Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment

 

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  

 

The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

 

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.   And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"

 

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees  and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come?"

 

- John 7:14-36 

 

Yesterday we read that, after the controversy regarding His teachings on His Body and Blood, Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

 

  Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  My study Bible comments here that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness comes from unwillingness to know God or to recognize God's authority.  According to St. John Chrysostom, whom my study Bible quotes here, Christ's message to the religious leaders (the Jews, as rulers of the city in Judea) can be paraphrased as follows:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be afflicted in this way."

 

 The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Jesus is referring here to the healing that took place during what is understood to be the Feast of Weeks (known as the Old Testament Pentecost), in chapter 5.  This was the healing of the paralytic, which is the third of seven signs performed by Christ in St. John's Gospel.  At that time Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath by performing this healing.  In Matthew 12:3-5, Jesus provided various examples of "blameless" violations of the Sabbath, demonstrating that the law is not absolute over human need or service to God.  

 

 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  When the people from Jerusalem say we know where this Man is from, they are mistaken -- both in an earthly sense as well as a divine sense.  Humanly speaking, my study Bible points out, they think of Jesus as being from Nazareth of Galilee.  But Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem of Judea (John 7:42; see Luke 2:1-7).  Moreover, they can't understand that Christ has come from the Father in heaven -- eternally begotten before all ages -- and so, therefore, His heavenly origin also remains unknown to them.  

 

 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.   And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  Christ's hour is the time of His Passion, His suffering and death.  He is the Lord over time, my study Bible says, which is an authority possessed only by God.  He comes to His Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings (see John 8:20; 10:39).  

 

 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees  and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  My study Bible explains that this statement refers to Christ's death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

 

 Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come?"  To go among the Greeks means to go among the Gentiles, the Greek-speakers (as Greek was the international language and lingua franca of Christ's time).  My study Bible notes that this unwitting prophecy points to the time after Christ's Ascension, when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles. 

 

 In today's reading, Jesus says, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."   Those of us who have had the unfortunate experience of being falsely judged by appearance can all sympathize and agree with Christ's statement.  In St. Mark's Gospel, Jesus asks, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" (Mark 3:4), framing this question in terms of saving life.  Here He asks, ". . . are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?"  Sometimes good intent isn't always seen that way by others.  In this case, the envy and jealousy of the rulers in the temple, particularly the Pharisees, functions as a way to facilitate criticism and accusation.  They're looking for a way to eliminate Jesus as a figure of authority (in the eyes of the people) that would somehow compete with their own positions as rulers.  Christ's healing of the paralytic was indeed one of the seven signs of St. John's Gospel, a sign of God being near, the presence of the kingdom of heaven.  But these men instead want to condemn and are quick to do so.  But this is judgment by appearance; He appears to have violated the Sabbath rest.  Again, in St. Mark's Gospel, Jesus teaches that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).  The people who believe in Him ask, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  It's not simply for His miraculous healing on the Sabbath that the religious leaders seek to persecute Him, but they also claim that He commits blasphemy -- an offense worthy of death according to a strict interpretation of the Law.  Indeed, for this He will be convicted at the Sanhedrin, and it will be the excuse they use to drag Him to Pilate and claim a charge of treason against Caesar.  How often is language heard and twisted to attribute false claims to a person?  How often is language misunderstood?  So often throughout John's Gospel, Jesus tells truths that are offensive, things others can't accept and don't want to hear.  He tells the truth; the words He speaks are given by the One who sent Him, the only One He seeks to please; that is God the Father.  And, as Jesus says, the One who sent Him is true.  But they don't know Him, so they can't bear to hear His words.  All of John's Gospel in some sense focuses on the truth, and on our reception or rejection of it.  St. John declares, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).  So how do we judge with righteous judgment, and not according to appearance?  We have extensive legal systems that aim to give every chance for the fullness of motivation, facts, character, intent, and proof of one who is accused in order to secure good judgment.  But even so, worldly justice fails, despite the best intentions.  It is only God's judgment that is perfect, and so in all things, that's where our first loyalty must come, just as it is Christ's.  He is the one who teaches about true righteousness, and He is the one to whom God the Father has committed all judgment.  Let us seek to find His truth in all things, for He is the heart-knower, the only one who can teach us righteous judgment.  I have heard it said that it's only at the final judgment that true healing from all trauma and injustice can take place; for it is there where the One who has been misjudged (although He is the one true Innocent) will be with us -- and we will know that wherever we have been, whatever scars we carry, He has been there with us, voluntarily, to take on our own griefs.  Let us consider the depth of love that would do so much for our healing and full salvation.  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him

 

 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. 

On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks --- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."

 

- John 6:16-27 

 

Yesterday the lectionary took us to chapter 6 of John's Gospel, with its focus on the fulfillment of the events of the Exodus and the first Passover.  We read that Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.  Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 

 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.  This is the fifth of seven signs recorded in John's Gospel.  As noted in yesterday's reading and commentary, this entire chapter of John's Gospel is one that has parallels to the story of Exodus, suggesting Christ as fulfillment of the first Passover and those Old Testament events.  My study Bible comments that, in the Exodus, Moses leads the people across the Red Sea, walking on dry ground in the midst of the water (Exodus 14:15-31).  Here Christ sends His disciples across the sea, and then walks on the sea as if it were dry ground.   

 

On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks --- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."   Once again, these are the same people who sought to take Jesus by force and make Him king against His will in yesterday's reading (above), because they "ate of the loaves and were filled."  Here the emphasis shifts again to spiritual nurturing, what kind of food Christ has to offer, and takes on the hints of eucharistic significance.  

 

 Jesus says, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  The theme of food and of feeding will make its mark throughout this chapter of John's Gospel, just as it began with the feeding of the five thousand in the wilderness (see yesterday's reading, above).  Here, Jesus makes it clear that these men seek to make Him king by force not even because of the marvelous signs He's done (signs of God's extraordinary presence among them), but simply because they were were fed ("because you ate of the loaves and were filled").  These are the not the reasons to seek Christ.  In fact, when Jesus tells them, "Do not labor for the food which perishes," this is a command, a direct command from God, a prohibition.  He then goes on to issue a positive command, to labor "for the food which endures to everlasting life."  He's teaching them what is worth making an effort for, what is worth laboring, working for.  And we should take heed that we do the same.  For Jesus has also taught us, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).  This is what we work for, because this sets us right in the world and with the rest of the world and all the things we need for life.  But then Jesus goes on to teach us something about this food which endures to everlasting life, for it has particular qualities and comes from a particular place for a reason.  Not just anybody can provide us with this food, but only Christ can:  ". . . which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."   He is the Son of Man, a mysterious title known from the prophecy of Daniel (see Daniel 7:13), and which Jesus is teaching is Himself, Incarnate.  But there is more; that is, "because God the Father has set His seal on Him."   We modern English speakers think of a seal as that which closes up something, but that definition misses the mark here (metaphorically and literally!).  Because this seal is literally a mark, a signet, the symbol of a person's identity.  It comes from the mark a signet ring or symbol would press into sealing wax, conferring the authority of the person to whom the seal belonged or represented.  This seal from God the Father is the mark of the Father upon the Son, meaning that all the Father's authority is set upon Christ, upon the Son of Man.  Whatever this Son of Man, this Logos, the Word about whom John's Gospel is written to teach us, commands or teaches is therefore a command from God, just as a letter or communication from a king or president confers all the authority of that office upon its contents.  Therefore whatever nurturing substance Christ gives us, whatever is the food which endures to everlasting life, it does so because God the Father has set His seal upon the Son of Man.  His gift is therefore that which conveys life and death, the absolute authority of God the Father, and there is no other person or being who can do this for us.  Christ, the Son of Man, is the One who can give this to us. 

Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe

 

 Now after two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. 

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."   So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. 

 

- John 4:43–54 

 

Yesterday we read that, following Christ's encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"   The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying in true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

 

  Now after two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  Christ's own country is Galilee (see John 1:46; 2:1; 7:42, 52; 19:19).   This statement, that a prophet has no honor in his own country, is so significant to the story of Jesus that it is found in all four Gospels.  See also Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24.

 

So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  My study Bible says that Galileans were present at Jerusalem during the Passover (John 2:13-25), when Jesus performed many signs.  As the Galileans received Christ after having seen His signs, greater credit is given to the Samaritans by St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible says.  This is because they accepted Christ based on words alone, without the accompanying signs (see also John 20:29).  

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  My study Bible comments that here Christ is admonishing the people in general (in the Greek, you in this verse is plural both times), and not simply the nobleman.  It says that faith which is based only on miraculous works is not sufficient for salvation.  Such an incomplete type of faith quickly turns to scorn if the miracles cease (John 19:15).  

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."   So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  While this nobleman's concern is clearly for his child, it's also apparent that his faith in Christ is weak.  My study Bible suggests that he does not understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a distance, and neither does he grasp that Jesus would have the power to heal even if his child were to die.  In the end, however, he inquires about the timing of the healing, as he still doesn't completely trust the Lord's authority.  It's only after everything is confirmed that he and his whole household believe.  So, my study Bible concludes, in healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not only the body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman. 

 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.   This is the second of seven signs reported in John's Gospel.  My study Bible comments that, having revealed that He can see into the hearts of people from a distance (John 1:45-48), Jesus now demonstrates that He can heal from a distance.  This reveals that Christ's divine power knows no earthly limits.  While there are similarities between this sign and the miracle recorded in Matthew 8:5-13, there are many crucial differences as well; these are two different encounters. 

 

Jesus' signs reveal the presence of the Kingdom, God extraordinarily present.  In the first sign Jesus turned the water to wine (John 2:1-12).  My study Bible referred above to Jesus' insight into the heart of Nathanael from a distance in John 1:45-48, revealing His divine quality as "heart-knower" (Acts 1:24, 15:8).  This is to compare the quality in today's reading that Christ can also heal at a distance.  Christ's quality of knowing is obviously more expanded than that, as He also knew enough from a distance to tell the nobleman, "Go your way; your son lives."  This kind of knowing that is not bound by distance (nor, obviously by physical sight or any other physical senses) is a part of the divine characteristics of Jesus Christ.  There will be five more signs in this Gospel revealing that identity.  It's interesting to think that these qualities or revelations of "signs and wonders" aren't merely done for the people who ask for them or receive them.  They are also done for the disciples, who will learn, through time spent with Christ and the increasing revelations they're given through His ministry, what He is all about.  These actions of Christ will reveal to the disciples, and, of course, to we who read and hear about them all these centuries later, just what Jesus is about, what the Son does, and even what is in His heart.  For we learn through these signs also that God is love, that Christ acts from compassion, and not simply a use of power to convince any of us about His identity.  This distinction is overwhelmingly important, because we need to understand "what manner of spirit we are of," as Jesus said to John and James Zebedee (Luke 9:55).  For our Lord does not use His divine power in any sense in which a worldly ruler or person of power would use it.  He does not use it to impress.  He does not use His power to prove Himself to anyone.  And, in fact, He will be repeatedly challenged to show that power -- to show some extraordinary sign -- in order to prove to the religious authorities that He is truly the One whom He says He is. He does not use His power in order to coerce or manipulate.  In point of fact, Christ will not use that power even to save His own human life when He is under threat of death at the Sanhedrin or in front of Pilate the governor of Judea.  (See also Matthew 26:53, giving us His words at the time He is placed under arrest in the garden of Gethsemane.)  Jesus does not use power to make an impression nor for any kind of "worldly" reason, except to reveal Himself in the right time and place for those who will be faithful.  And this is the reason why He does not do miracles on demand, or as proofs of His identity, nor even responds to scoffers who challenge Him in the ways in which they would desire Him to.  He acts out of a mission from the Father, to reveal the Father to human beings who are capable of grasping and receiving faith, He acts out of love, and mostly to reveal to us how much we are loved.  So much so, that we are offered eternal life with Him (John 3:16).  Perhaps we would be wise to consider our own motivations for the things we do.  Do we have a kind of mission?  If we were assigned such by Christ, what would it be?  He has commanded us, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).  He will teach in John's Gospel, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent" (John 6:29).  Perhaps a greater motive for the things we do in life is to seek Christ's way; that is, to please God.  If we are confident in who we are, we needn't prove anything to the world, but seek the praise of God more than the "praise of men" (John 12:43).  Let us consider the ways He teaches us how to live by His own example in the use of His power, and in His signs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 

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

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

"Lord, who has believed our report?  

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

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, 

Lest they should see with their eyes,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,

So that I should heal them."

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

 

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. 

 

- John 12:36b–43 

 

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

 

  "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.  Jesus spoke these words to the people in the temple in Jerusalem.  It is now the final Passover of Christ's ministry (there are three Passover festivals reported in John's Gospel), and it is the last week of His earthly life.  He is the light, but He will not be with them for much longer.  This statement, however, applies to all of us who hear His words.

 

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

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

 

 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. St. John Chrysostom comments that these rulers are in reality the worst of slaves, in that they are enslaved by the opinions of men.  This keeps them from leading as God would have them lead.

In yesterday's reading, we observed the struggle between Christ's human impulses and the love of God the Father and His alignment with the Father's will in His divine identity as Son.  ("Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name.")   As a human being, Christ struggles with the healthy impulse to abhor death, but in His identity as Son of Man, His love of the Father, and trust in the Father, takes priority.  But this sort of struggle is not meant for Jesus only.  We are all meant to follow Him.  Moreover, we need to understand -- especially in context of the prophecy of Isaiah cited here -- just what healing is all about from the perspective of the Holy Bible.  In the context of the story of Genesis, and what is often called the fall of humankind, we see the truly "natural" state of human beings as created by God being in communion with God, able to communicate with God.  But the falling away as exemplified in the first sin, that of following the temptation of the devil over God's teaching, created a separation.  From the perspective of the Bible, the prophets have come one by one to call people back to God, and Christ Himself, the Son, is the One who makes that bridge for us.  His healing for us is precisely restoring the relationship of communion with God, and this is what it means to become sons of light, as we read Christ teaching today.  By placing our faith and trust in Him, we grow more deeply into communion with God, even though we may stumble and face many temptations, just as the disciples do.  So when we read Isaiah's words that teach us that blindness and hardened hearts prevent healing, this is what it refers to -- and this is what the Gospel is teaching as fulfilled in these men of the Council who reject Jesus.  Just as with a doctor, in terms of what Christ offers, our healing depends upon our capacity to put our trust in Him, our dependence upon Him.  Christ is the light that leads to our healing, but we have the capacity to be blind to that light, to prefer darkness, and to harden our hearts so that we do not understand.   The final verses of today's reading supply us with one very good example of why people harden their hearts or refuse healing:  "for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."  Clearly, this tension and temptation has always been with us, a stumbling block to those among the rulers, and among us now.  But it seems to have been magnified with the advent of social media.  When everyone's profile becomes a part of a greater and greater system, when we're viewed with so many eyes at once, what kind of pressures and temptations can come to bear on those who "love the praise of men?"  In times of cancellation and even censorship, how more powerful does a type of public opinion play a role in our lives, to have to make choices between where God wants us to go and where others might encourage us to go?  We have constant prescriptions given to us -- even from random strangers in terms of technological experience and use of social media -- that we must do this, believe this, look like this, impress others with this.  Those prescriptions are often phrased as moral imperatives, not simply social appearances that are pleasing.  But let us remember what must come first, the healing that we seek, and the dedication we need to pursue that healing.  Isaiah writes, "Lord, who has believed our report?"  Jesus came down from heaven, testifying to the world with His words and works -- all of which witness His identity and the Father.  Who has believed His report?  Let us ask ourselves, "And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?

 

 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.  Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 

- John 6:1-15 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus has been attending the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn festival which commemorates the time that Israel followed Moses, dwelling in tents (tabernacles).  Jesus has been disputing with the religious leaders, who take offense at His teachings, and especially His references to the Father.  On Saturday, we read that Jesus replied to the religious leaders, "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."  Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus his Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. 

 

  After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. In today's reading, we skip back to chapter 6 of John's Gospel (yesterday's reading covered the last verses in chapter 8).  If we recall, the lectionary skipped over chapter 6 earlier, so today's reading would follow this one, in order of the Gospel chapters.  In chapter 5, Jesus had healed a paralytic, and was subsequently accused of violating the Sabbath.  So, after these things, in which Jesus had engaged in disputes in Jerusalem at the Feast of Weeks, He had withdrawn with His disciples to the region of the Sea of Galilee.

 

Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  My study Bible explains that this chapter of John's Gospel parallels the story of the Passover and the Exodus of Israel from Egypt in several important ways.   These verses recall the Exodus account (Exodus 11 - 17), in which God first performed signs against Pharaoh, and then gave instructions on how to be saved at the time of the Passover (Exodus11:1-12:14).  Here, the multitude follows Christ because of His signs, and this also takes place at Passover.  

 

Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"   My study Bible comments that here Christ tests Philip to increase his faith, as Philip needed help in understanding Him (see John 14:8-10).  Two hundred denarii, it says, corresponds to over six months' wages for a laborer, giving us an idea of the size of this great multitude.  Andrew has greater faith than Philip, however.  My study Bible explains that, knowing the prophet Elisha had multiplied bread for 100 men (2 Kings 4:42-44), Andrew offers the food brought by a particular lad.  Nonetheless, Andrew is still weak in faith, as he questions what a mere five loaves could do among so many.  This sets up another parallel with the Exodus story, as in the Exodus, the people ate unleavened bread because they were hastily driven out of Egypt, and had brought no provisions for themselves (Exodus 12:39).  This multitude has rushed out to see Christ, has brought no provisions. 

Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.   The feeding of this multitude (of five thousand men, and more women and children) is the fourth of seven signs reported in John's Gospel.  So central to the story of Jesus it is, that it is recorded in all four Gospels.  My study Bible comments that the description of Christ as He took the loaves, gave thanks (in Greek, ευχαριστω/eucharisto), and distributed them prefigures the celebration of the Eucharist.  

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.  My study Bible says that although Jesus had performed greater signs than this, these crowds were so desirous of an earthly Messiah that they declared Jesus to be the expected Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) only when they were filled with earthly things (see John 6:26).  Because of this misunderstanding, Jesus departed from them.  

This miracle (the feeding of five thousand men, and additional women and children as well) is reported in all four Gospels.  Its centrality to the story of Christ, and of the Christian faith, is powerful.  The prefiguring of the Eucharist is clear in this passage from John.  In the reporting of this miracle in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we're told that Jesus was "moved with compassion" for the multitude (Matthew 14:14; Mark 6:34).  In each case, the feeding, and the giving of bread, becomes both a part of the expression of Christ's compassion, as well as a statement about who He is and what He does.  He feeds us.  It may seem somewhat ironic that we are to consider this feeding of the multitude during this midpoint time of Lent, a traditional time of fasting in the Church, in preparation for the feast of Easter, the celebration of Resurrection.  But in this story we have something exemplary to think about, and that is the detail included about how these people, fed miraculously by Jesus in the wilderness, want to force Him to become king.  This is not what He wants, it is not what His power is all about, and it is not what His mission is in the world, so He must flee from them and avoid them.  Consider it -- these are the people He's just fed, the people upon whom He took compassion.  But there is the work of faith to do, and that must divide even providing what is necessary for physical nourishment from providing what is necessary for spiritual nourishment.  For meeting physical need without providing for spirit and soul really doesn't truly provide what's necessary for human well-being, and doesn't address the fullness of what it is to be a human being, a person made in the image and likeness of God.  In Mark's Gospel, this crowd is described as being "like sheep not having a shepherd" (Mark 6:34).  But, just as it has been traditional to practice a fast during Lent from the early centuries of the Church, it is important that we understand what it is hunger and thirst, not simply for physical food, but for what  Christ offers us as the Good Shepherd that He is.  He feeds us with spiritual food, but the spiritual life is not at all separate from the fullness of our human life; in a distorted world, we believe our spiritual and physical well-being to be separate things, or that we can simply forget about one or the other.  But in the Christian purview, this is not so.  We need what Christ has to offer, just as we need food -- and in fact, the spiritual nourishment from Christ is an indispensable part of life, for it feeds and informs all the rest of life, including what we do with our physical resources, even how we may think of food.  For everything becomes blessed in Christ, just as He blesses the loaves ("gives thanks" to God; in the Greek eucharisto), and then they are multiplied through God's grace and power, and distributed.  Lent, in the historical practice of the Church, becomes a time when we can consider how powerfully we need God's grace to infuse our lives, to teach us what properly to do with our abundance -- even physical abundance and wealth -- and how to structure all that we have.  For we truly cannot live well without this, and there is so much, in a modern world, that we take for granted which comes from Christ.  This remains so although we may have lost sight historically just what benefit these Gospels and His teachings have meant for the world.  Why is it we honor compassion, for example?  How is Christ's power different from the power of Caesar?  Why is it significant that although He could feed a multitude, He did not desire to become a king?  What is the message of this Shepherd of His people?  Lent is a time when we can separate for a time from the abundance of "good things" that excite our appetites from the good things we get from Christ, and from faith.  We are invited to consider the spiritual food that accompanies life, and how powerfully that also may influence us, move us, heal us.  The twelve baskets full of leftover fragments symbolize for us that which will be taken up by the Twelve Apostles, to distribute to the world.  Let us understand that we continue to be fed with good things, even -- and maybe especially -- when we pass through our own wildernesses.  He remains the Shepherd, for the lost, and for all of us.

Is it not written in your law, "I said, 'You are gods'?"

 

 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."  Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods'"?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."  Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.

 

- John 10:31-42 

 

Yesterday we read that, after His encounters with the religious leaders in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles, there was a division again among them because of Christ's sayings.  And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad.  Why do you listen to Him?"  Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon.  Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"  Now it was the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, in Jerusalem, and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.  Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.  I and My Father are one."

 

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."   The religious leadership (those hostile to Jesus among the leaders, designated by the term the Jews in John's Gospel, and not the people) take up stones because of Jesus' statement from yesterday's reading, above, "I and My Father are one."  This is unequivocally a statement of equality with God the Father, which they consider to be blasphemy.   Jesus was responding to their question in verse 24 in yesterday's reading, above,  "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."   My study Bible comments that He reveals Himself to be fully God:  One means one in nature or essence.  It says that He is God before all ages, and He remains God after the Incarnation and for all eternity.  The plural verb are indicates two distinct Persons, while confirming a continuous unity.  These religious leaders clearly recognize Christ's claim of divinity ("You, being a Man, make Yourself God"), and therefore they accuse Him of blasphemy.  

 

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods'"?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."   Jesus quotes from Psalm 82:6.  My study Bible comments on this quotation by Jesus that people who receive God's grace in faith will partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and can rightly be called gods.  According to commentary by St. John Chrysostom, Christ is effectively saying, "If those who have received this honor by grace are not guilty for calling themselves gods, how can He who has this by nature deserve to be rebuked?"

 

 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.  My study Bible notes that because Christ is going to His Passion voluntarily and according to His own will (see verses 17-18 from yesterday's reading, above) His accusers cannot arrest Him until He is ready (John 7:30, 8:20; see also Luke 4:28-30).  Note the contrast between the people and the religious leaders; many who followed John  the Baptist, who was an extraordinarily revered figure, also believed in Christ.

 

  "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  In today's reading, Jesus returns to the good works that He has done, as evidence of His tie to the Father.  Those good works testify to His identity, as He says, "they are from My Father."  That is, the seven signs given in John's Gospel (we have read six of them so far) are those which are manifestations of God the Father's will through Jesus; they are testimony to Christ's identity as Son.  In His own defense, He tells these religious leaders to "believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."   As He said, in yesterday's reading (above), "The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me."  It reminds us of Jesus' teaching in Matthew's Gospel, "By their fruits you shall know them" (see Matthew 17:15-20).   In that teaching, He was warning of false prophets, whom He called "ravenous wolves" in "sheep's clothing."  He makes clear connections between the actual things people do and the reality of their inner disposition, as opposed to their appearance and words.  This passage therefore points to something profound within our faith, and that is the work of grace and the transformation possible through participation in the life of Christ, to which my study Bible points.  For the Eastern Orthodox this process is called theosis or divinization.  This is a sense in which the fruits of a life of faith include an ontological internal change; that is, we bear fruit of the Spirit.  St. Paul named these as "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (see Galatians 5:22-23).   Relevant to the context of today's reading, St. Paul adds, "Against such there is no law."  He is speaking of the power of grace working through us, for which all ascetic practice throughout the ages has emphasized first humility, so that we may be like Christ, and seek to do the Father's will.  Jesus explained it quite explicitly in our recent readings (from Saturday), when He said, " I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges," and "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God."  Earlier in chapter 10, He taught, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  Repeatedly Jesus has emphasized His own humility to the Father, and that it is the Father's glory that He seeks in all that He does.  So, we are encouraged to do the same, to live the same kind of life as does the human Jesus.  As He indicates here, He is the Son, but we are all called to be "gods."  That is, to fulfill the image and likeness in which we were created (Genesis 1:26) through our practices of worship, and the humility it takes to truly bear fruits of repentance and grace.  We become children of God by adoption, and in the sense that Jesus has used the word "father" in recent readings, we come to understand what this means.  When the leaders who oppose Him claimed to have Abraham as their father, He replies, "If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham."  Because murder is in their hearts, He later told them, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do" (see John 8:37-47).  Through our faith practices, through worship and the Eucharist, through prayer and humility, and in particular, through grace and the work of the Holy Spirit, we may also become like our adoptive Father; we may follow Christ and the gifts He offers to us.  He is looking for those who hear His voice (John 10:27), and who can also bear His light into the world (Matthew 5:14-16, John 12:46, 2 Corinthians 4:6).  In this way, we do "the works of our Father," we can be "like Christ."  This is what He teaches them, and what He teaches us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me

 

 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.  And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."

 

- Matthew 11:1-6 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus has been speaking to the Twelve as He sends them out on their first apostolic mission.  In yesterday's reading, He taught:  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.'  He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.  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." 

 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.  And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"  My study Bible comments that the patristic consensus on this is that John the Baptist asks this question in order to guide his disciples to Jesus.  It adds that, undoubtedly, John's own faith was also strengthened through Christ's response that follows.

Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."  These are signs prophesied by Isaiah as those which would accompany the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 61:1).  My study Bible says that Jesus performed these miracles in the presence of John's disciples so they could see with their own eyes works that only the Messiah could do.

Jesus tells the disciples of John to report to him all the signs of the Messiah:  "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them."  It is a statement that lets us understand the great works that Jesus has done as manifestations, and in this sense "signs," that the kingdom of heaven has come, the Messiah is present.  He adds, "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."  That is, those who can accept His ministry, and accept Him as such.  Let us keep in mind that this story comes in the context of Christ having taught the disciples as He sends them out on their first apostolic mission, all about this Kingdom they will represent into the world.  His first word to them was that they should preach wherever they go, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."   He then taught that He was sending them out "as sheep in the midst of wolves."  They would face great opposition and persecutions.  They are sent out into a kind of spiritual battle taking place in the world and initiated by His ministry, one that is unseen except to manifest in particular signs which those who understand may read, as Jesus indicates to the disciples of John the Baptist.  This is not a kingdom like a worldly kingdom, but rather a spiritual kingdom in our midst, pointing to Jesus' words to the Pharisees in Luke 17:20-21:  "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."  There are others who observe these signs or manifestations of the Kingdom, but who have their own explanations and agendas.  There are those who claim that Christ is working by the power of demons, of "Beelzebub," the ruler of the demons (this reading), there are those like Herod Antipas who will treat Jesus as if He is a kind of exhibit in a cage, from whom He can ask to see great signs.  In other words, everybody is not going to understand what the signs point to; neither will they be able to discern that they are not wonders created in order to "convince" anyone of anything.  Jesus will refuse to offer "proofs on demand" about His identity (Matthew 12:39, 16:4).  And in terms of expressions of the presence of the Kingdom in the world, St. Paul will also teach about the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).  Jesus' answer to John the Baptist is the same announcement we find in Luke's Gospel that begins His Galilean ministry, when He opens the Book of Isaiah to read in His hometown of Nazareth, and they are offended at Him (see Luke 4:16-30).   While John the Baptist is clearly expected to understand Jesus' answer, Christ's fellow neighbors from Nazareth fail completely to understand, and are offended at Him.  Hence, we also read an echo of that experience in Jesus' reply in today's reading, "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."  The signs to which Jesus refers become the center of a question of understanding, and so much depends upon which side of that question we find ourselves in.  Can we read and understand the signs?  Are the signs simply wonders that are meant to convince us, or add to our repertoire of things we might own?  Do we know what the fruit of the Spirit is or means?  Have we seen this fruit manifest in and of ourselves, and as a product of our discipleship?  Can we grasp the mysterious nature of this Kingdom in a way that teaches us about Mystery itself, and the reality of worship and the "great cloud of witnesses" we join in this Kingdom and in bearing it into the world?  Jesus gives His answer to the disciples of John the Baptist.  We might wonder at His confidence in John as a great prophet, and one who will clearly understand, and has borne his own special mission into the world.  In tomorrow's reading, Jesus will expand upon John for our understanding.  But for now, let us consider for ourselves how we read signs and understand them.  Do we have the ears to hear and eyes to see?  Let us consider our own experience of this Kingdom, and how we also might bear it in the world, and know what signs may have appeared in our own lives and experience.  For, just like the apostles, we are also ambassadors, we also bear this Kingdom among ourselves and within ourselves.  But for those who demand proofs and take offense, there will never be the understanding they await.

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd

 

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.  Now the names of the twelve apostles are these:  first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

 

- Matthew 9:35-10:4 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus left the home of the synagogue ruler (having healed a woman with a hemorrhage and the ruler's daughter), two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!"  And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"  They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."  Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you."  And their eyes were opened.  And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it."  But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.  As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.  And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke.  And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel!"  But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."

 

 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.   My study Bible comments here that Jesus does not condemn sinners, but rather sees them as lost sheep to be found and brought home.  It says that compassion means "suffering with."  This illustration of sheep having no shepherd is drawn from the Old Testament (Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; Ezekiel 34:5).  It is, effectively, an accusation against the Jewish leaders, for they are charged with the duty of shepherds, but they have acted as wolves.

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."  The harvest, according to my study Bible, suggests the abundance of those who are ready to accept the Kingdom.  Jesus is both the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) and the Lord of the harvest.  His disciples are not sent to sow, but to reap what He had sown by the prophets (see John 4:36-38).  How many are sent to harvest, my study Bible says, is less important than with what power they go into the harvest (see the next verse, which begins chapter 10).

And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.  Now the names of the twelve apostles are these:  first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.  Here Matthew uses both disciples and apostles in reference to the twelve.  These terms are used interchangeably in reference to these men.  Disciple (μαθητής/mathetes) means "learner," and apostle (ἀπόστολος/apostolos) means "one sent out."  Note that Jesus gave them power to performed miracles, while He used His own power to do so.  This is the power for the harvest referenced in the verses preceding these.  The names of the Twelve are not the same in all lists; my study Bible explains this as due to the fact that many people had more than one name.  The names here in Matthew's Gospel are given in pairs, which suggests who may have traveled together on this "first missionary journey," as Mark tells us that they were sent out two by two (Mark 6:7).  

What is the power of the harvest?  And what exactly is Christ's message that we're told He preaches, the gospel of the kingdom?  Clearly the signs that Christ performs, and the power that is His, which He shares with His disciples who are sent out as apostles, are the manifestation of the presence of this Kingdom.  They are the outward signs of God's Kingdom living even amongst us and within us.  In that sense, they reveal what is unseen -- and this is the gospel of the Kingdom, the good news.  Mark's Gospel tells us in chapter 1:  Now after John [the Baptist] was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15).  These were the words also used by John the Baptist ("Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" - Matthew 3:2), and they are the words which Jesus will teach the apostles to use as He sends them out (in the next reading).  So, this gospel of the Kingdom is the heart and center of "the Gospels" -- that is, of the ministry and teaching and mission of Christ in the world.  The signs and miracles are for this -- every wonder performed by Christ is simply a sign pointing to the larger picture, the bigger story, the true good news:  that the Kingdom is here.  It is present among us and within us (Luke 17:20-21).  As the presence of God went with the Israelites as they wandered to find the Promised Land, so God also dwells among us, and this is the presence of the Kingdom.  Through God's grace, through Christ's ministry, the gospel of the Kingdom is preached and manifests, and this is the power of the harvest, of the seeds sown long ago by each prophet sent by the Lord, and through Christ's own ministry and Incarnation, and through the Church since (which includes the Book of the Church, the Scriptures).  But with each new generation, we may still find many ways in which human beings are like sheep having no shepherd.  We see weary and scattered peoples all over the world, in many varied and exigent circumstances.  We see all kinds of problems in nominally Christian countries, of different kinds, such as breakdown of family and community, homeless populations, addiction, and assorted other problems, including corruption, which all seem to call for the leadership of a Good Shepherd who tells us the truth about what we need to do to heal and bind up our brokenness.  The need for our Shepherd seems to extend far and wide, to follow His teachings, even to recognize this Kingdom that yet dwells among us and is present to us if we would but truly seek it for ourselves in the ways that He teaches us.  We need that Good Shepherd in so many ways, because everywhere we look we can see weary and scattered people who don't find the leadership and guidance and shepherding they need from a broken world that offers "all the kingdoms of the world" but not much real substance of comfort and compassion.  We don't need abstract theories, but participation in this Kingdom that is within us and among us, and there is one way to get there.  It is faith that makes the difference where we are like sheep without a shepherd, and only one human being has been born deserving of worship.  He is still our Shepherd, the One moved with compassion for weary and scattered people.