Br. John R. Barker, OFM

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

Israelite kings were to act as God’s representatives, ensuring justice by ruling wisely and fairly; they often failed in this regard. In Isaiah’s vision, God raises up an ideal Davidic king who will perfectly reflect the rule of the God he represents. Endowed with divine gifts, the king will bring down the “ruthless” and the “wicked” through right judgment (“the rod of his mouth”). Further, he will usher in an era in which all creaturely violence will end. “Natural enemies” will belong to the “peaceable kingdom” brought about by the royal icon of God. Such will be the magnificence and beneficence of the kingdom that other nations will be drawn to it.

Paul reminds his Roman readers that the story of Israel, in which the promises to the ancestors were fulfilled first in ancient times and then more completely in Christ, gives evidence of God’s trustworthiness. One aspect of those promises was that all the families of the earth would find blessing through Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 12:3). Thus, the fulfillment of those promises also included the extension of God’s mercy not just to Israel but ultimately, in Jesus Christ, to all the nations. God wishes to gather all peoples together in Christ—a divine intention that encourages the Romans to seek unity among themselves.

John the Baptist’s message of repentance (metanoia, change of mind and direction) draws large crowds, who are preparing for the coming of God’s kingdom. This kingdom is understood eschatologically, as a time of consummation and judgment. Foreshadowing what is to come, John has harsh words for the religious leaders, who do not possess a repentant disposition. Anticipating a claim that they have no need of repentance to prepare themselves, John assures them that God is sending One who will see, not one’s birth status, but one’s heart, and will judge accordingly, baptizing in fire and the Holy Spirit, which is to say, with the power and wisdom of God. John’s message highlights that this is a moment of decision for everyone.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Ezekiel comes from a passage that focuses on the failure of Israel’s leaders, who have not shown solicitude for the socially and spiritually vulnerable but instead have been negligent or even taken advantage of God’s flock for their own gain. Now, God says, I will do myself what you did not do. In God’s care, the neglected, abused, or those who were allowed to “go astray” will be cared for properly; “the sleek and the strong” who took advantage of them will receive their judgment. Yet even among the flock will be found the faithless, whom God will seek out. But some of them will resist, proving themselves not part of God’s flock, but goats and rams.

At least some of the Corinthian Christians denied the resurrection of the dead, yet had apparently accepted Paul’s teaching on Christ’s role in God’s redemption. Paul points out that if there is no resurrection, and Christ was not raised from the dead, the gospel message is meaningless and false because they are still in their sins and have no hope beyond this life. The gospel is that Christ was raised from the dead, and because of this the baptized have received life in and through him and will be resurrected too at his second coming. Christ alone will be sovereign, the only authority, and all powers will be subject to him, including and especially the power of death.

The final judgment scene must be understood against the background of Jesus’ consistent teaching, found throughout Matthew’s Gospel, on the great difficulty of entering “the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” One must completely reform one’s life, starting at the level of thought, attitude, and interpretation of reality. Thus the sheep have not made their way easily into the kingdom simply by a few “works of mercy.” Their actions represent a fundamental disposition toward God that is manifested in their actions on behalf of others. These are the members of the flock who denied themselves, took up their crosses, and thus became followers of Christ. The goats represent those who never did deny themselves or take up their crosses, and thus never really lived for anyone but themselves.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The woman in this poem from Proverbs may be understood literally, as the “ideal wife,” or symbolically, as Wisdom. The Bible regularly extols wisdom as a great prize, worth more than gold or precious jewels, more than long life or power. As a personification of God’s will and reason, Wisdom imparts to those who befriend her all they need to be successful in the world and in their relationship with God. A human wife would have learned from Wisdom and thus manifested her teachings, which extend across the whole human experience, from practical household management to concern for the poor (what Wisdom would call “righteousness”) to fear of the Lord (the prerequisite for learning wisdom [Proverbs 9:10]).

The phrase “peace and security” was part of the propaganda of the Roman Empire, so Paul’s use of it here points toward those who are content with and profiting from the present age of human rule. These are unprepared, living as it were “at night” and in darkness, for the coming of the Lord. But for those who live in the light, who are hopefully waiting for the Lord and living accordingly, his advent will not come as an unpleasant surprise. Living in the day, they will not be asleep, but awake and ready. In other words, no one knows the “times or seasons,” but those who are living the Christian life will be prepared to meet the Lord whenever he comes.

The focus of the parable of the talents is on the unfortunate servant who failed to gain any profit for his master because he was afraid. The Lectionary translation has the servant characterizing his master as “demanding,” but the Greek word (skleiros) really means hard, harsh, or severe. The servant, afraid to trade because he might lose the money and incur the master’s wrath, failed to realize that the master showed confidence in him by giving him the talent and was willing to take a chance on him. The fault lay not in failing to gain any money, but in not even trying out of lack of trust in the master and his wisdom in giving the talent in the first place.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The figure of Woman (or Lady) Wisdom constantly seeks to instruct anyone who will listen. As “the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness” (7:26), she is the perfect teacher. She is not aloof or inaccessible, but is available to anyone who seeks her out, watching for her, keeping vigil, as she moves through life making her presence known. But only those who work to master her teachings and conform their lives to them are “worthy of her.” Those who do so will gain prudence and wisdom and thus become “righteous.” Those who forsake her teaching, on the other hand, will be remain “foolish” and therefore “unrighteous.”

The Thessalonians were apparently concerned that those who had died before the return of Christ had perished. Paul reminds them that the resurrection of Christ was only the beginning, that all the baptized would be raised as Christ was. This is why Paul can refer to the dead as having merely “fallen asleep.” In fact, at the glorious coming of Christ, the dead, having been raised, will be the first to join Christ in his glory. Drawing on standard apocalyptic images (angels, trumpets, Christ coming on clouds), Paul paints an image of the parousia, the hinge-point between the present age and the coming age. Paul’s audience is assured that, dead or alive, those who are in Christ will be with him forever.

The parable of the ten virgins draws on the biblical wisdom motif of the distinction between the wise and the foolish. The wise are those who seek to understand the will of God and to live accordingly; they are the righteous. The foolish are not necessarily intellectually stupid, but they are “spiritually” stupid, often wicked, and certainly on the wrong path. In the parable, the foolish virgins represent those who are unprepared because they have failed to heed Jesus’ teaching. Readers sometimes fault the wise virgins for being stingy, but the point is that the wise are able to do nothing for the foolish when they wait until it is too late to order their lives properly.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The scene in Revelation, which occurs as an interlude in the depiction of apocalyptic judgment, focuses on those who will be protected because of their fidelity to God. The “seal of the living God” is like a signet ring used to claim ownership; those who have been marked with the seal belong to God and are therefore safe. They are among the “great multitude” that includes Christians from beyond ethnic Israel who have “won the victory” and remained faithful during the time of persecution. The robes washed white in the blood of Christ signify renewal, joy, and resurrection; the palms signify victory. Now safe, the faithful worship God with the Lamb, a fitting response to the salvation won from them both.

The First Letter of John has, up to the point of our reading, been developing the theme of “fellowship with God,” which means a sharing in God’s eternal life through Christ. This fellowship is manifested in loving others, repentance, and avoiding sin. To be in fellowship with God means to be a child of God. This places us in the light, in truth and goodness, not in the darkness of moral depravity. The relationship is in place and is safe as long as we remain in fellowship with Christ. Those who have hope in the future glory that they will share with Christ ensure that they are pure, avoiding turning away from Christ and his commandment, which in the Johannine literature is summed up in the phrase “love one another.”

The Beatitudes are, on the one hand, good news of “blessedness.” On the other hand, they make clear that following Jesus is difficult. Poverty of spirit means renunciation of both material and other “possessions.” Meekness, mercy, and peacemaking often go against our desire to strike back or get even. We must work diligently to develop the kind of single-minded devotion to God implied in purity of heart and hunger and thirst for righteousness. And of course, no one seeks persecution and insult. Those who are able, throughout their lives, to finally meet the challenge of the Beatitudes are perhaps few, as Jesus will later warn, but they will indeed be blessed.