Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent and St. Isidore, Bishop
Readings for Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent
Biographical Information for Isidore of Seville, Bishop
First Published: Tuesday, April 04, 2006
I Always Thought It Was a Girl's Name
Reflection:
Before I begin my reflection in earnest I thought I would up-date the regular readers on Michael and his quest for a new liver and, in parallel, for God. I was notified on Saturday evening that a liver had been found and when I stopped in after Mass on Sunday he was in the operating room for transplant surgery. He is now recovering from the surgery and not very awake. We will talk about Gods gifts later when he can understand and see Gods finger prints in his life.
In the Gospel, Jesus is clearly getting a bit frustrated with the Hebrew leadership for not being able to understand who he is (even though he uses the Hebrew formula for God I AM referring to himself on a couple of occasions). We, his modern day disciples see clearly the meaning in his statements and understand he is truly the Son of God.
From a practical standpoint, the reading from Numbers should speak to us today. How often have we fallen into the role of the Hebrews in the story about the saraph serpents? How frequently have we heard ourselves complaining; Why did God let that happen? Or; Why did God put me in this situation?
Its the old Blessing and Curse thing. God made us in his own image and likeness. In doing so he gave all mankind (the good, the bad, and the ugly) free will. He gave us the freedom to make choices, good and bad and placed us in a world full of people with that same ability. What he did not do was make us slaves to Him as he so easily could have done. That would have been absolutely necessary if all of our decisions would lead us to happy outcomes all of the time.
So, bad things happen. They happen because we make bad decisions and put ourselves in situations where the outcomes are not positive. They happen because the people we are around make bad decisions perhaps not for themselves (look at executives who decide they need to reduce labor costs and lay people off so they can make their profit numbers and get their bonus, so shareholders can make the money they expect on their investments.) For the executive it was a good decision, for the people who invested their 401K money in the company it was a good thing. For the worker who no longer has an income God had dealt him an unfair blow.
God is there for us. He sent his Son to us to give us hope and peace. We only need to reach out to him, to believe he is I AM, and we find that salvation and peace. 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 Num 21:4-9
Jerome Biblical Commentary[2]
4 From Mount Hor they set out on the Red Sea road, to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey,
5 3 the people complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!"
3 [5] This wretched food: apparently the manna is meant.
The narrative of the journey from Kadesh to Moab resumes after the brief interruption, in v. 4.
6 4 In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.
7 Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people,
8 5 and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover."
4 [6] Saraph: the Hebrew name for a certain species of venomous snakes; the word probably signifies "the fiery one," these snakes being so called from the burning effect of their poisonous bite.
5 [8] If anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover: "and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting" (John 3:14-15).
6. The serpents were venomous; because their bite caused inflammation, they were called "fiery" (rp).
9 6 Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.
6 [9] King Hezekiah, in his efforts to abolish idolatry, "smashed the bronze serpent which Moses had made" (2 Kings 18:4).
9. Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent: Archaeology has shown that the cult of the snake was widely practiced in Canaan, probably in connection with fertility rites. A bronze snake has been found in the excavations of Lachish; it dates from the Late Bronze .Age, about the same time as the Exodus. Moses could easily have learned to make such an image from his Kenite relatives, metalsmiths by profession (the name "Kenite" means "smith"). It is also significant that the incident took place in the vicinity of Punon (33 :42), one of the great copper sources in ancient times. The cure certainly looks like a case of sympathetic magic, but J takes care to inform the reader that it was Yahweh who healed. John 3 :14-16 alludes to this incident as a pre-figurement of Christ's own death. The bronze serpent never became a permanent feature of Israelite cult. Hezekiah broke it in pieces and extirpated a cult that was considered an abuse (2 Kgs 18 :4).
[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 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21
Jerome Biblical Commentary
2 LORD, hear my prayer; let my cry come to you.
3 Do not hide your face from me now that I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
Ps 102. An individual lament. However, the form is unusual in that hymnic (13-18) and prophetic (14, 19-23) elements are incorporated into an individual complaint. Structure: 2-12, the complaint of an individual; 13-19, a hymn praising Yahweh as the rebuilder of Zion; 19-23, a prophecy that the Lord shall intervene; 24-27, a fmal plea (24-25); and a song of praise (26-29). The transition to Zion and restoration has caused great variation in the exegesis of this Ps. It is a natural development (cf. Lam 2:II-17) or the result of the incorporation of another Ps? If we take it as a unit, the psalmist describes himself as mortally sick and then turns confidently to God, more concerned with the fate of his people than with his own destiny. This is the fifth of the so-called penitential Pss. 2-3. These lines are an echo of other Pss (c 39:13; 27:9; 69:18; etc.).
16 The nations shall revere your name, LORD, all the kings of the earth, your glory,
17 Once the LORD has rebuilt Zion and appeared in glory,
18 Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.
14-18. The description of Zion serves as a sort of motif of consolation for the poet. The exilic period is the presupposition of this passage, which is filled with confidence and hope.
19 Let this be written for the next generation, for a people not yet born, that they may praise the LORD:
20 3 "The LORD looked down from the holy heights, viewed the earth from heaven,
21 To attend to the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die."
3 [20-23] Both Psalm 102:20-21 and Psalm 102:22-23 depend on Psalm 102:19.
19-23. The psalmist becomes prophet as he wishes his description of Yahweh's successful intervention recorded as proof to the "generation to come." The restoration will be realized with a conversion of "peoples" and "kingdoms" (Is 2 :2ff.). 24-25. The theme of complaint reappears-the proximity of death, although he is still in the prime of life.
Scripture from Jn 8:21-30
Jerome Biblical Commentary
21 9 10 He said to them again, "I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come."
9 [21-30] He whose ambassador I am is with me. Jesus' origin is from God; he can reveal God.
10 [21] You will die in your sin: i.e., of disbelief; cf John 8:24. Where I am going you cannot come: except through faith in Jesus' passion-resurrection.
21. As in 7:33f. Jesus says that he is going away and that the Jews will seek him in vain. you will die in your sin: This time he is more explicit on the cause and consequence of their inability to follow him.
22 11 So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"
11 [22] The Jews suspect that he is referring to his death. Johannine irony is apparent here; Jesus' death will not be self-inflicted but destined by God.
22. Again, as in 7:35, the Jews speak a profound truth unwittingly: Jesus will, indeed, lay down his life freely, and because of this he will be forever beyond their grasp (cf. 10:I7f.).
23 He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world.
24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, 12 you will die in your sins."
12 [24,28] I AM: an expression that late Jewish tradition understood as Yahweh's own self-designation (Isaiah 43:10); see the note on John 4:26. Jesus is here placed on a par with Yahweh.
23-24. Jesus continues. They belong to the world that cannot give life, but he has come from heaven precisely to give this life (cf.3:31). Their obduracy is the sure guarantee that they will die in sin, since they refuse the life that only he can give. This life is to be had only by faith in him. unless you come to believe that I am what I am: Here and in v. 28 Jesus again uses the OT formula of the divine self-identification, "I am" (see comment on 6:35).
25 13 So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning.
13 [25] What I told you from the beginning: this verse seems textually corrupt, with several other possible translations: "(I am) what I say to you"; "Why do I speak to you at all?" The earliest attested reading (Bodmer Papyrus P66) has (in a second hand), "I told you at the beginning what I am also telling you (now)." The answer here (cf Proverb 8:22) seems to hinge on a misunderstanding of John 8:24 "that I AM" as "what I am."
25. That "I am" was recognized as a title is clear from the Jews' question: "Who is this person, then?" Jesus' answer has been variously understood. The Greek is obscure; however, P66 indicates explicitly a reading that has always been possible from the "received text": "[I told you] at the beginning what I am now telling you" (cf. R. W. Funk, HarvTR 5I [I958] 95-100). Jesus is the One whom his words have consistently revealed him to be.
26 I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world."
26. there are many things about you that I could speak of and condemn: Jesus allows himself to remind his opponents that he has ample ground to condemn them for their attitudes and deeds in his regard. However, this he does not do. the only things I speak of in this world: As he has already said (cf. v. 15f.), he does not judge, but only speaks the words of the Father, which themselves will condemn unbelief because of the truth of their origin.
27 They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
28 So Jesus said (to them), "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.
27-28. Because the Jews persist in their misunderstanding, Jesus paraphrases his previous statement. when you will raise up the Son of Man: For the meaning of this expression, see comment on 3:14-. After the crucifixion and glorification of Christ, then-when it is too late-they will perceive that he taught the words of life (cf. Jas 2:I9).
29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him."
29. The raising up of the Son of Man will entail his return to the Father who sent him. At the same time, however, the Father has always been present with the Son, a fact that has continually been made manifest in Jesus' doing the work of the Father.
30 Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
30. If the "believers" of this verse are those who are addressed in the following passage, we might conclude that theirs was a very imperfect faith indeed. Ample precedent for such a conclusion has, of course, already been given: cf. 2:23-25; etc. However, since it is very likely that the Tabernacles discourses have an artificial unity, it is not necessary to draw this conclusion. This verse may be simply John's reminder that, as in 4:39, Jesus' teaching was at times well-received and became the basis of faith.
Readings for Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent
Biographical Information for Isidore of Seville, Bishop
First Published: Tuesday, April 04, 2006
I Always Thought It Was a Girl's Name
Reflection:
Before I begin my reflection in earnest I thought I would up-date the regular readers on Michael and his quest for a new liver and, in parallel, for God. I was notified on Saturday evening that a liver had been found and when I stopped in after Mass on Sunday he was in the operating room for transplant surgery. He is now recovering from the surgery and not very awake. We will talk about Gods gifts later when he can understand and see Gods finger prints in his life.
In the Gospel, Jesus is clearly getting a bit frustrated with the Hebrew leadership for not being able to understand who he is (even though he uses the Hebrew formula for God I AM referring to himself on a couple of occasions). We, his modern day disciples see clearly the meaning in his statements and understand he is truly the Son of God.
From a practical standpoint, the reading from Numbers should speak to us today. How often have we fallen into the role of the Hebrews in the story about the saraph serpents? How frequently have we heard ourselves complaining; Why did God let that happen? Or; Why did God put me in this situation?
Its the old Blessing and Curse thing. God made us in his own image and likeness. In doing so he gave all mankind (the good, the bad, and the ugly) free will. He gave us the freedom to make choices, good and bad and placed us in a world full of people with that same ability. What he did not do was make us slaves to Him as he so easily could have done. That would have been absolutely necessary if all of our decisions would lead us to happy outcomes all of the time.
So, bad things happen. They happen because we make bad decisions and put ourselves in situations where the outcomes are not positive. They happen because the people we are around make bad decisions perhaps not for themselves (look at executives who decide they need to reduce labor costs and lay people off so they can make their profit numbers and get their bonus, so shareholders can make the money they expect on their investments.) For the executive it was a good decision, for the people who invested their 401K money in the company it was a good thing. For the worker who no longer has an income God had dealt him an unfair blow.
God is there for us. He sent his Son to us to give us hope and peace. We only need to reach out to him, to believe he is I AM, and we find that salvation and peace. 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 Num 21:4-9
Jerome Biblical Commentary[2]
4 From Mount Hor they set out on the Red Sea road, to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey,
5 3 the people complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!"
3 [5] This wretched food: apparently the manna is meant.
The narrative of the journey from Kadesh to Moab resumes after the brief interruption, in v. 4.
6 4 In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.
7 Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people,
8 5 and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover."
4 [6] Saraph: the Hebrew name for a certain species of venomous snakes; the word probably signifies "the fiery one," these snakes being so called from the burning effect of their poisonous bite.
5 [8] If anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover: "and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting" (John 3:14-15).
6. The serpents were venomous; because their bite caused inflammation, they were called "fiery" (rp).
9 6 Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.
6 [9] King Hezekiah, in his efforts to abolish idolatry, "smashed the bronze serpent which Moses had made" (2 Kings 18:4).
9. Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent: Archaeology has shown that the cult of the snake was widely practiced in Canaan, probably in connection with fertility rites. A bronze snake has been found in the excavations of Lachish; it dates from the Late Bronze .Age, about the same time as the Exodus. Moses could easily have learned to make such an image from his Kenite relatives, metalsmiths by profession (the name "Kenite" means "smith"). It is also significant that the incident took place in the vicinity of Punon (33 :42), one of the great copper sources in ancient times. The cure certainly looks like a case of sympathetic magic, but J takes care to inform the reader that it was Yahweh who healed. John 3 :14-16 alludes to this incident as a pre-figurement of Christ's own death. The bronze serpent never became a permanent feature of Israelite cult. Hezekiah broke it in pieces and extirpated a cult that was considered an abuse (2 Kgs 18 :4).
[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 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21
Jerome Biblical Commentary
2 LORD, hear my prayer; let my cry come to you.
3 Do not hide your face from me now that I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
Ps 102. An individual lament. However, the form is unusual in that hymnic (13-18) and prophetic (14, 19-23) elements are incorporated into an individual complaint. Structure: 2-12, the complaint of an individual; 13-19, a hymn praising Yahweh as the rebuilder of Zion; 19-23, a prophecy that the Lord shall intervene; 24-27, a fmal plea (24-25); and a song of praise (26-29). The transition to Zion and restoration has caused great variation in the exegesis of this Ps. It is a natural development (cf. Lam 2:II-17) or the result of the incorporation of another Ps? If we take it as a unit, the psalmist describes himself as mortally sick and then turns confidently to God, more concerned with the fate of his people than with his own destiny. This is the fifth of the so-called penitential Pss. 2-3. These lines are an echo of other Pss (c 39:13; 27:9; 69:18; etc.).
16 The nations shall revere your name, LORD, all the kings of the earth, your glory,
17 Once the LORD has rebuilt Zion and appeared in glory,
18 Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.
14-18. The description of Zion serves as a sort of motif of consolation for the poet. The exilic period is the presupposition of this passage, which is filled with confidence and hope.
19 Let this be written for the next generation, for a people not yet born, that they may praise the LORD:
20 3 "The LORD looked down from the holy heights, viewed the earth from heaven,
21 To attend to the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die."
3 [20-23] Both Psalm 102:20-21 and Psalm 102:22-23 depend on Psalm 102:19.
19-23. The psalmist becomes prophet as he wishes his description of Yahweh's successful intervention recorded as proof to the "generation to come." The restoration will be realized with a conversion of "peoples" and "kingdoms" (Is 2 :2ff.). 24-25. The theme of complaint reappears-the proximity of death, although he is still in the prime of life.
Scripture from Jn 8:21-30
Jerome Biblical Commentary
21 9 10 He said to them again, "I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come."
9 [21-30] He whose ambassador I am is with me. Jesus' origin is from God; he can reveal God.
10 [21] You will die in your sin: i.e., of disbelief; cf John 8:24. Where I am going you cannot come: except through faith in Jesus' passion-resurrection.
21. As in 7:33f. Jesus says that he is going away and that the Jews will seek him in vain. you will die in your sin: This time he is more explicit on the cause and consequence of their inability to follow him.
22 11 So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"
11 [22] The Jews suspect that he is referring to his death. Johannine irony is apparent here; Jesus' death will not be self-inflicted but destined by God.
22. Again, as in 7:35, the Jews speak a profound truth unwittingly: Jesus will, indeed, lay down his life freely, and because of this he will be forever beyond their grasp (cf. 10:I7f.).
23 He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world.
24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, 12 you will die in your sins."
12 [24,28] I AM: an expression that late Jewish tradition understood as Yahweh's own self-designation (Isaiah 43:10); see the note on John 4:26. Jesus is here placed on a par with Yahweh.
23-24. Jesus continues. They belong to the world that cannot give life, but he has come from heaven precisely to give this life (cf.3:31). Their obduracy is the sure guarantee that they will die in sin, since they refuse the life that only he can give. This life is to be had only by faith in him. unless you come to believe that I am what I am: Here and in v. 28 Jesus again uses the OT formula of the divine self-identification, "I am" (see comment on 6:35).
25 13 So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning.
13 [25] What I told you from the beginning: this verse seems textually corrupt, with several other possible translations: "(I am) what I say to you"; "Why do I speak to you at all?" The earliest attested reading (Bodmer Papyrus P66) has (in a second hand), "I told you at the beginning what I am also telling you (now)." The answer here (cf Proverb 8:22) seems to hinge on a misunderstanding of John 8:24 "that I AM" as "what I am."
25. That "I am" was recognized as a title is clear from the Jews' question: "Who is this person, then?" Jesus' answer has been variously understood. The Greek is obscure; however, P66 indicates explicitly a reading that has always been possible from the "received text": "[I told you] at the beginning what I am now telling you" (cf. R. W. Funk, HarvTR 5I [I958] 95-100). Jesus is the One whom his words have consistently revealed him to be.
26 I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world."
26. there are many things about you that I could speak of and condemn: Jesus allows himself to remind his opponents that he has ample ground to condemn them for their attitudes and deeds in his regard. However, this he does not do. the only things I speak of in this world: As he has already said (cf. v. 15f.), he does not judge, but only speaks the words of the Father, which themselves will condemn unbelief because of the truth of their origin.
27 They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
28 So Jesus said (to them), "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.
27-28. Because the Jews persist in their misunderstanding, Jesus paraphrases his previous statement. when you will raise up the Son of Man: For the meaning of this expression, see comment on 3:14-. After the crucifixion and glorification of Christ, then-when it is too late-they will perceive that he taught the words of life (cf. Jas 2:I9).
29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him."
29. The raising up of the Son of Man will entail his return to the Father who sent him. At the same time, however, the Father has always been present with the Son, a fact that has continually been made manifest in Jesus' doing the work of the Father.
30 Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
30. If the "believers" of this verse are those who are addressed in the following passage, we might conclude that theirs was a very imperfect faith indeed. Ample precedent for such a conclusion has, of course, already been given: cf. 2:23-25; etc. However, since it is very likely that the Tabernacles discourses have an artificial unity, it is not necessary to draw this conclusion. This verse may be simply John's reminder that, as in 4:39, Jesus' teaching was at times well-received and became the basis of faith.
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