Scripture Notes: Family (Mark 3)

At the end of Mark 3, Jesus is teaching when His mother and kinsmen (the word “brothers” is broader than our normal definition and includes cousins and other family members) arrive. Someone tells Him that his family is asking for him, and in response, Jesus says something rather surprising: “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then He answers His own question. He looks around at the crowd before Him and identifies them as His family, adding, “Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”

For generations now, some people have looked upon Jesus’ response here as dismissing His mother and other family members, as somehow denying their importance or even putting them firmly in their place. Yet this is insulting to Jesus, Who loves perfectly. He would be the very last person to ever dishonor His own mother, for that would be breaking a commandment of His Father.  

So what is Jesus doing then? He is extending His family. He is not denying that His blood relatives, especially His mother, are an important part of His life. Rather, He is broadening out His circle. He is offering membership in the family that He is building as He inaugurates the New Covenant. And membership in this family carries a critical obligation: loving, faithful obedience to God.  

Who does this better than Mary? After all, she is the one who welcomed Jesus into her own body with her prayer of acceptance and invitation: “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Mary obeyed God’s will with immense faith and love. She opened her heart and her womb to the Word of God made flesh. So when that Word of God teaches the need for such obedience, He looks toward His mother as an example, holding her up and inviting others to join her in His family.

Scripture Notes: Abominable Changes (Maccabees 1)

King Antiochus Epiphanes enjoyed throwing around his power. He longed to solidify his rule over his entire kingdom, so he decreed that everyone had to adopt Greek customs. Everyone. No exceptions. All the people in his domain had to abandon their old ways, including their old religions, and conform to the Greeks. This meant the Jews, too.

Many Jews obeyed. They thought it best to conform to their king’s commands. They wanted peace. They wanted economic benefits. They wanted a bit of power. And apparently they didn’t care all that much about their own customs or religion...or God.

The king’s representatives arrived to enforce the decree. They made the Jews sacrifice to the Greek gods. They removed the altar and the lampstand and the tables and the vessels from the Temple and replaced them with an idol of some sort, perhaps a statue of Zeus. And many of the Jews watched without protest. Many of them sacrificed according to the decree. They threw away the Scriptures. They abandoned the covenant. They took the easy way, the path of least resistance, and accepted the abominable changes.

But not all Jews. There were a few willing to hold on to their religion and their law and their worship and their God even at the cost of their lives. They were willing to die rather than betray God. The Maccabee family quickly stepped forward as leaders of this group, which headed into the hills, leaving behind all they had to remain faithful. Was it easy? No. Was it dangerous? Yes. But they did it anyway.

Scripture Notes: Born From Above (John 3)

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. He was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jewish people, part of a group that had taken deep offense at Jesus. Yet apparently he was also curious, intrigued, and even perhaps drawn to Jesus in a way he could not quite grasp. So he came to Him at night, out of the view of the other Pharisees, hoping for explanations, clarity, answers.

But Nicodemus seemed to find more questions than answers. He started out with what he apparently hoped was a leading statement: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” He was looking for a confirmation. He wanted Jesus to tell him for certain Who He was and what He was doing. But Jesus did not.

Instead, Jesus appeared to go off in a completely different direction: “Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus, probably with a confused expression, asked how anyone can be born anew. Jesus did not back down, but He did explain: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was thinking literalistically. Jesus was speaking sacramentally. The word for “anew” here, which is often translated “again,” actually has a richer meaning in the Greek. It means “from above.” It refers to being born of the Spirit. It means entering into a new life, the divine life, as that divine life enters into us. And it points directly toward the sacrament of Baptism.

This is how Christians are born anew, born from above, by water and the Spirit, by Baptism. This is how sanctifying grace, the very life of God, enters into us. The Spirit hovers over the waters of Baptism, making the sacrament efficacious. It does not just symbolize grace; it imparts grace. The Spirit enters into us, making us a new creation in God.

Did Nicodemus finally understand? We do not know for sure. Yet he, with Joseph of Arimathea, considered himself a follower of Jesus and took part in claiming and burying Jesus’ Body after the crucifixion. In any case, Nicodemus found out how our Lord challenges us and draws our thoughts up to Him and to His truth.

Scripture Notes: In the beginning… (John 1)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5).

The Word is Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God and Man. He, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, created the world. But darkness fell when human beings sinned. So the Word came among us out of a love we cannot even imagine, for He longed to heal the separation between the divine and the human. He brought life. He brought light, a light so strong and so pure that the darkness cannot overcome it. He came to save us and restore us to intimacy with God.

This is the truth of our faith, the very heart of what we believe. Yet often we take it for granted. We fail to approach it with wonder and love. We fail to let it change our minds and hearts and lives. We fail to appreciate exactly what Jesus Christ, the Word of God, has done for us.

So today and throughout the week, let us meditate on these words that the Holy Spirit inspired St. John to write and respond with awe and reverence, gratitude and love.

Scripture Notes: Ruth’s Love (Ruth 1)

Ruth was a Moabite woman who married an Israelite man. Her husband’s family had settled in Moab after a famine pushed them from their own land. But as the Book of Ruth opens, Ruth, her mother-in-law Naomi, and her sister-in-law Orpah find themselves widows. Naomi, now alone and vulnerable in a strange country, decides to return to her homeland. She tells her daughters-in-law to go back to their people, presumably to marry again and go on with their lives.

Orpah does that. Ruth does not. She has come to love her mother-in-law so much that she cannot bear to be parted from her, and what is more, she has come to know and love her mother-in-law’s God. So Ruth clings to Naomi, declaring, “Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”  

Ruth’s love and determination impact salvation history in a major way. When Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem, Ruth meets Boaz, and the two marry, becoming great-grandparents to King David and human ancestors of Jesus Himself.

Scripture Notes: An Introduction to Wisdom (Sirach 1)

The Book of Sirach collects the wisdom of Israel, gathering it up and reflecting on it and emphasizing that we find wisdom only when we are in a right relationship with God and obedient to His will. The first chapter of Sirach introduces us to wisdom. First, we learn where wisdom comes from: “All wisdom comes from the Lord and is with Him forever.” (1:1). There is no other place to find wisdom, for wisdom is essentially a God’s-eye perspective (as much as human beings can have that) on the world. Wisdom helps us see, just a little bit, through God’s eyes so that we can know more about Him, about ourselves, and about His plan for our lives.

But we must cultivate two things if we are to receive a share of wisdom from God. First, we need humility. Sirach asks a series of questions at the beginning of his first chapter, questions that put us firmly in our place. Can we count the sand of the sea or drops of rain? Can we tabulate eternity? Can we measure the heights of heaven or the breadth of the earth or the depths of the abyss? No. But God can. So whatever wisdom we have is, first and foremost, of God. He is generous with His wisdom, pouring it out upon those who love Him. But we have to open ourselves up to that gift, first by realizing how small and weak and stupid we are. That is humility, a recognition of reality.

To embrace wisdom, Sirach tells us, we also need the fear of the Lord. This does not meaning shrinking in terror before God or ducking our heads in expectation of His punishments (as just as those are). This is filial fear, that deep reverence for God that manifests itself in love and in a horror of offending Him by sinning. This kind of fear leads to a right relationship of love and obedience with God, and according to Sirach, it is the beginning, the full measure, and the root of all wisdom.

So we pray for wisdom, for humility, and for the fear of the Lord, that we might grow ever closer to God and see the world, at least a little, through His eyes. Amen.

Scripture Notes: Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22)

The Book of Revelation is arguably the most difficult book of the Bible to understand. It is filled with horrifying imagery, multi-layered symbols, and news of terrifying trials and tribulations. But it also gives us the best news ever: God wins! Through it all, God protects and cares for and loves His people. No matter what they suffer, He is right beside them, giving that suffering meaning and redemptive power and guiding them through it and home to His new creation.

That is why the Spirit and the Bride (the Church) resound with a prayer and a plea and an invitation at the end of Revelation: Come, Lord Jesus! We are invited to join in. We long for Jesus to come to us, in the Eucharist, in response to our prayers, when we gather as Christians to pray and worship, when we study our faith. We long for Jesus to come to us at the time of our death so that He can lead us home. We long for Jesus to come to us at the end of time when He will finally be all in all and inaugurate a new Heaven and new earth where we will live with Him forever.  

So we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!” And we hear Him respond: “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen.