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Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682)

Infant Jesus and John the Baptist, Museo del Prado

2nd Sunday of Advent

MARK’S GOSPEL:

According to Irenaeus, Papias of Hierapolis, writing in the early 2nd century, reported that this gospel was by John Mark,^[9] the companion of Saint Peter in Rome, who “had one purpose only – to leave out nothing that he had heard, and to make no misstatement about it.”

The narrative can be divided into three sections: the Galilean ministry, including the surrounding regions of Phoenicia, Decapolis, and Cæsarea Philippi (1-9); the Journey to Jerusalem (10); and the Events in Jerusalem (11-16).

The Gospel of Mark differs from the other gospels in language, detail and content. Its theology is unique. The gospel’s vocabulary embraces 1330 distinct words, of which 60 are proper names. Eighty words, (exclusive of proper names), are not found elsewhere in the New Testament. About one-fourth of these are non-classical. In addition Mark makes use of the “historic present” as well as the “Messianic secret” to make known his Gospel message.^[40]

Christians consider the Gospel of Mark to be divinely inspired and will see the gospel’s theology as consistent with that of the rest of the Bible. Each sees Mark as contributing a valuable voice to a wider Christian theology, though Christians sometimes disagree about the nature of this theology. However, Mark’s contribution to a New Testament theology can be identified as unique in and of itself.

SON OF MAN is the major title used of Jesus in Mark (Mark 2:10, 2:28; 8:31; 9:9, 9:12, 9:31; 10:33, 10:45; 14:21, 14:41). Many people^[have seen that this title is a very important one within Mark’s Gospel, and it has important implications for Mark’s Christology. Jesus raises a question that demonstrates the association in Mark between “Son of Man” (cf. Dan 7:13–14) and the suffering servant in Isaiah 52:13-53:12—”How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?” (9:12b NRSV). Yet this comparison is not explicit; Mark’s Gospel creates this link between Daniel and Isaiah, and applies it to Christ. It is postulated that this is because of the persecution of Christians; thus, Mark’s Gospel encourages believers to stand firm (Mark 13:13) in the face of troubles.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.     ISAIAH 40

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight–” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”     MARK 1:1-8

Many today could sure use hearing the words God speaks to the prophet Isaiah: Be comforted, be comforted my people!

Though most of us are not experiencing the tribulations ancient Israel had to live through, there is plenty enough distress in human lives these days. Plenty enough reason for us to need to be comforted. Economic systems teeter on the brink of collapse. Political systems (or, at least, the politicians in charge of them) no longer seem adequate to the task. The old are not sure of their pensions. The young cannot find jobs. People are at risk of losing their homes.

We do not have to look only to God’s prophets to hear apocalyptic warnings in our day. We have been exiled from our usual ‘comfort zone’, exiled from the familiar comforts of a taken-for-granted prosperity. Old certainties have given way to new anxieties. It would be easy to respond with a false optimism, the kind that agitates protests but changes nothing. Everything’s going to turn out fine: when we turn out one government for another or when the politicians put another jumble of laws on the books or when the heads of nations cook up yet another half-baked debt deal.

None of these schemes seems likely to solve our problems. The stock market—that modern barometer of the world’s expectations—oscillates wildly between hope and despair, as one quick-fix solution after another fleetingly evaporates. In spite of the hardship that people are now facing, there is cause for hope. When the status quo becomes intolerable, people look for change. People demand change.

We Christians should give support to the yearnings of a broken world looking for a chance to start afresh, the chance for a new advent.

Yearning such as these must have been why so many people went out to hear the message of John the Baptist. They went into the place of ‘beginnings’ which is what the desert represented. It was there that the people of God were found by him and from there that they were led by him.

There are many these days who promise that a new world is coming. If we profess hope and believe in the possibility of change, they urge, then we can build a new world. The truth is that we cannot build it. We must allow God to build it with us and in us. We are to become the living stones of God’s new creation. As we know, John the Baptist did not flinch from denouncing injustices and demanding righteousness from those who claimed to be leaders of the people. Neither John nor the mightier one coming after him was especially interested in reforming structures or changing systems. They challenged people to change their lives.

This new world, this new kingdom begins not with a change of regime but with a change of heart—that is, with conversion. John tells us ‘your job is to change you and in this way your world will be changed’. Be comforted, be comforted my people! You can begin again; but begin with you

Mark Edney O.P

• Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11
• 2 Peter 3:8-14
• Mark 1:1-8

Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me, that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

ISAIAH 45

The Cyrus cylinder, a contemporary cuneiform script proclaiming Cyrus as legitimate king of Babylon.

In scope and extent his achievements ranked far above that of the Macedonian king,
Alexander who was to demolish the empire in the 320s but fail to provide
any stable alternative.

—Charles Freeman in ‘The Greek Achievement”

The achievements of Cyrus the Great throughout antiquity is well reflected in the way he is remembered today. His own nation, the Iranians, have regarded him as “The Father”, the very title that had been used during the time of Cyrus himself, by the many nations that he conquered, as according to Xenophon:^[75]

The Babylonians regarded him as “The Liberator”.^[76] After his conquest of Babylon, followed Cyrus’s help for the return of Jews; for this, Cyrus is addressed in the Jewish Tanakh as the “Lord’s Messiah”. Glorified by Ezra, and by Isaiah, Cyrus is the one to whom “Yahweh, the God of heaven” has given “all the Kingdoms of the earth”.^[20]

Paul, Silva’nus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalo’nians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

1 THESSALONIANS 1

29TH SUNDAY 2011

RENDER TO GOD

Assyria and Babylon, the two monsters of Israel’s nightmares; the two-headed beast of their defeat and failure; the end of God’s promise that the line of David would last forever: Assyria and Babylon have fallen. The Persian king, Cyrus the Great, has conquered. The entire Middle East is under the sway of this man.

Before Xerxes approaches Sparta, before Alexander the Great rides to the Black Sea, the world is that of Cyrus. Even God calls him his ‘anointed’, his Messiah. For this is the word by the God’s prophet, Isaiah: ‘he has taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him and strip the loins of kings, to force gateways before him and their gates be closed no more’ (Isaiah 45.1). And the gates are not closed. They can be run through.

So, the history of the Middle East, as indeed with every human civilisation, is that of conquest: from Assyria and Babylon to Persia, Macedonia, Rome, Byzantium to the dar al Islam and the Turkey of today. Empires that rise and fall, empower and subdue… and tax. The empire in charge of Jerusalem and the Jews of the first century, Rome, levied a tax that went overseas. The conquerors get paid for their oppression. In a nation that has lost its land, this is the last insult, but in Roman Palestine they must reckon with the Jewish religion. The battle against Roman oppression is ideological.

Regardless of the complicit paying of tax, in the Jewish religious sphere of the law of tradition that governs life, there is no demand to be met. It is simply another part of the injustice the Jews suffer as long as they are without their land, and so, impermissible. In this encounter, against Jesus are not just the Pharisees who present the ideological objection, which, as we know is a volatile foundation for opposition. But also against him in this trap are the Herodians, who support the Romans and so receive riches, power and favours. Any answer Jesus gives will be dangerous: supporter of fundamentalists or betrayer of the Jewish law? It’s a question of genius and the Pharisees know it. The triumph is already palpable. Their repetition of Jesus’s ‘honesty’ is like Mark Anthony’s eulogy of Caesar in Shakespeare’s play. ‘Their speech is softer than butter… their tongue a naked sword’ (Psalm 55.22).

But this is the real question that is thrown back. What belongs to Caesar? What belonged to Cyrus 500 years ago that was then Alexander’s, then Caesar’s? What does Cyrus ‘the anointed’ have now? Nothing belongs to Caesar… anymore than anything belongs to those who barter with the very coins under dispute. This encounter is another example of how the point of God’s revelation and love has been missed by us, the people he has chosen. To be God’s people, to become a child of God is to be called towards the promised land of sharing God’s life, not struggles of territory and taxes. ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth’ (John 4.21, 24).

Because everything belongs to God. Which leaves us with a greater problem than that posed by the Pharisees. ‘Who knows the mind of the Lord? Whoever gave him anything that he had to pay it back?’ (Rom. 11.34-35). Giving what is God’s back to God…? That can only be our entire self, to be remade and reformed to be perfect in the love of our Father. Can we give ourselves, all that is ours without holding back anything? No, not without the love of God, but then, we could never do anything without him, could we? For, even Cyrus the Great needed God. ‘Though you do not know me, I arm you that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that, apart from me, all is nothing. I am the Lord, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45.5b-7).

Bruno Clifton O.P

• Isaiah 45:1,4-6
• 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
• Matthew 22:15-21

Cyrus the Great liberated the Hebrew exiles to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, `Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.’ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, `The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, `Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, `Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

A FEAST OF RECONCILIATION
Allan White O.P.
Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year
9th October 2011

fr Allan White discusses the terms on which we participate in the
Eucharistic banquet.

Jesus was not averse to parties. His opponents criticised him as a ‘good time guy’, a glutton and a wine drinker. They did not like the company he dined in: sinners and outcasts. He did not always wait to be invited either. He asked himself to the house of Zacchaeus, the chief tax-collector in Jericho. The presence of Jesus at one of these dinners was a reconciling presence. Jesus said ‘salvation has come to this house’ when he went in to dine with the sinner Zacchaeus. It is no surprise then that some of the stories Jesus tells should be about eating, drinking, celebrating and banquets.

Today’s story is not just about a wedding banquet but about a royal wedding banquet. At the recent marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the newspapers were desperate to discover the invitation list. Clearly they were highly-prized and to receive one was a mark of distinction. The same does not appear to be true of this wedding. Those invited would not come even when told the menu. The guests did not make polite excuses they went out of their way to show that they had more important things to do. They insulted the king and his family and went further by killing his messengers, abusing the law of hospitality themselves. Not surprisingly the king was a little upset at this. But why?

Royal marriages often sealed political and diplomatic alliances. They were instruments of foreign policy helping to bring peace and reconciliation between those who had been enemies before. This marriage should be seen in the same way. It is given by the king for his son. The son is not otherwise important. The king seems to have issued the invitation three times. He has invited the guests, sent his servants to tell them all is prepared and then sent them out again with a list of the delicacies they will enjoy. The king has been patient and gracious. He invites his guests to share in this process of peace and reconciliation. They refuse. They do no wish to share in it and therefore oppose it.

The king then sent out more messengers and invited all of those who were willing to come. The messengers do not mention the menu again so maybe those accepted who were sensible of the honour of being invited. They also seem to have understood the purpose of the feast. They all put on their wedding garment; all except one man. Immediately on entering the banquet king’s eye fell upon him. Calling him ‘friend’ he asked him why he was there. It is the same question Jesus asks Judas when they come to arrest him on the night of the agony: ‘Friend, why are you here?’ Two banquets are brought together, the banquet of the Last Supper, the passover of the Lord which brings reconciliation between humanity and God, and the banquet of the king who was also offering a banquet to promote peace and reconciliation.

Many interpretations of this parable can be offered. Some see it as a proclamation that the Gentiles will be included in the new covenant of reconciliation. Others see this story as a warning to the Church and those who think that they are numbered amongst the elect whilst failing to change their lives from the root outwards.

The marriage supper of the Lamb is a feast of reconciliation; those who share in it must also share in that project of peace and reconciliation. The silent guest, the one who has not bothered to change, the one who is concentrating on receiving, has forgotten that this feast is not just about eating or benefiting from hospitality. Sharing in this banquet is about becoming part of the grand work of reconciliation that the heavenly bridegroom inaugurates on the cross and which will be consummated in the heavenly banquet of which our Eucharist is a sign and anticipation.

Allan White O.P

• Isaiah 25:6-10
• Philippians 4:12-14,19-20
• Matthew 22:1-14

In first century Galilee, vineyards looked very like the vineyard in today’s parable. The hedge was for keeping out predators and the watch tower for dissuading intruders. In Nazareth, archaeologists have uncovered a winepress cut into the limestone with a vat below for collecting the grape juice. It once had no less than five watchtowers. So the description of the vineyard in the parable is historically accurate.

It was not unusual for a rich man to plant such a vineyard and then leave it in the care of tenants while he pursued his business affairs. One can imagine how, with the passage of time, the landowner’s rights might be disputed. The tenants might well come to see the vineyard as theirs and the landowner would be forced to reassert his rights. It is not difficult to see too why the tenants would be furious at the prospect of losing what they had come to consider as their own.

But what does this parable mean? It is often called the parable of the wicked tenants and it is also found in Mark chapter 12 and in Luke chapter 20. Jesus is using this parable and the one we heard last week to respond to the chief priests and elders who have questioned his authority and he is bluntly predicting that they will reject his teaching and that he will die at their hands.

Today’s reading from Isaiah would have been very familiar to Jesus’s audience. It reminds us that in the Old Testament (as also in rabbinic literature) the vine or vineyard is a symbol of Israel. Isaiah is lamenting the failure of Israel to live up to its covenant with God. In the gospel parable too, the vineyard stands for God’s people but the criticism is directed at the tenants rather than the vineyard itself. It is not difficult to see that the owner of the vineyard is God. One of the words that refers to him is kurios or ‘lord’, a reference to God who is the Lord of Israel. The tenants are of course those who exercise moral authority – the chief priests and the Pharisees; and according to Matthew 21:45 they fully understand that the parable is attacking them. The maltreated servants are the prophets whom God kept sending to his people to remind them of his covenant. It was common knowledge that some of the prophets in Israel’s history had been killed.

Matthew’s readers would have grasped that Jesus, cast out of Jerusalem and crucified, is the murdered heir to the vineyard. The parable is a stark reminder that the religious authorities in Jesus’s day did fail to recognize him as the Messiah and did reject his teaching; but it is too a statement of God’s abiding concern for his people and a declaration that God’s plan cannot be thwarted by men. In that sense it is very encouraging.

There is surely here an implicit warning too for the new leaders of God’s people. St Paul was at pains to remind the early Christians of the great responsibility of those who are in charge. Leadership must be about service and about nurturing God’s people. Christian history has seen its share of failures in moral leadership but it also has no shortage of courageous saints. When Jesus asks his listeners what the master will do to the wicked tenants they naturally assume that he will punish them and find new, more worthy tenants.

This assumption perhaps reveals their own rather fearful relationship with God. Jesus responds in a more positive vein. New tenants alone would not be a solution – the point is that the rejected crucified son has been vindicated and has become the corner stone of a new people, a new kingdom. The vineyard is now quite definitely a joint venture with the Son of God. God is not concerned with punishment but with establishing a people who will bear spiritual fruit. What qualifies us to be part of God’s people is fully within our grasp – cooperation with Christ in witnessing to God’s mercy. It is good to be reassured that God’s plan for his people cannot fail. All that is really at issue is whether we as individuals want to be a part of its success.

John Kenrick O.P

• Isaiah 5:1-7
• Philippians 4:6-9
• Matthew 21:33-43