Br. John R. Barker, OFM

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

Scripture makes it clear that serving God almost inevitably brings hardship, rejection, and pain. Moses experienced it, as did Jeremiah and other prophets. People are often resistant to seeing the world from God’s perspective and living accordingly because it involves conversion and sacrifice. In this respect, Israel was no different from anyone else. In this passage from Isaiah, God’s servant experiences that typical rejection, even though he is speaking a word to the weary. The fact that he is bring good news to the people does not protect him from their violence. Yet the servant remains faithful, firm in his trust in God and sure of the divine goodness of his mission.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul addresses a tendency among this community to seek their own interests or form “parties,” forgetting that they are all of to be “of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart” (2:2). They can do no better than to look to Christ himself as a model of humility and selflessness. It was Christ who, rather than relying on his “equality with God,” humbled himself, undergoing a shameful and painful death for the good of others. It was Christ’s humble love and obedience to God’s will for all creation that led to his glorification by God, who established him as Lord of all in heaven and on earth. In the same way, the Philippians should “shine like lights in the world” (2:15) by imitating the humble Christ who served others rather than himself.

Two unique aspects of Luke’s Passion account, both at the Last Supper, are worth briefly mentioning. The first is the placement of the quarrel among the apostles about who is the greatest. In the context of the Last Supper, the argument takes on a particular poignancy as Jesus prepares to perform his greatest act by becoming the least. There remains among the apostles, even now, a failure to grasp what Jesus is about. Shortly after this, Jesus warns the disciples that going forward they will need to carry protection (swords) because they will be “counted among the wicked [Jesus].” In response, someone points out there are two swords in the room already, after which Jesus abruptly ends the dinner (suggesting that perhaps he was speaking truthfully about the danger but not literally about the swords?). The warning here is that, far from being regarded as among the greatest, the apostles will be condemned and threatened for even speaking Jesus’ name. There will be no glory for the followers of Christ, only danger and misunderstanding.

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

This portion of Isaiah stems from the late exilic period and points toward God’s imminent deliverance of Israel from exile, returning them to the land promised to their ancestors. The return from exile thus represents a new Exodus. Isaiah makes this clear by drawing on images from the original Exodus. Note the present tense of the verbs: God “opens a way in the sea” and “leads out chariots and horsemen.” The past is not simply the past, but an expression of what God habitually does. Every new act of deliverance is simply an extension of the Exodus, such that that original act of deliverance is not “an event of the past,” but the beginning of God’s unending providential care.

This week’s reading from Philippians is the prelude to the reading from the second week of Lent. Paul is recounting his own move from seeking righteousness by conformity to the Law to receiving righteousness (justification as a prerequisite for salvation) from conformity to Christ, especially to his death. For following Christ requires one to give up many things, including the desire to ensure our own righteousness through observance of the Law. Paul knows that having faith that Christ accomplishes what we cannot feels risky. Accordingly, the life of faith is never finally finished in this life but must be continually renewed and strengthened as Paul (and his audience) continuously and strenuously strive toward conformity with Christ, which is perfect maturity and “God’s upward calling.”

As with last week’s story of the prodigal son, this week’s Gospel from John highlights the priority God places on mercy rather than condemnation, while nevertheless refusing to ignore or condone sin. As we find over and over in the Old Testament, God does not seek the death of sinners, but that they repent and live (Ezekiel 18:23). The scribes and Pharisees, trying to trap Jesus into denying the Law, want to know what Jesus thinks of the command to stone the woman caught in adultery. Rather than answer directly, Jesus reminds each of them that they are none of them without sin (and possibly deserving of the same punishment). Which of them is in a position to condemn her? Even though Jesus is in such a position, he refuses to do so, giving her another chance while exhorting her not to make the same mistake again.

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

The story of the promises to the ancestors continues with the triumphant entry into the land promised to them and their descendants. Moses has died (Deuteronomy 34:5); his successor Joshua now leads Israel. His first act in the land (which they reached by crossing the Jordan “on dry ground,” reenacting the deliverance at the Red Sea [4:4–24]) is to celebrate the Passover, which commemorates God’s redemption of Israel. The Lord had been sustaining Israel in the wilderness with manna; God now sustains them with the produce of the land. God’s providential care for Israel takes different forms, but it remains nonetheless the hallmark of God’s relationship with the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Paul has been exhorting the Corinthians to remember that they have received an imperishable gift by dying with Christ (and being raised again in baptism). Those who now live in Christ live not for themselves but for Christ (5:14–15). This new life is a full transformation, not just a continuation of their previous life, a transformation that begins with reconciliation with God. This has many implications, including the obligation to share this gift with others. To live for Christ means, among other things, to be his ambassador, announcing on his behalf the gift of reconciliation and inviting others to be reconciled to God in Christ. Those who are now in Christ will want what he does, beginning with new life for all by being reconciled with God.

The Pharisees and scribes have assumed, observing Jesus “welcoming” sinners and eating with them, that he condones their sins. Rather than disabuse them of this notion directly, he challenges them to look at things from God’s perspective. Even a human father is capable of grieving over an ungrateful and dissolute son who runs off and comes crawling back in fear and shame. Rather than stand imperiously waiting for the son to reach him with his rehearsed apologies, the father runs to meet him, overjoyed that he has returned. The Pharisees and scribes seem to assume a God who waits for sinners to come crawling back to him, perfect and perfectly contrite, rather than running out to greet them “while they are still a long way off.” Jesus welcomes sinners, we are meant to understand, because this is how God is.

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

As time has gone on, the promise made earlier to Abram that his descendants would inherit the land remains unfulfilled, with Israel now languishing, enslaved, in Egypt. Moses has fled to Midian to escape punishment for killing an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11–15). There he encounters the God of Israel, who affirms that he has not forgotten Israel or divine promises. God remains the “God of the fathers,” and faithful to them and their descendants. Now Moses has been charged with being God’s instrument for fulfilling those promises. Two names of God are given here: I AM, which comes to represent the infinite being of God, and “Lord,” a euphemistic rendering of the divine name that is forever to be remembered in connection with the ancestors: this God is a faithful God.

Paul is warning his Corinthian audience to be wary of falling into a spiritual complacency, in which they presume they have attained salvation simply because they have been baptized. Paul points to the example of Israel, all of whom were delivered from Egypt and thus “baptized.” They all received the same gifts from God in the wilderness, manna and water (here he refers to a rabbinic tradition that the rock from which water sprung “followed” them around so that they always had water). Just as many of that generation nevertheless despised God’s gifts or failed to trust in him, so Christians must be careful not to make the same mistake and reject or deny the gifts God has given to them and fall back into their former ways.

The Gospel reading for this week takes place in the context of Jesus warning his disciples to observe the signs of the times, beginning with his own advent. Now is the time to repent and turn back to God (Luke 12:54–59). In response, some mention certain Galileans who died a terrible death, which Jesus takes as a suggestion that the Galileans were a special kind of sinner more deserving of their death than his audience. Using the story of the tower of Siloam, he points out that no one is sinless and all theoretically deserve to die in the same way. There is no room for complacency. Yet God is patient, albeit not infinitely so. Each of us is like a fig tree that refuses to bear good fruit. Although we deserve to be cut down, God allows Christ (or his ministers) to help the tree to bear fruit. But if it still fails to do so, judgment does await.

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

God’s solemn oath to give the land to which he has brought Abram to his descendants takes places within a covenant ceremony well known from ancient sources (see Jeremiah 34:17–20). Ordinarily, each party to the covenant made his oath to the other while walking through the cut-up animals, which represent his fate if he violates the covenant. It is highly significant that here only God (represented by the smoking pot and flaming torch) makes the oath; the story emphasizes that Abram is fast asleep. This makes it clear that this is not an ordinary covenant in which each party takes on obligations toward the other. This is a gracious and unilateral gift from God to Abram’s descendants. Abram’s sole responsibility here is to put his faith in God’s promises, which he does.

Just before the present passage from Philippians, Paul has recounted his own movement from a pious Jew who was a zealous observer of the Law to one who had come to believe that righteousness came only from faith in Christ. He has accordingly given up his former way of life and has accepted suffering for the sake of Christ. He still strains toward the goal of perfect maturity, which is perfect conformity with Christ (3:4–16). It is this striving that Paul would have his audience imitate, seeking always to overcome those desires and attitudes which make one an “enemy of the cross of Christ,” satisfying one’s selfish pursuit of “earthly things.” These things will perish, but the heavenly promise remains forever for those who are willing to strive for it.

Immediately before the scene of his transfiguration, Jesus has warned his disciples of his own rejection and execution (and resurrection) and of their own need to deny themselves and take up their crosses daily (Luke 9:22–27). Transfiguration, which points to glorification, only comes after the cross. Mountains are classical sites of theophanies, and so it is no accident that Peter, James, and John see Christ transfigured on top of a mountain. Jesus is accompanied by Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the Prophets, the two means by which God’s will has been communicated to Israel up to this point. Now, however, God tells the disciples to listen to Jesus, who as God’s Son faithfully carries on the work of the Law and the Prophets, but in an even more authoritative and definitive way.