But, in this case, He is clearly indicating, as my study Bible said, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Sadducees, made manifest through their legalism.  Jesus also says to the disciples, ""O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?"  Importantly, my study Bible explains that this "little faith" is linked to their lack of understanding, and that a fuller grasp of Christ's teachings would only come after Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps there is a lesson there for us, in that so often we seek by pure reasoning to understanding moral teachings, or to approach Christ's teachings as purely philosophical or intellectual, subject to reduction to ethics.  But this is not the case for us either, inasmuch as it was not the case for the disciples.  For unless we also cultivate, secure, and honor the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and our need to guard our spiritual lives and hearts, so regarding of how we reason, we won't really fully understand Christ either.  For faith is not simply an intellectual process, or assumption of values or beliefs.  Faith is an active participation in Christ's life, death, and Resurrection, in the spiritual life of the kingdom of heaven which Christ preaches.  All of the practices of the Church with her sacraments and traditions (and the Bible is included in the Tradition of the Church) are meant simply to guard our lives within the power of the Holy Spirit, for there is established the Church in the first place.  For without the Holy Spirit, there is no Church, and no people of God.  Let us bear in mind that the disciples -- recorded for all of history here in St. Matthew's Gospel -- show us that even those hand-picked by Christ can fail to understand and miss the mark.  Jesus says to the Pharisees and Sadducees, "You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."  Let us remember that it is the Holy Spirit which gives us discernment and understanding, and the grace of faith.  Let us take heed to keep ourselves on the path of the inner life of the heart Christ teaches us to keep and to know as the way in which we truly expand our faith. 

 

 

 

You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve

 

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"  

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,'

and, 

 'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

 

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him,  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

 

- Matthew 4:1-11 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are you coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water;  and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  My study Bible explains that to be tempted is to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  As in St. Mark's Gospel, here Jesus is led up into the wilderness after His Baptism to be tested by a struggle with the devil (in St. Mark's Gospel, we're told that He was thrown or driven out by the Spirit; in Greek ἐκβάλλει).  My study Bible comments that we who are baptized in Christ need not be defeated by temptations because we too are aided by the Holy Spirit.  The wilderness forms a battleground, an image of the world, both the dwelling place of demons and a source of divine tranquility and victory. 

 

 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Jesus fasted to overcome temptation; according to my study Bible, in so doing, He gives us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  We are to note that Christ's hunger of His flesh doesn't control Him.  Rather, He controls His flesh.  Christ's fast of forty days is the foundation of the Church's forty-day Lenten fast before Holy Week and also a traditional fast before Christmas.  In the verses that follow, we read of the various temptations given by the devil.  In this contest or struggle, Jesus reverses Israel's falling to temptation in the wilderness.  My study Bible reminds us that the Israelites were tested forty years in the wilderness and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them by first letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn to be dependent upon Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).  In today's reading, Jesus is tested with hunger for forty days, and He does not sin.  All of His answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy, and they all call for loyalty to God.

 

 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  Note that the devil's temptation is to challenge Christ's relationship to the Father, the very thing revealed at His baptism in yesterday's reading, and the messianic secret for which He will be judged a blasphemer and be put to death.  If You are the Son of God calls into question that declaration by the Father (see yesterday's reading, above).  My study Bible comments that the devil wants Jesus to act independently and to detach Himself from the will of the Father -- thus, destroying His mission.  According to my study Bible, in Christ's divine nature, He shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit; He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30), apart from the Father.  But in His humanity, He possesses free will and at all times must choose to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father.

 

 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"   Jesus rejects the first temptation of the devil, thereby rejecting an earthly kingdom.  This shows us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27), my study Bible says.  It notes that while Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam -- Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word, giving human nature the power to conquer Satan.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3.

 

 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down."  The holy city is Jerusalem.  Once again, the devil is tempting Christ to reject His identity as Son and His loyalty and love of the Father.

 

"For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,  'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  As in the first temptation Jesus had defeated Satan through the power of the Scriptures, he vainly tried to use Scriptures here to put God's power of protection to the test (see also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  Satan quotes from Psalm 91:11-12.

 

 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  My study Bible comments that trials and temptations come on their own; we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

 

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"   Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.  My study Bible notes here for us that God's Kingdom is not one of earthly power and possessions.  In this test by the devil, Jesus is being asked to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  (Note also how the devil mimics divine actions by being on an exceedingly high mountain; see, for example, Matthew 17:1-3.)  My study Bible comments that the devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  It notes that Jesus refuses the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13.  Note also that in Greek, "Away with you, Satan!" reads literally, "Get behind Me, Satan!"  These are the same words Christ will use with St. Peter, when he suggests that Christ not go to the Cross (see Matthew 16:21-23).  

 

Jesus refutes every temptation of the devil with one central thing:  His loyalty and love of the Father.  More essentially, He does so by clinging to His real identity; He is the Son of  God, the Son of God the Father.   This, of course, is the one thing the devil attacks, consistently and repeatedly.  He begins the first two temptations with, "If You are the Son of God . . .."  Jesus' adherence to this identity, of course, is not the product of pride, of social life or a system of social values, nor is it something He inherited or was conferred upon Him at birth.  This is the spiritual reality of who He is, and occurs within the power of a fully loving and participating identity within the embrace of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  This is a divine reality, and His relations within it are relations of love and loyalty.  The devil makes his last appeal to Christ in a way that reveals what he really wants. He says, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  The devil wants to usurp God's place and the things that belong only to God.  He wants worship; He even wants Christ's worship and loyalty, which seems to indicate that he doesn't understand Christ the Son at all, and so continues to challenge Him.  But Jesus responds by turning the tables on the devil.  His words, "Away with you, Satan!" are more accurately translated, "Get behind Me, Satan," indicating who is really in charge here, whose authority must be followed.  Therefore in today's reading about temptation in the wilderness we are getting a sense of the true meaning of Christ's saving mission.  We must keep in mind that to be tempted is to be tested.  There is the devil, who is the "ruler of this world," and Christ who comes to claim it as the Son.  This is salvation, redemption.  So, what happens in this time of fasting in the wilderness is what we should understand as spiritual warfare, and in our own lives we also participate in that warfare.  As my study Bible indicates, the wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world, and we human beings are in the middle of it.   In the Lenten tradition of the fast, the Church makes it clear that we are also called into this struggle, with Christ, for we also are tested.  He shows us the way; He is the firstfruits in all ways, and we enter into His life.  In today's lectionary reading, we are also given the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:1-21.  We often forget that the foundation of those commandments, and the first half of them, is the worship due only to God.  But Jesus never forgets that; it is His basic weapon with which He fights the devil in today's reading.  Let us also hold fast to what comes first.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times

 

 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed. 

 

 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

 

- Matthew 16:1–12 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus departed from the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. 

 

  Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."  A sign from heaven, according to my study Bible, means a spectacular display of power.  It says that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these hypocrites have not recognized the signs already being performed because their hearts were hardened, and they ignored the works happening all around them.  

 

 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  "Adulterous generation" is an echo of the prophets, who compared an unfaithful Israel to an adulterous spouse (Jeremiah 3; Hosea 2:2-13).  My study Bible comments that Jesus refuses to prove Himself in a spectacular way, for a sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God (see also Matthew 4:5-7).  The sign of the prophet Jonah is a "hidden" prediction of Christ's death and Resurrection (see Matthew 12:40), the ultimate sign that Jesus is truly the Christ.  

 

  Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.   The leaven of the Pharisees, according to my study Bible, is their doctrine and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  It further explains that the reason the disciples are painfully slow to understand is that they have such little faith, as Jesus indicates.  They will not fully grasp Jesus' teachings until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is given. 

 

 In the first part of our reading for today, Jesus says, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  Jesus speaks about the ability to read signs.  So, even as the Pharisees and Sadducees are demanding signs from Him, He's chastising them for their inability to read the signs that are already right in front of them.  They demand proofs of His identity, while at the same time His healings and the grace that comes through His ministry is multiplying, even among great numbers of people who witness them.  In the second part of our reading, Jesus warns the disciples about this perspective of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  He tells them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  But, as often happens in the Gospels as the stories of the interactions of Christ and His disciples are reported, neither do the disciples seem capable of discerning the "signs" or symbols Christ is using here.  They don't understand Him, nor what He's telling them.  In one of the lovely comical moments of the Gospels, they hear Him speaking about leaven, and they think He's upset because they haven't brought bread.  This opens the door to an almost incredulous Jesus reminding them that He's fed thousands of people twice from a handful of loaves of bread, asking them to remember in detail all the baskets of leftover fragments of bread they took up afterward.  He asks, finally, "How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."   But Jesus gives us a clue concerning both the lack of comprehension of the Sadducees and Pharisees, as well as the incomprehension of the disciples.  "Little faith" is the cause for both.  But, of course, this prompts us to ask of the difference between the little faith of the disciples and the lack of faith in the Pharisees and Sadducees.  For that discernment, we need also go back to Jesus' words.  He addresses these religious leaders as "Hypocrites!"  and there we can discern the difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the disciples.  For the disciples, for all their own difficulties and slowness of comprehension, are sincere in their faith, even if that faith is still yet "little."  We know that eventually even one of them will betray Jesus, namely Judas, but Judas also we can call a hypocrite for his duplicity and betrayal, emblematic in his betrayal of Jesus with a kiss (Matthew 26:47-56).   We could say that the hypocrites in this story (including Judas) are heading one way -- away from Christ, while the sincere disciples, even though they as yet have only "little faith" are headed more deeply toward a fullness of relationship with Him.  And this is the way that we need to see our lives, for from the perspective of the Gospels, this is the framework of faith.  We are either headed in one direction or the other, toward Christ or away from Him.  This is the summing up of the "two ways" so prevalent in early Christianity, and remains so for us.  As we have reviewed lately in commentary, it is the guarding of the heart that remains so necessary for us today, the understanding that we need to be aware of our inner lives as much as our outer lives, made clear for us in the teaching of Jesus in Monday's reading, to "Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a manmouth, this defiles a man."  He explained, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.  These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." Let us endeavor for the purity of heart that guards against hypocrisy, the sincerity of the disciples, and not the mask of virtue that hides the work we need to do in the heart.  For often when we seek to fool others, we are only fooling ourselves.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 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:-12

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  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 like 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.  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."  My study Bible comments here that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The phrase "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" is also found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38.  Each is used in a different context, and there is no doubt Jesus taught this important message many times.  

 

"Do not give what is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic commentary, "dogs" are those so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, and "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  Pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, it notes, including Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant.  This is not in order to protect the holy things themselves, as Christ needs no protection.  But we protect faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  See also Luke 23:8-9 for Jesus' response to Herod's questioning.

 

 "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!"  The verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives.  In other words, their effect is to say "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  There is a synergy here which my study Bible cites:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer, we seek by learning God's truth, and we knock by doing God's will.  My study Bible also comments that people are called evil here not to condemn the whole race of human beings, but to contrast the imperfect goodness that is in people (that is, our goodness is mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, so 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."  The "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets, says my study Bible, and it's also a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  My study Bible calls it a first step in spiritual growth.  It adds that the negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was well-known in Judaism.  Jesus' form, however, is positive, and this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.  See also Luke 6:31.

 

 In the context of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole, and in particular today's reading, we need to make sense of it in terms of being directed at disciples, those who follow Him.  We're first told, "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."  This is another form of the Golden Rule in today's last verse, but applied specifically to judgment.  How do we look at our neighbors, or in particular our fellow disciples of Christ?  We should consider how we wish to be judged, for we will be judged the same way.  It seems to me this is directly invoking how we treat one another.  Jesus goes on, "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"  In chapter 18 of St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus will speak of mutual self-correction in the Church.  This verse reflects this notion of mutual correction as a way of helping with discipleship, and emphasizes the humility necessary to do this appropriately.  In monastic practice, a good elder is one who is experienced spiritually, so that their own knowledge of themselves and their mistakes and corrections can be beneficial to others, and they may correct helpfully and with love and mercy, not the kind of judgment Christ forbids here.  If we're blind to our own errors, we're in no position to help, and will easily practice projection upon others.  In this context we read, "Do not give what is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  For a person to benefit from spiritual help, they must be disposed toward acceptance and not rejection.  Even the greatest spiritual treasure may be hated by one who does not wish to accept it.  Jesus then says, "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!"  This is a great exhortation to spiritual growth and discipleship, for it emphasizes the generous nature of God for those who do seek and ask and knock with sincerity.  As my study Bible points out, these are meant to be ongoing always with us; it's a continual pursuit and practice. We keep asking, keep praying, keep knocking through the practices and resources we have in the Church. And the world needs that resource and experience.  Finally, here again is the summing up:  "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  Do you want to learn?  Then help teach.  Do you value kindness, humility, mercy?  Then offer it to others, and in particular we need to model this among the faithful in the ways we treat one another.  Do you wish to gain self-knowledge, spiritual understanding?  Offer what you have, but be properly discerning.  This message of the Golden Rule is a deep emphasis on the communion involved in all of this pursuit of following Christ in discipleship.  God is first of all our Father in heaven, as Jesus references God, so let us understand what we are to be about, all the time.  Let us understand that the good God who gives to us may also reward us with knowledge of ourselves, even of what we need to change in our habits or ways of thinking.  But we continue to ask and seek and knock for how to go forward in God's love and teaching.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?

 

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation." 

 

And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven."  So he said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"   

 

- Mark 8:11–21 

 

On Saturday, we read that in those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

 

  Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."   A sign from heaven, my study Bible explains, means a spectacular display of power.  It says that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but the Pharisees have not recognized the sign already being performed by Jesus, because their hearts were hardened.  They thus ignored the works happening all around them.  A sign is never given to those whose motive is to test God, my study Bible adds.  

 

 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven."  So he said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?"    My study Bible explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  In Scripture, it notes, leaven is used both positively (as in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as it is here.  In either case, it explains, leaven symbolizes a force powerful enough -- and frequently subtle enough -- to permeate and affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).  

 

In today's reading, we have two kinds of "hard-heartedness" or lack of belief that we read about.  One is of the Pharisees and Herod.  They seek a sign, and it must somehow be proven to them that Jesus is a truly holy man, let alone the Christ.  It doesn't matter how many "signs" are present in Christ's ministry, doesn't matter how much of what He does is a reflection of God the Father, they won't believe.  Clearly, they don't want to, and have particular interests to guard that might be threatened by the holiness of Christ and His ministry.   Essentially, they want to be "manipulated" into faith, shall we say; that is, forced into it by some spectacular act that will leave no doubt.  But this is not Christ's mission nor ministry.  He seeks those with eyes to see and ears to hear (Isaiah 6:9-10).   What we call hard-heartedness seems to take on two forms.  There is first of all the kind of hardness of heart that Jesus refers to when He speaks to the disciples in today's reading, asking them, "Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?"   This is based on a Scriptural understanding of "the heart" as the seat of understanding and perception.  This "heart" is the door upon which Christ knocks when we read, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).  In this sense, a hardened heart is one that will not open to truth, will not open to the perception of spiritual truth and understanding to receive Christ, who is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  Then there is the "hardness of heart" that has developed as an understanding of the passage given in St. Mark's 3rd chapter, when Jesus is challenged over healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.  The text tells us that Jesus entered the synagogue, watched over by the Pharisees to see whether or not He would heal on the Sabbath, something they had already faulted.  Jesus asked them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they kept silent.  Then we're told that Jesus look around at them with anger, and was grieved by the hardness of their hearts.  This incident led to the Pharisees plotting with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (see Mark 3:1-6).  This hardness of heart has come to mean a kind of cruelty, that in a modern secular usage seems to be divorced from the things of God.  But, in essence, we're speaking about quite similar things.  The message seems to be that a heart divorced of the things of God, will be divorced from even what is naturally good to us, like the healing of a man with a withered hand.  So, hard-heartedness in today's reading takes the form of this demand by the Pharisees whom Jesus condemns in their asking for some great sign -- but also in the form of Christ's questioning of His own disciples, when they fail to grasp what He tells them about "the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod."  They, the disciples, have certainly seen enough to know that He would not be complaining to them for lack of bread!  Here is the place where we have affirmed that the feeding of five thousand, and later of four thousand (see Saturday's reading, above), are clearly two separate incidents, in Jesus' words here to the disciples.  But the near-incredulity we can read into Christ's questions to the disciples teaches us that even He seems somewhat mystified at their lack of understanding, as if these feeding miracles had never happened.  We can think of at least one reason that might explain their repeated lack of understanding, and that is the encroachment of a threat from the religious authorities and the state against Christ.  It will be a long road toward their acceptance and understanding of what is to come ultimately in Christ's ministry, in His Crucifixion, death, and Resurrection.  So let us consider "hard-heartedness" as a term that means a lack of perception of the things that belong to God, the natural goodness of human beings, and the love that we know is of God (1 John 4:8).  For the text shows us that although we might stumble as human beings, there is redemption in the long road of faith, as for the disciples -- while there are still others who have no sense of repentance nevertheless.  Let us ask ourselves where our own hearts are hardened, and what thing we may need to learn to accept today, even if it is difficult for us.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?

 

 In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

 

- Mark 8:1–10 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples went to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon.  And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.  For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.  The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."  Then He said to her, "For this saying to your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."  And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.  Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.  Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.  And he took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.  Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed,  and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."  Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.  Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.  And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well.  He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

 

 In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.  Here is a second feeding of the multitude, which should not be confused with the first (see this reading from Tuesday).   These are two distinct miracles, which Jesus affirms later (Mark 8:19-20).  My study Bible cites the variance in the number of loaves as significant.  In the first instance (see Tuesday's reading), there were five loaves, which symbolize the Law.  Here, however, there are seven loaves.  Seven is a number that symbolizes completeness.  Here, my study Bible says, it indicates spiritual perfection.  So, therefore, in the first feeding in the wilderness, Christ reveals Himself as fulfilling the Law, but here He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  My study Bible asks us to note also that these crowds had been with Christ for three days, the same number of days Christ would rest in the tomb.  It says that participation in Christ's perfection can only come through being united to His death (see Romans 6:3-5).  

 

Why two feedings in the wilderness?  As my study Bible pointed out, the differences are important, and distinguish the two from one another.  We do know that the prior event in St. Mark's Gospel is the casting out of a demon from the daughter of a Gentile, a Syro-Phoenician woman, who continued to make this request of Christ although at first He refused (see yesterday's reading, above).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus interestingly spoke of food and feeding, as a way to refer to His ministry and what He offers.  In a reference to "the children" of Israel, He said, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."   For this answer, Jesus healed her daughter.  As St. Mark's Gospel then immediately takes us to the feeding of the four thousand, with its images of fullness and perfection, we might assume this is a kind of symbolic reference to the Christ's message being carried to the Gentiles.  We see in this second feeding a kind of expansion and evolution of Christ's ministry, just as the early Church itself would continue to expand.  Feeding is also, of course, symbolic of the Eucharist, in which Christ Himself becomes our food.  The four thousand would seem to symbolize an expansion of notions of the number four; these would include the Cross with its four arms, the four points on the compass symbolizing the world, and perhaps God the Trinity and humankind.  Again, the symbolic understanding here is of Christ and the world, not only the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24).  In St. John's Gospel, Jesus says, "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (John 6:33), and, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51).  Perhaps the key to the fullness and perfection symbolized in today's reading is here, in the bread of God given for the life of the whole world, meaning all of the created order, the cosmos.  St. Paul writes, "Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28).  "All in all" begins with a few disciples, but continues to expand, with no discernible limit in terms of the creation itself.  Let us be grateful for this food which we receive from Him for the life of the world.  When we find ourselves in the wilderness, so to speak, we should remember this ever-expansive, creative gift.  For it is given to us freely, and it is the gift of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table

 

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.  But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

 

- Luke 22:14–23 

 

Our present readings are taking place during the final week of Christ's earthly life.  It is Passover week in Jerusalem.  Yesterday we read that in the daytime Jesus was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.  Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.  Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.  So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.  And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.  So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.  Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.  And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat."  So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?"  And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you  carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters.  Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"'  Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready."  So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

 

  When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  My study Bible comments that Christ has a fervent desire for this Passover because this meal will impart the mysteries of the new covenant to Christ's followers; moreover this event will inaugurate the great deliverance of humanity from sin through the power of the Cross.  

 

 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  My study Bible comments that this first cup is actually the conclusion of the Old Testament Passover meal which Christ eats with His disciples in order to fulfill the Law.  Until the kingdom of God comes indicates the period that begins with Christ's Resurrection.  It is at that time He will again eat and drink with His disciples (Luke 24:43; Acts 10:41).  

 

 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."  Gave thanks has at its root the Greek word ευχαριστω/eucharist, which immediately came to refer to both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion, my study Bible reminds us.   A first-century manuscript called the Didache ("The Teaching") considered to be the teaching of the apostles, refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist," and in the year AD 150, St. Justin Martyr says of Holy Communion, "This food we call 'Eucharist,' of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing [holy baptism] for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ commanded us."  Jesus says, "This is My body."   My study Bible quotes St. Justin in commenting that the Orthodox Church has always accepted Christ's words as true, "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."  See also John 6:51-66.

 

"But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.   My study Bible points out that Judas, also, is invited to the table for the mystical supper, as Jesus is seeking by all means to save him.  His unworthy participation, it notes, leads Judas to his utter destruction (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; compare Esther 7).  

 

 There is an interesting emphasis in today's reading, which is slightly hidden but clearly implied in these events and the commentary included with them.  That is, concerning the Eucharist, there is an important hidden understanding about our preparation to receive the body and blood of Christ.  In Orthodoxy, the belief is that these realities are mystically present.  As indicated by Christ's words, we partake of the Eucharist in remembrance of Him, but not as merely symbolic representation.  The elements of bread and wine are consecrated through prayer and the Holy Spirit so that Christ is mystically present.  For the Orthodox this remains a mystery of faith.  However, to receive Christ in His mystical presence offers challenges in terms of our own preparation for "meeting" Christ in this deeply personal way, integral to who we are as human beings, wherein we participate in Him and He in us.  We confess before taking the Eucharist so that we meet Christ within His capacity to forgive sins; but we partake in hopes that we become more "like Christ" through the mystical work of the Eucharist and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  As Jesus indicates, His desire is that all believers may be "one" with God the Father, Son, and Spirit, and "be made perfect in one" (John 17:20-23).  My study Bible comments above that Judas' unworthy participation in the Eucharist leads him to his utter destruction (1 Corinthians 11:27-32).   When we partake of this body and blood, we do so as partaking in the energies and reality of Christ, both human and divine, so that we may become more like Him.  But we also meet the One who is the judge, the measuring stick of all things, the One whom we aspire to imitate.  Should we do so despising Him in some sense, without faith, we also meet that judge and the reality of His presence.  There is a reality to holiness, a power at work, which we can't see, but nonetheless will be at work in our lives, one way and another.  If we come into contact in such a way as to receive what we are offered, the Eucharist offers to us what other holy or sacred things do, a capacity for purification and illumination, deepening the journey of salvation.  If not there is a possibility of stumbling, perhaps to lead to repentance.  Let us approach the Eucharist with all the solemnity of understanding that when we do so, we not only meet the King and Lord, but do so in the most profound way possible -- for He unites Himself to us so that we may unite ourselves to Him.  In this context, let us consider the depth of the betrayal of Christ on this night, and what that means as well for Judas.  Let us take that meaning also, as solemnly as we can, for ourselves. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

 

 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  So He said to them, "When you pray, say:

"Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

 For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one."

 

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 

"So I say to you, 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.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

 

- Luke 11:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus was alone praying, His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  so they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."  And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and raised on the third day."  Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and In His Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here  who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."

 

  Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  My study Bible says that "teach us to pray" is an expression of a universal longing to be in communion with God.

 

So He said to them, "When you pray, say:  "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  The Father-Son relationship within the Trinity is a revelation of our own potential relationship with God, my study Bible notes.  It says that Christ, the Son of God, grants us the privilege of calling God Our Father by the grace of adoption (Galatians 4:4-7).  As a "son of God," a Christian is called to love, trust, and serve God the same way Christ does the Father.  My study Bible adds that we must know that God is not our Father only because God created us.  God is only Father to those who are in a saving and personal relationship with God, a communion that comes only by the grace of adoption (see John 1:13; Romans 8:14-16).  

"Give us day by day our daily bread."   Daily, my study Bible notes, is a misleading translation of the Greek word επιουσιος/epiousios, which literally means "above the essence" or "supersubstantial."  The expression daily bread, it says, indicates not simply bread for today, for earthly nourishment. This is bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, for the nourishment of our immortal soul.  This living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself.  In the Lord's Prayer, then, we're not simply asking for material bread for physical health, but for the spiritual bread of eternal life (John 6:27-58).  

"And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us."  This request to be forgiven is plural, my study Bible asks us to note.  So, we're directed to pray always for the forgiveness of others.  The term debts is a reference to spiritual debts (see Matthew 18:21-35).

 

 "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  My study Bible comments that God tempts no one to sin (James 1:13).  Temptations are from the evil one, the devil.  Temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to the sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  My study Bible further explains that no one lives without encountering temptations, but we pray that great temptations, tests beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13), should not come to us.

 

 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."  My study Bible claims that this parable demonstrates God's faithfulness to those who are in need and who pray with persistence.  The patristic consensus interprets midnight as both the time of our death and a time of great temptation.  The friend is Christ, who, as our only source of grace, provides everything we need.  

 

 "So I say to you, 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.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"  In Greek, my study Bible explains, these verbs rendered ask, seek, and knock imply a continuous action.  They're better translated as "keep asking," "keep seeking," and "keep knocking."  It says that God responds when we persistently ask for things that are good.  Bread, fish, and an egg are all images of life and symbolize the gift of the Holy Spirit (see John 14:13-14; James 4:3).  

 

Jesus speaks of asking, seeking, and knocking.  As this comes in response to a request to be taught to pray, we can understand that He's speaking of what we do in prayer.  As my study Bible points out, these verbs are given in a form that indicates continuing action:  keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.  But while modern concepts of prayer focus on asking for something, we need to look closely to see what Christ is suggesting, what it's presumed the disciples are asking, seeking, and knocking to find in response to their prayer.  He says, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"  This is the thing most devoutly to be desired:  not for all our material woes to be solved, not for our wishes and dreams in a worldly sense, but to be given the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit that involves.  St. Paul names the fruit of the Spirit in this way:  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).   Do we pray for such things?  When we seek to pray -- or to learn how to pray -- is it with such blessings and fruit in mind?  How much do we value these things?  When Jesus speaks to His disciples, it is with a foundation in the things He teaches, the life of the Kingdom He has come into the world to give us and to teach us about.  When He makes disciples, it is those who wish this life, who devoutly wish the Holy Spirit and the gifts and fruit of the Spirit.  We are taught to pray by Jesus with this grounding in mind, the orientation of this Kingdom devoutly to be wished.  We pray for the will of the Father to be done in this world as it is in heaven.  Let us think about what that means for us, and what we wish to be a part of.  For to pray for this Kingdom and for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven is to understand that we commit to this will and this Kingdom by living it in the world, by bearing the values of God's will into the world, and seeking to live and to do that will.  At the same time, let us understand that means practicing forgiveness, struggling against temptation, understanding our place in the spiritual battleground that is this world, to be delivered from the evil one who is the "ruler of this world."  How many understand this when we pray?  Bread, fish, and eggs give us images of the Spirit, my study Bible says; we think of the bread of life, the fish as that which was multiplied by Christ, the egg that would come to be a symbolic gift at Easter.  In the Greek of the text, the word for fish is ἰχθύς/ixthys.  Used as an acronym for the Greek words "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior" (Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ) this ancient word for fish would give us the symbol of the early Church.  By contrast, serpents and scorpions are images of devils and demons.  Again these are images of contrasting kingdoms in spiritual warfare.  Let us remember the spirit in which we're given prayer, the things devoutly to be wished for and prayed for, the promise of the Holy Spirit Jesus makes to us here.