Author: cristovao

Palm Sunday 25th March 2018

Readings: Is 50:4-7. Ps 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24. Phil 2:6-11. Mk 14:1-15:47

Theme: What she has done will be told as well in memory of her. (Mk 14:9)

 

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Mark begins the first eleven verses of the Passion narrative by using a framing technique. Framed between the plotting of the chief priests and the scribes to arrest Jesus (v1-2) and the betrayal of Judas (v10-11) is the extraordinary story of an unknown woman who anoints Jesus. The framing adds pathos and poignancy, highlighting the abundant generosity of the woman, sand-witched between the trickery of the chief priests and scribes and the betrayal of Judas. In exploring the story of the un-named woman we are in fact entering into the essence of the Passion and for that Jesus wants her remembered.

 

The story is set in Bethany in the dining of the house of Simon, who suffered from leprosy. The entry of a woman carrying an “alabaster jar of ointment, pure nard” (v3), is followed by two dramatic actions on the part on her part. “She broke the jar (an irretrievable act) and poured the ointment on his head”. (v3-4) It is worth noting that the jar is made of alabaster, which is translucent, hinting at the light that is being thrown on the whole Passion narrative through the translucent container and the actions that follow. The woman never utters a word but her actions convey a deep sense of being intuitively in touch with what is about to happen.

 

Her actions bring an indignant response from some of those present. “Why this waste of ointment?” (v4-5) Jesus acknowledges their concern, mindful of Deut. 15:10-11, “Of course, there will never cease to be poor people in the country, and that is why I am giving you this command: Always be open to your brother, and with anyone in your country who is in need.” His audience, apart from the woman, misses the point that the poor brother is there in front of them, since “no one is so poor as the one about to die”. (Flowers in the Desert p151).

 

Jesus defends her actions and acknowledges that what “she has done for me is a good work”. (v6). The New Jerusalem Bible comments on “a good work” by pointing out that it “may possibly be in a Jewish technical sense, the works of compassion being ranked as superior to the duty of almsgiving…”. Michael Crosby in his book Repair my House – becoming a Kindom Catholic states that the woman’s “good deed” can be seen as “a religious activity and linked to the divine action and cosmic action of God’s ‘good deed’ at the beginning of the world…” (p93)

 

Why does Jesus state that this story is an essential part of the gospel? By the woman’s actions of breaking the alabaster jar and the prodigious pouring of the ointment, she has enacted what Jesus is about to do through his passion. His body will be broken and what is most precious, his blood will be poured out in self-giving love, in his role as the Anointed One of God. Her compassionate resourceful presence has prepared him for his burial.

 

Reflection: What if we were more aware of the cosmic significance of our “good deeds”?

 

Bibliography: Crosby, Michael, Repair my House – Becoming a Kindom Catholic (Orbis Books –Box 302, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0302, 2012). Dumm D. Flowers in the Desert (Paulist Press NY/Mahwah 1987. The New Jerusalem Bible (Standard version), (London, Darton, Longman &Todd, 1985)

 

 

This week’s teaching commentary was prepared by

Moya Hegarty os, Sligo, N. Ireland

Bat Kol Alumna, 2007/2015

moyaosu@eircom.net

[Copyright 2018]

 

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.

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Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

1983-2018

“Christians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.”

Website: www.batkol.info gill@batkol.info

 

The Fifth Sunday of Lent (18 March 2018)

Lectionary readings: Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51:3-4. 12-15; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33

Theme: Father, glorify your name.

 

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To what feast is verse 20 referring? John’s public life of Jesus stretches over three years – three Passover Feasts. This is the third and last and Jesus will be the Passover Lamb.

 

The first Passover is at the time of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple (Jn 2:11-22). This action would have reached many Jews because of the feast. This narrative follows the changing of the water into wine where Jesus tells his mother that his “hour has not yet come” (2:4). We are also told that his disciples began to believe in him.

 

The second Passover takes place when Jesus gives bread to the crowds (‘manna’ – Jn 6:1-15); walks on the water (‘Exodus’ – Jn 6:16-21); and promises his body and blood as food and drink (vv. Jn 6:22-65). Many disciples walked away while the Twelve, through Peter say: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (v. 68)

 

Back to our reading for today: the Greeks come to Philip and he goes to Andrew with the request to see Jesus (12:21-22). The message of Jesus is extending beyond his disciples and the Jews. Verse 23 speaks about the hour that has now come for “the Son of Man to be glorified”. In case the disciples and we are thinking it is going to be without suffering, Jesus speaks about the importance of the grain of wheat needing to die before it can bring forth fruit (v. 24). If we love and want to protect our own lives we will lose them in “eternal life”. The people who wish to follow Jesus to “eternal life” must be like the grain of wheat (v. 25).

 

‘Service’ is the hallmark of being a follower of Jesus. As the Father honors the Son, so those who follow the Son will also be honored by the Father in “eternal life” (v. 26).

 

Jesus calls on his Father to save him from the hour for which he has come into the world (v. 27). It is the humanity of Jesus that is shrinking from the suffering and abandonment. This echoes what the Synoptics have Jesus cry to his Father in Gethsemane: Matthew 26:39 is an example.

 

Jesus calls on his Father to glorify his name. The Bat Kol is heard answering Jesus. This voice was heard at the Baptism of Jesus and at his Transfiguration. This is God’s assurance of his love for and pleasure in his Son. God answers his Son but it seems that only those who truly listen or whom God has chosen hear the voice (vv. 28-29).

 

Jesus then speaks of the judgment on the world when “the ruler of this world will be driven out” (v. 31). The battle between darkness and light, blindness and true sight is about to take place when Jesus is “lifted up from the earth” on the cross. The seeming disgrace and failure of Jesus hanging on the cross is actually the triumph of the Son of God where he will save all of creation by drawing all to himself in obedience to the Father for the salvation of all (vv. 32-33).

 

For Reflection and Discussion: 1. Be with Jesus in this passage as he looks towards the final Passover. Allow yourself to feel what he is feeling. What is the Bat Kol saying to you?

 

Bibliography: Kee, Young & Froehlich. Understanding the New Testament (New Jersey: 1973); King, N. The New Testament, (Great Britain: 2004); The African Bible, (Nairobi: 1999).

 

This week’s Sunday Gospel Commentary was prepared by

Bernadette Chellew, Durban, South Africa, Bat Kol Alum 2008
Email address: btrnchellew@gmail.com

 

[Copyright © 2018]

 

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome

………………………………………………………………………

 

Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

1983-2018

“Christians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.”

gill@batkol.info Website: www.batkol.info

The Fourth Sunday of Lent – March 11, 2018

2 Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-23 Ps. 137:1-6 Ephesians 2:4-10 John 3: 14-21

 

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Today we hear a brief review from the perspective of the Chronicler of the entire history of Israel which begins with Adam and concludes with the declarations of Cyrus the Persian.

 

Through the ages, the priests and leadership often failed to be faithful to G-d and the people followed them. Prophets and messengers were sent to call them back to a G-d who showed compassion and mercy over and over. These voices were often met with mockery and hatred. Some were even killed for bringing this message. Because of the blindness of the Israelites, other rulers dominated them and they lost their homeland, their temple, their lives. In the end those remaining were taken captive to Babylon until finally released to return home some 70 years later by Cyrus the Persian. Ps. 137 reflects the loss and pain they experienced in this dark time caused by their lack of faithfulness. “By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” It took Cyrus to listen to the prophet Jeremiah and offer the people another chance in their own land. This hope and their return ends the final chapter of “the TaNak,” the Hebrew Bible.

 

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians continues the theme of calling the people to remember the mercy of G-d and to live now in the light by the grace and kindness of Christ Jesus. From the beginning we witness a G-d who has always yearned to be in a loving relationship with each person created. How quick we are to forget this. We are daily reminded in our liturgy to “REMEMBER”…a very Jewish plea.

 

The Gospel of John is explicit in connecting G-d’s Ahavah love for creation and each one of us. From the beginning of creation there has been a movement toward light, truth, goodness. Jesus the Christ is the Light of G-d, the Word made flesh. The connections throughout religious history reflect this love and Jesus becomes human to live our reality and to lead us to a more intimate knowledge of how precious we are to our Creator. Too often we lose our way and choose darkness over light. We are often blinded by false images of “light” – power, money, fame, etc. None of this leads to true peace, freedom of spirit or love that is constant and lasting.

 

So today we are reminded again that no matter the sin, we are continually called to “come back to G-d with all our heart”. We are never forgotten. G-d walks with us through whatever darkness we may face. Each day provides a new beginning for us to be the “face of G-d” to a world so in need of mercy and love. No matter where we live in this world, we are bombarded by the pain and misery of sisters and brothers around us. We are also all connected to one another in many ways. The recent Olympics in South Korea were a great example of the possibility of unity in diversity and appreciation of gifts.

 

We witnessed spectacular moments of LIGHT, HOPE, CREATIVITY and SKILL. Young and old from many nations mingled together in joy and gratitude. If only we could continue this Spirit “ back home.”

 

For reflection: Where do you find prophetic voices around you? Do you take seriously your call to be a prophet by your Baptism? With what is happening here in the USA, I think of the passage from Isaiah 11: 6 ~ And a little child shall lead them. Are the young our prophetic voices today?

 

This week’s teaching commentary was prepared by

Mary Louise Chesley-Cora, MAT in Religious Studies

Hockessin DE USA

Bat Kol Alumna 2001

Email: chezcor@msn.com

[Copyright © 2018]

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.

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 ~~1983-2018~~

Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

“Christians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.”

Website: www.batkol.info gill@batkol.info

REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS FOR

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, 04 March, 2018, CYCLE B

Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 18:8-11; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25

 

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For the last two Sundays, our readings have recalled God’s covenant with Noah and with Abraham. Today, in our reading from Exodus, we are with God’s people at Sinai, hearing ”the Ten Words”, God’s covenant charter between God and God’s people, whom the Eternal One has redeemed from slavery in Egypt. These Words, accompanied by the sound of thunder and trumpet, are heard for miles around, and are the prime expression of the covenant demands.

 

The part of Psalm 18 which we read today is a hymn in praise of Torah, the Law, given by God to give us life, in which we rejoice, as we try to respond wholeheartedly to it throughout our lives. God’s ”Ten Words” are words which sustain us and so ”are more to be desired than … the purest of gold and are sweeter than the sweetest of imaginable honeys”.

 

Unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke, who place the controversy about the Temple immediately before Jesus’ Passion, John places it at the very beginning of his ministry. It gives us a point of entry for understanding Jesus’ life – and is directly related to the cause of his death. We see here the characteristic Johannine device of having Jesus say something which others only understand at one level, giving John the opportunity of explaining the true meaning, which is on quite another level entirely. The threat of destroying and the promise of rebuilding the Temple was deeply embedded in the early Christian tradition. As was the case with the prophets of the Hebrew scriptures, prophetic actions at the time of Jesus were highly dramatic ways of conveying God’s will and purpose. The deeply significant episode concerning the Temple is related to his prophetic sayings which refer to the crisis and disaster which Jerusalem and the Temple faced. In the early decades of the first century, some Jewish groups did expect that in the ”last days” God would provide a ”new temple”, thus restoring the purity of Israel. While there was certainly an element of protest in the actions of Jesus, they are better understood as a prophetic gesture against the Temple itself. In this context, it is not surprising that Jesus adopted such a radical stance. But his words and actions against the Temple may have been the immediate cause of his downfall. Jesus seems to have expected that in the ”last days”, which he believed to be imminent, the Temple would be destroyed and replaced by a new and perfect Temple, built by God. In the eyes of the Jerusalem Temple establishment, these views were provocative and outrageous. It is hard to overestimate the importance of the Temple for the religious and political life of Jerusalem. Any serious threat to it would have been opposed vigorously both by the Temple authorities and by the local inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are certainly recalled during Jesus’ trial.

 

The words remembered by the disciples, ”Zeal for your house will devour me” are from Psalm 68, which begins, ”Save me, O God, for the waters have risen to my neck”. It is the cry of an innocent sufferer, in deep distress and the reference to it is poignant. The passage from John has a clear reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection, and this is the heart of our reading from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians today: ”Here are we preaching a crucified Christ”, proof of God’s ”foolishness” being ”wiser than human wisdom”, and God’s ”weakness” being ”stronger than human strength”.

 

This week’s Sunday Gospel Commentary was prepared by

Sr Margaret Shepherd, NDS, London, UK

margaretashepherd@gmail.com

[Copyright © 2018]

 

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.

…………………………………………..…………………

 

Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

1983-2018

“Christians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.”

gill@batkol.info Website: www.batkol.info

Second Sunday of Lent Year B (25 February 2018)

Gen. 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Ps. 116:10, 15-19; Rom. 8:31b-34; Mark 9:2-10

Theme: Listen to Him

 

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Mark has placed his transfiguration story in the very center of his Gospel. It is part of the middle section, the story of Jesus and his disciples on “The Way” from Galilee to Jerusalem [Mk 8:22-10:52]. This section includes three passion predictions and represents a major turning point in the Gospel. The transfiguration story, in some sense a preview of the resurrection, emphasizes “God’s creative, transforming, transfiguring power to restore life” [Sabin, 97].

 

The story is replete with Old Testament echoes: six days, mountain, dazzling white, Elijah, Moses, dwellings, being terrified, cloud and voice. It is firmly anchored in Israel’s scriptures and particularly in stories about Mt Sinai (Horeb).

 

Bright light is a symbol of God’s presence. The coming of God on Mt Sinai is accompanied by lightning [Ex 19:16], and Moses’ face shines after speaking with God [Ex 34:29]. In some Jewish mystical literature angels are bathed in light: “The angel had in its hand a shining robe, which gave off a light as pure and bright as the angel’s” [Schwartz, 141]. Mark says that Jesus’ clothes became “glistening, intensely white” (RSV) or “dazzling white” (NAB), “such as no gnapheus on earth could bleach them”. The Greek gnapheus means ‘fuller’, whose job it was to whiten raw wool and tease it out (or ‘full’ it) to prepare it for spinning. Because the word is not in common use today many translations have ‘such as no one or no launderer …’ The color white symbolizes heaven so Jesus’ clothes are an external manifestation of his identity. White is also a sign of joy and feasting.

 

The dwellings (also translated shelters, booths, tents or tabernacles) that Peter wants to build in v.5 recall the annual Feast of Tabernacles that commemorated the past event of the exodus, but also looked forward to the time of the Messiah [Zc 14:16] that would be a time of joy and feasting when “every cooking pot…shall be sacred to the Lord of hosts”[Zc 14:21]. Peter’s suggestion seems to be that this is such a good experience let’s make it permanent. However this is not Jesus’ idea, as the following story of going down the mountain to heal the epileptic boy shows. There is still work to do.

 

The word ‘cloud’ (Heb arafel) appears nearly 50 times in the Five Books of Moses as a symbol for the presence of the Lord. The voice from the cloud proclaims “This is my Son, the Beloved”. Brendan Byrne sees the whole of Mark’s Gospel resting as it were on three pillars, three statements that Jesus is God’s Son: near the beginning (at the baptism in 1:11), in the middle (9:7), and towards the end (by the Roman centurion at the crucifixion in 15:39). The Hebrew scriptures are convinced that God communicates with us and this conviction carries through into the Talmud: “R. Abba says it is the divine voice as it has been taught: After the later prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi had died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel, but they still availed themselves of the Bat Kol” [Sotah 9b]. The voice continues “Listen to him”, something that Peter and the disciples had obviously not been doing. Finally, they find there is no one else with them “but only Jesus”. Do they need anyone else?

 

For Reflection and Discussion: 1. Have you experienced anything you would describe as a ‘mountain-top’ experience? What effect did it have on you? 2. What might “listening to Jesus” mean for you? 3. Where do you think the Bat Kol is heard today? 4. Is Jesus enough for you?

 

Bibliography: Byrne, A Costly Freedom (Strathfield NSW, 2008); Sabin, ‘The Gospel According to Mark’ in Durken, New Collegeville Bible Commentary (Collegeville MN, 2009); Schwartz, Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish mystical tales (Oxford, 1993).

 

This week’s Sunday Gospel Commentary was prepared by

Br Kevin McDonnell cfc, PhD., Australia, Bat Kol Alumnus, 2003, 2004, 2005.
Email address: klmcdonnell@edmundrice.org

[Copyright © 2018]

 

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PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.

……………………………………………………………

 

Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

1983-2018

“Christians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.

gill@batkol.info Website: www.batkol.info