Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

One of the best-known descriptions of the early Christian community states some of its most highly prized values. The picture sketched is probably more spiritually idealized than it is historically accurate. The principal values are unity in mind and heart, the sharing of possessions, and apostolic witness. Unity of mind and heart characterizes the Greek concept of friendship; sharing possessions is a Jewish value. Thus communal harmony espouses values from both cultures. The ideals of this community are noble. They hold out a way of life that might appear to be an ideal, yet through the grace of the Resurrection is attainable.

The reading from the Letter of John is a testimony to Trinitarian faith. It describes God as the One who begets (the Father); it identifies Jesus as the Son of God; and it credits the Spirit as the one who testifies to the triumph of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It also sketches the way believers participate in this Trinitarian reality. The reading moves from faith and love to obedience. Jesus alone shares in God’s own nature, and thereby can refashion women and men into children of God. It is through faith in him that believers can conquer the evils that threaten them.

Two Resurrection appearances form a kind of diptych. Thomas is the hinge that connects them. Absent for the first event, he is the central character of the second. Thomas is less a doubter than the representative of Christians like us, who are called to believe on the testimony of others. The faith required of him is, in a way, more demanding than that required of those who actually encountered the risen Lord. We may judge him harshly, but Jesus does not. Instead, he invites Thomas to touch him, an invitation not extended earlier to the other disciples. Thomas then declares that the risen Lord is God, a profession of faith that out strips that of the others.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

Peter’s teaching regarding the Resurrection includes several important aspects. Clearly a work of God, it is a genuine resurrection from the dead, not merely a resuscitation. That it occurred three days after Jesus’ death is evidence of this. That Jesus was seen by some, ate and drank with several of his followers, Peter among them, demonstrates that the appearances of the risen Christ were genuine physical experiences and not some kind of hallucinations. Finally, the fruits of the Resurrection are both transformative and all-encompassing. Thus Peter explains the mystery of Jesus in terms of prophetic expectation, reinterpreting earlier prophetic tradition and developing new religious insight.

Set against the backdrop of ancient cosmology, the passage from Colossians contains the fundamental teaching about the Resurrection and the way it transforms the lives of Christians. Christ rose from the dead and is now in heaven. Enthroned there, Christ both enjoys God’s favor and, at God’s “right hand,” bestows blessings on others and administers God’s righteousness. Having gone through the death of human life, Christ has been raised to a new life. In a new and total way, Christ’s being is rooted in God. Christians should now turn their attention away from the things of this world and commit themselves to the things of heaven.

The Resurrection stories begin with a report of Mary Magdalene’s visit to the tomb. No explanation for her visit is given. Details about the burial wrappings are significant. They are still in the tomb, though the body is not. If the body had been merely transported to another tomb, burial wrappings would still have been needed and taken along. It is unusual that Resurrection faith would spring forth from an experience of the empty tomb rather than from an appearance of the risen Lord, but it is the case here. The reading ends on a curious note: they did not understand the scriptures concerning the resurrection of Jesus.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

The prophet’s ability to speak and the words that are spoken all come from God, but they are given for the sake of the weary. The speaker suffers both physical attack and personal insult. Despite this, he does not recoil from his call. He willingly accepts what appears to be the consequence of his prophetic ministry to the weary. In the face of his affliction, he maintains that God is his strength. For this reason, he declares that he is not disgraced and he will not be put to shame. There are no grounds to make these claims other than utter confidence in God.

The Philippians hymn states that though in the form of God, Christ chose the form of a slave. Without losing his Godlike being, he took on the likeness of human beings. He did not merely resemble a human being, he really was one. In a sense, Christ’s crucifixion, a common punishment for slaves, was inevitable given his controversial teaching. However, his subsequent exaltation is as glorious as his humiliation was debasing. It is important to note that while Christ was the subject of his self-emptying, his superexaltation is attributed directly to God. Now every knee shall do him homage and every tongue shall proclaim his sovereignty.

The entire Passion narrative lays bare the contradiction of Jesus’ life and the paradox of God’s reign. The initial fear of the religious leaders shows that Jesus had a following among the people, but it was the people who cried for the release of Barabbas and Jesus’ own death. Among his intimate followers, only the women remained faithful; one anointed him, others kept watch at his crucifixion and took note of where he was buried. Of the men who knew him well, one betrayed him, another denied him, and the rest fled for safety. It was a foreigner, a centurion, who publicly acclaimed his divinity. At the moment of his greatest agony, he was recognized as the Son of God.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

The passage from Ezekiel testifies to God’s absolute and unconditional control over the powers of life and death, over destruction and restoration. The prophet employs the metaphor of the restoration of life to dead bodies to illustrate the unbelievable nature of the restoration of the nation. The people probably thought that neither restoration was possible. However, the prophet is insisting that anything is possible with God. If God says it, regardless of how incredible it might appear, it will surely happen. This decisiveness is underscored in the last words of the passage, “I have promised, and I will do it” (37:14).

Paul contrasts two ways of living: life in the flesh and life in the spirit. Life in the flesh (limited human nature) cannot please God. Life in the spirit, on the other hand, is a form of union with God. Paul assures the Christians that they are in the spirit if the Spirit of God dwells within them. In true Trinitarian fashion, he likens the Spirit of God to the Spirit of Christ, and he maintains that it is through this Spirit that resurrection is promised. The Spirit of God raised Jesus, and that same Spirit will raise those who live in the Spirit of Christ.

The death and resurrection of Lazarus point to the future death and resurrection of Jesus and of everyone who believes in him. When Jesus told Martha that her brother would rise, she probably thought that he meant at the general resurrection, a position taught by the Pharisees. Jesus then declared, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The meaning of this claim is the heart of Jesus’ teaching here. Belief in Jesus establishes a bond of life that not even death can sever. Although believers die physically, this bond will bring them back to life. Furthermore, this bond will survive physical death and keep believers from an eternal death. A solemn question is posed: “Do you believe?”

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

Although Jeremiah was a southern prophet who prophesied long after the collapse of the northern kingdom, his message was full of promise for both northern and southern kingdoms. He announced that in the future time of eschatological fulfillment, both kingdoms would be united once again in a new covenant. The old covenant included laws inscribed on stone tablets; the law of the new covenant will be written on their hearts. Each individual will be directed from within. This will require total openness to God and the ability to discern God’s will from a myriad of possibilities.

The passage from Hebrews states that Jesus endured torment of body and anguish of soul. He can fully understand human distress and the desire to escape it. He can speak to those in affliction as one who himself was ravaged by sorrow, but who nonetheless clung fast to God’s will. From a human point of view, he is one with the human condition. From God’s point of view, he is the one who can show others how to accept with docility circumstances over which they have no control. Just as he learned to accept God’s designs in his life, so now he teaches others to do the same.

The Gospel reading reports the approach of “some Greeks.” This mention of Greeks suggests the inclusion of the Gentile world in the salvation brought by Jesus. Jesus replies to their approach with an announcement: His hour has come! This is both the hour of his glorification and the hour that he dreads. The relationship between his anguish and his exaltation is demonstrated through the image of the grain of wheat that must die if it is to rise. The interior struggle that Jesus endured is revealed in his prayer. Should he ask to be preserved from this hour of anguish/exaltation? But it was for this hour that he came into the world in the first place. Therefore, he accepts it.