Understanding Sunday Gospels: December 3, 2017–November 25, 2018

By John Kilgallen SJ

This book explains each Sundays gospel reading at mass; that is, each of the books essays means to show what the author wanted to convey to his audience through his writing. These essays, intentionally kept brief, are not homilies, but they clarify the evangelists mind and intention in his gospel preaching. We hope that this book will help the Catholic, whether in the pew or in the pulpit, to appreciate the wisdom of each Sundays gospel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524533212

Book preview

01 Year B, First Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2017, Mark 13, 33-37

This Sunday’s Gospel is the final five verses of Jesus’ last speech in Mark’s Gospel. We have read beyond Jesus’ approach to Jerusalem (our Palm Sunday) and his contests with antipathetic religious leaders there. Now, we find Jesus leaving the Temple area, where he has been teaching for about three days. He calls his disciples’ attention to his forecast of what is to happen to the famous Temple: ‘it will be torn down and not one stone will be left on another’, so thorough will be its destruction. When pressed about this horror, particularly when it will occur and what might be signs warning of it, Jesus, now seated on the Mount of Olives directly east of Jerusalem, gives a lengthy speech about the imminent future leading to the final ‘coming of the Son of Man to judge the world’. While the speech speaks of future events, its ultimate goal is to call the disciples to watchfulness for the final Day. It is this watchfulness which is the theme of our Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent, 2017.

Watchfulness is all the more demanded of the disciples, because they do not know when this final coming of the Son of Man will occur. As a full reading of the entire New Testament (comprised of 27 separate documents) shows, no one knew the ‘day or the hour’, only the heavenly Father knew. Indeed, Christians adjusted to their ignorance as time went on with no sign of the coming of the Son of Man; a good example of this is found in the Second Letter of Peter: But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard ‘delay,’ but He is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (3,8-9). However Christians explained it, they finally could only urge each other to be watchful.

Jesus now offers his disciples a type of parable, a simile, to guide their thinking about ‘the coming of the Son of Man’. It is a story, like all Jesus’ parables, with which all are familiar. The point of the story, to encourage watchfulness, is clear. It does however presume what one might call obvious: namely that the master of the house will surely return; let that always be on the minds of the servants and his gatekeeper. This presumption is made with Jesus’ conviction that, yes, he will return one day. Thus, while the story emphasizes a mindset by which to confront the future, Jesus’ audience should not doubt his return; he will come back and he, as the image of Son of Man indicates, will judge.

The story, though concerned about watchfulness, records another significant point. While the master is away, everyone should keep to his task. While judgment is not expressed here (except in the title, Son of Man), presumably there is importance to be given to one’s work while awaiting the future final moment. No one in the story stops his work; apparently the master will ask for justification of such work stoppage. He expects his house to be in the order in which he left it. This secondary point is significant for the disciples, and, by extension, to Mark’s readers of 70AD, some forty years after this speech of Jesus. The house which the master Jesus has left for ‘travel abroad’ is above all the church of Mark’s readers. It is they who should take to heart the point that Jesus, upon his return as Son of Man, expects his community of followers to keep alive and live fully the teachings and the love which he so urged them to exemplify in his absence. Conversely, he does not want to find, at his coming home to his Christian family on earth, that they are ‘sleeping’, a short expression for giving up on living the Christian life. It is important here to note that, if we apply this teaching of Jesus in 30’sAD to Mark’s readers, then we should recognize that among the works of the awaiting servants is the imminent prospect of suffering for one’s faith in Jesus, even martyrdom. Indeed, many scholars think that Mark wrote his Gospel precisely as encouragement that his readers in and around Rome remain faithful in the persecution they painfully feel.

A third point to be noted about this story, perhaps easily assimilated, is that the master will return with no prior warning; the servants’ work must be constant, for they will not be given notice of the master’s return date.

Two further details are of some interest here. Jesus has divided time into four sections: evening, midnight, cockcrow and morning. These periods roughly correspond to the Roman (and possibly Jewish) view that the night was divided into four parts: sunset to 9pm, 9pm to midnight, midnight to 3am, and 3am to sunrise. (The day is reaches from sunrise to sunset, in four watches.) Thinking that Mark means to use Jewish/Roman time-keeping here it seems most likely that the ‘servants’ works’ are done mostly in darkness, a further symbol of the difficult times Roman Christians endured at Mark’s writing.

[Cocks begin to crow shortly after midnight, and are at their loudest about sunrise.]

Jesus turns the attention of the disciples from when will the final judgment occur to preparedness, watchfulness for its coming, whenever that may be. These final words of Jesus are followed by his anointing at Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem, which Jesus interprets as anointing for his burial. Then Mark immediately starts consideration of Jesus’ Passion and death, the events towards which his entire Gospel is ordained. He, too, will practice the trust contained in watchfulness; he will be ready whatever the task his Father asks of him.

Advent begins with reflection on the end of time, a proper background into which the liturgy will insert the birth of Christ. In each case, ‘watch’.

02 YearB, Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2017, Luke 3, 1-6

Luke begins his account of the public life of Jesus by establishing for his readers historical data by which to understand Jesus within the Roman Empire. Luke’s first two chapters report the childhood of Jesus (and John) in Israel; now the story moves to a bigger stage: the world of Rome and of the vast Mediterranean culture. This story, using these historical markers, will end, not with the resurrection/ascension of Jesus, but with the spread of belief in Jesus ‘to the end of the earth’, to people(s) only occasionally referred to in Luke’s Gospel.

As we leave Jesus’ childhood, we leave behind Caesar Augustus, replacing him with Tiberius Caesar (who will be Roman Emperor throughout Jesus’ public life). Under Tiberius are four authorities appointed by Rome: Pilate (ruler of the middle and southern portions of Israel, Herod Antipas (son of Herod the Great and ruler of the northern third of Israel), Philip (son of Herod the Great) and Lysanias (governing territory north and east of Israel’s border); only the first two of the four have anything to do with the Lucan story of the public life of Jesus. Christianity has become a significant force beyond Israel. Annas and Caiaphas bring us back to the Jewish leadership within Israel. They will be important in the life of Jesus, for the High Priest (he alone can enter the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple) will rule the supreme authoritative body of Israel, the Sanhedrin, who will succeed in having Pilate authorize Jesus’ death.

Given that John was a contemporary of Jesus, and that they preached the same essential message that Israel was to repent so as to enter God’s Kingdom, there was understandably a problem: which of the two is the greater? John had his followers, about whom we hear in 50AD, some 17 years after John’s death. Is such a personage the greatest of those who represented God? The Christian Church said ‘no’, and John says ‘no’ –then who is he? He is understood to be the greatest prophet (one through whom God speaks) in Israelite history; he prepares people for reunion with God after sin and prepares for the coming of the ‘One who is to come’, often called ‘Messiah’ (i.e. ‘Christ’ or ‘King’) of Israel.

And of singular significance is the fact that every Gospel feels it must start the story of God’s new intervention (to make a new covenant with Israel) with the story of John. It is with John that God begins His historic and long-awaited offer of peace, of reconciliation with sinful Israel. A Gospel should not exist without John, the four Gospels testify. John preached repentance (‘a smoothing of the road to allow the King easy access to one’s repentant soul’); the repentant entered the waters of the Jordan (on the Israelite or Judaean side of the southern part of the Jordan River) as a sign and a prayer: a sign that indicated a change of moral life, and a prayer that God would wash away sins and give new life, the life of the Covenant union (water also symbolized washing and life). The dress of John and his food are stark: they symbolize that he is not concerned with this life, but with offering reunion with God.

Clearly, John was very influential, as so many people, including Jesus, went to him to hear his word and be baptized. Among those who came to him were the religiously and politically powerful, Sadducees and Pharisees; the former were also of the wealthy class. True, these people, so utterly devoted to the Law, intended, as did John, that Israel repent. However, as the Gospels witness, these leaders failed in important aspects of obedience to God, particularly respect for the neighbor and a love of wealth and position, of pride. John demands of them obedience to the Law, and adds a further criticism: you trust that being children of Abraham, you ipso facto are ‘just’, i.e. will pass the final judgment. John, echoing Paul and the early Church, insisted that circumcision is no sign of salvation, if it is not accompanied with obedience to the Law.

[John spoke in Aramaic; we do not have his words in that language. But in Hebrew, the antecedent of Aramaic, there is offered a play of sounds: ‘children from stones’ is, in Hebrew, banim mābanim, i.e. a type of assonance. This helps explain why Jesus uses ‘children’ with ‘stones’ rather than, e.g. ‘children’ with ‘trees’, or ‘flowers’]. John was particularly aware that the final judgment was not far off; hence, the urgency for repentance now. Israelites are reminded of what it means to say that the ax is ready to clear the ground of useless, i.e. fruitless, trees, bushes and vines. The winnowing fan is another sign of the separation of good from bad; that this fan is already in the hands of the One who is to come repeats the belief that Judgment is near.

[Winnowing is the act by which the edible grain is separated from the coarse chaff; to do this, one stands before a pile of grain with chaff in it, with the wind at one’s back, and tosses this grain into the air. The wind will blow so that the heavier chaff will fall to the earth before the light grain will, and so they are separated into two distinct piles, the one for baking and the other to be destroyed by fire.]

Finally, John recognizes the presence of the One who is to come, another description of the Messiah; such is the relationship of John to this Person that John knows he is not worthy to be even a servant (tying and untying sandals was the task of the servant for his master). Above all, John’s baptism cannot give what the baptism by the One who is to come will give. Baptism in Greek means a dipping, here a dipping in the Jordan River or a dipping into the very holy life (Holy Spirit) of God. He will also ‘dip’ the believer, the repentant, into fire, that element which destroys (evil) and purifies. Thus, with Baptism one enters purified into the life of God; one has the Spirit of the Lord, and the One who is to come is the one to bestow this Spirit on the believer.

02 Year B, Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2017, Mark 1,1-8

The words of our reading are the first words of Mark’s Gospel; notice, they are without a verb. As such, they make exegetes first think that they are only words which announce that ‘here begins the story of Jesus’. However, a second reflection sees more in these words. The term ‘beginning’ raises the question: is Mark indicating that the good news is the upcoming John the Baptist? There is an agreement among all four Gospels that John is an integral part of the story of the Lord; thus, from this perspective, ‘beginning’ is more than just an indication that the manuscript begins here (manuscripts had no page numbers) – John is the right beginning of the story. Also, the term we know as ‘Gospel’ or ‘good news’ is clearly expresses the goodness of the Gospel: this, which follows, is good news; fact is not key here, but rather important is the meaning of facts – and their meaning now will be ‘good’. Also, scholars mull over the phrase ‘of Jesus’. Some suggest that ‘of Jesus’ means this is good news about Jesus; others suggest that ‘of Jesus’ means this is good news from Jesus. A third group sees that both meanings are present at the same time, and a fourth group suggests that the phrase means to say that the good news IS Jesus (thus the reading would be ‘the good news, i.e. Jesus’. The term ‘Jesus’ refers to the historical person many knew; the terms ‘Christ’ and ‘Son of God’ are faith statements. These are titles which describe Jesus only for those who believe in him. Thus, to the historical Jesus are added statements of faith. These two titles are shared among Mark’s readers, and have indeed been used by many in the tradition preceding Mark. The titles are not new to Mark’s audience; what is new to them are the deeper meanings of the titles which they only vaguely understand. The Gospel will try to make clear Mark’s understanding of these titles, especially as they affect the current life of Mark’s readership. Indeed, one might say that these titles are meant to guide the reader through the full Gospel: it will be, according to Mark’s first verse, a story of the Messiah, Son of God.

Mark begins, not with Jesus, but with John, specifically with a quotation from Isaiah meant to define John. This quotation is an ‘adjusted’ quotation, adjusted to a situation not foreseen by Isaiah. The adjustment is visible in the change of a pronoun: instead of saying ‘he will go before me’, as Isaiah wrote it, the quotation says ‘he will be before you’. Thus, instead of two people mentioned in the quotation, ‘my messenger’ and ‘me’, three people are introduced: ‘my’ and ‘messenger’ and ‘you’. Thus, whereas God identified Isaiah as ‘my messenger’ who would go ahead of ‘Myself’, Mark now reads Isaiah as saying that the messenger of God is John and John will go ahead of Jesus (not ‘Myself’, but ‘you’). [Note that in various and many ways later generations, be they Jewish or Christian, claim to see the deeper meaning God intended in His Scriptures, a meaning not known when the words were first announced, but made clear by new events of salvation.] It seems that many people thought of Jesus and John as equals; they were Jewish, the same age, encouraged repentance. John and Jesus preached in the same Jordan River area; John the evangelist indicates that Jesus briefly baptized. Finally, few people surpassed the esteem in which John was held. To believe in Jesus demands that one know the inferiority of John before his Lord. Mark offers the tradition his ancestors in the faith believed: John prepares the way for Jesus. It is clear, particularly in Luke 1, how God arranged this relationship, and the developing Christian tradition found much help for this in its study of the Old Testament. Two of the explanations of this relationship are: 1. John admits himself that he is not the One, and 2. that the effect of his baptism is cleansing, but does not give the Spirit. John himself asks Jesus if he be the One who is to come, or should he wait for another. In Mark’s Gospel, John refers to ‘one mightier than I coming after me’; John’s unworthiness even to untie Jesus’s sandals suggests that John thinks of himself as nothing more than a slave in