Commentary 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year A
January 26, 2014
Reading 1
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
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
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
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.
Translated with permission by Simone Baryliuk, from: Dimanche 26
janvier: commentaires de Marie Noëlle Thabut
http://www.eglise.catholique.fr/foi-et-vie-chretienne/commentaires-de-marie-noelle-thabut.html
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