Thursday of the Second Week of Lent
The Hook
http://www.usccb.org/nab/031606.shtml
Reflection:
Scripture today has a hook at the end, however, we begin with a different thought in mind. In the reading from Jeremiah and the Psalm we are reminded that, if what we do does not come from the Lord, it will be for naught. It is a strong injunction against pride and a reminder that all that we can accomplish that is good comes, not from our own efforts, but from God. It is he who gives us the strength and will of purpose to accomplish the good work he puts in front of us.
That is not to say it is preordained. No, as we see in the parable of Lazarus in the Gospel, we all have choices. God made us in his own image and likeness. Part of that gift is the ability to choose right from wrong. In his life, the rich man in the story of Lazarus chose to ignore the beggar at his door. He chose the best for himself during his life on earth, even though it would not have cost him dearly to help Lazarus. And finally, when it was too late, the rich man found the truth and was reminded forcibly by Abraham that kindness and help for those who are poor is part of the Law of Moses, even before it was strengthened by Christ's specific injunction to love one another.
Then we come to the hook at the end of the story. The last line says; 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
Gosh, I wonder what that could mean? Do you think that Jesus could possibly been throwing us a line, across two millennium, to let us know that we too have been given the law and the prophets and a Savior, risen from the dead. Is it possible that the story of Lazarus could have been meant as a reminder to us about what our choices can mean for our eternal life? Well, that's what it sounds like to me. Pax
I welcome your comments. If you would like to make one and are not registered on Myspace, you can email me at miles_jj@excite.com and, if you wish, I will post your response as a comment. Thanks.
Scripture[1] from Jer 17:5-10
Jerome Biblical Commentary[2]
5 Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.
8 He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.
(D) Sapiential Sayings (17:5-II). The authenticity of this small collection of wisdom is still highly disputed; in fact, no definitive arguments can be given for or against it. 5-8. This first saying on "true justice" uses the antithetical synonymity and the literary form of the blessings and curses. The idea of the just man being like a green tree because his strength is in God is well known in the wisdom literature (Ps 52 :10; Prv 3 :18; 11 :13; Sir 24:13ff.), as is also the opposition between the trust in God and the trust in man (Pss 39:5; 117:8-9; 145 :31f). But the closest parallel is Ps 1, where this opposition is expressed with the very same comparisons, also attested to in the wisdom of the Egyptian Sage, Amen-em-Ope (6:1-12; cf. ANET 422). Most exegetes agree that Ps 1 is dependent on Jer, for the trust in the Law is characteristic of later Judaism. The saying intends to put across the real heart of true religion: God is man's sole refuge. We see no evidence to hold, with R. Davidson, that what Jeremiah expresses here is a rejection of Josiah's nationalistic reform after the latter's death at Megiddo in 609, proving that the human policies are futile (VT 9 [1959] 204-205).
9 More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?
10 I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.
9-10. This new saying concerns the root of evil, the human heart. If the secret plots of the heart are hidden to men, they are transparent to God (cf. Ps 138). The expression "probe the heart and test the loins" is properly Jeremian (cf. 11 :20; 20:12; Pss 7:10; 64:7), and shows how constantly the Prophet repeated the primacy of the interior sentiments in religious life.
[1] All biblical references -New American Bible United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000 December 09, 2002 Copyright by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
[2] All references to Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc. 1968
Scripture from Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Jerome Biblical Commentary
1 1 2 Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.
1 [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each "way" brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death.
2 [1] Those: literally, "the man." That word is used here and in many of the Psalms as typical, and therefore is translated "they." The way: a common biblical term for manner of living or moral conduct (Psalm 32:8; 101:2, 6; Proverb 2:20; 1 Kings 8:36).
Ps 1. A post-exilic wisdom Ps, which has been prefixed to the collection as an introduction; in one of the variant readings to Acts 13: 33, Ps 2 is called the first Ps. Structure: 1-3, the just man; 4-5, the godless; 6, the two ways. 1. A congratulatory formula, "Happy..." is typical of the wisdom style; here, the characteristics of the just man are defined negatively: keeping away from bad companions.
2 3 Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God's law they study day and night.
3 [2] The law of the LORD: either the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, or, more probably, divine teaching or instruction.
2. Positively, he is constantly and joyfully occupied with study and observance of the Torah, the expression of the divine will.
3 They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.
3. Positively, his well-being can be compared to a fruitful tree (Jer 17:7-8; Ps 92:13-15), a common comparison in the ancient Orient (Amen-em-ope, ANET 422); the bracketed line in 3e is a gloss formed on the pattern of Jos 1 :8.
4 4 But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind.
4 [4] The wicked: those who by their actions distance themselves from God's life-giving presence.
4-5. In sharp contrast are the wicked-"chaff;" the lighter, useless parts of wheat that are blown free as the wheat is sifted on a breezy mound. What "judgment" is meant? Either one at the end time, or more probably an effective judgment in this world (cf. E. Arbez, CBQ 7 [1945] 398-404). In this world, the judgment would be the exclusion of the sinner from the company and fate of the just.
6 The LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
6. The biblical sense of "way" as manner of life is apparent (cf. F. Ntscher, Gotteswege und Menschen wege in der Bibel und in Qumran [Bonn, 1958]); the just will prosper whereas the wicked will be punished. One should avoid an excessively legalistic interpretation of Ps 1; the ideal held out is one of joyful loyalty and dedication.
Scripture from Lk 16:19-31
Jerome Biblical Commentary
19 12 "There was a rich man 13 who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.
12 [19-31] The parable of the rich man and Lazarus again illustrates Luke's concern with Jesus' attitude toward the rich and the poor. The reversal of the fates of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:22-23) illustrates the teachings of Jesus in Luke's "Sermon on the Plain" (Luke 6:20-21, 24-25).
13 [19] The oldest Greek manuscript of Luke dating from ca. A.D. 175-225 records the name of the rich man as an abbreviated form of "Nineveh," but there is very little textual support in other manuscripts for this reading. "Dives" of popular tradition is the Latin Vulgate's translation for "rich man." (Luke 16:19-31)
19-31. In this story of "The Rich Man and Lazarus," known only through Lk, Jesus is addressing "the Pharisees who were fond of money" (v. 14) and who thought to find justification in their own punctilious observance of the Law (11:37ff.). The rich man is similar in many respects to the "Dishonest Manager" (16 :1-8a); both seem successful for a time, both are unaware of evil in mishandling "mammon." Similar stories existed in Egypt and among the rabbis; Jesus could easily have adapted this tradition to his own purpose (cf. references in J. M. Creed, Luke, 209-IO; W. Grundmann, Evangelium, 325-26).
19. clothed in expensive purple: Wooleri garments dyed with Tyrian purple. linen: Fine Egyptian undergarments (Ez 16:13; Ap 18:12).
20 And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
20. Lazarus: In Hebr, "Eliezer" (Gn 15 :2). The only case in a parable where a name is assigned to a character; for this reason it is suspect. Was the name borrowed from Lazarus of Bethany who was at a banquet and whose resurrection from the dead failed to convince the Jewish leaders of Jesus' messiahship? (See Jn 11 :1-44; 12:1-11.) Because the poor man is called Lazarus, we find that the rich man also was given a name in some mss. and versions: "Nineveh" (see J. A. Fitzmyer, CBQ 24 [1962] 175-77; H. J. Cadbury, JBL 81 [1962] 399-42; K. Grobel, NTS IO [1963-64] 373-82). In the oldest text of Lk (P75) it is written Neues. a poor man: Because every Jewish landowner was Yahweh's tenant (Lv 25:23), he owed "taxes" to Yahweh's representatives, the poor, and was thus expected to share the land with them in the form of alms (Mi 2:9; Is 58:7; Neh 5).
21 who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
21. the dogs: The owner's pets would eat the bread with which the guests wiped the plates or their hands and then tossed under the table; how Lazarus longed to have some of even that food! The rich man's sin consisted in his blind indifference to the agony of the poor.
22 When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried,
22. Abraham's bosom: The image is expressive of either the eschatological banquet (5 :34) or of an intimate fellowship with Abraham (both known in rabbinical literature; see ThDNT 3, 825-26).
23 and from the netherworld, 14 where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
24 And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.'
25 Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
26 Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.'
27 He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house,
28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.'
29 But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.'
30 15 He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
14 [23] The netherworld: see the note on Luke 10:15.
15 [30-31] A foreshadowing in Luke's gospel of the rejection of the call to repentance even after Jesus' resurrection.
23. in Hades: Hell, Sheol, abode of the dead. Enoch ch. 22 speaks of adjoining quarters for the evil and the good in this abode of the dead and seems to imply that they remain there till the judgment and. general resurrection. This notion corresponds to the rabbinical teaching that after the apocalyptic battles of the messianic age, there would dawn the "age to come" (cf. W. D. Davies, Torah in the Messianic Age and/or the Age to Come [Phila., 1952]).
31 Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
31. This punch line not only emphasizes that knowledge of the Law is insufficient, for the Law must be kept with humble compunction, but also teaches that wondrous events, even resurrection from the dead, do not automatically save men (cf. J. Cantinat, BiViChr 48[1962] 19;-26).
The Hook
http://www.usccb.org/nab/031606.shtml
Reflection:
Scripture today has a hook at the end, however, we begin with a different thought in mind. In the reading from Jeremiah and the Psalm we are reminded that, if what we do does not come from the Lord, it will be for naught. It is a strong injunction against pride and a reminder that all that we can accomplish that is good comes, not from our own efforts, but from God. It is he who gives us the strength and will of purpose to accomplish the good work he puts in front of us.
That is not to say it is preordained. No, as we see in the parable of Lazarus in the Gospel, we all have choices. God made us in his own image and likeness. Part of that gift is the ability to choose right from wrong. In his life, the rich man in the story of Lazarus chose to ignore the beggar at his door. He chose the best for himself during his life on earth, even though it would not have cost him dearly to help Lazarus. And finally, when it was too late, the rich man found the truth and was reminded forcibly by Abraham that kindness and help for those who are poor is part of the Law of Moses, even before it was strengthened by Christ's specific injunction to love one another.
Then we come to the hook at the end of the story. The last line says; 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
Gosh, I wonder what that could mean? Do you think that Jesus could possibly been throwing us a line, across two millennium, to let us know that we too have been given the law and the prophets and a Savior, risen from the dead. Is it possible that the story of Lazarus could have been meant as a reminder to us about what our choices can mean for our eternal life? Well, that's what it sounds like to me. Pax
I welcome your comments. If you would like to make one and are not registered on Myspace, you can email me at miles_jj@excite.com and, if you wish, I will post your response as a comment. Thanks.
Scripture[1] from Jer 17:5-10
Jerome Biblical Commentary[2]
5 Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.
8 He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.
(D) Sapiential Sayings (17:5-II). The authenticity of this small collection of wisdom is still highly disputed; in fact, no definitive arguments can be given for or against it. 5-8. This first saying on "true justice" uses the antithetical synonymity and the literary form of the blessings and curses. The idea of the just man being like a green tree because his strength is in God is well known in the wisdom literature (Ps 52 :10; Prv 3 :18; 11 :13; Sir 24:13ff.), as is also the opposition between the trust in God and the trust in man (Pss 39:5; 117:8-9; 145 :31f). But the closest parallel is Ps 1, where this opposition is expressed with the very same comparisons, also attested to in the wisdom of the Egyptian Sage, Amen-em-Ope (6:1-12; cf. ANET 422). Most exegetes agree that Ps 1 is dependent on Jer, for the trust in the Law is characteristic of later Judaism. The saying intends to put across the real heart of true religion: God is man's sole refuge. We see no evidence to hold, with R. Davidson, that what Jeremiah expresses here is a rejection of Josiah's nationalistic reform after the latter's death at Megiddo in 609, proving that the human policies are futile (VT 9 [1959] 204-205).
9 More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?
10 I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.
9-10. This new saying concerns the root of evil, the human heart. If the secret plots of the heart are hidden to men, they are transparent to God (cf. Ps 138). The expression "probe the heart and test the loins" is properly Jeremian (cf. 11 :20; 20:12; Pss 7:10; 64:7), and shows how constantly the Prophet repeated the primacy of the interior sentiments in religious life.
[1] All biblical references -New American Bible United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000 December 09, 2002 Copyright by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
[2] All references to Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc. 1968
Scripture from Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Jerome Biblical Commentary
1 1 2 Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.
1 [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each "way" brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death.
2 [1] Those: literally, "the man." That word is used here and in many of the Psalms as typical, and therefore is translated "they." The way: a common biblical term for manner of living or moral conduct (Psalm 32:8; 101:2, 6; Proverb 2:20; 1 Kings 8:36).
Ps 1. A post-exilic wisdom Ps, which has been prefixed to the collection as an introduction; in one of the variant readings to Acts 13: 33, Ps 2 is called the first Ps. Structure: 1-3, the just man; 4-5, the godless; 6, the two ways. 1. A congratulatory formula, "Happy..." is typical of the wisdom style; here, the characteristics of the just man are defined negatively: keeping away from bad companions.
2 3 Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God's law they study day and night.
3 [2] The law of the LORD: either the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, or, more probably, divine teaching or instruction.
2. Positively, he is constantly and joyfully occupied with study and observance of the Torah, the expression of the divine will.
3 They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.
3. Positively, his well-being can be compared to a fruitful tree (Jer 17:7-8; Ps 92:13-15), a common comparison in the ancient Orient (Amen-em-ope, ANET 422); the bracketed line in 3e is a gloss formed on the pattern of Jos 1 :8.
4 4 But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind.
4 [4] The wicked: those who by their actions distance themselves from God's life-giving presence.
4-5. In sharp contrast are the wicked-"chaff;" the lighter, useless parts of wheat that are blown free as the wheat is sifted on a breezy mound. What "judgment" is meant? Either one at the end time, or more probably an effective judgment in this world (cf. E. Arbez, CBQ 7 [1945] 398-404). In this world, the judgment would be the exclusion of the sinner from the company and fate of the just.
6 The LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
6. The biblical sense of "way" as manner of life is apparent (cf. F. Ntscher, Gotteswege und Menschen wege in der Bibel und in Qumran [Bonn, 1958]); the just will prosper whereas the wicked will be punished. One should avoid an excessively legalistic interpretation of Ps 1; the ideal held out is one of joyful loyalty and dedication.
Scripture from Lk 16:19-31
Jerome Biblical Commentary
19 12 "There was a rich man 13 who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.
12 [19-31] The parable of the rich man and Lazarus again illustrates Luke's concern with Jesus' attitude toward the rich and the poor. The reversal of the fates of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:22-23) illustrates the teachings of Jesus in Luke's "Sermon on the Plain" (Luke 6:20-21, 24-25).
13 [19] The oldest Greek manuscript of Luke dating from ca. A.D. 175-225 records the name of the rich man as an abbreviated form of "Nineveh," but there is very little textual support in other manuscripts for this reading. "Dives" of popular tradition is the Latin Vulgate's translation for "rich man." (Luke 16:19-31)
19-31. In this story of "The Rich Man and Lazarus," known only through Lk, Jesus is addressing "the Pharisees who were fond of money" (v. 14) and who thought to find justification in their own punctilious observance of the Law (11:37ff.). The rich man is similar in many respects to the "Dishonest Manager" (16 :1-8a); both seem successful for a time, both are unaware of evil in mishandling "mammon." Similar stories existed in Egypt and among the rabbis; Jesus could easily have adapted this tradition to his own purpose (cf. references in J. M. Creed, Luke, 209-IO; W. Grundmann, Evangelium, 325-26).
19. clothed in expensive purple: Wooleri garments dyed with Tyrian purple. linen: Fine Egyptian undergarments (Ez 16:13; Ap 18:12).
20 And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
20. Lazarus: In Hebr, "Eliezer" (Gn 15 :2). The only case in a parable where a name is assigned to a character; for this reason it is suspect. Was the name borrowed from Lazarus of Bethany who was at a banquet and whose resurrection from the dead failed to convince the Jewish leaders of Jesus' messiahship? (See Jn 11 :1-44; 12:1-11.) Because the poor man is called Lazarus, we find that the rich man also was given a name in some mss. and versions: "Nineveh" (see J. A. Fitzmyer, CBQ 24 [1962] 175-77; H. J. Cadbury, JBL 81 [1962] 399-42; K. Grobel, NTS IO [1963-64] 373-82). In the oldest text of Lk (P75) it is written Neues. a poor man: Because every Jewish landowner was Yahweh's tenant (Lv 25:23), he owed "taxes" to Yahweh's representatives, the poor, and was thus expected to share the land with them in the form of alms (Mi 2:9; Is 58:7; Neh 5).
21 who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
21. the dogs: The owner's pets would eat the bread with which the guests wiped the plates or their hands and then tossed under the table; how Lazarus longed to have some of even that food! The rich man's sin consisted in his blind indifference to the agony of the poor.
22 When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried,
22. Abraham's bosom: The image is expressive of either the eschatological banquet (5 :34) or of an intimate fellowship with Abraham (both known in rabbinical literature; see ThDNT 3, 825-26).
23 and from the netherworld, 14 where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
24 And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.'
25 Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
26 Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.'
27 He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house,
28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.'
29 But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.'
30 15 He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
14 [23] The netherworld: see the note on Luke 10:15.
15 [30-31] A foreshadowing in Luke's gospel of the rejection of the call to repentance even after Jesus' resurrection.
23. in Hades: Hell, Sheol, abode of the dead. Enoch ch. 22 speaks of adjoining quarters for the evil and the good in this abode of the dead and seems to imply that they remain there till the judgment and. general resurrection. This notion corresponds to the rabbinical teaching that after the apocalyptic battles of the messianic age, there would dawn the "age to come" (cf. W. D. Davies, Torah in the Messianic Age and/or the Age to Come [Phila., 1952]).
31 Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
31. This punch line not only emphasizes that knowledge of the Law is insufficient, for the Law must be kept with humble compunction, but also teaches that wondrous events, even resurrection from the dead, do not automatically save men (cf. J. Cantinat, BiViChr 48[1962] 19;-26).
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