Commentary 3^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year A

January 26, 2014

Reading 1

IS 8:23-9:3

First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun

and the land of Naphtali;

but in the end he has glorified the seaward road,

the land west of the Jordan,

the District of the Gentiles.

Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness:

for there is no gloom where but now there was distress.

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom

a light has shone.

You have brought them abundant joy

and great rejoicing,

as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,

as people make merry when dividing spoils.

For the yoke that burdened them,

the pole on their shoulder,

and the rod of their taskmaster

you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.

Commentary

At the time in question, the kingdom of Israel was divided into two. You remember that David and then Solomon reigned over all of the people of Israel, but after the death of Solomon in 933 BC this unity was broken (known as the schism of Israel); the result was two distinct kingdoms, sometimes at war against each other: The northern kingdom is called Israel, it bears the name of the chosen people, and its capital is Samaria; the southern kingdom is called Judah and its capital is Jerusalem. Judah is truly the legitimate kingdom because it was always the descendant of King David on the throne of Jerusalem who carried the promises of God.

Isaiah preached in Jerusalem, in the southern kingdom, but, curiously, all the places that are mentioned here belong to the northern kingdom: "The Lord degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali ... he glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the district of the Gentiles... as on the day of Midian. "Zebulun, Naphtali, the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the district of the Gentiles, Midian: these are six names of places that are in the North. Zebulun and Naphtali are the names of two of the twelve tribes of Israel and their land is in the Galilee (the district of the Gentiles), west of Lake Tiberias; we are definitely in northern Palestine. The road to the sea, as its name suggests, is the coastal plain to the west of Galilee, and finally what Isaiah calls the land west of the Jordan, is the Transjordan.

This geographic information allows us to speculate on the historical events to which Isaiah alludes, for these three regions - the Galilee, Transjordan and the coastal plain - shared a particular lot for a short time, from 732 and 721 BC. During that period the rising power in the region was the Assyrian empire with its capital Nineveh. These three regions were the first to be annexed by the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pilézer III in 732. Then, in 721, it was the entire kingdom of Samaria that was annexed (including the city of Samaria).

So this is certainly the slice of history to which Isaiah is referring. It is precisely to these three regions that Isaiah promises a radical reversal of fortune: "First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun

and the land of Naphtali;

but in the end he has glorified the seaward road,

the land west of the Jordan,

the District of the Gentiles.”

Earlier I said that Isaiah preached in Jerusalem (in the South), and so we can ask ourselves why such promises about the northern kingdom would be of interest to the southern kingdom.

The answer is that the southern kingdom is not indifferent to what is happening in the North, for at least two reasons: first, because of their geographical proximity - threats to one area sooner or later weigh on the other area; when the Assyrian Empire took possession of the North, the South had everything to fear. AND, besides, the southern kingdom (Jerusalem) is already a vassal of the Assyrian empire; it may not yet be crushed, but it has lost its autonomy. On the other hand, the Southern Kingdom interprets the schism as a tear in a dress that should have remained seamless; It still hopes for reunification, under its leadership, of course.

It is precisely at this level that these promises for the restoration of the northern kingdom resonate: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom

a light has shone": here are two phrases that were part of the coronation ritual of each new king. Traditionally, the advent of a new king is compared to a sunrise, because he is expected to bring a new day – to restore the greatness of the dynasty. It is thus about a royal birth that this text is referring to. And this new king will ensure both the security of the southern kingdom and the reunification of the two kingdoms.

Indeed, a few verses later, Isaiah spells it out: "For a child is born for us, a son given to us” (v.6) These too are the usual formulas for coronations. Here the reference is to the heir apparent, Hezekiah who is 7. He is the famous Emmanuel promised eight years earlier by the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz. Recall that promise: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall name him Immanuel"(Isaiah 7, 14). This young Hezekiah, age 7, was associated with his father's reign.

With him, hope can be reborn: "He will be the prince of peace," says Isaiah. For, one thing is certain: God upholds his people in their desire for freedom and God will not let them remain indefinitely under the tutelage of other great powers.

Why this assurance that defies all realistic evidence ? Simply because God cannot deny Himself, as Saint Paul would later say: God wants to free his people from all servitude of any kind. This is the certainty of faith.

This certainty is based on memory. Moses had often insisted: "Beware lest you forget what the Lord has done for you", because if we lose that memory, we are lost. Recall Isaiah’s words to King Ahaz: "If you do not stand firm in the faith you shall not stand at all" (Is 7, 9b). At each test, at each time of darkness, the prophet’s certainty that God will not fail in God’s promises inspires him to prophecy of victory: a victory that will be "as on the day of Midian" - a famous victory over the Midianites when in the middle of the night, Gideon and a handful of men, armed only with lights, trumpets and especially their faith in God routed out the Midianite camp .

Isaiah’s message is this: "Do not fear. God will never abandon David’s dynasty." For us today, it could be translated thus: Fear not, little flock. It is in the night that we must believe in the light. Whatever darkness covers the world and human life, and also the lives of our communities, let us awaken our hope: God will not abandon his plan of love for humanity.

*****

It is believed that "The people that walked in darkness" is an allusion to the columns of deportees: humiliated, often blinded by the conqueror, they were physically and morally in darkness!

Responsorial Psalm

PS 27:1, 4, 13-14

R/ (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear?

The LORD is my life’s refuge;

of whom should I be afraid?

R/ The Lord is my light and my salvation.

One thing I ask of the LORD;

this I seek:

To dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD

and contemplate his temple.

R/ The Lord is my light and my salvation.

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD

in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD with courage;

be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.

R/ The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Commentary

"The Lord is my light and my salvation" ... these words in the first person singular do not deceive us - it is a collective singular. It is the whole people of Israel that expresses its invincible trust in God in all circumstances. Periods of light, periods of darkness, happy circumstances, sad circumstances, the people have experienced it all! And amid all of their adventures, they have remained confident, they have deepened their faith. This psalm is a beautiful testimony.

The psalm expresses in images the various vicissitudes of the people’s history. A common technique used in the Psalms is to have the text refer to very specific individual situations: a sick person, an innocent unjustly condemned, an abandoned child or king or Levite ... (And indeed, if we read the entire Psalm 26, we would see that these individual situations are all present), but in fact all these seemingly individual situations speak of situations which were at one time or another those of Israel as a whole. Therefore, we should read: "Israel is like a sick individual healed by God, like an innocent unjustly condemned, like an abandoned child, like a besieged king", and it is from God alone that Israel waits for its rehabilitation or its deliverance. If we search through the Old Testament, we will easily find all the specific historical situations to which reference is made.

In the verses selected for today, there are two images: the first is that of a king; sometimes Israel was compared to a king besieged by enemies - God always holding him up: "The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?" (Verses 2-3, not included in today’s selection, are more specific: " my adversaries and foes – they shall tumble and fail. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.") Whether this refers to the surprise attack of the Amalekites in the wilderness of Sinai, in the time of Moses, or to the threat of the kings of Samaria and Damascus against the poor king Ahaz terrorized around 735, or to the siege of Jerusalem in 701 by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, or to others I may be forgetting, there was no lack of events of this type.

Faced with these dangers, there are two possible attitudes: the first is that of King David, a man like any other man, a sinner like others (his story with Bathsheba was well known), but also a believer assured that in all circumstances God’s presence was at his side. David remained a model for his people. On the other side of the coin, we have King Ahaz: during Advent, in a text by the prophet Isaiah, we met King Ahaz, a man who did not have the same calm faith - I quoted you the very expressive words of Isaiah saying how the King yielded to panic at the siege of Jerusalem: "the heart of Ahaz and of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind” (Isaiah 7, verse 2). Isaiah’s warning to Ahaz had been very firm: he had said to the king, "If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all" (Is 7, 9b). (Today we would say, "you won’t hold up"). Incidentally, Isaiah was making a pun on the word "Amen" because in Hebrew, the word “Amen” means both "to believe, keep the faith" and "to stand". This can help us better understand the meaning of the word "faith" in the Bible.

I return to the two contrasting attitudes of David and Ahaz: the people of Israel, of course, have alternately known these two types of attitude, but in their prayer, they turn to the faith of David.

Israel can also be compared to a Levite, a servant of the Temple, whose life takes place in the temple of Jerusalem (this is the second image): "One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life." When we know that the Levites were attached to the service of the Temple of Jerusalem and stood guard day and night in the temple, the allusion to the Levite is very clear; against the backdrop of the Levite, we see the portrait of the whole people. Just as the tribe of Levites, which among the twelve tribes of Israel is the one devoted to the service of the house of the Lord, so too, the whole people of Israel is the one people among all those of the earth, consecrated to God, belonging to God.

Finally, the last verse, "I know that I shall see the bounty (goodness) of the Lord in the land of the living…” makes us irresistibly think of Job when he says: " For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been thus destroyed (meaning even if they managed to rip off my skin), then in my flesh I shall see God" (Job 19, 25-26). Neither the author of Psalm 26 or of the Book of Job are thinking of the possibility of an individual’s resurrection (this is a later development in the thought of Israel). The term "land of the living" applies to the here and now. Israel’s hope is so strong that they are sure that God will intervene for them. Of course, these texts are even more powerful once faith in the resurrection of the dead is born: "I know that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

As for the last sentence ("Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord"), it is perhaps an allusion to the word that God had spoken to Joshua at the time of the journey into the Promised Land, the land of the living: "Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1: 9).

This last stanza reflects once again the unshakable confidence of the people of Israel: "I know that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." This confidence, as we know, is based on the memory of God’s work and this is the basis for Israel’s hope. Hope is faith conjugated in the future tense. Andre Chouraqui called it the "memory of the future."

It therefore comes as no surprise that this psalm is proposed for funeral celebrations: the days of mourning are the time when we really need to re-root ourselves, to be recharged with the faith and hope of our fathers and mothers.

Reading 2

1 COR 1:10-13, 17

I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that all of you agree in what you say,

and that there be no divisions among you,

but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.

For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters,

by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you.

I mean that each of you is saying,

“I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,”

or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

Is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified for you?

Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel,

and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,

so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

Commentary

Due to its location, the port of Corinth was a place of intense traffic with all other Mediterranean ports. By the same token, all the currents of thought of the then Mediterranean world were echoed in Corinth. It is not surprising that travelers coming from different countries witnessed to their Christian faith each in their own unique way. In their enthusiasm the newly baptized readily compared the quality of the message brought by different travelling preachers. And, apparently, judging by the rest of Paul’s letter, the Corinthians were very sensitive, even too sensitive to high rhetoric ...

Suddenly clans were formed, and discussions and even disputes were rife. You know that it is on religious topics that we are less tolerant! Paul cites four clans: first Christians who claim to belong to him, and then there are the disciples of Apollos - we know him from the Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 18). He was a Jew, a native of Alexandria (Egypt), and certainly an intellectual: it was said that he was a scholar, versed in the Scriptures. Where did he join the Christian faith? According to some manuscripts, it would already have been in Egypt, his country of origin, which would imply that Christianity took root very early on in Egypt. Although we cannot know for certain where Apollos became a Christian, it is clear that he was a fervent one, although his catechetical formation was still incomplete. We read in Acts: "He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John" (Acts 18, 25). Upon his arrival in Ephesus, he goes to the synagogue (at that time, Christians had not yet been expelled from the synagogues), where he acts as Paul has always done, that is to say, he announces that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. Two Christians present in the Ephesian synagogue acknowledge his oratorical skills but find it useful to complete his theological baggage. "When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately" (Acts 18, 26).

Thereupon Apollos decides to go to Corinth. Recommended by the brethren at Ephesus, he is well received in Corinth and is soon a great success: "for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus" (Acts 18, 28).

So obviously, if we are to take St. Luke at his word in this passage from the Acts of the Apostles, Apollos is a devout Christian with great oratory skills. He enthuses the crowds and is also valuable in debates between Jews and Christians. He is certainly more eloquent than Paul, who himself admits not having the same skill: "Jesus sent me to proclaim the Gospel without recourse to the wisdom of human language ", what he calls" the wisdom of words human "is oratory, the strength of the argument: Paul evangelism is not done without speeches and arguments.

"Christ…(sent me)… to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning." That is to say, to preach the gospel of love, there is no need of eloquence and beautiful arguments seeking to convince - in the word "convince", if you think about it, there is the Latin word “vincere”: to defeat, to overcome the other. Yet it is obvious that any form of speech should be consistent with its message: we cannot announce a God of tenderness by using violence, even verbal violence! Perhaps we sometimes forget this...

The rest of the letter proves that Apollos does nothing to attract admirers; he remains only a short time in Corinth, and then joins Paul at Ephesus. Paul tried to persuade him to return to Corinth but Apollos refused, probably to avoid aggravating tensions in the Christian community.

In Corinth, a third clan claims to belong to Saint Peter. We do not know if he himself ever went to Corinth, but perhaps members of his entourage had... Finally a fourth clan calls itself the "party of Christ" without our knowing exactly what that entails.

At any rate, Paul, who has left Corinth, continues to receive news of the community from traders who regularly go between Corinth and Ephesus. In particular, the employees of a certain Chloe reported genuine disputes that were dividing the community; so Paul decides to take up the pen. For him it is not a moral issue - in his view, it is much more serious than that.

For him, it is the very meaning of our Baptism that is at stake, and it is the simplicity of Paul's argument that may surprise us. For Paul, it is very simple: to be baptized is to be united to Christ; it is no longer possible to be divided amongst us! Christians, as their name suggests, were all baptized "in the name" of Christ, that is to say the name of Christ was pronounced upon them and so now they belong to him. Nobody can say "I was baptized in the name of so and so, Paul or Apollos or Peter" for all were baptized "in the name" of Christ. The Second Vatican Council says it well: "When the priest baptizes, it is Christ who baptizes." To be baptized in the name of Christ is to be grafted onto him ... It is the success of the new growth that matters, regardless of the gardener.

Gospel

MT 4:12-23

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,

he withdrew to Galilee.

He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,

in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,

that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet

might be fulfilled:

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles,

the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

light has arisen.

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,

Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,

casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.

He said to them,

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

At once they left their nets and followed him.

He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,

James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.

He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father

and followed him.

He went around all of Galilee,

teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,

and curing every disease and illness among the people.

Commentary

We are in Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Matthew. You remember the first three chapters: first, a long genealogy that situates Jesus in the history of his people, especially in the line of David, and then the announcement to Joseph made by the angel of the Lord, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us.’ “ This was a quote from Isaiah, and the gospel writer points out that, "All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet" (Mt 1, 22), a way of saying: finally the promises are fulfilled; finally, the long awaited Messiah is here."

All subsequent episodes retell this message of fulfillment, each in its own way: the visit of the Magi, the flight to Egypt, the massacre of the children of Bethlehem, the return from Egypt and the settling down of Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus in Galilee, Nazareth ... the preaching of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus and finally the story of the temptations of Jesus – in Matthew’s Gospel these stories are full of explicit quotations from Scripture and a multitude of biblical allusions.

And now we are prepared to hear today’s text; it too is full of allusions, and right from the beginning Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah to show what is at stake with Jesus going to live in Capernaum. The fact that the city of Capernaum is in Galilee on the lake of Tiberias is well known, so why does Matthew feel he needs to clarify that the city is located in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali? Both these names of the ancient tribes of Israel were not part of everyday language; they were names from the past! And besides, why link the two names "Zebulun and Naphtali"? When we read in the book of Joshua the description of these tribes’ territory, it is clear that when Palestine was partitioned between the tribes, each tribe’s territory was clearly delimited - a city did not belong to two tribes at once, proof that the concerns of St. Matthew are not geographical; he wants us to discover something much more important: yes, finally the light has shone on Israel and on all mankind. Galilee, as the crossroads of the nations is the gateway to the world - from it the salvation of God brought by the Messiah will shine on all nations.

And that is why Matthew uses two sentences from the ritual crowning of a new king to speak of the arrival of Jesus: "the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen." This is a way of telling us that the true king of the world has come to live with us.

At the same time, Matthew already announces in a few words the unfolding of events to follow. By telling us of the departure of Jesus for Galilee, after the arrest of John the Baptist, Matthew shows us two things: first, that already Christ’s life is and will continue to be marked by persecution ... but secondly, he announces the final victory over evil: Jesus is fleeing persecution, it is true, but in doing so, he carries the Good News to new territories. From evil God brings about the good ... the end of Matthew’s Gospel will show us that out of suffering and death, God brings forth Life.

So now we have Jesus in Capernaum, and Matthew employs a seemingly ordinary formula to announce the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: "From that time on". Yet if you look closely, you see that Matthew employs this formula only one other time, much later, in chapter 16. This is no accident: both times, it signals a turning point. Here, in today’s text: "From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” In Chapter 16, verse 21, it will be: "From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. "

Indeed, in today's episode, which tells us about the beginning of the public life of Jesus, we are at a turning point. With the retreating of John the Baptist and the beginning of the preaching of Jesus, humanity has reached a milestone: it has passed from the time of the promise to the time of fulfillment.

And now the Kingdom is here, among us, not only in words but in deeds: because the final text of today says it all: "He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people."

Isaiah’s prophecy in today’s first reading now finds its full realization, and Saint Matthew powerfully underlines it. Jesus proclaims: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand! "

He immediately announces that to make known the Good News, he counts on witnesses; he chooses collaborators. This is significant: Jesus does not start alone in the fulfillment of his mission. He gives ordinary men the honor to be associated with it. These collaborators that he chooses among fishermen, he calls fishers of men: to pluck men from the sea is to prevent them from drowning, It is to save them.

Jesus associates the Apostles with his saving mission!