Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me

 

 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'  Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'  Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'  Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."  

 

- Matthew 25:31–46 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus has been teaching the disciples about the end times, including the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, His Second Coming, and the judgment that will entail.  (End times includes all of the Christian era; the time of the Church in which we await Christ's return.)  He culminated these prophesies with parables about the disposition of the faithful at this time in which we await His return and judgment).  In Yesterday's reading, Jesus taught the parable of the Talents: "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.  And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.  Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.  And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.  But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money.  After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.  So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.'  His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'  He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.'  His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'  Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground.  Look, there you have what is yours.'  But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.  So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.  Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.  For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.  And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory."  My study Bible calls today's reading the majestic climax of Christ's discourse, which is not simply a parable, but a prophesy of the universal judgment that will indeed come.  Since the Cross is now near to Him, my study Bible says, Jesus raises the hearer to the sight of the glory of the Son of Man on His judgment seat and the whole world before Him.  As we will read, the standard of judgment is uncalculated mercy toward others.  The works which are produced by faith are emphasized, for saving faith always produces righteous works.  What we do reflects our true inner state.  The least in the parable refers to all the poor and the needy.  My study Bible adds that the needs described in this parable include both physical and spiritual needs.  So, therefore, the hungry or thirsty are not only those who need food and drink, but also those who hunger and thirst for the hope of the gospel.  

 

 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left."  Christ uses sheep here to illustrate the righteous, as they follow His voice and are gentle and productive.  Goats indicate the unrighteous, as they do not follow the shepherd, and also walk along cliffs which represent sin.  

 

"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: . . . "  My study Bible says that inherit is a term used with regard to sons and daughters rather than strangers or servants, for the righteous become children of God by adoption (Galatians 4:4-7).

 

" . . . for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'"  My study Bible comments that to see Christ in everyone is the fulfillment of the great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). 

 

"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'  Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'  Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."   That the fire was prepared for the devil shows that God did not create hell for man, my study Bible asserts.  Rather, people choose this torment by their coldness of heart.  

 

One thing is certain about judgment, as portrayed by Christ in this landmark parable.  What He will be looking for -- that is, the thing that divides everything up between the sheep and the goats -- is compassion, the practice of mercy.  It seems to me that this practice involves much more than following commands, or doing what is right in our own sight, or even making precise moral choices.  Compassion is something that comes, first of all, from God who is love.  It is in light of this grace and mercy that we learn, also, how to practice grace and mercy ourselves.  Notice how the parable makes very clear what it is to follow our Master.  For He is our Shepherd, and His sheep know His voice, and they follow Him (John 10:27).  As Jesus Christ is the Logos, the Word, He is the originator of all things which we might be and become (John 1:1-5).  How can we know Him?  He has manifested Himself to us, as one of us, and so we know what and whom our Creator is.  We know what He has done as a human being; we know His mercy and love.  He knows the hearts of people (Acts 1:24).  As sheep, we hear His voice, and He calls us by name (John 10:3).  Therefore, as His obedient sheep, our actions are to be like Him, and we are made in such a way that we may grow to become more like Him through grace.  Our compassionate Lord (Matthew 9:36, Matthew 14:14, Mark 1:41, Mark 6:34) has come into the world so that we might know Him and know His Father (John 14:9).  In this parable of judgment, we can see many of Christ's teachings at work.  In St. Matthew's 10th chapter, Jesus teaches His disciples, "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward" (Matthew 10:40-42).  Note that "receiving" emphasizes the many ways to practice a sense of hospitality.  These acts of mercy and kindness remind us also of the teaching in the parable of the Ten Virgins, whose lamps would be kept lit through their supply of oil (the Greek word for oil sounding identical to the one meaning "mercy") to meet the Bridegroom (see this reading).  In yesterday's reading (see above), we read the parable of the Talents.  St. Chrysostom comments on this parable in one of his homilies, saying that it teaches us that it's not only sins of commission which matter, but also sins of omission.  He says, "Do you see how sins of omission also are met with extreme rejection? It is not only the covetous, the active doer of evil things and the adulterer, but also the one who fails to do good" (Manlio Simonetti, Matthew 14–28, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 229).  This principle, also, is made very clear in today's parable of judgment given by Jesus.  The good things done by the sheep are contrasted with the failure to practice mercy by the goats.  In teaching about the end times, and His Second Coming, Jesus has repeatedly emphasized for His disciples that they must be watchful.  He has taught, "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" (Matthew 24:42); and, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matthew 25:13).  This emphasis on watchfulness is not about simply watching for the signs of His return, and certainly not about making timetables and predictions.  To be watchful, in Christ's examples and parables, is to be a good servant, to be alert for the opportunities to serve, and to be alert to the ways in which we can carry out our Lord's wishes and commands.  At this time as we prepare for Christmas, there is a traditional fast among the Orthodox, before we feast in celebration of Christ's Nativity.  Let us take this time to hone our watchfulness, to place an emphasis on our own spiritual alertness for the opportunities of mercy and grace, of receiving those who come to us in His name, that often present themselves when we least expect it.  Let us be alert to His call, the voice and presence of our Shepherd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father

 

 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.  And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  He answered and said to them:  "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.   The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.  Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.  The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Matthew 13:36-43 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus gave another parable to the crowds, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."  Another parable He spoke to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world." 

 

  Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.  And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  He answered and said to them:  "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.  The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.  Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.  The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Jesus gives to the disciples in private the explanation of the parable He told to the crowds, just as He had also done for the parable of the Sower, the first of the parables He began teaching.  See Matthew 13:1-23.  In today's reading, Jesus is explaining to the disciples the parable of the tares of the field, found in Friday's reading.   A note in my study Bible on this parable explains that it builds on the previous parable of the Sower, but here the focus is on the enemy who has sown his seed among the seed (or word) of Christ.  My study Bible says that as falsehood came after truth and false prophets came after the true prophets, so the Antichrist will come after Christ.  Just as the weeds in the parable appear similar to the wheat, so the devil fashions his lies to resemble the truth, as is the case in heresies.  That the devil sows while men slept indicates that heresy and lies creep in when people are apathetic. 

 

Jesus' explanation of the parable of the Wheat and Tares makes it very clear that He speaking about judgment.  As we reviewed in the commentary on the reading in which He first gave the parable (here), there is a type of weed which closely resembles wheat, but it's toxic for human beings.  So, first of all, we could think of the seed as that which grows something; there is a  clear message here about what type of crop is produced.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned His disciples of false prophets to come, in what is a parallel teaching to this parable.  He said, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 7:15-19).  We can see the parallels, even in the allusion to the trees that don't bear good fruit being thrown into the fire.  But let's think of this important metaphor of Christ that He used so often, about the seeds that spring up into "good" or "bad" plants.  If we take this understanding of the enemy's seeds as lies that mislead and trick people (especially if, like heresies, they bear a resemblance to truth, such as in half-truths), then what we hear from Jesus is how building our lives on lies or partial truths leads to a bad outcome for us as persons, in the wholeness of who we are.  So the foundations of the soul, of real identity, also depend upon how we're nurtured, what we base on own growth upon.  Like plants, human beings are in a constant state of growth or change, one way or another.  We go in one direction or another, and it all depends upon how we're nurtured and what start we give ourselves each day.  In another way of looking at the parable, we might take it that we want to make sure we're ingesting the good wheat (as in the Eucharist), the things that nourish us for our best spiritual health in life, because this determines the growth of the soul.  In light of Christ's strong assurance here of a judgment to come, and the giving of His interpretation of the parable, He asks us yet again to take this quite seriously, because our very lives truly depend upon it.  The growth of the soul in life is something many people find it easy to forget about, given how busy modern life can be.  We find ourselves consumed with cares regarding work, family, keeping our lives and loved ones safe and in good care, our housing, and all manner of things we are constantly demanded to pay attention to.  It's so easy to lose focus on that slow growing, quiet inner life that concerns the state of the soul.  But nevertheless, there it is, and there it always is.  People notice us hardening our hearts; we can get to the place where we don't recognize what we're doing to ourselves in the face of these "necessities" of life.  But Christ has taught us that there is really one thing most needful, one thing most necessary, in the story of Martha and Mary (found here at Luke 10:38-42).  In light of all of His teachings, we can say that when we forget about this most needful thing, our lives are upside down, disordered in terms of what is most necessary for us.  At this time, many of us are gearing up for the period of the holidays, in which we will be bombarded with all the things that seem "necessary" for those holidays.  Black Friday, the time of the great sales in stores in the United States, is already being advertized -- all a part of the rush for things we "need" for the holidays.  But on the contrary, it's the time (in the Northern Hemisphere at any rate) when nature is slowing down, getting ready for the needful rest of winter, the earth's necessary Sabbath.  We should perhaps keep in mind that the holidays we celebrate are "holy days," and the very reason for celebration should not be lost. We give thanks to God for our blessings.  It may be a national holiday, but its roots are in our faith.  Of course, the same is true for the Nativity of our Lord, Christmas.  From the earliest times of the Church, the great and most celebrated holiday was Easter, the commemoration and celebration of Resurrection.  Christmas has been built up into the major holiday it is to a great extent by advertising and sales. We're all encouraged to give, but the hastening of so many things to prepare, to buy, to fix, to show, and all that goes with it, often seems to miss the entire point of the festival and the season.  The little family in Bethlehem, taking refuge in a cave used for farm animals, should serve to remind us that love, joy, grace, and God's glory in the message of the angels are in the midst of all of it, and this is in contrast to the anxieties that are stoked in the ways we celebrate.  It's also in tremendous contrast to the sense of competition and comparison it seems to create.  Many people are lonelier than ever at this time, or perhaps feeling want in the face of all the celebration that others seem to be doing.  With our social media what it is now, this is ever-increasing as studies confirm.  So let us remember, as we go into this "quiet time" toward winter that we need our Sabbath as does the earth and all of creation; and we need to remember God.  Remember the good growth Christ urges us toward, and what we need for the kind of persons He calls us to be, for nurturing that in ourselves and in our families, friends, communities.  Remember anything we have to be grateful for and give thanks to God, remember Christ the infant who would give Himself for the life of the world.   Let us put aside time for the things which are most necessary, so that we may grow into the "good trees" bearing the good fruits Christ desires.  Let us set aside time for the things which are most important and needful of all, and order our priorities His way.  For righteousness is about good order, right relations to ourselves and all else as Christ would order them.  Let us make time for the good seed He sows in us.

 

 

 

 

For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 

 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in that house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice."  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." 

 

 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

 

- Matthew 9:9–17 

 

Yesterday we read that, following the encounter and exorcism of the Gergesene demoniacs, Jesus got into a boat, crossed over, and came back to His own city of Capernaum.  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

 

  As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in that house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice."  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.   My study Bible tells us that Matthew is also called Levi (Mark 2:14).  It explains that Roman overlords would assign specific areas to Jewish tax collectors.  These Jewish tax collectors were then free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, using the power of the Roman state.  Because of their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption, other Jews hated them and considered them to be unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Here Jesus is dining with them and has accepted a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me"), and so the Pharisees are offended.  But Jesus' defense is quite simple:  He goes where the need of the physician is greatest.  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" is a quotation from Hosea 6:6.  This is not a rejection of sacrifice per se, my study Bible explains, but it teaches that mercy is a higher priority (see Psalm 51).

 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."  The Jews would typically fast twice a week, my study Bible explains (Luke 18:12), on Monday and on Thursday.  In addition, public fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), especially on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But the Jews saw the day of the Messiah as a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness.  Here, Jesus is proclaiming that day, and He declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  For Christians, my study Bible notes, fasting is not gloomy but desirable; it's a "bright sadness."  This is because, by fasting, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  The old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, which are viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit who dwells in renewed people; who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

 

 Jesus makes a seemingly radical choice in today's reading: He calls a tax collector to become His disciple.  We're told that He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  This might seem almost like a random event in terms of the way that you or I might read these words, but with Jesus, nothing is random.  He knows the hearts of people and He knows the ones He calls.  Matthew's response is an indication of how ready He was to follow and to become a disciple.  But Jesus' calling of the disciple Matthew (the author of our Gospel) is indeed a radical act, because Matthew is a kind of outlier.  He is, moreover, scorned and shunned by the community because he's a tax collector.  The next thing we read is that Jesus is sitting at table with a whole houseful of tax collectors and sinners, no doubt St. Matthew's friends.  This is yet another radical step, for He's openly among a community known widely as sinners, and unclean in the eyes of others.  In a sense, it's Jesus openly declaring His gospel by this physical act of attending a dinner.  He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  Note that, yet again, everything is not quite what it might seem to us as we read this Scripture.  For Jesus is not sitting at dinner to simply approve of and enjoy this company.  Matthew has become a disciple, has decided to follow Jesus, and Jesus is calling this table to repentance as well.  The fact that He is eating with them is yet another radical act, for He has no concern that in so doing, He is sharing whatever sinful or imperfect behavior tax collectors and sinners might practice.  Just as He touched a leper when it was forbidden to touch the "unclean" (in this reading) in order to heal him, so Christ's sitting among these people is also an act of healing.  Christ has nothing to fear from closeness to those who are either physically or spiritually unwell in any sense.  This is because He is the divine Physician; He has come to heal, to set us on the right path and give us the right medicine we need for our ailments.  This invites us to understand ourselves as those who might also sit at that table, and the particular perspective that engenders in us.  Jesus doesn't come to Matthew's table to celebrate and laud Matthew or the other tax collectors and sinners, He comes as honored teacher, while Matthew is pleased to tell the world that he has become a disciple, and to share this with his friends.  So even if one is not a notorious sinner, nor hated as unclean or despised in community for some reason, we think of ourselves at this table as one of those who are imperfect, and who need Christ's guidance and healing prescriptions for our lives.  It invites us to think of ourselves as part of a community, in which there may be all kinds of sins and their effects present, and so therefore whoever we are, we are a part of a community that needs Christ and what Christ has to offer.  He, Jesus, has come into the world to be part of this community, to do His healing and preach His gospel within this community, and to call us out of that community to be His followers and practice His gospel as He teaches.  St. Matthew will go on to become an apostle, and author of this first Gospel that appears in our New Testament, and so he continues to call people to Christ from the midst of our communities all over the world.  Let us understand ourselves also as those who need Christ in our lives and our communities, and be grateful as Matthew who invites all to sit at His table with joy and thanks for His Teacher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

- Luke 5:27–39 

 

Yesterday we read that it happened when Jesus was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Him; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering or your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 

  After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Levi, also known as Matthew, answer's Christ's call to "follow Me."  He leaves his occupation to become a disciple, my study Bible comments.  It notes that from the beginning of Christ's ministry, He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him (as we read a little further on in the text).  Levi was possibly one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (Luke 3:12).  

 

 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  My study Bible comments that this feast is an expression of Matthew's joy and gratitude.  The guest register, it says, is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness. 

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."    My study Bible tells us that Christ's earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But, of course, there will come a time when Christ's followers will be practicing the fast.  Jewish fasting practices would be transfigured in Christianity to reflect preparation for the wedding feast of the Messiah/Bridegroom at the end of the age.  Thus historically there have been practices of fasting in the Church to prepare for the feast of Easter, and also for Christmas and other short fasting periods before certain feasts or commemorations.  

 

 Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"   Christ here gives this parable of wineskins to illustrate the growing ranks of His Church, the New Covenant as it transfigures the Old.  My study Bible remarks that this final saying regarding old wine occurs only in Luke's account of this story.  It suggests that this last remark illustrates, first of all, the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant, and secondly, the inner resistance which a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life.  Finally, it teaches us about the general stubbornness of the human heart. 

The analogy of the old wineskins and the new illustrates an important aspect of the difficulties of repentance.  We always want what we are used to, and it's often hard to accept the new and what is unfamiliar to us.  We're used to doing things a certain way, or being taught that a particular habit or way of doing things is good and preferable in general.  But just as the new wineskins allow for expansion, for new members welcomed into Christ's Church, so the practice of repentance asks us for a constant type of growth and expansion.  Often our faith and our prayers might lead us to make new choices, new decisions we haven't made before, new concepts we hadn't considered to embrace, or perhaps new alternatives to the ways we've always done things in the past.  Occasionally we run into seeming roadblocks in our lives, and we can't understand why things are not working or we seem to have hit a dead end.  It's then that prayer and spiritual guidance can help us find ways to move forward out of our "stuck" places, giving us options and insight into new possibilities and new ways of thinking.  The "new wineskins" of Christ offer us an opening to consider that within His Church and as His disciples we are always asked to grow and to expand, for we are made to learn (the word disciple in the Greek of the Gospels literally means "learner").  To grow within the discipline of following Christ is an expanding way of life, inviting us to continue toward that wedding feast of the Bridegroom and His Church, for union with our Lord has an infinite horizon beyond what we know.  While we may consider that repentance entails turning toward something we already know, the word in Greek (μετανοια/metanoia) actually implies change, and it literally means "change of mind."  Let us consider the ways Christ calls us to change, to expand our own ways of thinking, to follow Him.  

 

 

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And he said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others  who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

- Luke 5:27–39 

 

Yesterdays we read that it happened when Jesus was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could mot find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And he said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Here Levi (Matthew) answer's Christ's call to him, "Follow Me."  He leaves his occupation to become a disciple, as did Peter together with James and John Zebedee, in Monday's reading.  My study Bible comments that from the beginning of His ministry, Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him in today's reading.  Levi may also have been one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (Luke 3:12) in the same way that Peter, James, and John were first followers of John the Baptist (John 1:35-51).  

  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others  who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."    My study Bible comments that this feast expresses Matthew's joy and gratitude.  It says that the guest register is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness.  

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved."   My study Bible comments on these verses that Christ's earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast.  In Jewish practice, fasting typically occurred twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Moreover, additional public fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; 1 Ezekiel 8:49-50; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), especially on the  Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But, my study Bible says, the Jews saw the day of the Messiah as a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness.  Christ here is proclaiming that day, and declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  For Christians, my study Bible adds, fasting is not gloomy but desirable, a bright sadness, for by fasting we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.

"And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"   My study Bible explains that this saying only occurs in Luke's account.  It notes that it illustrates several things.  First, there is the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant.  Then there is the inner resistance a person faces in turning away from a sinful way of life.  Finally, it teaches the general stubbornness of the human heart.  

Perhaps nowhere else do we read Christ stating so clearly that His mission is to heal than in today's reading, and His statement in which He compares Himself to a physician:  "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  If we may close attention to what He's saying, He's telling us something that isn't all that popular today in our common culture.  Christ is, in fact, describing repentance as the ultimate medicine for what ails people.  We don't often think of repentance as something healing, that takes us out of some form of illness -- whether that be a mental or emotional ailment, a spiritual or soul ailment, or even a physical ailment.  This is because our common conceptions of repentance are overlaid with a terrible burden of guilt or extreme shame, with the shadow of a punitive and accusative finger pointing at us.  But the word translated as repentance is μετάνοια/metanoia.  It means "change of mind" but in a deeper sense that if we were to simply think of it in intellectual terms.  This word for "mind" indicates a change in the inner person such that our way of thinking is transformed, including how we perceive things.  So repentance is a kind of transformation that changes who we are, our orientation to things, a recognition that we need to do something differently because it changes how we look at our reality.  If we perceive that we are hurting ourselves or others, a repentance can take place through a healthy sense of shame (not one that defines us), one that applies correction justly and reasonably.  Repentance in this sense is reorienting ourselves to Christ, to God, so that we are in better communion than we were before.  It is for this reason that it is the ultimate act of healing.  That's why it applies to all problems.  Even a physical ailment or hardship one cannot change is "healed" for the self through personal change and reorientation to how we will approach our lives and our relationship to God.   Twelve Step programs, if looked at closely, are a methodical approach to a plan for repentance, transformation.  All of our lives in the Church are directed toward this because we seek a deeper and growing dependency and communion with God through worship, through the Eucharist, through confession and repentance, through all the acts with which we dedicate ourselves to our Lord, including prayer and fasting.  A deepening faith isn't possible without this sense of repentance as transformation.  There will always be ways in which we need to change our minds to come to a deeper communion with God and the whole great cloud of saints.   As God is infinite, so then is our capacity to come to know God better, and this happens through this process of change, a willingness to be led like a child in the Lord's embrace, to reconsider and change one's mind.  It's also important to understand that we're not absolute like God is; we are creatures subject to change.  Therefore if we're not on the path toward God, we're headed the other way.  We don't stand still, we're not fixed points.  So these sinners become saved in ways that the Pharisees and their scribes cannot, will not -- because they don't necessarily think they have anything to learn from Christ, or see the ways in which repentance is for them, too.  They can't open their minds to that; as a result, throughout the story of Christ's ministry, they dig in deeper against Jesus.  Of course, there are great exceptions, like Nicodemus (see John 3), who comes to learn from Christ and eventually becomes a part of the Church.  Possibly our most known example is St. Paul, who describes himself as "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6), and was the most feared persecutor of Christians.   Philippians 3 is perhaps a very great statement on repentance, for in it St. Paul describes himself as one who has the greatest reason to have confidence in the flesh, in his spiritual inheritance and pedigree as a Jew.  "But," he writes, "what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:7-11).  This great giving up of what was his by flesh, so to speak, for the inheritance and gain in Christ is indeed a tremendous statement of transformation, repentance, and if we read closely, he describes it also as an ongoing process toward perfection, and one meant for each one of us to undertake, "for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).  The most vivid and succinct illustration Christ gives us of the principle illustrated in today's reading is the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14).  This parable is found in Luke's Gospel, and is addressed "to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others."  Perhaps St. Luke, called the "beloved physician" by St. Paul (Colossians 4:14) had a powerful insight into the effectiveness and necessary means of this medicine.  He is the one who uniquely reports the difficulty of taking it, and what it repairs:  "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  But nonetheless it's the new that we need, and that need is ongoing.

 

 

But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved

 

 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

 

- Matthew 9:9-17 

 

Yesterday we read that, after healing two demon-possessed men who dwelt across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus got into a boat, crossed back over the sea, and returned to His own city of Capernaum.  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  for which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

 

  As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   Matthew is also named Levi (see Mark 2:14).  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who in turn were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  Let us keep in mind that this implied using the power of the Roman state, including its soldiers, to do so and extort their own people.  My study Bible says that because of their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption, among fellow Jews they became objects of hatred and were considered  unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Since Jesus dines with them here, and accepts a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me"), this is offensive to the Pharisees.  But, returning to themes we have already observed in St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus goes back to God's root purpose in terms of divine activity in the world:  healing.  He goes where the need of the physician is greatest.   "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6)  is not a rejection of sacrifice per se.  It is instead a statement that mercy is the higher priority (see Psalm 51).

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."  Here my study Bible points out for us that the Jews would typically fast twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally, there were fasts that were regularly observed or proclaimed on occasion (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and also in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  But in contrast to those times of fasting, the day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast; a time of joy and gladness.  What Jesus is doing here is proclaiming that day, as He declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  

 

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."  For Christians, my study Bible says, fasting is not gloomy, but is instead desirable, a "bright sadness."  This is because, in fasting, we see ourselves as gaining self-control and thereby preparing ourselves for the Wedding Feast toward which we look.  The old garment and old wineskins, it notes, refer to the Old Covenant and the Law, seen as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who can't be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

My study Bible describes Christ's reference to the new wine as the Holy Spirit, which lives within renewed people.  How beautiful is this understanding, which gives us a sense that we are here for a purpose, that Christ came for a purpose, to give us this indwelling new wine, the Holy Spirit, so that we also may look forward to the time of the Bridegroom, Christ's return.  We should notice how in the passage on fasting, my study Bible's notes ask us to focus on how Christ's Incarnation and ministry asks us to turn toward that time of the Bridegroom, always keeping this in mind, so that everything is seen in this light.  If we fast, it is because we look forward to that time, and we prepare for it.  Don't we know already that we're not quite prepared to dwell in that heavenly Kingdom as one capable of dwelling in perfect harmony with God?  So we practice prayer, and we practice fasting, we learn to be a disciple, and hopefully grow in discipleship -- not because we need to sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice, but because we look toward Christ and His plans for us.  We hope for that indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that we might be transfigured like the wine that through mysterious enzymatic action grows into the good wine.  We worship so that we participate in that communion of saints that is meant to take us somewhere, to transfigure who we are and even who we think we are.  St. Matthew the repentant tax collector, so grateful to be taken on as disciple by Christ, is not presented as immediately perfect, completed, even if our Physician has forgiven him and called him to join Him.  On the contrary, St. Matthew the tax collector is brought into a new place where He has something toward which He now goes forward, a bright light to guide His life and whatever things will be changed in Him.  He has a cherished hope, and an indwelling of light, just as we all do who are on this path toward the place to which He calls us forward, to His light, to the wedding feast.  If Christ is our Bridegroom, we clearly also need always remember that He is our Physician.  He is here to heal us, and that indwelling of the Holy Spirit is meant to take us on the road to healing, where perfect health in this sense is our own capacity to live in the Kingdom, to dwell with God in that heavenly Kingdom Christ has promised.  The Kingdom is here among us and within us (Luke 17:21), but it is working in us to make us more fit for its dwelling and the return of the Bridegroom.  When we struggle with our journey in His light, let us consider the help we have to find the way, to make the changes we need to (as will Matthew), so that we may receive the light in its fullness that shines on us, even when we can't fully see it.  For this new wine must be preserved in the eternal day of the Kingdom which is always at hand, in which we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). 

 

 

 

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father

 

 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.  And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  He answered and said to them:  "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.  The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.  Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.  The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Matthew 13:36-43 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught another parable to the crowds, saying:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches." Another parable He spoke to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.  All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world." 

 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.  And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  He answered and said to them:  "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.  The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.  Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.  The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Here Jesus is explaining the parable taught in Friday's reading, as the disciples request in private to "explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."  It's important to understand that tares are a type of plant that resembles wheat, but is considered a weed that is indigestible for human beings.  This parable of the tares of the field is one Jesus told immediately following the parable of the Sower, and it builds upon that parable.  The attention here is focused on the enemy who has sown his seed among the seed of Christ.  My study Bible comments that, as falsehood came after truth and false prophets came after the true prophets, so the Antichrist will come after Christ.  In the similarity of the weeds (tares) and wheat, we see how lies, falsehoods, and half-truths can bear resemblance to truth.  Those who follow become sons of the wicked one through participation and living the life of the falsehoods, just as sons of the kingdom are those who live the life of His word.

Clearly, this parable of the "tares of the field" is a parable of judgment, and it expresses Christ's pronouncement and prophecy of a judgment to come.  We should remember that Jesus taught in the original parable that both wheat and tares should grow together, so as not to uproot any of the "good seed" -- and that both should grow together until the time of the harvest has come.  So, clearly, the harvest is the time of judgment, at the end of the age.  Many people today seemingly reject notions of judgment, but that's not what Christ is teaching here -- and He's being very clear about it.  One thing we can be certain of is that this time of the harvest (the time of judgment) will come at the end of this age.  We simply have idea when that is.  In fact, when questioned about it, Jesus refused to give fodder to speculate.  See Matthew 24:36-44.   The only things He did tell His disciples (and therefore the Church) is that "of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only," and that "the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  Moreover, what we can come to understand as well is that there seem to be two kinds of time in the picture that we're given of worldly life and heavenly life.  Here in this world, we follow a linear kind of experience of time.  But the time of the life after this one seems to be different, and so the rules about change and the experience of whatever that life is like are different.  Moreover, Christ has said that that next life offers a complete transformation of life.  When quizzed by the Sadducees regarding a woman married successively to seven brothers (Matthew 22:23-33), Jesus responded:  "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  So, from Christ's words, we may conclude that a complete transformation of life takes place, and also that time is experienced differently, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all live to God, although their lives did not overlap in worldly time.  We simply cannot calculate the complete understanding of what kind of changes these mean for us, nor how judgment is enacted considering such things.  What we do now is that what we choose in our worldly lives -- and whether or not we pay attention to Christ's words and seek to live by them -- does make a difference.  We're repeatedly told in different places in the Scriptures that our compassion and capacity for mercy makes a great deal of difference to our ultimate disposition and the judgment at the end of the age (for example, Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-31).  From Christ's teaching today, we may conclude that we grow spiritually, in some sense, like plants grow -- and it depends upon the seeds from which we grow.  In the parable of the Sower, Jesus emphasized what kind of soil His word can take root in, and grow and produce spiritual fruits.  Here, to be either sons of the kingdom or sons of the wicked one depends on what we choose to grow upon and cultivate; without the seed of Christ, people commit things that offend, and practice lawlessness.  Ultimately these will result in judgment.  There is a clear distinguishing here between what is cast into the furnace of fire, and the righteous who shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  But of that time we don't know, and we are all given the time of our lives to repent, to turn around and follow Him.  Let us at least take this parable, and His certain warnings about judgment, seriously while we live in the world.  

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

 

 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

    "Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    Blessed are those who mourn,

    For they shall be comforted.

    Blessed are the meek,

    For they shall inherit the earth.

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    For they shall be filled.

    Blessed are the merciful,

    For they shall obtain mercy.

    Blessed are the pure in heart, 

    For they shall see God.

    Blessed are the peacemakers,

    For they shall be called sons of God.

    Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

     For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

- Matthew 5:1-10 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.   

 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:. . .  In the Old Testament, my study Bible tells us, there are only a select few who were chosen to hear God directly (see Exodus 19:3-13).  Here, god Incarnate speaks to the multitudes face to face.  The mountain, my study Bible explains, is a place where divine action enters human history.  It is the place in which God reveals God to man (Matthew 17:1; Genesis 22:2; Exodus 3:1, 19:2; 1 Kings 18:20).  The traditional Jewish position for teaching with authority is to do so seated.  Some early Christian preachers, such as St. John Chrysostom, sat while the people stood.  Matthew mentions that Jesus opened His mouth to emphasize that this teaching goes "one-way."  That is, that Jesus has come to speak with authority (Matthew 7:29), and the disciples are there not in order to discuss or to debate, but to listen.  

 

 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  Blessed in this context is an indication of a heavenly, spiritual exaltation, rather than earthly happiness or prosperity, my study Bible explains.  The material things commonly called blessings are not what is emphasized here in Christ's teaching of the Beatitudes.  In Hebrew, the word for "poor" can mean both the materially poor, and also the faithful among God's people.  Those who are poor in spirit are those who have the heart of the poor.  That is, the same attitude as the poor, who are totally dependent upon God.  

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."  Those who mourn are those who sorrow over the sufferings of this life (Matthew 9:23), the sufferings of others (John 11:35), the state of the world (Luke 19:41), and their own sins (Luke 7:36-38).  All of these, my study Bible tells us, are comforted by the power of God both in this world and in the age to come.  Holy sorrow is also part of repentance, conversion, and virtuous action.  It is the firstfruit of the joy of God.  This kind of sorrow must be distinguished (discerned) from ungodly sorrow, which is sadness that leads to despair (see 2 Corinthains 7:10).  

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  My study Bible comments that meekness is an attitude of being content with both honor and dishonor.  This is an imitation of Christ, who said, "Learn from Me, for I am gentle [meek] and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29).  The meek are God-controlled and they have mastery over their passions, most particularly anger.  Meekness, my study Bible continues, is not passive weakness, but it is strength which is directed and under control.  The earth that the meek will inherit is not power or possession in this world, but rather the new earth, which is everlasting (Revelation 21:1).  

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness see the presence of God and God's Kingdom as the most important thing in life.  That is, they have a desperate craving for what is right before God, which my study Bible says is comparable to a starving person's craving for food (see Matthew 6:33).  

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."  What is mercy?  My study Bible describes it as love set in motion, expressed in action.  God's mercy in Christ, who took our sufferings on Himself in order to grant us His Kingdom, sets us free from captivity to the evil one. In view of God's mercy to all, we in turn are to be merciful to all.  

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  To be "pure" means to be unmixed, unadulterated with anything else.  Those who are pure in heart, therefore, are completely devoted to the worship and service of God and accept no compromises.  With the aid of the Holy Spirit, those who achieve this type of purity practice all virtue, they have no conscious evil in themselves, and they live in temperance.  My study Bible explains that this level of spirituality is attained by few, but all people may strive for it. When the soul's only desire is God, it notes, and a person's will holds to this desire, then that person will indeed see God everywhere.  

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."   As Christ is the source of peace, He found no price sufficient for peace other than shedding His own blood.  This kind of peace means reconciliation to God.  Therefore, in so doing, Christ reveals Himself to us as the Reconciler, the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6; Ephesians 2:14-16).  My study Bible adds that the Holy Spirit gives peace to those who imitate Christ.  so, therefore, peacemakers share God's peace with those around them, imitating Christ's sacrificial love and participating in His work.  By God's grace, then, peacemakers become sons of God themselves.  

 

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  Children of God are those who uphold truth, who refuse to compromise with the ways of the world, and who give themselves to no other (Matthew 6:24, 33; see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Like Jesus, my study Bible notes, these will be persecuted for righteousness' sake (see John 15:18-20).  Christ's kingdom is that crown which awaits the righteous.

Today's reading gives us what are called the Beatitudes.  A beatitude is defined as a "supreme blessedness" according to the Oxford English Dictionary.  That is, in this case, a kind of blessedness that passes an ordinary worldly or earthly understanding.  This is not about accumulating worldly goods, nor counting up our good fortune, even seemingly immaterial things like how many friends we have or how lucky we are to have good family members.  This kind of blessedness is a heavenly blessedness here on earth.  It is a blessedness that surpasses worldly experience and surroundings, and is conferred through the blessings of the kingdom of heaven, which is with us, among us, and within us (Luke 17:20-21).  These blessings confer a state of blessedness upon believers who participate in the kingdom of God even in this world through Christ and the blessedness He brings to us through all that He has done, through His Incarnation, the sacraments of the Church, the giving of the Holy Spirit, and all the ways in which we inherit this Kingdom which He has brought to us, and in which we may participate, even becoming sons and heirs, and more -- even to the extent that we also may become "like Him, like God."  Through this blessedness that Jesus describes, we are those who, through faith and faithful living, may fulfill our creation in that God created humankind in God's own image and likeness.  Jesus Christ is the supreme example brought into the world as Son incarnate as a human being in order to prepare the way for us.  His humanity was itself touched by divinity so that we in turn may also become "sons" -- meaning both heirs, and also to become "like God" -- through His life, suffering, death, and Resurrection.  This is what the Cross means for us, and we should consider these Beatitudes, these blessings Jesus lays out for us, as the supreme crowning blessings of Christianity.  Let us remember, even in the midst of these blessings we are to ponder in Christ's great Sermon on the Mount, that -- as we are wont to remind our readers on this blog -- "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).  What this implies is that the blessings of the kingdom of God, the Beatitudes which Christ has just named in the beginning of this great sermon, are the weapons which act against these unseen enemies as described by St. Paul.  We seek this blessedness in order to secure a Kingdom in this world which is not of this world, but which may nonetheless dwell within the world, and particularly within and among us who are faithful to it.  Many of my readers understand the persecutions that faithful Christians undergo, in particular at this time in the world, building upon those of the past.  Especially in the time of distress, we are to remember what we are to be about.  We seek this Kingdom in which we seek Christ's peace, reconciliation with God, a remembrance of our living prayer each day in our lives, our reliance upon God to give us the perspective of true peace within ourselves, so that we may see clearly where we are going and where Christ leads us in our worldly lives.  For even when our worldly life is in turmoil, it is to God's blessings we must turn at all times.  Let us count these blessings even in the midst of persecutions, and let us find His way for us now.   Note that this list of Beatitudes that Jesus gives us to start this sermon begin and end with a reminder of our belonging to the kingdom of heaven.  He starts with the poor in spirit, and finishes with those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake -- and to both He adds, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  Let us remember to Whom we belong at all times, no matter what comes in our lives, where we are, who we are with, for God is present to us and with us always.