This Sunday’s readings draw a comparison between
three groups: (1) stiff-necked Israelites in the time of the prophets, (2) the
townsfolk of Nazareth in the days of Jesus, and (3) you and I sitting in the
pew. The message to us is: repent, and
believe the Good News.
1. Our first reading comes from near the beginning
of the book of Ezekiel, when that great prophet was receiving his initial call
from God:
Reading
1 Ez 2:2-5
As the LORD
spoke to me, the spirit entered into me
and set me on my feet,
and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,
rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day.
Hard of face and obstinate of heart
are they to whom I am sending you.
But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD!
And whether they heed or resist--for they are a rebellious house--
they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
and set me on my feet,
and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,
rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day.
Hard of face and obstinate of heart
are they to whom I am sending you.
But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD!
And whether they heed or resist--for they are a rebellious house--
they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
If
you read the entire context from which this passage comes, you will find a
number of parallels between Moses and Ezekiel and their prophetic
commissions. In Ezek 1, Ezekiel sees the
famous cherubim “chariot” of God, which is probably the reality of God’s
presence depicted by the ark of the covenant, to which only Moses had regular
access. There is lightning, darkness,
clouds and wind—storm phenomena similar to what Moses experienced on Sinai. Then God speaks to Ezekiel from his throne
above the cherubim, just as he used to speak to Moses from above the wings of
the cherubim on the ark. Ezekiel is a
“New Moses.”
Both
Moses and Ezekiel are sent to hard-hearted folk. However, in Moses’ day this meant Pharaoh and
the Egyptians; for Ezekiel, it is the Israelites
themselves who are as hard-hearted as Pharaoh of old. So there is a kind of irony running through
Ezekiel 1-3: things have gotten worse over a thousand years of salvation
history. Now Ezekiel’s countrymen are
just as bad as the Pharaoh of the exodus.
One
of the paradoxes of history is that God’s messengers are too often rejected by
his own people, and find acceptance among those to whom they were not
sent. Why? Pride.
Those who know they’ve been “chosen” don’t want to hear a rebuke.
2.
The Responsorial Psalm forms a good complement to the first reading. This psalm was probably composed during the
Jewish exile to Babylon (c. 597–537 BC) or perhaps in the early post-exilic
period, when life continued to be hard for the people of Judah:
Responsorial
Psalm Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4
R. (2cd) Our
eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven --
As the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
Have pity on us, O LORD, have pity on us,
for we are more than sated with contempt;
our souls are more than sated
with the mockery of the arrogant,
with the contempt of the proud.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven --
As the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
Have pity on us, O LORD, have pity on us,
for we are more than sated with contempt;
our souls are more than sated
with the mockery of the arrogant,
with the contempt of the proud.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
It’s
likely that this psalm expresses the feelings of the Judeans who ended up being
defeated, captured, and exiled to Babylon, just as Ezekiel had predicted. Living as foreigners in a strange land, they
were treated with contempt by their conquerors: “we are more than sated with
contempt … with the mockery of the arrogant … the contempt of the proud.” In the exile, God’s people learned humility,
which in the bigger picture is a net gain.
With the words of this psalm, we repent of our personal and corporate pride
that keeps us from hearing God’s word.
3. In this
time of the Church year, the second reading is moving in sequence through some
of Paul’s epistles. Although this
selection from 2 Corinthians wasn’t necessarily chosen to fit the Gospel and
the first reading, there is a happy coincidence of theme:
Reading 2 2 Cor 12:7-10
Brothers and sisters:
That I, Paul, might not become too elated,
because of the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness."
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
That I, Paul, might not become too elated,
because of the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness."
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul
reveals why God sometimes allows “bad things” in our lives—sickness,
unemployment, poverty, failure, etc.—even though we pray that they be
removed. God does this to teach us to
depend on him, to let his life live through us.
Otherwise, content with what we can do with our natural powers, we never
learn to live a truly supernatural life.
Not
all prayers are answered in the affirmative, not even all prayers of great
saints, like the Apostle Paul himself.
He prayed, and God said, No.
That’s a healthy reminder when we think our own prayers go unheard, or
that they are not answered because we aren’t holy enough yet.
The
“weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints” St. Paul
mentions are a succinct synopsis of the curses of the Old Covenant (cf. Lev 26;
Deut 28:15-28) that were eventually experienced by Judah (see the psalm)
because they wouldn’t listen to the prophets like Ezekiel (see the first
reading). So why is Paul still
experiencing “covenant curses,” as it were, event though he has entered into
the New Covenant? Life in the New
Covenant does not necessarily avoid or remove the troubles in this world that
result from sin, but the grace of God in the New Covenant radically changes
their meaning and effect for those in Christ.
No longer are these hardships punishments, but opportunities to live a
radically different life, allowing the “power of Christ to dwell in us,” and
actually becoming more intimate with God.
4. Our Gospel is Mark 6:1-6:
Jesus
departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, "Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house."
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, "Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house."
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
The townspeople of Nazareth are hard-hearted and unbelieving, like the
Judeans of Ezekiel’s day. At stake is
pride—they don’t want to admit that a humble home-town boy has anything to teach
them. Their lack of faith impedes
Christ’s work. Is this because God is
not omnipotent? No, but he has chosen to
make his healing power contingent on our faith.
Faith is the means by which we accept the gift of God. God may give, but we have to accept. The people of Nazareth would not accept the
gift of God among them.
The people of Nazareth missed the experience of the power of God,
because they were overly familiar with Jesus and expected very little of
him. The same can be true of us: over familiarity
with Jesus, with the teaching of Scripture, with the Eucharist and the
sacraments, can lead to a ho-hum attitude in which we no longer expect God’s
power to “show up” in our lives. If we
are experiencing “weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints” right now, let’s give thanks
to God for them, because it is through these things that God often wakes us up
out of the stupor we’ve fallen into. A
life of radical holiness is possible for us, today, now, starting with the very
Mass when these Scriptures are read.
What’s holding us back is that we don’t believe Jesus can do it for us.
Excursus:
The “Brothers” of the Lord
According to Mark, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of
Mary and brother of James and Joses
and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:3) This brings up the question of whether there
were other children of the Blessed Virgin.
Protestants use the text of today’s mass to disprove the perpetual
virginity of Our Lady. However, the
first two of Our Lord’s “brothers” in Mark 6:3—namely, James and Joses—are expressly
said to be the children of a different Mary who was present at the cross in
Mark 15:40. This other Mary, I believe,
was the BVM’s sister-in-law, married to St. Joseph’s brother Cleophas (=”Clophas”). The relevant texts are lined up in the chart
below:
Women at the Resurrection
Scripture |
Woman #1
|
Woman #2
|
Woman #3
|
Woman #4
|
W. #5
|
Matthew 27:56
|
|
Mary
mother of James
and Joseph
(the “other” Mary in Mt. 27:61, 28:1)
|
Mary Magdalene
|
[Salome]
mother of Zebedee’s sons
|
|
Mark 15:40
|
|
Mary
mother of James
the younger and Joses
(“mother of Joses” in Mk 15:47;
“mother of
James” in Mk 16:1)
|
Mary Magdalene
|
Salome
|
|
Luke 24:10
|
|
Mary
mother of James
|
Mary Magdalene
|
[Joanna?]
|
Joanna
|
John 19:25
|
[Mary]
Jesus’ mother
|
Mary
wife of Clopas
BVM’s “sister”
|
Mary Magdalene
|
|
|
Incidently, who was “James the younger” (Mk 15:40)? Possibly the second James consistently listed
among the disciples?
“… Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax
collector; James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus … “ (Matt. 10:3)
“…Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and
Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean … (Mark 3:18);
“and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot”
(Luke 6:15)
“Alphaeus,” “Clopas,” and “Cleopas” (Lk 24:18) could be
Greek variants of the same Hebrew/Aramaic name yplx
(ch-l-ph-i).
3 comments:
Great article!
The "excursus" about Our Lady's kin is very interesting also. If we think about it, the foundation of the Church was a "family affair".
James, Judas and Simon are the sons of the other Mary "James and Joses and Judas and Simon".
Salome is the daughter of the other Mary, thus one of Jesus' sisters and she is also the mother of Zebedee's children. Zebedee's children are James the greater and John. The Sons of Thunder, remember? Zebedee must have been quite a man to receive such a name from Jesus. Anyway, the are kin to Jesus by virtue of Salome their mother. This explains why St. John is he to whom Jesus left His own mother.
So, out of the 12 Apostles, we have James the greater, John, James the less, Judas Thaddeus and Simon Zelotes who might be related to Him. 5 out of the 12.
But what about Peter and Andrew? The first time they are mentioned in Scripture, the wording is ambiguous:
Matthew 4:18
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Yeah, they are brothers, but are they also His "brethren"?
The other question is, why does it appear that neither St. John the Baptist nor any of the other "brethren" seem to have any prior knowledge of Jesus?
Sincerely,
De Maria
John: Thanks for this, and all of your excellent work. Is there any literature on your point that Paul's sufferings were like the first covenant punishments? Tom Schuessler
Dear Tom: I think there is, but I'll have to ask around. I think it's clearer in the list of hardships in Rom 8 that he is summarizing the covenant curses of Lev/Deut, and here in 2 Cor he is abbreviating further.
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