Br. John R. Barker, OFM

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

King Solomon is known in the tradition for having unparalleled wisdom. The Bible affirms that wisdom comes from God, it is not a human creation. Accordingly, Solomon became wise because he asked for the divine gift of wisdom. God, who might have expected a human king to grasp for wealth or long life, instead receives a request from Solomon for the wisdom to rule justly. Nothing could be more pleasing to the divine will than a desire to serve God and God’s people well and with integrity. Thus God readily accedes to Solomon’s pious request. (And because Solomon did not ask for it, God throws in wealth and the promise of long life.)

Paul has been writing to the Romans about the hope of glory they have as adopted children of God in Christ. This destiny has been part of the divine plan from the beginning, and is achieved through conformity to Christ, the exemplary human being. Those who are called to this glory are first justified, the divine accomplishment in Christ that has been the subject of much of the earlier part of the letter. The point of this short section is to emphasize that God has had things securely in hand from the beginning. All things work for good for those who respond to the divine call to be conformed to Christ, and thus justified, one day glorified.

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel Jesus has warned that entering the kingdom of heaven is a challenging undertaking, and few persevere. Yet persevere they must. Like a great treasure or a valuable pearl, the kingdom is worth giving up everything else to “obtain.” The invitation is open to everyone. Like a great net, it sweeps through the world capturing everyone. Only those who refuse to conform their lives to it will find themselves cast out. The kingdom is a gift but, paradoxically, one that comes at a price. Those who understand this are able to accept both his “new” teaching and recognize that it is a reflection of the “old” teaching of the law and prophets (Matthew 5:17–20).

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

Because of God’s unparalleled and unchallenged power, the wicked are given opportunity to repent; divine forgiveness is not coerced (“Neither out of fear for anyone did you grant release for their sins” [Wisdom12:11]). God’s sovereign power ensures that God does not need to explain or justify either condemnation or forgiveness, and is “lenient to all.” There is no divine ego at stake, giving God freedom to act generously. This divine mercy is a lesson to God’s people, who learn that God’s justice is not opposed to kindness, but actually manifests itself in kindness. God’s absolutely free justice is ground for hope in God’s mercy.

Paul reminds the Romans that through the Spirit they have been adopted as God’s children and now “groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). The guarantee of this hope is the gift of the Spirit, who not only leads and transforms the faithful, but also helps them pray. Human beings, as the agents of God’s redemption of all of creation, are called to intercede with God, but as they are (for the time being) subject to corruption and death, they are weak and do not know exactly how to intercede. The Spirit dwelling in each believer makes up for this weakness by expressing the groaning of creation and “the holy ones,” and is heard by God.

Three parables illustrate the kingdom of heaven. At least on this side of eternity, it is a mix of the good and the bad. Readers have taken the weeds and the wheat to represent either individuals or the tendencies within each heart. In the first case, the warning is to let God sort out the sinners from the saints; judgment is God’s prerogative (Matthew 7:1–5). In the second case, the assurance is that while there are within us both the good and the bad, God is patient and, in God’s way, removes that which needs to be removed. The other two parables reflect the biblical insistence that God’s greatest works have small, hidden, unlikely beginnings. The kingdom (God) works in ways that we often cannot appreciate.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The first reading concludes chapters 40–55 of Isaiah, most of which come from the end of the exilic period. This section of Isaiah, which focuses on God’s intention to restore a people under judgment, begins with attention to God’s “word” as sure and effective (40:5, 8). What God announces will happen simply because it is the word of God. Now God promises that repentant sinners will find mercy because, unlike human beings, God does not nurse grudges but is instead “generous in forgiving” (55:7). Those who cannot believe in God’s mercy or in the divine intention to save are exhorted to trust in the always-efficacious word of God.

Continuing his line of argument from the last couple of weeks, Paul reflects on what it means to have died with Christ. Not only have the baptized, now “in Christ,” been released from slavery to sin and death, they have also been adopted as God’s children and heirs along with Christ. But this inheritance, which is their glorification, comes with a price, suffering (8:14–17), which is nevertheless a small price to pay for what awaits them. And not only them, but all of creation, which right now is also subject to death. Just as “the children of God,” who in their physical bodies share in the corruption of the created world, will one day experience the “redemption of our bodies,” so too will all creation be redeemed.

Jesus’ parable describes the three classic obstacles to doing the will of God: the evil one, who prevents the word from being truly heard; the flesh, that part of the human person that will abandon God’s will if it means struggle or trouble; and the world, those aspects of human society that are opposed to God, yet appealing to the flesh. Jesus speaks in enigmatic parables because the kingdom is only for those who are willing to put in the time and struggle to understand its proclamation, which cannot be appreciated on a single, simple hearing. The medium, then, is the message: the kingdom of God, in which the will of God is known and lived, is for those who are willing to sacrifice to enter it. This has been Jesus’ message from the beginning.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

In this salvation oracle to the post-exilic community, the identity of the royal figure is unstated, but he fulfills the expectations of many prophets of the ideal Davidic king. Donkeys were regularly associated with royal figures in the ancient Near East and the fact that he arrives on a donkey rather than on a horse, with all the military connotations of that animal, suggests this “just savior” will be humble and peaceful. He ends warfare in both the former kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) and in Jerusalem. The mention of Israel, destroyed centuries before the oracle was probably uttered, points toward the divine will to bring all of God’s people, currently scattered around the world, back to the land.

Paul continues his exploration of how the death of Christ has released those in bondage to sin. He now introduces the idea of flesh versus spirit. Flesh refers to that aspect of the human person that opposes God, that remains under the thumb of sin and inclined toward it. For the baptized, this “flesh” constitutes the “old self,” which is opposed to the spirit, that aspect of the human person that is not under the reign of sin but under the reign of the Spirit of God in Christ. He reminds the Romans that those in whom the Spirit dwells are no longer under the bondage of sin and therefore are not “debtors to the flesh.”

Jesus has just proclaimed that Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum will face judgment for not repenting after witnessing his mighty deeds; they have not recognized who Jesus is and what he is about. They represent “the wise and the learned,” whose sophistication prevents them from accepting Jesus and his message. Only the “little ones,” capable of “childlike” faith, are able to see that Jesus does the work of the Father and reveals him. Those willing to take on the yoke of discipleship will discover it to be a source of refreshment, not only because of the subject matter (God), but also because their teacher (who reveals God) is gentle and kind to those who wish to learn from him.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The stories of Elisha are filled with examples of God saving people in distress. Through the young prophet God purifies water for one city; fills all the empty vessels of a poor widow with oil, saving her from creditors; cures a stew that has been poisoned; heals a foreigner of leprosy. Gratitude to the prophet was thus really gratitude to God. In the reading we see also the prophet’s gratitude, expressed through the promise of a child for an elderly couple. The woman does indeed have a son (who will fall ill, die, and be raised by the prophet), once again showing that the God of Israel is a God a life.

Paul has been arguing that the death of Christ brought an end to the reign of sin and death. How does this work? When one is in bondage to someone, Paul says, that bondage naturally ends when we die (6:7). In the same way, if we die with Christ in baptism we are freed from bondage to sin. We are also raised with him and are freed from the power of sin and death. Paul’s larger point here is ethical: because Christians have died to sin, and are no longer under its power, they must stop acting as if they were. They must start living for God, not continuing to serve sin.

Jesus warns his disciples that the gospel will not be received in all quarters and that he will prove, both during and after his earthly life, to be a cause of division. His followers should know that being his disciple will be the hardest thing they have ever had to do, requiring more of them than they imagine: losing family, even their lives. They will have to “take up their crosses,” the instrument of their deaths. Yet this death will lead to life—a promise only those who have faith in Jesus can believe. Even those who receive the one who proclaims the gospel will gain their reward. Both those who sacrifice for Jesus and those who receive them are assured that their efforts will redound to them in the end.