For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God

 

 "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.  

 

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:

"Lord, who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,

Lest they should see with their eyes,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, 

So that I should heal them."

These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. 

 

 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 12:36-43 

 

In our current reading, Jesus is now in Jerusalem at the final Passover He will attend.  It is now Holy Week, the last week of Christ's earthly life.  He has made His Triumphal Entry, and has been teaching in the temple, knowing that the religious leadership plots to put Him to death.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said, "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said, signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. 

 

  "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.   This verse is repeated from yesterday's reading (see above).  Jesus Himself is the light, but His teaching here (as we reported yesterday) has various facets of meaning.  He will soon be completing His public ministry, and going to His death on the Cross.  Our own lives are indeed far more limited than we understand, and we have a short time to repent and believe in Christ before our deaths.  Compared to eternity, the second coming of Christ is simply a little while.  For an extensive commentary on the implications of Christ's words here, see yesterday's reading and commentary.  

 

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:  "Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"  Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."  My study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who teaches that Isaiah's prophecy does not mean God causes spiritual blindness to people who would otherwise have been faithful.  It says that this is a figure of speech common to Scripture which reveals God as giving people up to their own devices (such as in Romans 1:24-26).  In using the phrase He has blinded it is meant that God has allowed their self-chosen blindness (compare Exodus 8:15, 32 with Exodus 10:20, 27).  They did not become blind because God spoke through Isaiah.  Rather, Isaiah spoke because he foresaw their blindness.  

 

These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.  My study Bible says that Isaiah . . . saw His [Christ's] glory in about 700 BC (Isaiah 6:1), and spoke of Him in many places throughout his lengthy prophecy.  

 

  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.  Again my study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who declares that these rulers are in reality the worst of slaves, in that they are enslaved by the opinions of men.  This keeps them from leading as God would have them lead.  

 

There is so much power and poignancy in our final verse today, as reported by St. John.   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.  This apparently small, simple phrase, "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" says so much about our lives and how we live them.  We frequently do not realize how much we sacrifice of our own integrity and personal salvation through the same way of being in the world.  Salvation is what is understood in Isaiah's prophecy as being healed by the Lord.  As mentioned in yesterday's reading, if we turn to the concept of theosis (that is, growing in likeness to God), we can understand more clearly how this division between seeking the praise of God on the one hand, or the praise of men on the other, inhibits our growth of the soul and our salvation.  In the Gospels, the crowds are presented as fickle.  One day they are praising Jesus and welcoming Him into Jerusalem as Messiah.  A few days later, "the crowd" will be stirred up by the religious leaders to demand His Crucifixion, and that Pilate free Barabbas instead (see Matthew 27:15-26).   "The crowd follows the crowd," my study Bible has commented.  In the understanding of the concept of theosis, we accept that, following the "ancestral sin" in the Garden of Eden, the world is beset by competing thoughts and impulses that would lead us off the path that God desires for us.  These intrusive thoughts are called logismoi in the Patristic tradition.  We are heir to an uncountable number of temptations to "miss the mark" (the literal meaning of the Greek word for "sin" in the Gospels).  As human beings we are all subject to these temptations, to the myriad ways in which we might be influenced by the crowds, by "men," in the language of the Gospels.   The collective passions of crowds may easily inflame and sweep us into the mob.  When we seek only to please those who may give us some form of honor, then we are at the mercy of their whims and desires.  To be fashionable or popular is not the end toward which Christ's light is meant to guide us.  No matter how we may conflate worldly success with salvation and God's favor, that is not the story of Jesus the Messiah.  Christ the Lord comes into the world to "save" precisely by giving us the light to guide us, rather than our seeking only the praise of men.  Indeed, in His grand critique of the Pharisees and scribes, it is chiefly their desire for the praise of men He will condemn as their hypocrisy.  He tells His disciples, "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men," and to the scribes and Pharisees He says, "For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation" (see the full chapter of Matthew 23).  More to the point, Jesus will contrast the world's ways of thinking and living with what He teaches.  At the Last Supper, as reported in St. John's Gospel, Jesus will tell the disciples, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:19).  In His final prayer, He will say to the Father, "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" (John 17:14-16).  These examples in His teaching and in His final prayer illustrate the difference between seeking the praise of God and the praise of men as our focus in life, the thing we nurture and choose in the heart.  It is the crucible at the heart of the Gospel and the story of Jesus.  We are always asked to choose where our loyalty lies, for this is the spiritual battle at the heart of the world and the identity of our soul.

 

 

For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter

 

 From there He arose and went to the 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 go 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."

 

- Mark 7:24–37 

 

Yesterday we read that the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Jesus, having come from Jerusalem.  Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.  For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.  When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.  And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"  He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:  'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'  For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men -- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."  He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" --  (that is, a gift to God), "then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down  And many such things you do."  When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand:  There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"  When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.  So He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also?  Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?"  And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within and defile a man."    

 

  From there He arose and went to the 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 go 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.  My study Bible comments on today's passage (and a similar account, found at Matthew 15:21-28) that Jesus has come to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon in order to withdraw from the faithless Pharisees.  Indeed, if we look at yesterday's reading, above, we read that the Pharisees and some of the scribes had come from Jerusalem to observe Jesus' ministry, and found fault with His disciples.  As often happens, this ended with a dispute, and Christ's blistering criticism of the hypocrisy of their own practices.  His desire to withdraw from conflict and scrutiny for a time is made evident in today's passage when we're told that He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.  It's a testimony to how famous He's become, and perhaps also to His annoyance at being both noticed and pestered by this woman to heal her daughter.  In Matthew's Gospel, the emphasis is on His mission first to the Jews, as He replies to her in Matthew 15:24, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  This puts the entire conversation in a particular context, and particular both the humility and alacrity of her response, which elicits Christ's praise of her persistent faith.  We should understand that the Greek word used here for little dogs implies a small house dog or puppy, not an outdoor dog (in the context of the culture and the dialogue, it's an important difference). 

 

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.  My study Bible comments on the fact that Jesus sighed, calling it a sign of divine compassion for the sufferings of our fallen human nature.  Note the healing by touch, and even with the use of Christ's saliva (similarly to the momentous healing of the blind man in John 9).  Again, we observe that Christ's very body is life-giving, healing.

 

 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."  My study Bible notes that here, our Lord shows us we mustn't seek acclaim or praise when we do good to others.  But, on the other hand, it notes, Theophylact upholds those who disobey Christ in this situation.  He sees them as a good example, that we should proclaim those who have done good to us even if they do not want us to.  

So if we take all the stories together in today's reading, we see an interesting commonality to them.  They each seem to be about liberating the ability to speak in some sense.  There is first of all the story of the woman, whom Jesus compares to little dogs (or puppies).  She is persistent is asking for His help, despite the fact that He seems somewhat exasperated and puts her off with a reference to dogs.  But she takes this reference to heart, and -- if one may use a modern expression -- "dishes" it back to Him in a way that manages to be at once witty, humble, and faithful.  She says, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."  We get the picture of a little puppy begging under the table, and we understand how this can be an image of pestering and at the same time endearing.  For Christ, her persistence -- and I would venture to even say her witty application of intelligence with faith  --  is something to applaud, and "for this saying" her daughter is healed from the demon.  It is precisely because she "opened her mouth," so to speak, to respond to Him yet again that He rewards her and answers her plea.  Then we come to the second story in today's text, which is quite literally about opening someone's mouth and helping them to speak.  Jesus' very words echo this theme quite literally, as His healing command translates, "Be opened."  The English in our text calls his ailment an impediment in his speech, indicating a kind of stumbling block, a hindrance.  In Greek the word is somewhat complex, it's μογιλάλον/mogilalon.  Lalon means to speak.  Mogi means something extremely difficult, a laborious toil.  "Laborious toil" is, interestingly, something associated with the word for evil.  So when Jesus calls for his mouth or tongue to "be opened" He unloosing the tongue from its restraint, He's almost liberating the man to speak.  The freedom to speak, to express oneself in particular to one's God is paramount in this illustrations of human beings striving to find healing from the Lord in today's reading.  Finally, the theme of liberation of speech is again illuminated in the final example of the people who praise Christ despite His admonition not to -- which we can presume yet again comes from His desire to avoid further scrutiny and conflict with the religious authorities.  In this final case, the people are freed in some sense to express their praise for the Lord, and opening of the world to God, as God has come close and "touched" the community.  Altogether, these form a sort of chorus of voices to praise God for God's goodness and mercy, human beings liberated from the bondage of being outsiders, of struggling with an impediment that is a product of a fallen nature and the evil that has tainted the world, and crying out in the face of the oppression from hypocritical authorities who keep God shut up for themselves rather than sharing God's love for the people.  In Jesus' grand critique of the scribes and Pharisees, we read (among many other things) in Matthew 23, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in" (Matthew 23:13).  Here in today's reading is the power of the Incarnation, Christ' among us.  Even to the outsiders (and a woman, at that), He is "a light to lighten the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), the ears of the deaf are unstopped (Isaiah 35:5), and there is liberty for the captives who can now speak and praise God, unbound from their respective prisons (Isaiah 61:1).  This is the action of Christ, in the chorus of praise for God enabled through His action and healing within this community of the kingdom of God found in Him and in His work and ministry.  Let us add our voices in freedom to that praise, for we also are illumined, liberated, and healed through Him. 

 

 

 

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them

 

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have perfected praise'?"

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.  And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

 

- Matthew 21:12-22 

 

On Saturday we read that when Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." 

 

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals which would be used for the Passover sacrifices.  The money changers would trade Roman coins for Jewish coins, as Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (an object of worship as a god) and so were considered to be defiling in the temple.  The cleansing of the temple, my study Bible comments, also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  Jesus' cry against the corruption in the temple is compiled from the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11).  

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  An Orthodox Vespers hymn for Palm Sunday declares, "Keep the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands, sing 'Hosanna.'"  My study Bible notes that there are many liturgical hymns for this day which emphasize the perfect praise of the children, which unlike that of the adults, was innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  So we, it continues, are called to glorify Christ in this same spirit (see Matthew 18:1-4).  But in contrast to the children, the adults' praise carried earthly expectations and agendas which, when left unfulfilled, led them to rebel against Jesus just five days later (Matthew 27:20-23).  Jesus quotes from Psalm 8:2 (Septuagint version, as is true of all Scripture quotations in the New Testament). 

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.  My study Bible comments that the fig tree is a symbol of prosperity and peace, but it is withered because it is fruitless.  This is a prophetic act, it says, directed toward the Jews, since after three years of Christ's preaching, teaching, and healing, both the leaders and the crowds were destitute of spiritual fruit.  He curses the tree also to warn those in every generation of what will befall anyone who fails to listen to His message.  So, the warning in the image of the withered fig tree not only applies to people of His time, but to all of us who come afterward.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  My study Bible notes that while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved a mountain, patristic opinion is clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen.  There are stories of certain saints that made crevices appear in mountains.  Moreover, not everything done by the apostles was written down.  Beyond the literal meaning fo the text, this promise remains an illustration of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of one's life.  Theophan comments, "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.

 

It's interesting to note also that immediately after cleansing the temple, Jesus begins to heal.  The text says that the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  That the blind and the lame come to Him for healing echo the prophesies of the time of the Messiah (see, for example, Isaiah 35:5-6).   So, in time in the temple which immediately follows Christ's Triumphal Entry (see Saturday's reading, above), there are two major actions performed by Christ in the temple.   First He casts out what needs to be cast out, and then He heals.  These seem to me to be clear actions of Christ as Physician to our bodies, souls, and spirits (Matthew 9:12).  He casts out (as does a skillful surgeon) that which causes harm and damage, and then He proceeds to heal what needs healing.  This seems to be the whole thrust of the Christian life, the action of the Spirit in our lives, but maybe most emphatically, the action of Christ's love in our lives.  It might be hard, at times, to reconcile the Christ to whom we pray and whom we understand as loving and generous, with the Christ who "takes away."  As happens so frequently in the Gospels with the disciples, there are times when we are separated even from things we think we need and love for our own good.  Jesus' direction to the rich young ruler to sell what he has and give to the poor comes to mind; see this reading.  But there are many times when it is the disciples themselves who are on the receiving end of admonitions to do away even with personal impulses and desires that seem natural but are in fact problematic and selfish, and will lead to problems (see, for example, this reading and the interaction with the mother of Zebedee's sons, the disciples John and James).  There are all kinds of ways in which we might be separated from what we think we need and love, due to the action of God in our lives.  But, in point of fact, our faith -- and all actions of healing in Christ -- is based in love.  Everything comes down to a question of what is a greater love, a higher love, a deeper love which comes from God.  Certainly there were practices in the temple which were considered to be corrupt.  We can read repeatedly Jesus' condemnation of the leadership and their hypocrisy, which will be explicitly stated in Matthew's Gospel (chapter 23).  And, of course, by Christ's time we can consider this an Old Testament tradition, as it was the purview of the prophets who came before Christ, and the long history of the good and honest prophets put to death for their truthful prophesy to the powerful (see especially Matthew 23:31-36).  What we so often seem to treasure (such as the wealth and position of the rulers in the temple) is not necessarily what's best for us as human beings, and this can include the company we keep, people whom we think we love, and all manner of things we believe are nominally good.   But the true gravity of all of creation lies in the heart of Jesus Christ, where we find the center of the universe, the perfection of love -- for God is love.  That is, love is the true gravity of all things, for God is love (1 John 4:8).  And so, the real pull of all things toward God is the pull of love -- that is, of this higher love that teaches us what is better, leads us to cast out what is not from that love, and to heal what has been hurt and damaged and what truly ails us.  This is the reality of God who spoke through the voices of the prophets and who is Incarnate in Jesus Christ.  It is a higher and more powerful love that will call us out of our complacency with what we find around us, images of a fake love that promises us wealth by virtue of a little selfishness here and there, harm to this or that person, cruelty and lack of love in our dealings with one another.  It is a false promise of virtue through image alone in the eyes of others ("the praise of men" John's Gospel call it in this passage).  There are a million and one images we're given of what is virtuous or great, what is a good life or not, what things we should strive after, a million picture postcards of our lives that we can share like snapshots of perfection, but which function as empty images, without discernment, and without that compelling love of God that draws us forward and asks us to re-evaluate, and to find the treasures that neither moth nor rust nor thief can take away (Matthew 6:19-21).  If we really want to know what drives the saints, as what drove the prophets before Christ, as well as the apostles who left all behind to preach the His gospel, it is love -- a powerful, deep love that was no doubt felt in the presence of Jesus Christ, for He is that center that draws us.  His love is the spiritual gravity that draws us to God before all things, and before which all other partial or false loves pale and wither like that fig tree.  For He is the One who shows us the way, and even a rebuke from Christ is made in the power of the greatest love (Revelation 3:19).  

Have you never read, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise"?

 

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  

 

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have perfected praise'?"  

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

 

- Matthew 21:12-22 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"  So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

 

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.   Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals which would be used in the Passover sacrifices.  The money changers were trading Roman coins for Jewish coins.  It was considered that Roman coins, which bore the image of Caesar, were defiling in the temple.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11.   According to my study Bible, the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  Psalm 8:3 of the Septuagint declares, "From the mouths of babies and nursing infants You prepared praise because of Your enemies, that You may destroy the enemy and avenger."  (When we read quotations in the New Testament, it is the Septuagint being quoted; in most versions of the New Testament this is from Psalm 8:2.)  In the Palm Sunday Vespers of the Orthodox Church, it is declared, "Keep the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands, sing 'Hosanna'."  My study Bible comments that many liturgical hymns of this day emphasize the perfect praise of the children, which unlike that of the adults, was innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  So we are called to glorify Christ in the same spirit (see Matthew 18:1-4).  In contrast, my study Bible notes, the adults' praise carried earthly expectations and agendas which, when left unfulfilled, led them to rebel against Jesus just five days later (Matthew 27:20-23). 

 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.  My study Bible notes that the fig tree is a symbol of prosperity and peace.  In this case, it withers because it is fruitless.  This is a prophetic act by Jesus, directed toward those who reject Him, since after three years of Christ's preaching, teaching, and healing, both the leaders and the crowds were destitute of spiritual fruit.  He curses the tree also to warn those in every generation of what will befall anyone who fails to listen to His message. 

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  My study Bible comments that while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved a mountain, in Patristic tradition it is clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen (there were certain saints who made crevices appear in mountains).  Moreover, not everything accomplished by the apostles has written down.  Beyond the literal meaning, however, this promise is also an illustration of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of our lives.  Theophan writes, "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for things which are spiritually profitable.

Today's reading, taken altogether, seems to emphasize the power of God as it works in our lives.  There are things God would teach us to do, and how to live, and we have the choice to seek out this will, the way of God, or to pay lip service to that will, and do otherwise.  There are varying degrees to which a person is aware of the things of God and rejects them outright.  There is also the soul within which we have the capacity to be receptive to these things.  So often, Jesus' repeated iteration is of the words of Isaiah:  "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."  These words are directly connected to healing in the prophecy of Isaiah from which Jesus draws.   Isaiah is told, "Go, and tell this people, 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'   Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed" (Isaiah 6:9-10).  These words are also found echoed by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and in the Epistles of St. Paul (Jeremiah 5:21, Ezekiel 12:2, Acts 28:27, Romans 11:8).  In Christ's cleansing of the temple, He's taking decisive action against practices which seem to violate the commands and intent of God for this house of worship and prayer, which He says has been made into a "den of thieves."  Earlier Jesus has already quoted from Isaiah regarding the religious leadership:  "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men" (see Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:8).  The withering of the fig tree illustrates a principle regarding spiritual fruitlessness, the result of dullness of hearing and seeing in a spiritual sense, a lack of perception of spiritual matters, and specifically in the teachings that He has offered through the course of His mission and ministry.  It is an illustration of the power of God in the sense that to understand this importance and yet to continue to ignore and abuse such a gift through one's own life is to court the results of fruitlessness and whatever that means in our own lives.  Whether we realize it or not, the fruits of faith are borne out not simply in forms of piousness but also of creativity and ingenuity in many ways; to truly study history with a sense of insight into the origins of principles of law such as mercy and rehabilitation, or the development of forms of beauty in architecture and art which seek to elevate our sight to the origins of beauty, truth, and goodness, owe a great deal to Christ and His ministry.  People may decisively seek to scorn such ideas, but there can be no rational doubt of the impact on the world of the story of the Crucifixion of this most innocent Man and His goodness and love and giving of Himself.  Finally, we come to Christ's discussion of faith with the disciples, in which He chooses to emphasize what faith can do in a positive sense.  Surely we are meant to understand that the faith Jesus has preached all along isn't a kind of magic in which we are capable of selfishly manifesting anything we desire through prayer, but rather the result of the pursuit of the will of God, the process of repentance as growth which is always continuing in that life of discipleship, and the growing dependency upon and trust in God along the way of this process.  It is in this way that prayer becomes truly effective, because it is honed and aligned within the will of God for us, and the result of a prayerfully lived life in this pursuit of God's love and desire for God.  Surely what we are to take from today's reading in the contrast between the fruitless materialism couched in hypocrisy that Jesus criticizes, the symbolic withering of the promises in the fig tree, and Jesus' words about faith and prayer is simply the power of God and our own alignment with that power through a prayerful life of serious discipleship.  This power is always present and on offer to us:  we may ignore it all we wish, but we risk the consequences of spiritual fruitlessness, emptiness, and a materialist life devoid of the meaning that God would give to our lives lived in this world.  This touches ironically on the very meaning of sacrifice and sacrament:  that we live in a world given to us by God as are our very lives, but in the practice of faith we give that world back to God so that God may teach us how to live prayerfully in communion within our world as good stewards.  This is not about rationalizing what we do, but sincerely seeking God's will in developing a prayerful life where spiritual eyes and ears are opened -- or at the very least, we have that aim in our hearts and are willing to open ourselves to where it would guide us.  Without this, even the must beautiful services and practices, those enshrined in religious literature, will lose their meaning in hearts that have grown dull or calloused, where the truth of our inner being is hidden and does not wrestle with God (Genesis 32:22-32), or against the spiritual darkness we don't wish to perceive or acknowledge (Ephesians 6:12).  On this eve of Christ's final week of earthly life, He lays bare the questions that are posed to us all, which we will each answer in our way, and which will have a lasting effect according to the choices made in this week by the religious leadership.  There will be times in our lives when we are called to make such choices and decisions; let us pray that we are aware of the stakes, and that we prefer the fruits of the Spirit to all else.  Sometimes when we seek to gain, we lose what is most precious (Matthew 16:26), in the long game of history and of our lives.   The children shout "Hosannah" because their hearts are flooded with joy in the encounter with Jesus.  Let our hearts remain open to that joy and find it in our own prayerful encounters with Him, and endure in it, even in the midst of the world.

 

For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter

 

 From there He arose and went to the 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 go 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."

 

- Mark 7:24-37 

 

On Saturday we read that the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together with Jesus, having come from Jerusalem.  Now when they saw some of the disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.  For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.  When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.  And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"  He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:  'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'  For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men -- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."  He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'  But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" -- ' (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.  And many such things you do."   When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand:  There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"  When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.  So He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also?  Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?"  And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride foolishness.  All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

 

  From there He arose and went to the 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 go 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.   The first verse here tells us that Jesus has come to this Gentile region not to preach, but to withdraw after His encounter with the Pharisees and scribes in yesterday's reading (above).  They had come to Galilee from Jerusalem to question Him.  The text tells us that He went into a house, and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.  When Jesus refers to the children's bread He speaks in terms of the Jewish people.  In Matthew's reporting of this story, Jesus says to the woman, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24).  Note this woman's accepting response:  she shows both humility toward Christ and also persistence in her faith and pursuing a healing for her daughter whom she clearly loves dearly.  Christ's response signals His clear approval.  My study bible says that Christ's hesitancy was not a lack of compassion, but a conscious means of revealing the virtues of this woman -- both to the disciples (as is more clear in Matthew's version) and for her own sake.  

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."  My study bible notes that Christ sighed as a sign of divine compassion for the sufferings of our fallen human nature.  

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."  My study bible comments here that our Lord shows us that we mustn't seek acclaim or praise when we do good to others.  However, Theophylact, in his commentary, upholds those who disobey Jesus in this circumstance, and sees them as a good example -- that we should proclaim those who have done good to us, even if they do not want us to.

 

The two stories in today's reading strike me as pertinent to issues in our modern lives that have to do with how we treat one another.  It is practically inconceivable that people would not take offense at Christ's comments to the Syro-Phoenician woman, comparing the "children" with the "little dogs."  I think, first of all, we have to consider that the little dogs of which He speaks would be the little puppies in the house under the table -- as opposed to the highly negative image held by Middle Easterners about grown dogs which would strictly belong outdoors.  But simply put, He is distinguishing -- in accordance with Matthew's Gospel -- between the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" and the Gentiles in the region in which she lives.  Nobody would countenance any sort of racial or other prejudice in this or any other circumstance, and clearly Jesus had important women followers and supporters of His ministry.  But the reason He gives:  that He comes from among the Jews, as a Jew, and in ministry to the Jews, is an important one.  It is not fiction, nor prejudice, and His movement will immediately go forward as one that belongs to all people and in which there is no distinction between people, as St. Paul writes in Galatians 3:28:  "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."  In the Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul goes even further in proclaiming the innate respect we must all have for one another:  "Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all" (Colossians 3:9-11).  Anyone familiar with the fullness of Christ's teachings, as well as this immediate perspective of the early Church on our total lack of difference between human beings in Christ, must therefore understand Christ's remarks in the way that the Church does:  as prodding this woman toward persistence and an expression of faith, as well as a teaching to His apostles.  After all, in the context of Mark's Gospel, she is the first Gentile whose faith He has honored with such a healing.  Let us remember that Mark's was the first Gospel to be written, and it was meant for the membership of the Church which was both Gentile and Jew, including those from Syro-Phoenicia.  It would seem that we moderns have a lot to learn about discerning intent and understanding of the heart when it comes to evaluating a person's words and what they do.  In the second story in today's reading, we have another important teaching along these same lines in the teaching of Theophylact, in which he praises those who spread the praises of Christ, even if He told them not to.  That is because Theophylact declares that there is great honor in proclaiming the good things that another has done for oneself.  In a modern age, and seemingly in accordance with behavior in social networks and media of all kinds, the immediate proclamation of bad intent and evil character, the malicious maligning of those who've possibly said a word we don't like, one we can take out of context and to which we can impute all manner of meaning which was unintended, is the absolute opposite of what the Gospels teach us to do in terms of how we treat one another.  Does the Syro-Phoenician woman respond to Christ with hatred for His first refusal to immediately accept her demand?  Or does she respond with wit, truth, tact, deference, and respect -- all while disagreeing with Him and pursuing her aim for her daughter?  Now that is an elegant and bold response, requiring real intelligence if we have ever beheld one.  It is especially important that we take note that Christ praises her specifically for her insistent response to Him!  He tells her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."  It seems doubtful that such a polished and winning response by this woman is possible under today's set of rules for public decorum.  Today's popular call would be for sheer indignation or outrage.  In addition, we might assume that she went on to proclaim the good things that Christ did for her, rather than condemn Him for His figure of speech or allegory.  One is left to simply imagine a world in which the true works of a person -- and the good intentions they held for others -- were the actual ways we judged, rather than by appearances.  What kindness and understanding might result?  Would we be so quick to judge and to pillory over social media?  And just imagine if we all had the kindness and justice to praise those who have done good for us to others.  One must stop to consider that it would be quite a different world, with quite different things to teach to our children, than the one we see around us.  It speaks to me of a lack of the values taught in the Gospels, and the social need for them.  We are quick to judge, and slow to praise, instead of the other way around.  Let us consider once again just judgment, and of what attitude that consists.  Let us look to these texts to define gracious behavior, and the true picture of the world we'd like to be living in.

 

 

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise

Triumphal Entry, the children welcome Christ with praise.  Medieval Syriac Illuminated Manuscript

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise'?"

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

- Matthew 21:12-22

On Saturday we read that when Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then He sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose then and bring them to me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "  So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals to be used in sacrifices for the Passover.  The money changers would exchange Roman coins for Jewish ones, as Roman coins (with the image of Caesar upon them) were considered to be defiling to the temple.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.  My study bible comments that this cleansing of the temple -- an authoritative act by Christ (or Messiah) -- points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), this is a sign also that our hearts and minds should be cleansed of earthly matters, in the sense that we guard our hearts for the reception of our faith.  Let us note how cleansing and healing go hand in hand in this passage. 

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,  'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants / You have perfected praise'?"  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  My study bible quotes from Orthodox Vespers of Palm Sunday:  "Keep the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands, sing 'Hosanna.'"  Many hymns which commemorate this day emphasize the perfect praise of the children in the temple, my study bible says.  In contrast to that of the adults, theirs was innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  We are called to glorify Christ in the same spirit, it adds (see 18:1-4).  By contrast, the praise of the adults carried earthly expectations and agendas, such as the desire for a worldly messiah who would make Israel a great conquering and military kingdom.  When were unfulfilled, the crowds would rebel against Jesus just five days later (27:20-23).

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.   My study bible says that the fig tree is a symbol of prosperity and peace.  But in this story, the tree withers because it is fruitless.  This is a prophetic act directed toward the people, it says, as after three years of preaching, teaching, and healing by Christ, both the leaders and the crowds are destitute of spiritual fruit.  Jesus curses the tree also to warn those in every generation of the fruitlessness of those who do not heed His gospel message.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  My study bible says that while it is not recorded that an apostles literally moved a mountain, in the patristic tradition it is clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen.  There are stories of saints who made crevices appear in mountains in order to hide from pursuers.  Moreover, it says, not all the things the apostles accomplished were written down.  More than the mere literal meaning here, this is a vivid promise of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.  Theophan comments:  "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.

Recently in a bible study class, I commented to the others that the mountains I have had to move in my life were all within myself.  That is, those were the mountains that Christ moved -- the mountains moved with God's help, for with God all things are possible.  I was speaking about the many mountains I found within myself that I had no idea were there in the first place.  These were mountains encountered in the work of forgiveness, and they were mountains like anger that even I had no idea was deep inside of me, resentment, sadness, defeat, despair, and any number of difficult things necessary to confront on the road to healing in Christ's way for me.  These are mountains because when they are deeply-rooted, when they arise from circumstances beyond one's control -- and especially where others are not responsive to problems they've created in one's life -- they are not remedied through any external form.  The route through faith in Christ is a route through forgiveness, and that can be a very tough row to hoe, as the old saying goes.  It is often seemingly impossible to cope with the things we find are actually within us, as healing can't come from remedying a situation from outside.  Christ's healing comes through our work with Him, work in prayer, work through the action of the Holy Spirit within us, work through the help of the saints and all those in the Church with whom we pray, help through worship services, and especially through the Scriptures -- most notably the Gospels.  Help comes with insistence that we must take a good look at what is inside and start to grapple with it.  Jesus cleanses the temple in today's reading, an act that belongs only to the Christ, or the Messiah (both words mean "Anointed One").  It is for this reason that the religious leaders will continue to insist that He prove to them His authority to do so, and for this reason He will also be sent to His death:  because they cannot accept that He is Son.  But it is precisely for this reason that He has authority within us, in our hearts and in our souls, and for this reason He is the One who can help to heal and cleanse what is within us as well.  It is with His help that we can become healed, and because of Him we can begin to negotiate the difficult road of forgiveness of those who've harmed or hurt us, taking something away that was precious and cannot be regained through worldly means.  Perhaps it is in this context we might read about the perfect praise of the children, for children are so often the ones who are harmed or hurt with a lasting infliction of something unfair or unjust.  We might take that praise and allow it to shape us, as what we need as adults to remedy circumstances beyond our repair and beyond the reach of any hope of change.  Childhood hurts may come to haunt us later in life, long after we can come to terms with that reckoning.  Patterns of behavior take root in childhood -- and it is only much, much later we can come to see the damage they do through time and repetition, and our own need for change and transformation and healing.  And so, in that knowledge, we come to terms with our deep need for Christ, the One with the authority to cleanse and to heal.  It is through the act of forgiveness (as in "forgive us our debts or trespasses" as we forgive others).  In Christ's prescription for our lives, these two acts of forgiveness go hand in hand and are inseparable, as is the practice of mercy when we ask for mercy.  We are met with a quandary:  is it only our needs that must be met to be forgiven, or must we also seek to forgive?  But in that act, we might find there are mountains that need moving within us, and a constant stream of things we'd rather not face and maybe have put off for decades of life when it was easier not to think about them or be aware of them.  Such is the range of mountains I have found in myself, moveable only with God's help, because graspable only through the mercy and love of Christ and of the saints (and especially His mother, Mary, as so many others before me have found).  Let us consider for today, in a world in which seemingly only the external changes we can make are being addressed by popular movements, the idea that we do not live in a perfect world.  It is the rare person indeed who has led a perfect life, with perfect parents and childhood, with perfect justice and perfect experience.  No, we do not live in such a world -- and the greatest and most perfect among us was subject to the worst injustice.  We live in a world where we really do need to move those mountains, for they are within us, and we will encounter them when we truly seek His healing and His love and work in ourselves.  We will find them when we seek His blessing and praise, and to truly follow the Gospel.  We may go to the place where we were as children inside of us, and perfect our praise.  Let us remember His promise for our faith.

It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer," but you have made it a "den of thieves"

Christ cursing the fig tree.  Fresco, 14th century.  Pec Monastery, Serbia

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise'?"

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

- Matthew 21:12-22

Yesterday we read that when Jesus and the disciples (and those who journey with them) drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "  So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"   So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "   Those who bought and sold are those who were trading in live animals, used in sacrifices in the temple.  The money changers are those who traded Roman coins for Jewish coins.  It was believed that Roman coins, bearing the image of Caesar, were defiling in the temple, a form of idol worship.  The cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity, my study bible says, that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  Each person, we recall, is also considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), and so this is a sign that our hearts and minds must also be cleansed of earthly matters.  Let us note that Jesus implies through the quotations (from Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11) that in the way that these things are practiced, the people are being robbed.

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  Jesus quotes from Psalm 8:2 (Septuagint).  My study bible remarks on this contrast between the perfect praise of children, and that of adults.  The children's praise is innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  But the adults' praise (as we remarked in yesterday's reading on the Triumphal Entry) carried earthly expectations and agendas.  When those adult expectations are left unfulfilled, it will lead them to rebel against Jesus five days later (27:20-23).

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.   My study bible tells us that the fig tree was a symbol of prosperity and peace.  It withers because it is fruitless.  The promise of its leaves denotes a rich and treasured fruit, but it is empty.  This is a prophetic act, my study bible says, directed toward Israel, and especially the religious leadership.  After three years of Christ's preaching, teaching, and healing, both the leaders and the crowds were destitute of spiritual fruit, and their response to Christ is not a desire for the spiritual life He offers, but rejection.  He curses the tree, my study bible adds, also to warn those in every generation of what will befall anyone who fails to listen to His message.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  As with so much of Matthew's Gospel, this is a kind of echo of what Christ has said elsewhere, given new emphasis and facets of meaning by its juxtaposition here (see this reading for an earlier, similar iteration).  My study bible notes that while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved a mountain, the partristic Fathers agree that they would have had this authority if the need had arisen.  While there are stories of saints who made crevices appear in mountains, not everything that apostles accomplished was written down.  But more than the literal meaning here, this is a promise which illustrates the power of prayer and faith in all areas of life.  Again, to quote Theophan, "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.  Let us note also the great encompassing emphasis on following the will of God in all things, which goes hand in hand with this statement.

Jesus curses the fig tree, and it withers.  Is this not strange for a modern picture of the benign Jesus who never responds, never seems to say a mean word about anybody, never rails at hypocrites (in the modern imagination, at any rate), never criticizes or goes on the offense?  Well, that picture of Jesus is not consistent with what we read in the Gospels.  Jesus has plenty of critical and prophetic words to say about all kinds of things, not least of which is the way that the leadership conducts itself and fails to care properly for those in its flock.  No, Jesus really does not say that everybody has their own truth and everything is fine -- because, in fact, lies and manipulations do damage and harm, and hypocrisy leads to harm we can't even see nor fully know.  And that is the truth that Jesus tells, represents, will die for, so that it lasts and lives in this world, and restores to those the life that lies would take away.  We begin today's reading with the cleansing of the temple, in which Jesus fully criticizes by suggesting that the one place which is supposed to be a house of prayer has been turned into a den of thieves.  This suggests avarice at work, a system in which the greatest victims are, of course, the poor -- who must no doubt pay in some sense for the work of the money changers, atop what they would pay for the sacrifice of an animal which they cannot bring with them.  This is something that rarely seems to change in our world, that it is the poor and powerless who pay the most and have the least safety net.  It really doesn't make a lot of difference, in my experience, which system or innovation we might be talking about.   When Christ's teachings give us a sense of communion, it is to be inclusive of all, to care for the "least of these" and the "littlest ones."  On top of that, His praise is for all those who are "poor in spirit."  When traditional social structures break down, of community, of family, of security and safety and protection from violence or other crime, due to whatever reason, it is the poor who pay the most as they rely the most on these safety nets.  If a type of theft creeps into our institutions, to whatever degree, it is the poor who will be the hardest hit.  Jesus ends with the withering and condemnation of the fig tree, and a promise of the power of faith -- suggesting to us at once that our choices to uphold spiritual truth really do make a difference and have consequences, both negative and positive.  It is He who is here for the littlest among us, those who must more fully rely upon God.  This applies to all those who are "poor in spirit," from every walk and class of life.  It little matters what the externals look like:  a true love of God will work to produce a dependency on faith and prayer.  Let us remember His strict commands to His own followers regarding abuses to the littlest ones, and His open criticism of the practices of the leadership, especially as we read through the confrontations and tests that are coming for Christ in Jerusalem.  Let us remember His word, His truth for us all, and seek to see through the manipulation and hypocrisy of whatever form they take on for us today, by clinging to what He offers us.