For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

 

 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

- Matthew 23:27–39 

 

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

  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."  Here is Christ's vivid description of a hypocrisy that masks behavior that leads to death, not life.  

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation." My study Bible suggests that the reference to Zechariah (as in Luke 11:51) may refer to the prophet at the time of Joash the king (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), while there is another opinion it may refer to the father of St. John the Baptist, who, according to tradition, was also murdered in the temple.  

 

 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"   My study Bible comments that God's deepest desire is the reconciliation of His people, yet most do not want Him.  The desolate house refers both to the temple and to the nation itself, for "house" can be used to mean "family" or "tribe" (see Psalms 115:12, 135:19). Both the temple and the nation will be without God's presence once Christ departs.  Noteworthy here is the feminine, loving, protective motherly image Christ gives for Himself as a hen who seeks to gather her chicks under her wings.  

 

 Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."  In this image of the whitewashed tombs Jesus describes, we discover what we may look at as an illustration of what is called "the two ways."  These are the way of life and the way of death.  The two ways are specifically laid out for the people by God in the Book of Jeremiah, in which the prophet Jeremiah is instructed as follows, "Now you shall say to this people, 'Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death'" (Jeremiah 21:8).  In Jesus' preaching, we are taught about the two ways in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus teaches, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13).  My study Bible tells us that the description of the two ways was widespread in Judaism (Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Proverbs 4:18-19, 12:28, 15:21; Sirach 15:17), and also in early Christian writings (Didache, Barnabas).  In the struggle for the better way of the narrow gate, we as human beings wrestle against sin and human weakness in addition to spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12).  These varied forces and influences define the external focus of the religious leaders whom Jesus criticizes, who are like whitewashed tombs.  They are careful to appear to the world as pious and upholding religious law and doctrine, but their inner lives follow another way.  Hence Jesus' description, that all this beauty of the whitewash hides not only the sins done against others for gain (even "dead men's bones" that may allude to the prophets murdered by those in whose footsteps these men follow), but also their own neglect of their souls.  In Jesus words, they will "fill up the measure" of their "fathers' guilt."  Their hypocrisy, then, is a "way of death," another bad road leading to a bad end.  Jesus prophesies of those whom He will send out in the world:  "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city."  But this bad road of hypocrisy in which, despite their words to the contrary, they follow the priests who stoned and killed the prophets before them, will lead to a particular end.  Jesus tells them, " . . . that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."  Those dead men's bones, and all uncleanness therefore includes not only the state of their souls in their turning from the love of God but also the sins of their ancestors whose ways they follow.  This is what it means that He calls them "sons of those who murdered the prophets."  We have to recall the repeated warnings to Israel by the prophets, constantly calling the people back to God, and persecuted and rebuked, even murdered, by those holding these responsible positions.  Jesus says to them that all this will come down upon this particular generation.  We must note that this passage ends with Christ's great, sad, and loving lament over Jerusalem, and her repeated refusal of the Lord's prophets who have been sent to her.  The Lord's "motherly" lament over His lost children echoes and expands upon David's mournful weeping over the loss of his rebellious son Absalom, and the transcendent love of the father for his lost son in Christ's parable of the Prodigal (2 Samuel 18:33; Luke 15:32).  Once again, we need to remind ourselves that these words of Jesus are not meant to simply teach us about the past, but to warn us about our own paths in life.  We are given grace to help us follow His light, to find His way of life for us (John 8:12).  I once spoke to a modern psychotherapist who put it this way; he said, "You're either going the right way or the wrong way."  In Christian terms, we follow the light or we don't.  To follow the light, as grace makes possible for us, is to find our lives in Him and where He leads.  To refuse is to find ourselves in darkness.  And this is what repentance is for, to come back to the way of life.  For He always awaits and calls us back.

 

 

 

To sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared

 

 Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed.  And as they followed they were afraid.  Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:  "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."  And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."  And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 

- Mark 10:32–45 

 

Yesterday we read that as Jesus was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"  So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  You know the commandments:  'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'"   And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."  Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack:  Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."  But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"  And the disciples were astonished at His words.  But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?"  But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."  Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You."  So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time  -- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions -- and in the age to come, eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

 

 Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed.  And as they followed they were afraid.  Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:  "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."   This is the third time that Jesus teaches the disciples in advance about what is to happen to Him in Jerusalem.  My study Bible notes that Christ's repeated predictions of His Passion were intended to encourage and strengthen them for the terrifying events they would face.  They also confirm that Christ was going to His death of His own will and choosing.  At this stage, the disciples are both amazed and afraid because He is going up to Jerusalem before them, knowing the animosity of the religious leadership that awaits there.

 

 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."  And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."  And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all."  My study Bible comments that this quest by James and John, the sons of Zebedee, for temporal power and glory is unfitting for a disciple and it shows an earthly misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God.  In Matthew's Gospel, it is the mother of Zebedee's sons that makes this request, but even there, Jesus addresses them all in the plural, as well as here (see Matthew 20:20).  Christ calls His Crucifixion a cup and His death a baptism.  My study Bible explains that the Cross is a cup because He drank it willingly (Hebrews 12:2).  His death is baptism, as He was completely immersed in it, yet it cleansed the world (Romans 6:3-6).  Jesus' prophecy of John and James participating in the same cup and baptism teaches the life of persecution and martyrdom they would lead after Pentecost:  James was the first disciple to be martyred  (Acts 12:2), and John would go on to a life in which he endured the persecutions of the Church and of exile on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9).  My study Bible adds that Christ declaring that the places of honor in the Kingdom are not His to give does not mean that He lacks authority.  Instead, it indicates that they are not His to give arbitrarily.  In effect, He will give them to those for whom God has prepared them.  Let us note also that with regard to sitting as equals on the right and left hand of Christ in His Kingdom, according to St. John Chrysostom no one could possibly occupy such a position.  Regarding the highest places of honor that can be given to human beings, in the icons of the Orthodox Church these places are universally depicted as belonging to the Virgin Mary (most blessed among women - Luke 1:28) and John the Baptist (greatest born of women - Matthew 11:11).  

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."  The phrase for many, my study Bible notes, is an Aramaic expression which means "for all." 

Today's reading gives us a chance to brood on another quite modern topic, and that is a sense of entitlement.  This is a word one hears often in a modern society, which denotes, for the most part, a certain sense of what one believes one has a right to expect without qualification.  In terms of its most negative sense of social commentary, entitlement is defined as "the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment" (according to Oxford Languages).  Generally speaking, entitlement speaks of having a right to something, or perhaps the "amount" to which a person has a right (again, according to Oxford Languages).  But be that as it may, for our present purpose, we will stick to the very general use of this term as modern social commentary on those who feel they have a "right" to something, especially in terms of identity alone rather than any sort of merit.  The purpose of this blog is not to dispute such modern concepts, especially as they apply to political or broad social issues; there is a wide variety of thought on these terms which are not in the perspective of this blog whatsoever.  But it is important to understand the reading itself which we can put into a relative framework.  James and John Zebedee are extremely close to Jesus and form a part of His closest circle (of Peter, James, and John).  He takes these three with Him to enact His most difficult healings that require strength in the face of ridicule (such as that of Jairus' daughter, for example).  These are the three who were taken to witness the Transfiguration (which included a manifestation of the Trinity as well).  James and John, along with Peter and his brother Andrew, are the earliest disciples of Christ (Mark 1:16-20).   They had all earlier been the disciples of John the Baptist.  John Zebedee is presumed to be the unnamed disciple of the two in John 1:35-42, as well as the one "whom Jesus loved" in John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 20.  We might make note that it was John to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His mother at the Cross (John 19:26).  So, given this history that preceded this request, and which would come afterward, one might presume that John and James had a sense of themselves as close followers of Jesus so that they would presume to ask for such positions.  But there is a sense of entitlement here that is nonetheless unwarranted.  It speaks to our deep need for humility, especially where the things of God are concerned.  There is first of all the commentary of St. John Chrysostom that to sit on Christ's right and left is a position of honor in terms of the majesty of God that no one can really fill those places nor imagine what authority they would entail. But there is something more important which Christ names here, and that is the sense in which the "entitlements" that come from God are for those for whom God has prepared such places.  In terms of discipleship and authority, a long life of struggle with faith and in following Christ as best we can is a life of preparation for something, and not of entitlements.  We might think of the Eucharist as something we are entitled to if we are baptized Christians, but this is not the case.  For we cannot think of such a gift as an entitlement, and must always understand the nature of a gift.  If we can put it in modern terms, a spoiled child may feel they are entitled to anything they ask for, but this is a form of blight and a lack of maturity and understanding.  It is, in effect, a way of looking at relationships with others purely in terms of materiality, of transaction and commerce.  It negates love and is blind to the heart, and there is where, so often, a sense of entitlement comes into play.  It lacks the discernment of personhood, and the maturity to respect the boundaries that are the true entitlements of what it means to be a person made in the image of God.  In today's reading, John and James are looking at Christ and the Kingdom in very material terms, as if they are opting for government service in the cabinet of a man they've supported for political office, as if Christ is one worldly power vying against another for a worldly kingdom.  But this is not the case, and there are much deeper things to understand in terms of our spirituality, and maturity regarding a relationship to God.  There are no real "entitlements" here in this material sense, but there is participation, and there is deep love so great that it is inexpressible on our own terms and too far beyond our grasp to fully comprehend it.  There is, especially, a guidance and a preparation for a fullness of ourselves which we don't already know, but God knows of us -- and the promise of a fullness of that image in which we were created.  This is where John and James Zebedee, and so many of the rest of us, make a mistake with regard to the theme of today's reading.  We don't know what God has prepared for us or for others, so we cannot tell the fullness of perfection to which we're being guided.  We don't know God's plans for us.  But humility and trust are the beginning steps to knowing God's love and God's providence, and the beginning of maturity as a spiritual person with a soul ennobled through faith.  Let us perceive the message of God's strength and love in this dialogue.  

 

 

Receive your sight; your faith has made you well

 

 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.  They will scourge Him and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.  And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.  So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.  And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.  And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.  And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

 

- Luke 18:31–43 

 

Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called them to Him and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."  

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  You know the commandments:  'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'"  And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth."  So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing.  Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."  But when he heard this, he become very sorrowful, for he was very rich.  And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  And those who heard it said, "Who then can be saved?"  But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."  Then Peter said, "See, we have left all and followed You."  So He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life."

 

 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.  They will scourge Him and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.  My study Bible says that the saying was hidden not by God, but because the disciples could not comprehend its meaning until the events of the Passion had taken place.  We might pause to consider the unthinkable quality of the events that are to come, from the perspective of Christ's disciples.

 

 Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.  And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.  So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.  And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.  And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.  And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.  As Jesus comes to pass through Jericho, He is on the road to Jerusalem in earnest.  This blind man greets Jesus as Son of David, a title which my study Bible says was deeply associated with the Messiah.  It notes that although Jesus knows what we want before we ask, He calls us to ask freely so that we might learn of His mercy.  Note the repeated pleas, or prayers, of the blind man, indicating our own persistence in prayer.  My study Bible says that in patristic literature there is also a spiritual interpretation to the similar miracle reported in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 20:29-34), only differing in that two blind men are reported in Matthew.  It says that in this interpretation, the blind men symbolize future generations would will come to faith only by hearing, and without the benefit of seeing Christ in person (see John 20:29).  Those who call for silence are persecutors and tyrants who, in every generation, try to silence the Church.  Nonetheless, under persecution, the Church all the more confesses Jesus Christ.

The spiritual interpretation given to this miracle is interesting, because today we might find that there are ways in which faith seems to be suppressed; or rather, we find fairly vocal calls for curbing the influence of faith in public life.  While the relative freedom in the West remains despite the politicizing calls for less influence, we can look to other areas of the world where Christian faith is quite violently suppressed and under threat, even by forcible conversion, and so give thought to this spiritual interpretation reported by my study Bible.  What does it mean for us?  How do we feel this sense of those who call for the faithful to "be quiet" about their faith?  During the previous century, under communist systems, religion also underwent a systematic kind of silence.  In Russia, and other countries of Eastern Europe, many priests were killed or persecuted at different times, put into prisons and what were called gulags, and often under great hardship and even systematic torture in some cases.  A famous Russian writer (and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970), Alexander Solzhenitsyn, wrote novels set within this prison system.  He is famous for an essay titled, "Live Not By Lies."   In it, he argues that violence always dissipates itself.  He writes, "To prop itself up, to appear decent, it will without fail call forth its ally—Lies."  He explains, "For violence has nothing to cover itself with but lies, and lies can only persist through violence. And it is not every day and not on every shoulder that violence brings down its heavy hand: It demands of us only a submission to lies, a daily participation in deceit—and this suffices as our fealty."  What he advocates is that, in circumstances where we feel we can do no more, we can at least not participate in lies.  We can agree not to advocate things we can't agree with; in this way one begins to break out of the social prison that locks people within ideas that are truly lies and suppress truth.  In our faith in Christ, we put our trust in the One whom we call Truth, who has said of Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  Christ came into this world as Savior and Liberator, and part of that liberating, freeing action is to free us from oppression of various kinds, especially that which is spiritual and which oppresses the mind and heart, but which often accompanies, as Solzhenitsyn indicates in his essay for his own time and place, violence and coercion of every kind.  So, in the service of Jesus, the Son of David, who is our Savior and Liberator, we also must always consider these words of this essay, and find and live our truth.  There may be things which we are unable to express in certain settings.  There may be ways in which we are somehow shouted and oppressed into silence.  But we can choose that we will not support lies, we won't participate in them, and we will retain the freedom we're given by God because we remain free in our hearts, our prayers, our mind, our soul.  When we live by His teachings, in whatever way we can, we are participating in Christ's truth.  We are declaring it for ourselves and for those around us, and this is most important, for we must understand Christ's teaching that the kingdom of God is within us and among us.  When He sent out the disciples on their first mission, and repeatedly at other times, Christ declares to the people, "The kingdom of God has come near to you" (Luke 10:9).  Over and over again in Luke's Gospel, Jesus preaches the kingdom of God, and how we may participate in that Kingdom.  There are over thirty times this phrase is used in Luke's reporting of Jesus' ministry.  He clearly did not come preaching a political kingdom, one that works only by violence and rebellion, but one that lives and dwells within us and among us, through our faith and participation in it, through living His commandments, and keeping ourselves alert to the life He teaches and offers, growing in that faith and strengthening it among ourselves and for ourselves.  Whatever our circumstances, this is what we are called to do, to endure in our faith.  For the earliest Christian martyrs, it was a question of not participating in the sacrifices to false gods.  For us today, let us not participate in whatever our modern sacrifices might be that we are called to participate in to false gods.   Christ said that we must make a choice and cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve both God and mammon.  In the world of vast material resources, of great coercive power -- be it violent or simply persuasive through lies and half-truths (which are also lies), political slogans, or just the power of the mob in new forms, let us consider how we may not participate in lies, but rejoice in the truth, and enduring in His truth, as He has asked of us.  We must be persistent in our prayers, like the blind man, and not let the coercive power of the crowd silence our faith, or the voice in the heart that stirs and becomes a flame through the love of Christ.  If we rely on God, God will provide ways for us to live that faith and to express it one way or another, even in a simple gesture of care or love that others don't consider (Matthew 25:40).  Sometimes the simplest action may be a bold way to participate in and declare our faith, even in the midst of coercive lies.  We must live our faith.  Let us pray that we, too, may receive our sight to do so, that He illuminates the way for us.

 

 

 

 

Hail, King of the Jews!

 

 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.  You see to it."  And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children."  Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.  And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.  When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.  And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. 

 

- Matthew 27:24-31 

 

On Saturday we read that Jesus stood before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  And the governor asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."  And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.  Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?"  But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.   Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished.  And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.  Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release to you?  Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"  For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.  While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him."  But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.  The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?"  They said, "Barabbas!"  Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"  They all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!"  Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!"   

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.  You see to it."  And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children."  Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.  My study Bible comments on the cry of the people, "His blood be on us and on our children."  It says that this verse has been used by certain groups to try to justify persecuting Jews, which is a grave and terrible sin.  What was seen by many as a curse here is actually, in fact, properly understood as a blessing which is unwittingly invoked, for it is the Lord's blood that is the source of our redemption.  Moreover, these words are implicitly spoken by anybody who sins.  St. John Chrysostom teaches that although this crowd stirred by the Jewish religious leaders "acted with such madness, so far from confirming a sentence on them or their children, Christ instead received those who repented and counted them worthy of good things beyond number."  He then notes the thousands who were converted in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41) as evidence of Christ's mercy.  

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.  And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.  When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.  And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.   My study Bible comments here that every king is proclaimed by his soldiers.  Although the intention was mockery, it is another ironically prophetic act that Jesus should be crowned and hailed as King by soldiers of the governor (see also John 11:49-51, where Caiaphas unwittingly prophesies of Christ's redemptive work).  This mockery, it says, shows Jesus as the One despised and rejected by human beings who bears the iniquity of all of us (see Isaiah 53:3-9).  Jesus is clothed in scarlet, which represents both His royalty and the sins of humanity which He has taken upon Himself.  

As we approach the Cross, the ironies build.  The looks that appear to deceive continue to build up.  We first had Barabbas, whose name means "son of the father" who was chosen by the crowd for mercy in the place of the true Son of the Father, Jesus, whom Pilate tried three times to save (see Saturday's reading and commentary).  In today's reading, the ironies multiply.  The crowd calls down on itself what is intended as a kind of curse.  But viewed through the lens of the Cross and through the faith of Jesus Christ, what they call out is a blessing.  We know that we are cleansed and redeemed through the blood of Christ which this crowd calls down upon itself, as my study Bible points out.  At the heart of Christianity is the understanding that the Incarnate Christ, both God and Man, heals all things precisely through this union in Himself of every component of our lives and our world with the divine.  He has taught us that in the Eucharist we mystically partake of His body and blood, and that this is done ultimately for our own healing, in every dimension, to cleanse what needs cleansing, to transform what needs transforming, to uplift what needs uplifting, to redeem and to bring ultimate peace and goodness.  This is the crux of our faith:  that all must be assumed by Christ for the purpose of salvation, of ultimate healing.  This is how we have to see our faith.  So the crowd inadvertently asks for His healing and salvation.  As the ironies continue, He is also treated as a king.  All of this is meant to mock, but it tells the truth in spite of those intentions.  For He is King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14).  So the Roman soldiers also inadvertently tell us a truth, despite their intentions to deride Jesus their prisoner destined for crucifixion.  In the compounding of ironies here, all of the intentions to subvert the truth are, in effect, displaying that truth in plain sight.  But, of course, one must know where to look -- and, most importantly, how to look.  One must look with the lens of faith.  For this is the only way to know revelation.  Hence, Christ's words are continually true as this story unfolds:  the one way to remain true to truth is to watch and pray (Matthew 26:41).  As Jesus said to Peter regarding our human condition, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.  We're subject to temptations such as fear and terror; the unthinkable images described in these scenes -- without faith -- would have doomed the Church to failure without it.  The greatest "irony" of all is to come, the Cross.  And yet it is the Cross that saves, the ultimate sign of the transfiguring healing power of God.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many

Deesis (Supplication) mosaic; Hagia Sophia cathedral, Constantinople, 13th century.  Virgin Mary and John the Baptist on either side of Christ Pantocrator

 

 Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed.  And as they followed they were afraid.  Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him.  Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, want You to do for us whatever we ask."  And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."  And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And however of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 

- Mark 10:32-45 

 

Yesterday we read that as Jesus was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"  So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  You know the commandments:  'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'  And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth."  Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack:  Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."  But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!"  And the disciples were astonished at His words.  But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?"  But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."  Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You."  So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time -- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions -- and in the age to come, eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

 

Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed.  And as they followed they were afraid.  Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him.  Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."   This is Christ's third prediction of His Passion.  My study Bible says these repeated predictions were intended to encourage and strengthen the disciples for the terrifying events they would face.  They also confirm that Christ was going to His death of His own will and choosing.  

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, want You to do for us whatever we ask."  And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."  My study Bible comments that this quest for temporal power and glory is unfitting for a disciple and shows an earthly misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God.  In Matthew's version of this story,  it is the "mother of Zebedee's sons" who requested this honor; however, John's and James' own involvement is revealed as Jesus uses a plural "you" to address them there in Matthew's Gospel, and also here in Mark's reporting of the story.   Jesus calls His Crucifixion a cup and His death a baptism.  My study Bible explains that the Cross is a cup because He drank it willingly (Hebrews 12:2).  His death is baptism, for He was completely immersed in it, yet it cleansed the world (Romans 6:3-6).  Christ's prophecy of John and James participating in the same cup and baptism shows the life of persecution and martyrdom they would lead after Pentecost.  Christ's declaration that the places of honor in the Kingdom are not His to give does not mean that He lacks authority.  Rather, my study Bible says, it means that they are not His give arbitrarily.  He will, instead, give them to those for whom God has prepared them.  With regard to sitting as equals on the right and left hand of Christ in His Kingdom, St. John Chrysostom teaches that there is no one who could fulfill such a position.  Regarding the highest places of honor that can be given to human beings, my study Bible reminds us that the icons of the Orthodox Church universally depict the Virgin Mary (most blessed among women - Luke 1:28) and John the Baptist (greatest born of women - Matthew 11:11) holding these places; see the icon above.

And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And however of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."  My study Bible explains that the phrase for many is an Aramaic expression which means "for all."

Jesus explains the sacrifices of the Kingdom.  They are not sacrifices considered to be good in and of themselves, for the sake of sacrifice or a sort of discipline.  On the contrary, they are expressions of love in obedience to God's will, for a proper way of doing things which are good and right.  Christ's mission essentially is to set the world right, to bring salvation into the world, to once again bring human beings closer to God, in communion with God, and this mission is one of love.  It is done through love and as an expression of love for human beings.  It is hard for us to reconcile, considering the suffering Christ will bear, and especially in the Cross and His Crucifixion, but His voluntary death and suffering is part of the plan.  In a very real sense, God sacrifices and suffers of Himself, so that God both draws closer to us, and at the same time draws us closer to God.  Whatever we see and know of Christ's mission into the world is born of love and done in love for us, for what is good and right for human beings and human life; indeed "for the life of the world" - John 6:33, 51.  So is the spirit in which Jesus tells James and John Zebedee that the places on His right and left hand (that is, traditional places of "greatness" in an earthly kingdom which we might today translate to the highest cabinet positions in a modern country) are not His to give.  That is, Jesus expresses His own humility and love of the Father in everything He does and says, and conveys this also to John and James.  That these are not places He can arbitrarily assign, such as a way that a politician or figurehead would hand out power to his supporters or those to whom He owes favors, means that they are positions prepared by God and meant to be for the ones who can most further this plan of life and love for all of creation.  In everything, it is God, who is love, who comes first and lays the foundation for all that must follow.  And in this, Christ also asks our voluntary cooperation, just as here He asks it of James and John.  Christ Himself will be the first to literally lay down His life in that kind of obedience and love in this mission of love, and it is only then that He asks us to follow -- after He sets the first and foremost example -- and we are able to join with Him in that.  Indeed, James Zebedee would be the first among the apostles to be martyred (Acts 12:2), and John would go on to a long life of persecution, producing a Gospel, three Epistles, and the Revelation for the posterity of the Church.  These are services of love, and joining in a mission of love.  And this is the mission into which we are invited to join.  It is love in the same sense that parents will sacrifice time, attention, effort, means, and all kinds of other things in expressing love for their children, and in nurturing them.  It is the same sense of sacrifice for love one makes in caring for an elderly or infirm parent.  It is our love for God, the love in which we share and which is given in abundance, that leads us forward in the ways for us which are right and good, which are meant to heal us and our world.  Jesus says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments," as He promises to send us a Helper who will dwell with us (John 14:15-18).   Even so, we may be constantly reminded of His love, just as the disciples knew it for themselves.  As followers of Christ, we do not live lives of "what ifs" and fantasies.   We live lives in which everything we do and experience -- including even the hardships  or suffering -- is given to God and serves the life of the Cross meant for the life of the world, and so we may join in this mission of salvation, with Him.

 

 

Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers!

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

"Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

- Matthew 23:27-39 

 

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

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"  Earlier, Jesus told the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, in which the vineyard owner (representing God) sent many servants to ask for the fruit of the harvest (the prophets sent to Israel).  Finally, the wicked vinedressers, who've leased the land, decide to kill the son of the owner (representing Christ) when he is sent to them.  Here in this part of Christ's final public sermon, Jesus links the leadership of His time with the leaders who murdered the prophets, declaring they are in the same lineage as those who were partakers in the blood of the prophets.  Their hypocrisy is condemned by Christ as it is covers staggering sins, which they are about to extend from the past murder of many servants/prophets into another terrible murder of the Son.  He says to them, in this context, that they take upon themselves the sin of the past by extending it into the present, "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt." 

"Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."   Here Jesus clearly links the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers to the prophets, wise men, and scribes which are to come in His name, affirming their responsibility for the continued persecutions begun in acts against the murdered prophets of the past.  In Jesus' words, they are all linked from the same impulse and in the same lineage.  The murder of Abel was the first murder, and was done for spiritual envy (Genesis 4:1-15), the reference to precisely which Zechariah Jesus names is disputed in the tradition of the Church.  Some of the patristic teachers say this was the prophet at the time of Joash the king (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), and others say it refers to the father of St. John the Baptist, who according to tradition, was also murdered in the temple.  At any rate, we are to understand from Christ's words the whole chronicle of martyrs, from the first murder to the last prophet murdered, the guilt of which is cemented by future acts in which they will kill and crucify, scourge, and persecute those sent in Christ's name, so that all these things will come upon this generation.

"Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"  My study Bible comments that God's deepest desire is the reconciliation of God's people, yet most do not want God.  The desolate house refers both to the temple and to the nation itself, for house can be used to mean "family or "tribe" (see Psalms 115:12, 135:19).   My study Bible adds that both the temple and the nation will be without God's presence once Christ departs.

There is an interesting concept which Jesus expresses in today's reading that should give us pause to think.  He refers to all the unjust murders of the past -- and specifically those martyred for reasons of faithfulness to God, especially servants of God such as the prophets and others -- as contained also within such acts going into the immediate future.  In other words, the continuation of such types of acts incurs the collective guilt of the precedents.  This is something we need to think about, as our faith does not nominally hold anyone responsible for the sins committed by others.  But at Jesus' words we need to think.  If we would collectively mourn and rue terrible acts of sin through the murder of innocent martyrs, servants of God, of the past, does that not give us a responsibility in terms of the things we ourselves do in life?  Should we mourn terrible injustices of the past, and yet move along to commit the same sorts of crimes?  Here, Christ is speaking of crimes committed precisely because a servant of God (such as a prophet) is sent with a message from God to the people, calling people back to God.  He extends that to the servants (I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes) whom they will also persecute and murder.  If they understand and mourn the terrible acts of the past, if they mourn the murder of the prophets of the past and claim they would not do such things as their ancestors have done, then what culpability will they have when the do the same?  Of course, it is Christ Himself who knows what is going to happen to Him at the end of this very week through which we're reading in the Gospels.  He knows they plot against Him, and that He will go to His crucifixion.  But here, He does not mention Himself.  Instead He refers to those whom He will send whom this leadership will also persecute, scourge, and murder.  It should, at the very least, give us pause to consider that when we do something similar to that which we have condemned in others of the past, we take the responsibility of that past crime upon ourselves.  It is the greatest act of hypocrisy to condemn an injustice of the past, especially one implying such serious understanding as committed against one who bears a message of God, but to engage in the same oneself.   Christ's words should teach us about our own acts of hypocrisy, to weigh our decisions in light of what exactly we would join in condemning of the past.  For the same temptations and evils, as Jesus Himself points out here, come in the future.  God will continue to attempt to reach us, and we will be faced with similar choices about message we don't like to hear, and the temptation to respond with hatred against the messenger, even the spiritual envy of Cain for one who was favored by God for his sacrifice.  Let us weigh the options of repentance and sin, and think about Christ's words, for sin continues, and our options remain the same. 

 

Hail, King of the Jews!

 Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!"  Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.

Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. 

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.

- Mark 15:12-21

Yesterday we read that, immediately following Jesus' night trial (and Peter's denial of Christ), in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate.  Then Pilate asked Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  He answered and said to him, "It is as you say."  And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing.  Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, "Do You answer nothing?  See how many things they testify against You!"  But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.  Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.  And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.  Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.  But Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"  For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. 

 Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!"  Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.  It's clear from his statements that while Pilate really does not know the circumstances nor the nature of Christ's ministry,  he does see Jesus quite clearly as innocent of the charges brought against Him.  He gets no answer to his question, "Why, what evil has He done?"   My study bible comments that Pilate's sin was less than that of the Jewish leaders who delivered Christ to him (John 19:11), because the Jewish religious leaders had the Law and the prophets to instruct them -- while Pilate did not.  So there is in addition to his lack of knowledge about Jesus, there is Pilate's lack of knowledge of Jewish spiritual history and faith.  But Pilate's sin is that, in his desire to gratify the crowd, he will knowingly send an innocent to be crucified.

 Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.   My study bible comments here that every king is proclaimed by his soldiers.  Although the intention here is to mock, it is a prophetic act that Jesus should be crowned and hailed as King by soldiers of the governor (see also John 11:49-51, in which Caiaphas unwittingly makes a prophecy regarding Christ's salvific work).  My study bible adds that this mockery shows that Jesus is the One who is despised and rejected by all, and who bears the iniquity of all (see Isaiah 53:3-9).  Here in Mark we read that they clothed Him in purple; Matthew's Gospel says red or scarlet.  But the word for purple is porphyra/πορφύρα, a royal color of reddish-purple.  (It's also known as Tyrian purple or Tyrian red, made with a rare and extraordinarily expensive dye; see this image).   My study bible comments that this deep reddish-purple colored robe represents both Christ's royalty and also the sins of humanity, which He has taken upon Himself.

 Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.  My study bible says that Mark mentions Alexander and Rufus as they were likely still living, and possibly even known to those who would first hear Mark's Gospel.  It notes that the spiritual message here is that we, like Simon (whose name means "obedience") are called not simply to carry the cross which Christ has set upon us, but also seeing Christ in others, we are called to bear one another's burdens as well (Galatians 6:2). 

We receive many images in today's reading, which form something like icons for our understanding of our faith.  Christ's mocking -- dressed in the red/purple robe, with a crown of sorts, and even soldiers bowing their knees to worship -- forms a prophecy despite its intent.  If we see through the strangeness of the time and its malice and evil, we also see its irony, that it is telling something -- despite all intent to the contrary -- which is nevertheless true.  In Romans 14:11, St. Paul quotes from Isaiah 45:23:  " For it is written:  'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' "   St. Paul also writes, ". . . that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth . . ." (Philippians 2:10).  The soldiers, in effect, are unconsciously mimicking what they don't understand, even in calling Christ a King.  And there is another spiritual image or "icon" we're inadvertently given, also at the direction of the Roman soldiers, that of Simon called to carry Christ's cross.  There is a depth of meaning there that not only calls us to bear one another's crosses in times of suffering, as my study bible notes, but moreover that our lives are lived in the very participation of Christ's Cross as well.  That is, each of us will have our own crosses to bear, and we look to Christ's crucifixion to teach us about doing so with grace and forbearance.  If we could but remember that it is also our work to help one another to do so as well, we would go a long ways to coming to terms with an idea of what Christ's Church should look like, what it should mean that we are one Body, and brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are called to live in a particular way, with particular meanings and values that transcend everything, so that even in this scene of evil -- the innocent condemned to suffer and die -- we find words and actions of prophesy, that tell the truth to us instead of the lie.  This is the way that Christ's life and truth shapes the reality of who we are, regardless of circumstances.  These are images that tell us that even in the worst of things, we can find the place where Christ's life bears fruit in us, a way that we follow Him, a way that His truth will come to bear upon each and every one of our circumstances.  Let us remember that He is at work, even through all things, with faith as our guidance.

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!

 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.  They will scourge Him and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.  And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.  So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.  And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.  And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.  And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

- Luke 18:31-43

Yesterday we read that infants were brought to Jesus that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called them to Him and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."  Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  You know the commandments:  'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'"   And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth."   So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing.  Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."  But when he hard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.  And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  And those who heard it said, 'Who then can be saved?"  But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."  Then Peter said, "See, we have left all and followed You."  So He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life."

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.  They will scourge Him and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.  Jesus gives yet another explicit warning to the disciples about what is to happen at Jerusalem.  As we can read, this is an explicit and detailed account of what is to come, but the disciples understood none of these things.  My study bible says that this saying was hidden not by God, but because the disciples could not comprehend its meaning until the events of the Passion had taken place.

 Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.  And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.  So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.  And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  The fact that Jesus was coming near Jericho is confirmation that His approach to Jerusalem is truly near.  Jericho was a place commonly associated with sin, as for example, in the story of the Good Samaritan (see this reading).  Blindness is commonly associated with sin, as a kind of illustration of how sin keeps us from fullness of sight or perception.  Son of David is a title deeply associated with the Messiah.  Have mercy on me! is an important refrain here in Luke's Gospel.  It parallels the prayer of the tax collector in the parable Jesus has recently given (see Saturday's reading).

Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.  And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  My study bible comments that although Jesus knows what we want before we ask, He calls us to ask freely so that we might learn of His mercy.  This question also forces the one making the request to directly dialogue with Christ Himself, and to consider the question -- and the One of whom we ask -- seriously.

He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God.  And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.  There is a spiritual interpretation also traditionally made of this miracle.  The blind man (in the case of Matthew's Gospel, this story is told of two blind men) symbolizes future generations who will come to faith solely through hearing, without the benefit of seeing Christ in person (see John 20:29).   Those who tried to silence the one crying out to Christ are persecutors and tyrants who, in every generation, try to silence the Church.  But nevertheless, under persecution, my study bible adds, the Church all the more confesses Christ.  It is also worth noting the gratitude, in this notorious place of sin.  The text tells us that all the people gave praise to God.

Let us consider this prayer that the blind man repeats:  "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Much has been written and considered throughout the history of the Church about this phrase, "Have mercy on me."  In Matthew's version of this story, the two blind men shout, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  Lord is the title appropriate to the God of the Old Testament.  Therefore the refrain so often heard in Christian worship throughout the centuries comes to us:  Lord have mercy or Κύριε ἐλέησον/kyrie eleison in the original Greek of the New Testament.  As a prayer, this phrase is found everywhere.  It is truly a universal plea for all of us and for any of us, at any time.  It suits all circumstances and situations.  Whether we are praying for ourselves or others, for circumstances beyond our reach or control, or situations we need help with, this prayer always fits.  In varied languages and traditions, this simple prayer, Lord have mercy, is used as repetitive plea for deepening and strengthening our communion with Christ.  It is used in the Jesus Prayer practice, also called Prayer of the Heart, as a way of internalizing a depth of prayer, and for fulfilling St. Paul's injunction to pray without ceasing.  This simple prayer has for us all the benefits touted by modern popular psychology (and medicine, for that matter) of meditation.  But it has an added advantage above and beyond the power of meditation:  it is also prayer.  It is not simply a mantra or repeated phrase for concentration.  In it, we call upon the Lord for God's grace and help -- and it applies for all things and in all ways.  It is an active way of taking time in our lives, in any moment -- while we are commuting, washing dishes, waiting for an appointment, through all things -- interjecting prayer into our lives and asking for Christ to be present with us and for whomever else we may be praying.  It is a way of understanding that Christ is present at all times, invoking God's grace at work in the world wherever we are or wherever our thoughts may be directed.  It opens a window and reminds us that this Kingdom intersects our lives and our world; it has no limitation of time or space, and we can pray anywhere.  In John's Gospel, Jesus teaches that "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).  There is no better way to pray with such an understanding than the practice of this short prayer, repeated any time and any place.  One may read about the history of the Jesus Prayer and its practice, but it is important -- even essential -- to understand that it is based on this prayer, this short plea.  It need not be more fancy or specific, but it can also be embroidered and made more distinct if such prayer works better for us.  Let us remember the insistence of this blind man, especially when there are times in our lives when we can't see, for which we need God's help -- which is true, at least in some great spiritual sense, at all times.  Like the people of Jericho, let us also remember to give praise to God.