Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send the out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons

 

 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.  And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.  So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.  For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.  And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God."  But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.  

 

 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.  And they came to Him.  Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send the out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:  Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder"; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.  

 

- Mark 3:7–19a 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 

  But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.  And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.  So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.  For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.  And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God."  But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.   My study Bible notes that Jesus withdrew both because the Pharisees were planning to destroy Him (although it wasn't Christ's time to die) and also to preach in other places.  As we can read, by now a great multitude follows Him.  As we by now recognize as a pattern, the unclean spirits cannot resist Him, and recognize and name who He is:  "You are the Son of God."  But consistent with this observed need for secrecy until the correct time to reveal Himself openly, Jesus sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.  

 

  And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.  And they came to Him.  Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send the out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:  Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder"; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.   Jesus appoints the twelve from His disciples, who will now become apostles.  The terms disciples and apostles are frequently used interchangeably, my study Bible says.  The Greek word for disciple means "learner" and apostle means "one sent out" (as on a mission).  That they might be with Him indicates they are disciples; that He might send them out makes them apostles.  Jesus gave them power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons, while He did these things through His own power.  My study Bible comments that the names of the Twelve are not the same in all lists, as many people had more than one name.  In St. Matthew's Gospel, the names of the twelve are given in pairs (Matthew 10:1-4), suggesting who may have traveled together on their first missionary journey, as St. Mark's Gospel will tell us that they were sent out two by two (Mark 6:7). 

 

In the Orthodox tradition, there is made a distinction between what is called God's essence and God's energies.  This distinction is made specifically to understand that as human beings, we are incapable of grasping God's essence, or true substance.  Our concepts and capacity for perception are too limited to know or grasp God as God exists in God's fullness and true Being.  But what we do grasp are called God's energies which reach toward us.  These energies are frequently called mercy or grace.  These reach to us and give us experiences of God, qualities of God, and all manner of aspects of God such as wisdom and the things that are known to us of God.  As such we can understand also God's working through the whole of creation in that we can find a presence or revelation of God in the beauty of the world.  We know that God has created many beings, such as angels and their varied ranks and ministries, which we as human beings cannot see, but who nonetheless minister to us and guide us, and help to facilitate God's salvation among us.  These also are working in God's energies which come to us.  When we are touched by the Holy Spirit, if we take on characteristics or qualities we recognize as holy, these are also revelations of God's energies at work in us.  As the angels have these qualities of God such as service, love, mercy, wisdom so also the energies of God may bless and allow us to take on such qualities (see the fruit of the Spirit listed by St. Paul for example).  So participation in these energies allows us to take on qualities of God and become through time transformed in God, in Christ, for this is our nature.  The inverse is also true:  if we choose to participate in what is evil, we will be going down a road of taking on the qualities of evil.  Today's choosing of the Twelve is another example of God's -- Christ's -- energies distributed and shared with human beings.  These twelve are being given the grace to go out as apostles to preach, and the power to heal and cast out demons.  They are, in effect, being commissioned to share in Christ's mission, and distributed out to the world just as the angels are sent among us, and this is the way that we need to see the ongoing mission of Christ on earth.  When we engage in prayer and worship, in all aspects of the sacraments we're given, we participate in that life of Christ, and so we may take on the surprising aspects of grace freely given to us, and our repentance works in order to open us to God's life for us.  The greatest examples we have of this process are the saints, too numerous to count, and their varied virtues manifest in myriad ways -- even hidden ways we don't see and might never know.  Through the stories we read in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles, and in the whole tradition of the Church we know of the transformation of these Twelve who will go out to the world.  But their mission is ongoing, and so we may also participate in this life and Christ's energies and love for us.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?

 

 Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.  And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.  But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!'  Then they will begin 'to say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" '  For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?"

 

- Luke 23:26-31 

 

Yesterday we read that Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, "You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people.  And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.  I will therefore chastise Him and release Him (for it was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast).  And they all cried out at once, saying, "Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas" -- who has been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder.  Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them.  But they shouted, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"  Then he said to them the third time, "Why, what evil has He done?  I have found no reason for death in Him.  I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go."  But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified.  And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.  So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested.  And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

 

  Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.  And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.  But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."  My study Bible comments that weeping is not appropriate for the One who redeems the world through the Cross, but is suited for one's own sins and for the sufferings of others.  

 

 "For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!' "  The blessing on the barren women is an acknowledgement of the overwhelming pain a mother endures seeing her children suffer (illustrated by the "woe" in Matthew 24:19).  Let us once again observe Jesus' particular sympathy with women, so often given us in St. Luke's Gospel.  My study Bible quotes from the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who writes, "Mothers are held by the tie of feeling for their children, but cannot save them.  How can one escape the bonds of nature?  How can she who nurses ever overlook the one she has borne?"

 

"Then they will begin 'to say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" ' "   Jesus is quoting from the prophesy of Hosea.  See Hosea 10:8.

 

 "For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?"  My study Bible explains that the green wood is Christ, full of virtue and truth.  The dry stands for those who have rejected Christ for their corruption, barren of all life and of all righteousness.  If the Romans eagerly destroy the righteous, it asks, what horrifying things await the unrighteous?  

 

 Jesus speaks with a warning to the women of Jerusalem in particular, about what is to come at the Siege of Jerusalem.  We note the deeply sympathetic tone that distinguishes Jesus, perhaps particularly in His addresses and interactions with women.  His empathy extends to maternal feelings that make it impossible to separate from a child being nursed, with an understanding that is striking.  As Jesus quotes from Hosea 10, He's making allusion through analogy to the similar circumstances, because the people have rejected their God.  They have rejected the Christ, and so the same scenario, by interpretation of His quotation, plays out.  That is, it will play out to its terrible, fiery, fierce combustion in the Siege of Jerusalem one generation hence.  A murderer and rebel has been chosen for release over Jesus the Christ (see yesterday's reading, above).  False accusation and lies have claimed the day, at the hands of the religious leadership of of the nation, and carried out through the Roman authorities by such persuasion as was mustered.  Those acts are hallmarks of what it means to reject God and to embrace the works of the spiritual enemies of God.  However, the main story here is precisely and simply what Jesus has said as He wept over Jerusalem in chapter 19, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes . . . because you did not know the time of your visitation" (see Luke 19:41-44).  It is really the rejection of God and God's way, when there has been enormous preparation for the coming of the Messiah, that constitutes not knowing the things that make for the peace of Jerusalem.  Today, and in all times, it is up to us to consider what remains "the things that make for our peace."  For we are always offered this choice.  Do we choose our Messiah, the Christ?  Do we seek to follow His way for ourselves and in our lives?  Do we choose to seek His will?  Will we also miss the time of our visitation, and it come upon us like a snare?  (See Luke 21:35).   Will we be conformed to the world or to Christ?  In a time when the world is bent on consuming every new thing technology can afford to us, let us consider what Jesus tells the disciples about the food they don't know.  Let us learn our own lesson, and seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, and remember what manner of spirit we are of.  For behind all things is a spiritual battle that rages for our hearts and our minds, and it truly matters where our treasure is.  In today's reading, Jesus alludes to the opposite of what makes for our peace, the spirit of rage, if you will, that responds even to the green with crucifixion.  And what will it do in the dry?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

 

Jeweled Cross mosaic, 4th century.  Santa Pudenziana, Rome.  Photo courtesy personal use digital file license, Andre Durand Digital Gallery

 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."

Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."

 

- Luke 9:18–27 

 

On Saturday we read that Jesus called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.  And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."  So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.  Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?"  So he sought to see Him.  And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.  But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.  When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."  And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."  For there were about five thousand men.  Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty."  And they did so, and made them all sit down.  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

 

And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."   My study bible comments that, as in every generation, what the crowds have to say about Jesus is usually unpredictable and misguided.  This is consistent throughout the Gospels themselves.

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." My study bible tells us that Who do you say that I am? is the ultimate question in Scripture and in all theology.  This is because how this question is answered defines the universe.  Christ (Messiah in Hebrew) means "Anointed One."  This declaration by Peter that Jesus is the Christ of God reveals Jesus to be something set apart from an anointed king or prophet, but rather a statement that He is the long-awaited Savior.  

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."  Jesus' desire to keep His identity as the Christ hidden is in order to avoid popular political and theological misunderstandings.  My study bible says that only after His Passion and Resurrection can His identity as Messiah be understood.  Christ's ministry must evolve and manifest in a particular way and within time.  Among other reasons my study bible cites for secrecy include the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders, the people's expectation of the Messiah as an earthly, political leader; and Christ's desire for genuine faith which is not based only on miraculous signs.

Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."  My study bible tells us that we must note two things about what Jesus teaches here.  First, that each person must take up one's own cross.   The worldly burden is different for each person, it says, and each person has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and the salvation of those around oneself.  Second, the cross is to be taken up daily.  The commitment to follow Christ isn't just a one-time event.  It asks of us, instead, the continual practice of faith and obedience -- even to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world.  Christ's final remark (But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God) is considered to be a reference to those who will witness the Transfiguration (told in the following verses, Luke 9:28-36), as well as to those in each generation who experience the presence of the kingdom of God.

There are so many potential misunderstandings of Christ and His mission that Jesus must seek to address in His ministry.  Throughout the Gospels, we're taught about the people's response to Him, just as in the first verses in today's reading.  His disciples tell Him the thoughts of the crowds as to His identity:  "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."  On Saturday (see above), we read that Herod Antipas fears that Jesus is John the Baptist returned from the dead.  While we understand the crowds of Jesus' place and time have all kinds of mistaken ideas about Him, so we also must come to see the huge variety of perceptions about Christ throughout the centuries since His time on earth.  The name of Jesus is known around the world, even in countries where there are very few nominal followers of Christ, and opinions about Jesus most likely vary more widely today than they ever did.  In a world where daily events can frequently remind us that we are not in control of everything, and anxiety over such lack of control a seemingly more and more widespread, we might look to Jesus in His mission as a tremendous model for disregarding what the crowds might have to say about us, or how the world will respond to us.  Think of the dangerous enemies He was making.  A powerful tetrarch like Herod Antipas, who ruled for Rome, and had John the Baptist beheaded on a whim (Mark 6:14-29), could do nearly anything He wished to do to Jesus.   The Jewish leaders are now hostile Him as well, as His fame among the people grows and rumors about Him swirl.  He has no "institutional" authority they respect, and He also defies their criticisms.  As the disciples report to Him all the varied responses of the people as to who Jesus really is, we can can only marvel at Jesus' seeming lack of concern for all the things the people get wrong about Him.  That is, Christ's real focus is on His mission, not on correcting every little thing people get wrong about Him, or "fixing" His public image.  The popular expectations regarding the Messiah alone could fill a lifetime of misunderstanding.  But Jesus' mission is focused on a few essential things.  He wants to find those of true faith, those who are capable of perceiving the things He's preaching about.  In the illustration of the "good ground" of the Parable of the Sower, that means those who, having heard His word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.  His ministry has to unfold in a particular way, and above all, in accordance with the will of the Father.  Jesus always takes time out for prayer, to keep His own ministry on track in the way it is meant to unfold.  He follows the Father who is always with Him, and His concern is with those who are and will be His disciples (see John 17:9-21).   In the times that we find ourselves becoming overburdened, overanxious, and overwhelmed with the things we think we have to keep under our control, we should consider Christ, and His extraordinary coolness in the midst of His earth-shaking mission.  There are those particular things which are essential and important, and the rest He must leave in the hands of the Father, and simply fulfill what He must do.  That is enough.  Perhaps we should all take a powerful clue from Christ as to the power of faith and prayer in this light.  Our lives are not meant to be the be-all and end-all of everything in this world, all the powerful images the world seems to offer to us, nor the thousand-and-one shocks and betrayals that might await.  As the text tells us, Jesus says that we each have our own cross to bear daily, just as He had His own.  And this is our mission in this life, and the rest we must let go, because we cannot control it all.  Our Lord Himself did not do so.  In the midst of pandemic, political crises, and a future we can't necessarily foresee, let us remember Christ.  With the world on His shoulders, and salvation in the balance, He still has His Cross and His mission, as do we.  He tells us, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."  With faith and prayer, let us be like Him, and let the crowds follow the crowds.  For what profit is it if we gain the whole world, and lose ourselves?

 

Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man

 

Then He spoke to them a parable:  "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.  When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near.  So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

 

 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."  And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.

 

- Luke 21:29–38 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught the disciples, "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.  Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.  For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.  But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!  For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.   And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations.  And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

 

Then He spoke to them a parable:  "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.  When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near.  So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.  Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."   Jesus speaks a vow here that is as solemn as it gets:  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."  He is absolutely assuring His audience of disciples that this will come to pass, and that they must pay attention to the signs around them.  My study bible comments that this generation refers to all believers at all times, the generation of the Church, and not merely to those alive at the time of Christ.  Certain His warnings about Jerusalem and the coming siege and destruction were meant for His listeners who would still be alive at that time; but the rest of the warnings about the fullness of time and His second coming are meant for all of us.

 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."  And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.  Jesus warns of the time of His return in "power and great glory" (see yesterday's reading above).  He says, in another vivid image given to us, that this Day will come unexpectedly.  In fact, it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  A "snare" is a trap, one made typically for catching animals unaware.  It usually consists of a type of noose which is triggered by the animal's footsteps, and hidden in bushes or other ground cover.  It is designed to catch while the animal is unaware and going about its normal business, so to speak.  And so Jesus depicts the Day of His second coming as the same for us, if we have forgotten about what we are to be about.  This is a warning to His disciples about mindfulness, about living their faith and the gospel message.  He gives a profound warning about judgment, implying that we are to be mindful through prayer if we are to escape the "snares" of this world and their threat t our faith before His return, and also to stand before Him afterward.

It strikes me as interesting that the last few lines of today's reading speak broadly of the people.  Jesus says that His Return will come "as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth."   With His words, He then "picks out," so to speak, those who may be counted worthy to escape that snare, those who will escape all these things that will come to pass, and worthy to stand before the Son of Man.  "All these things that will come to pass" must surely mean the calamities of the world, the frightful things He has described, and as such He implies that they are the things that will try to snatch us away from our faith, from remembering who we are, from being those who will find occasion to give testimony in persecution (see Saturday's reading), and endure all the things that would derail us from our faith in whatever time we live, including wars and other disasters of this world.  But then the Gospel goes back again to words about the people.  We're told, "And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him."  It's a kind of poetic irony, because even as He's warning that His return will come as a snare to all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth, He is with those people in His own earthly life and just at that moment.  He goes and stays on Mt. Olivet, together with the rest of the pilgrims who come to Jerusalem and have no other place to stay for the Passover.  And then all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him as He teaches in the daytime in the temple.  Even as He warns of the snare to come upon all the people of the world, as Teacher and Son of Man He is with the people and they are with Him.  He is not hidden somewhere with elites or out of the way, but rather is not simply openly with the people, but by His own preference He remains with the pilgrims and the common people who all wish to hear Him.  What we might infer by all of this is that while in this world, Christ's work is to call and to approach those who might be the ones counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.  It is a reminder of the parable of the Sower, in which Christ is the Sower who scatters the seed of His word, of His gospel, to all the world.  In that parable (see this reading), Jesus gives images of seed that falls by the wayside, and then was trampled down.  Of seed devoured by the birds of the air, and seed falling on rock which springs up but withers away without moisture.  Then there is seed that falls among thorns, and when a crop springs up so do those thorns, and they choke the seed.  Yet there are still other seeds that fall on good ground, spring up, and yield a crop a hundredfold.  When Jesus speaks of the things of this world that will come to pass, and that we must pray to remain alert in our faith, and to be counted worthy to escape all of these things and to stand before Him, He is reminding us of this parable of the Sower and His warnings about all the things of this world that seek to make our faith impossible, that will fight the fruitfulness of that seed every step of the way.  In the telling of the parable, He explains His teaching as indicating those by the wayside are the ones who hear -- just like those who come to hear Him in the temple.  But the devil will come to some and take away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  The ones on the rock are those who receive the word with joy when they hear it; but without root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.  Those who fall among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out but are "choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life" and they therefore bring no fruit to maturity.  These things are the snares of life in this world, the things which keep us from rootedness in our faith.   But in the parable, Jesus says,  "The ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."  His teachings about end times remind us that the calamities, difficulties, persecutions, wars, natural disasters, and all manner of problems of the age in which we live are those things we are to endure.  They are those things about which He has warned us.  He preaches to all the people, He stays with the pilgrims.  He is with us and among us, as is His Kingdom presently with us and among us.  But at some point it remains up to us to guard our faith in our hearts, to take care and nurture the seeds He planted, to make sure they have proper moisture, and that their meager and small beginnings of fruitfulness are not choked by the cares of the world, overburdened or focused on riches, nor lost in the pursuit of the pleasures of life.  For those of us caught up in modern life, we might add specifically the false lure of "fame" in image on social media, and the delusion of seeking to keep up with what we think we see.  Let us be those among all the people to whom He scatters and sows His seeds who may endure to be counted worthy of escaping all the things which will come to pass and to stand before Him.  But we can't do it without being aware that His return will surely come, that there will be an end to the things we know, and that there is truly a great thing to be cherished in being one who may stand before Him.  All the rest of our lives may conspire for us to forget that and to lose ourselves in the life of this world -- either too weighed down by it to remember what is important, or lost in finding ways to simply forget our troubles.  We can see such alternatives and the wreckage they leave behind all around us.  Let us instead find refuge in Him and His grace, the life He offers, the peace "without understanding" He gives, the grace and love and tender mercies of His Kingdom.  For they are real and they call to us, His seed awaits our good faith, and His hand is out in offer of His grace and communion instead.  Jesus stays with the people in humility, and it is there our most potent weapon lies for remembering who we truly are and where our home is -- with the One who loves us best and in whom we may place our trust.

 

Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first

Early circular ΙΧΘΥΣ symbol, made by transposing each Greek letter atop one another.  Ephesus (photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?"  He said, "Yes."  And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon?  From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons of from strangers?"  Peter said to Him, "From strangers."  Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.  Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.  And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."

- Matthew 17:22-27

Yesterday we read that, after the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus, Peter, John, and James had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.  So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him here to Me."  And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.  Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

  Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful.   This is the second time that Jesus has predicted His death and Resurrection, after the revelation that He is the Christ (this reading).  My study bible says that this repeated warning shows He is going to His Passion freely, and is not being taken against His will.  At His  first warning of what was to come, Peter denied that this should happen to Him (in this reading).  Here, the disciples are exceedingly sorrowful.

When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?"  He said, "Yes."  And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon?  From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons of from strangers?"  Peter said to Him, "From strangers."  Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.  Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.  And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."  The temple tax was an annual head tax on all male Jews (except priests) over twelve years of age.  My study bible explains that this tax was for the maintenance of the temple (see Numbers 3:43-51).  As Jesus is the Son of God, it notes, He is both High Priest and also the "proprietor" (so to speak) of the temple; therefore He is exempt from the temple tax.  But He pays it anyway -- to avoid unnecessary offense and also to show that He has completely identified Himself with mankind.

My study bible says that Jesus' decision to pay the temple tax is evidence of the fullness and totality of His identification with mankind.  As High Priest, He should be exempt from the temple tax in terms of His true identity as Son.  The very question, therefore, of paying the temple tax, brings up the issue of Christ's identity as revealed both through the confession of Peter and the Transfiguration -- and how Jesus will live the remainder of His life.  It makes the issue for Peter, in particular, as "leader" or spokesperson, so to speak, among the apostles, a question of how Jesus will respond to this reminder about the temple tax.   How will Jesus reply?  Will He openly refuse to pay, as He is Son?  Let us note also in this context the rather sneaky way that the disciples -- or rather, Peter -- has been put under pressure by surreptitiously being asked about his master.  It's important to understand the dynamic under which Peter is placed by being so asked -- and that Jesus frees Peter from the social pressure implied by paying the tax, and for both of them.  It tells us something important, just as Jesus' repeated avoidance of confrontation with the religious leadership until it is the appropriate time to do so.  Sometimes in our lives there are battles to pick, and for Jesus, this is not one of those times.  We note first of all that all things are placed in God the Father's hands by Christ.  Whatever He does in His ministry, it is following the will of the Father.  Clearly, over this issue and at this juncture, it is important that He make the distinction to Peter that He is Son and therefore exempt, but it is also important that He nevertheless pay the tax, "lest we offend them."   In other words, while we know there will be an important time for confrontation and over particular issues and accusations, this is not the time for it, nor the issue for it.  Jesus not only picks His battles wisely, but He also protects His disciples from unnecessary public scrutiny, hostility, and embarrassment.  This shows us the right way to be a leader.  It also teaches us about the importance of nominal respect for social structures.  Although Jesus "disrupts" the religious establishment by His very existence in the Incarnation -- and also by His teachings against hypocrisy -- this is not the time to assert that identity.  As His followers, there will be many times that we disagree with what happens in the society, but humility is the key here.  And Christ's humility is complete within this story in today's reading.  He does not assert His place as Son to avoid paying the tax.  But in His very way of paying the tax -- directing Peter to take up the first fish he catches -- Jesus reveals and affirms His identity to Peter, who certainly lived to pass on the story.   To make this impact even more meaningful, the word for fish used in the Gospel is the Greek ἰχθύς/ixthys.  This is the very word that gave the early Christians the acronym of Christ's identity, and therefore the use of the fish as symbol for Christ.  Each Greek letter of this word stands for the first letter in the following sentence:  Jesus (Ἰησοῦς) Christ (Χριστός) God's (Θεοῦ) Son (Yἱός) Savior (Σωτήρ).  Therefore in this story is another revelation of Jesus' identity, hidden in the symbolic value of the fish which contained payment of the temple tax for Himself and for Peter.  Some ancient patristic commenters note that the coin itself in the fish's mouth is symbolic of Christ's work as redeemer for all of us.  It is His Passion, death, and Resurrection that redeems our souls, and grants us the grace of God so that we, also, may become sons and heirs of the Kingdom. 

O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?

 Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him.  Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.  So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here."  And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.  Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.

And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.  But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."  But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.

Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  For he who is least among you all will be great." Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."

- Luke 9:37-50

Yesterday we read that, about eight days after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, and Christ's first warning of what is to come in His Passion (see this reading), He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.  As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.  And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.  But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.  Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said.  While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud.  And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone.  But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.

 Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him.  Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, "Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.  And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.  So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?  Bring your son here."  And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him.  Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.  Faith is directly connected to the efficacy of healing, as we've seen, for example, in the stories of Jairus's daughter and the woman with the hemorrhage (in this reading), and the paralytic helped by his friends (5:17-26).  Jesus' cry, O faithless and perverse generation, applies both to the disciples and to the crowds.  The disciples' faith was incomplete (see Matthew 17:19-20 for more details of this story).  But the crowd's was still weaker.  In Mark's version (Mark 9:22-24), we read the plea of the father, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!

And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.  But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."  But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.  While the disciples witness Christ's extraordinary healings, they must be prepared for what is to come in His Passion and crucifixion.  My study bible says that Christ's repeated prediction of His Passion was meant to encourage and strengthen them for the terrifying events that they would face, and also to assure them that He was not powerless, but goes to the Cross willingly.  The Gospels witness to their natural fear to ask questions about the things He's telling them.

 Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.  And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  For he who is least among you all will be great." Now John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us."  But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."  Jesus teaches the disciples about the greatest virtue for Christians, the foundation of discipleship:  humility.  My study bible notes that Theophylact sees John's comment regarding the person they forbade from casting out demons in Christ's name as one of regret -- John's conscience having been pricked by what Christ says here about the least and the great.  St. Ambrose, to the contrary, sees John as expecting full obedience to accompany such blessings.  But in either interpretation, the response of Jesus tells us that those who act in good faith are not excluded, even if they're not currently numbered among the disciples.  Theophylact writes, "See how divine grace is at work even in those who are not His disciples" (see also Numbers 11:24-30).  On those who use Christ's name without good faith, see 11:23; Acts 19:13-16.

It's interesting to note the "network" quality of the power of Christ.  True faith works like a network, a communion or communication of circuits working between people and linking them in the communion of power with Christ.  It's as if a circuit is completed through faith, such as in the story of the woman with the blood flow (8:43-48), whose touch to the hem of Christ's garment from behind released power from Him to heal her.  These stories tell us something about the nature of faith and the connections it makes between us through the power of Christ working within each of us.  Jesus teaches, "The kingdom of God is within you" when asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come (17:20-21), meaning both within you and among you.  In Matthew 18:20, Jesus tells His disciples, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."  At His Ascension, Jesus left the disciples with the statement, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."   It is faith that makes a link like a circuit that runs among people and through and within the power and presence of Christ.  We can also see this at work in His sending out of the disciples as apostles.  Luke tells us that He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases (9:1).  This power He distributes through the twelve forms a kind of circuit which can be shared with others through faith.  One wonders if Christ's spiritual reality doesn't simply lie dormant in all of us, waiting for this connection of faith somewhere deep inside us all, a potential for communion and relationship that is always there, made more full as promise of participation through baptism, and kindled within us through discipleship and spiritual growth.  In today's reading, Jesus also teaches the disciples about His Passion to come.  Without faith, what meaning would Christ's suffering have?  How does faith change the way that we see and experience our own suffering, or possible sacrifices we make for the love of Christ?  Moreover, He teaches about humility, a quality necessary for real faith, and for dependency upon God.  So much depends upon this one "circuit" within ourselves, at any given moment.  Let us consider its power.   But the root of faith itself is a kind of mystery deep within us; nevertheless it is that mystery within each of us -- that "yes" from within -- upon which so much seems to hinge. 

Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me

 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.  For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And right after He is killed, He will rise the third day."  But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

Then He came to Capernaum.  And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?"  But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."  Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.  And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."

Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."  But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

- Mark 9:30-41

On Saturday we read that when Jesus came to the disciples (from the Mount of the Transfiguration, together with Peter, James, and John), He saw a great multitude around the other nine disciples, and scribes disputing with them.  Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.  And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?"  Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid.  So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."  He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him to Me."  Then they brought him to Him.  And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.  So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"  And he said, "From childhood.  And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."  Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it:  "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!"  Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him.  And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead."  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.  And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So he said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."

Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.  For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And right after He is killed, He will rise the third day."  But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.  Jesus has only recently been revealed to the disciples as the Christ (see Thursday's reading from last week).  But this is a repeated, second warning to the disciples about the suffering that Jesus will go through, and that they must be prepared for.  Jesus is being explicit:  He will be killed, and rise the third day.  We note again, they still do not understand this saying, and they are afraid to ask Him.  Moreover, there is a repeated note in the fact that Jesus did not want anyone to know that He was passing through Galilee.  In our recent readings, He has tried to avoid public notice by going to Tyre and Sidon (the Gentile region to the north of Galilee) and returning south in a roundabout way, through the Decapolis.  Now He goes again into Galilee, but wants to remain hidden.

Then He came to Capernaum.  And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?"  But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."  Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.  And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."  Jesus returns to His ministry "headquarters" in Capernaum.  But we note He speaks to the disciples in the house and not openly in public.  This is Peter's family home, the "residence" for Christ's ministry.  Apparently, when the disciples understood that He was to die and "rise the third day," they assume this means into the kingdom of Israel, with Christ as eternal ruler, as understood in popular expectation of the time.  With such an understanding, they had disputed among themselves, while on the road, who would be greatest in that worldly kingdom they expect to manifest.  My study bible says that this indicates a selfish interest in worldly power.  Jesus then begins to teach them about true leadership, what it is to be great in His kingdom and among them all.  They must not think of greatness in  conventional sense, but in a compassionate sense.  To receive a little child in His name is to receive Him -- and to receive Christ is to receive the Father who sent Him.   To care, in whatever capacity we have, for the littlest or least powerful among us, as if we receive Christ, and therefore the Father, is to use the power we have His way.

Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."  But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."  My study bible cites two commentaries on John's remark about others who cast out demons in the name of Christ.  Theophylact sees this comment as a kind of regret, that they "forbade him because he does not follow us," after Christ's teaching above about the "first" and the "last."  But St. Ambrose, on the other hand, sees John as expecting full obedience to accompany the blessings of discipleship.  But in either interpretation, my study bible concludes, Christ's response shows that all those who act in good faith are not excluded -- even if not currently numbered among the disciples.  Theophylact writes, in commenting on this episode as reported by Luke (Luke 9:46-50), "See how divine grace is at work even in those who are not His disciples.  Regarding those who use Christ's name without good faith, see Luke 11:23, Acts 19:13-16.  Let us note also how grace works:  even the gift of a cup of water, extended to one of Christ's in the name of Christ, brings a blessing.

Christ uses a little child to teach the disciples about power and its use.  They must not think like the worldly think about power.  Even a little child is one they must receive as if they are receiving Him, and if receiving Him, therefore the Father in heaven who sent Him.  This is how we are told by Christ that we are to receive those who come into our lives, as His disciples.  What a hard and vivid teaching this is, indeed.  I find that this teaching is a great antidote to modern ills that in psychological parlance would be called "violation of boundaries."  Can one imagine the incidents of child abuse -- of any type -- that one may consider if Christ's rules about how we receive even the most powerless in our lives were followed?  It is truly the great teaching about power that we need as antidote to the things that ail us in our world, and which are all around us.  Correction can come with love, discipline, through Christ, comes with love.  Rebukes come with love.  The key to love is truly wanting what is best for the other person.  In the example of the little child, we are often tempted to merely think that this is a description of little children and their virtues as emblems of faithful.  Indeed, this may indeed be the case when Christ speaks of little children this way, as in Matthew 19:14.  But here, Jesus is giving us a different message.  This is not only about little children, but the little children are an example of all the humble, those least powerful among us, whether they be our fellow parishioners or others we meet with in the course of our lives.  Let us consider that Jesus addresses those who will be the pillars of His Church, our first bishops, and He addresses them as those who will lead when He is gone.  He gives us the example of leadership in this reading about little children.  He also teaches us about the communion that is present in His name:  all are linked, from the least to the greatest, to both Christ and to the Father.  God's presence, thereby, is always with us!  Let us remember, also, that today's reading contains the teaching that even a cup of water extended in faith to another one who also belongs to Christ, is noted and known by God, and will bring with it a reward, a blessing.  (To balance, we also recall His warning about giving away what is holy, or  pearls of spiritual beauty to those who will respond with contempt in Matthew 7:6; we are called to discernment, not careless blindness or waste.)  There is no gesture that goes unnoticed, no time when God is not present with us, even God the Father who sends the Son into the world.  It is a teaching for us and for the importance of our lives and what we do -- and moreover a clear teaching about our faith and how powerful a connection it is even when others cannot perceive this.  So how do we use power?  In whose name and for what purpose?  Let us remember God watches and knows, and that we always rely on this presence -- always with us in the Spirit and in the angels with us "who always behold the face of God" (Matthew 18:10) -- to guide us and help us use our own capacity and strengths in the ways He would have us do so.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone

 Then He began to tell the people this parable:  "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.  No at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.  And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.  Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?  I will send my beloved son.  Probably they will respect him when they see him.'  But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'  So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."  And when they heard it they said, "Certainly not!"  Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:

'The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone'?

"Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.

- Luke 20:9-18

Yesterday, we read that it happened on one of those days after Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, "Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things?  Or who is he who gave You this authority?"  But He answered an said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?"  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.  So they answered that they did not know where it was from.  And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." 

 Then He began to tell the people this parable:  "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.  No at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.  And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.  Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?  I will send my beloved son.  Probably they will respect him when they see him.'  But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'  So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."  And when they heard it they said, "Certainly not!"   My study bible suggests that this parable portrays God the Father as the man, and that the vineyard refers to God's people.  The vinedressers are the leadership that have been entrusted to care for the people.  Each of the servants that are sent by the owner stands for an Old Testament prophet who comes to call the people back to God.  The beloved son of the owner, of course, refers to Christ Himself.  It says, "When the Son is cast out of the vineyard to be killed, this is understood on two levels:  (1)  that Jesus was killed outside Jerusalem; and (2) that Jesus was crucified by foreign soldiers, not by those of His own vineyard.  The others who later receive the vineyard are the Gentiles brought into the Church."   That the response to the parable is "Certainly not!" indicates a clear reception of Jesus' meaning.

Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone'?  Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.   The quotation Jesus gives is from Psalm 118:22.  My study bible cites the commentary of John Chrysostom in its summary:  "That stone is Christ.  This saying illustrates the two ways of destruction.  Those falling on the stone are people who suffer the effects of their own sins while yet in this life, whereas those on whom the stone falls are unrepentant people who become powder in the final judgment."

We note once again that the leadership (and the people) understand that the parable is told against them; they are those who now are the vinedressers who are in charge of tending the vineyard.  Christ is clearly saying that the leadership work for themselves, and in effect lead the people away from God.  What's important is to understand, first of all, the tie between self-aggrandisement or selfishness in any form, and the misleading of the people, those tender grapes of the vines.  It's an image that gives us a sense of how the purpose of the leadership is really to help the vines to bear fruit; and each grape counts for something.  The Owner is watching and expecting a harvest.  It tells us about the self-centeredness of leadership that poisons all the purposes of the vineyard, the grapes that are a harvest to God, for good purpose.  Instead, Jesus has told them scathingly that they love the best seats, the respect in the marketplaces, the great show of special robes.  One might even say that He has told them that they are already like the powder left from the smashing of the great head stone of the corner, when He said that they are like unmarked graves which people walk over without realizing it.  To these experts in the law, He has already said that it is they who are the descendants of those who killed the prophets, that they continue in the same vein, and that the whole history of such behavior will fall upon them, which they will affirm as they seek to do the same to Him.   We are given the story and teachings of Jesus for His time, His ministry, and the contemporary leadership.  But all of this isn't just about what happened to Jesus and in Israel at this time in history.  If we don't learn from all of these things, then we are not reading the Gospels properly.  Neither will we understand the meaning, form, and force of His Church, because we have failed to learn from His instruction for ourselves.  This parable is a warning to all those who would say they loved God.  It teaches us about what standards we need to have, and how (as we discussed in yesterday's reading) that the over-prizing of the opinion of men more than the opinions of God make for disastrous leadership.  Jesus is not playing the crowd here; it's the leadership that is afraid of the opinions of the crowds.  Jesus cares about the people, His teaching is truth -- not what is pleasing for them to hear.  This isn't a popularity contest:  it's only that in the minds of the leadership because they are like politicians who seek to maintain their places; it is the "place" that they love best.  All of this is to say that Christ is affirming that it is humility before God that is the greatest virtue in His Church; and that leadership is expected to tend all the vines with God in mind, with love for God so that the vines may know God's love and to whom they belong.  We can't substitute anything for humility as the greatest virtue; that is, humility before God which means love for the vines as this is God's most powerful intent, as Jesus has preached over and over again.  God's love for us and our love for God are entwined like the vines, inseparable from one another, and inseparable from love for the followers.  He who would be the greatest among the leadership must put themselves last.  What will they do?  They plot against Jesus all the more.  What will we do?  Can we hear His call?  That love doesn't come through law, and not through ideology which is similar to the law.  It doesn't come through some sort of popular "correctness" (no matter what the "side" or "camp") which is like another sort of law, and another way that can be used to live hypocritically by image alone.  It comes through love, a loving relationship between God and us, and without that our own leadership fails to lead properly.  Let us remember what He calls upon us to do and to be, why He has come into the world, and offered us His spirit and grace.  It's up to us to follow, even if there are times when leadership may fail.

For Me and you

 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?"  He said, "Yes."  And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon?  From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?"  Peter said to Him, "From strangers."  Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.  Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.  And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."

- Matthew 17:22-27

 Yesterday, we read that when Jesus and the disciples John, James, and Peter had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.  So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him here to Me."  And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.  Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful.  My study bible says here:  "Jesus predicts His death and Resurrection a second time (see 16:21) to show that He is going to His Passion freely and not being taken against His will."  In effect, we view the disciples this time in exceeding sorrow.   Previously, Peter rejected entirely that this could happen.  But this time, the disciples are beginning to understand this devastating news that Jesus is warning them about.

 When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?"  He said, "Yes."  And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon?  From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?"  Peter said to Him, "From strangers."  Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.  Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.  And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."  A note says, "The temple tax was an annual head tax on all male Jews (except the priests) over twelve years of age for the maintenance of the temple (see Numbers 3:43-51).  Since Jesus is the Son of God, He is both High Priest and 'proprietor' of the temple, and thus is exempt from the tax.  Nevertheless, He pays it anyway, both to avoid unnecessary offense and to show that He has totally identified Himself with mankind."

We note the graciousness of Christ; the payment of the temple tax is done in order not to give unnecessary offense.  It is also paid in a way that does not embarrass His disciple, Peter, and furthermore, He also "pays" for Peter.  And yet, the lesson is clear.  Peter has abruptly replied to the question of the temple tax collector because He is embarrassed, but Jesus makes it clear to Peter who the sons are, what is the right thing.  Therefore the fish with a coin in its mouth is a gift; they are still "free," and yet Jesus will not cause offense where it is not necessary, and will not cause His disciple any public embarrassment.  The thing that makes this intriguing and essential for us to observe is that in what He will do, and in the things that the apostles will later preach, there will be a great sort of "public scandal."  There will eventually be an appropriate confrontation with the leadership of the temple, with Jesus speaking for Himself.  The disciples will scatter, only to be reunited and emboldened by the coming of the Spirit, with Peter in particular (by Tradition) going on to a great martyr's death, and one of great humiliation by his own request.  And this is the extraordinary thing we note today.  There is a time and a place for everything, and it all requires discernment, a relationship to Father, Son, and Spirit in which we seek the wisdom to understand what God has prepared for us, and where and how we are to handle all the affairs of our lives.  Jesus is not a political rabble-rouser.  He is not a kind of populist demagogue who's going around looking for votes.  On the other hand, He's entirely true to His mission, the will of the Father, and clearly -- exceptionally -- His love for His disciples, who are pronounced by Him in today's reading to be "sons."  In yesterday's reading, Jesus counseled His disciples privately regarding their unbelief, and He also stepped up and answered Himself for the failure to cast out the demon, rectifying and teaching.  But clearly, the issue here on display is His graciousness in all ways, knowing that He will do what is essential in not avoiding scandal for the right reason and at the right time, in order to bring salvation into the world through His death, and to encourage the full depths of our faith.  What we feel most keenly is His tender regard for those who come to Him, and whom He also regards as children of God.