Sunday Lectionary: Are you listening to the words coming out of my mouth?

Once again, in the spirit of regaining more of my free time to engage in other projects, these notes will be fairly terse and to the point…

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time: August 19th, 2012

The Readings this week continue on a similar trajectory to those of recent weeks. In Proverbs we hear how Lady Wisdom has “dressed her meat [and] mixed her wine” and sent out an invitation to all to come eat and drink at her table. In our Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist invites us once again to “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord”.  St. Paul continues his moral exhortation to the Ephesians in the Second Reading , commending them to be “filled with the Spirit” rather than wine. Finally, in our Gospel extract, the Lord again affirms that He is “the living bread that came down from heaven” and He promises that “whoever eats this bread will live forever”.

For the last few weeks the Readings have all been about food and drink. Are you hungry yet? Are you spiritually salivating? Are you hungry for holiness? Do you long for the flesh of Christ?

I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was of the seed of David; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life. – St. Ignatius to the Romans, Chapter 7

 

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Reading I: Proverbs 9:1-6

The book of Proverbs falls into the category of Wisdom literature. It is attributed to King Solomon, but probably also includes later material. Proverbs can be divided into eight parts. The extract for our First Reading comes from the end of this first part in which “Lady Wisdom” is extolled.

Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks understanding, she says, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.” 

Questions:

• What do you know about the book of Proverbs?
• How is “wisdom” described? What has she done? What is her invitation?
• What do you understand by this passage?

Commentary:

Wisdom has built her house, …

The Hebrew word for wisdom is feminine (“hokhmah”). It is therefore appropriate that wisdom is personified as a woman (“her”).  The reader is constantly exhorted to faithfulness to her.

She has established her dwelling (“built her house”).

…she has set up her seven columns; …

A house with “seven columns” would probably be a large house. The number “seven” has symbolic meaning. It is the number used to represent the covenant and completeness. These seven columns also possibly refer to the seven remaining sections of this book:

Prologue (Chapters 1-9)
Proverbs of Solomon I (10:1-22:16)
Proverbs of the Wise I (22:17-24:22)
Proverbs of the Wise II (24:23-34)
Proverbs of Solomon II (25:1-29:27)
Proverbs of Agur (30:1-14)
Numerical Proverbs (30:15-33)
Proverbs of Lemuel (31:1-9)

…she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. 

Wisdom has prepared succulent food. Meat is “dressed” and wine is “mixed” with spices to enhance the taste.

In Proverbs we also find that the personified “Folly” also prepares a dwelling and also calls out:

“Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.”…

Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious! ” But little do they know that the dead are there,
    that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead. – Proverbs 7:14-20; 9:13-18

She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks understanding, she says, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.” 

Lady Wisdom sends out an open invitation to all to come.

This invitation resonates with Isaiah’s invitation to the Messianic banquet:

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines – Isaiah 25:6

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. … Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David… Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.” – Isiah 55:1-5

It also reminds me of Jesus parable of the Wedding Banquet:

Then [the master] said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. – Matthew 22:8-10

Like the master in Jesus’ parable, the invitation of Lady Wisdom is broad: “whoever is simple…who lacks understand”.

The meal which Wisdom provides is also reminiscent of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden in Genesis.

 

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

This is the same psalm as last week, a thanksgiving (“todah”) psalm:

“‘These are the regulations for the fellowship offering anyone may present to the Lord:

‘If they offer it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering they are to offer thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with oil, and thick loaves of the finest flour well-kneaded and with oil mixed in. Along with their fellowship offering of thanksgiving they are to present an offering with thick loaves of bread made with yeast. They are to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the Lord; it belongs to the priest who splashes the blood of the fellowship offering against the altar. The meat of their fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; they must leave none of it till morning. – Leviticus 7:11-15

David praises the Lord and invites us to do the same, to “taste” the goodness of God.

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the LORD; the lowly will hear me and be glad.

Glorify the LORD with me, let us together extol his name. I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.

Questions:

• What is the theme of this psalm?
• How does this relate to the First Reading and the Gospel?

Commentary:

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

This is the same invitation from last week.

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the LORD; the lowly will hear me and be glad.

The psalmist will continually praise the Lord.

Glorify the LORD with me, let us together extol his name. I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

We too are invited to give glory to the Lord and to praise His name. The psalmist testifies that the Lord delivered him from distress.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.

Trust in the Lord and you will not be disappointed. The Lord hears and saves.

The “poor” here doesn’t necessarily mean one who lacks material possessions, but one who recognizes his dependence upon God.

 

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Reading II: Ephesians 5:15-20

We continue this week in our Second Reading with St. Paul’s exhortation of the Ephesians. In recent weeks he has spoken of unity in the Church, spiritual renewal, as well as virtue and vice. This week he continues his description of Christian living…

Brothers and sisters: Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

Questions:

• …

Commentary:

Brothers and sisters: Watch carefully how you live, …

A Christian should carefully consider the way in which he conducts himself.

…not as foolish persons but as wise, …

The Christian should seek wisdom (see First Reading) and not act in the foolish manner of the world.

…making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. 

St. Paul describes the current time as “evil”. What does he mean by this?

“When Paul says ‘the days are evil’ he does not mean that they are created evil or that they are by their very nature evil. Rather he says this of the troubling events that occur in time. We are in the habit of saying, ‘I have had a terrible day.’ But that does not imply that the day of itself is intrinsically terrible. Rather it refers to what has occurred in the day. Some of the things that occur in it are good, as they are enabled by God. Some are bad, because they are brought about by evil willing. Therefore it is we humans who are the authors of the evils that occur in time. Only on this basis are the times called evil” – Saint John Chrysostom (A.D. 392-397), Homilies On The Epistle To The Ephesians, 18,5,15-17

In response to this, Christians should shine “like a city on a hill”, giving light to the darkness. As Paul goes on to say, in order to do this the Christian must live according to the will of God.  When one lives in the will of God, one lives in the light of eternity, meaning that one makes the most of the “kairos” (rendered “opportunity”), situation and moment in time in which we find ourselves. He says something similar in Colossians:

 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. – Colossians 4:5

Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. 

As in our First Reading, “ignorance” to be avoided and the wisdom of the Lord should be sought. This begins with offering oneself totally to the Lord:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:1-2

And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, …

We’re on the subject of food again! Warnings against drunkenness (Not – not a total ban on alcohol) are found throughout Scripture:

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. – Proverbs 20:1

Paul contrasts being filled with wine to being filled with and acting under the influence of the Spirit:

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  – Romans 8:5

In comparing wine and the Spirit, Paul is most likely recalling the reaction of the Jerusalem crowd at Pentecost:

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “…These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

The tense in the Greek indicates that the filling of the Spirit should be continuous and not a single isolated incident in the past.

Why should one be filled with the Spirit rather than wine? Why is it good to be “under the influence”?

“It is good conduct that strikes fear in the wrongdoer. Only one who is sober is prepared to counsel another realistically and with confidence. The person being counseled feels less resentment when he knows how good is the actual conduct of the one who admonishes him. But where there is intoxication there is also debauchery, and debauchery causes base deeds. Therefore it is our duty to be sober, so that the requirements of good conduct maybe observed” – The Ambrosiaster (A.D. 366-384), Commentaries on Thirteen Pauline Epistles, Ephesians 5,18

“One drunk with wine sways and stumbles. But one who is filled with the Spirit has solid footing in Christ. This is a fine drunkenness, which produces even greater sobriety of mind”  – Saint Ambrose of Milan (A.D. 390-391), The Sacraments, 5,3,17

…addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, …

Hey, Catholics! You should be singing!

I believe that it is this passage Ignatius of Antioch had in mind when he wrote the following:

Your renowned presbytery is fitted to the bishop as strings are to a harp. This is why, in the symphony of your harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung. The rest of you should also form a choir, so that, joining in the song, taking your key note from God, you may with one voice sing to the Father through Jesus Christ, so that He may both hear you, and recognize in you the melodies of His Son. You should live in flawless unity, that you may at all times enjoy communion with God. – St. Ignatius to the Ephesians, Chapter 4

We song throughout the New Testament:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. – Acts 16:25

 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdomthrough psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. – Colossians 3:16

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. – James 5:13

Song is a natural response of a heart filled with gratitude to God.

…giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

Thanksgiving should be a central characteristic of the Christian life, much like that expressed by the psalmist in our Responsorial Psalm.

“Everything that happens in life falls within the providence of God. He permits us to experience sorrows and joys, successes and failures. If a Christian acts in line with his faith, everything is success, even things which may be negative… Finally, we are thankful that we are born, that we have being, that our wants are sufficiently taken care of in the world … In this way we give thanks when we are grateful for the benefits that come to us from God” – Saint Jerome (A.D. 436), Commentaries On The Epistle To The Ephesians, 3,5,20

 

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Gospel: John 6:51-58

We continue our tour through the “Bread of Life” discourse, spoken by Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum. We pick up from the last verse of last week…

Jesus said to the crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Questions:

• Where is Jesus at this point? What is the time of yeah?
• What claim does Jesus make?
• What issue does this pose to His listeners? Do they take him literally? Does He correct them?
• What demand does Jesus make? What promise?
• How does He compare Himself with the manna?

Commentary:

Jesus said to the crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

This is the last verse of the Gospel from last week. This is the third time in the discourse he declares Himself to be “the living bread that came down from heaven”. 

Jesus will offer His flesh on the cross:

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. – Hebrews 10:10

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

Last week the problem they murmured saying:

 “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’”

Now the problem they can’t work out is how He can give them His flesh to eat! The words of this wandering Rabbi are just getting harder and harder! Was He talking about the cannibalistic practice of eating dead human flesh?

 Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. – Deuteronomy 28:53

Had Jesus been speaking figuratively here, there wouldn’t have been a problem. His listeners take Him to be speaking literally. Jesus does not correct them, whereas He corrected the understanding of both Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman when they took Jesus to be speaking literally.

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 

As we have seen throughout this discourse, Jesus says “Amen, amen…” just before saying something really important. Rather than softening His teaching, Jesus gets more demanding! Life is tied to eating and drinking the blood of the “Son of Man” (Jesus’ favourite title for Himself, as we saw last week).

As they thought it impossible that He should do as He said, i.e. give them His flesh to eat, He shows them that it was not only possible, but necessary: Then said Jesus to them, “Verily, verily, I say to you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you”. – St. Jon Chrysostom

Had Jesus been speaking metaphorically, they might think He was using the Hebrew idiom in which eating and drinking flesh and blood refers to the slaughter of war:

…There you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. – Ezekiel 39:17-18

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 

Not only does His flesh concern life, but “eternal life”:

And that this might not seem addressed to them alone, He declares universally, Whoso eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life. – St. Bede

For it is not the flesh of man simply, but of God: and it makes man divine, by inebriating him, as it were, with divinity. – Theophyl

St. Augustine reminds us that one cannot simply “go through the motions” when it comes to the Sacraments:

There are some who promise men deliverance from eternal punishment, if they are washed in Baptism and partake of Christ’s Body, whatever lives they live. The Apostle [Paul] however contradicts them… [They ought not]to feel secure in their abandoned and damnable ways… men cannot be members of Christ, and at the same time members of an harlot. – St. Augustine

The idea of drinking blood would have been repugnant to the Jews as it was against the Law:

Anyone who eats blood must be cut off from their people – Leviticus 7:27

Notice that Jesus says that He will raise them up on the “last day” (end of time). Who could do this but God?

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 

Could this be any clearer?

If one asserts that Jesus is only speaking symbolically, what could He have possibly said if He had wanted to speak literally?!

Of the truth then of the body and blood of Christ, no room for doubting remains: for, by the declaration of our Lord Himself, and by the teaching of our own faith, the flesh is really flesh, and the blood really blood. This then is our principle of life. While we are in the flesh, Christ dwells in us by His flesh. And we shall live by Him, according as He lives. If then we live naturally by partaking of Him according to the flesh, He also lives naturally by the indwelling of the Father according to the Spirit. His birth did not give Him an alien or different nature from the Father. – St. Hilary

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood…

The Greek verb has changed here from “phago” to “trogo”, which indicates gnawing. It might be better rendered:

Whoever gnaws and chews on my flesh and drinks my blood…

…remains in me and I in him. 

Those who eat His flesh and drink His blood remain in covenant with the Lord.

Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 

By eating His flesh and drinking His blood we are called into the very life of the Trinity.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. – 2 Peter 1:4

Bread is a quantity of grains united into one mass, wine a quantity of grapes squeezed together. Then He explains what it is to eat His body and drink His blood: “He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, dwells in Me, and I in him”. So then to partake of that meat and that drink, is to dwell in Christ and Christ in you. He that dwells not in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells not, neither eats His flesh, nor drinks His blood: but rather eats and drinks the sacrament of it to his own damnation. – St. Augustine

This is the bread that came down from heaven.  

The source of this bread is important:

 That we who cannot obtain eternal life of ourselves, might live by the eating that bread, He descended from heaven: This is the bread which comes down from heaven. – St. Augustine

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

For a third time Jesus compares Himself to the Manna received by the Israelites in the desert:

And to show the wide interval between the shadow and the light, the type and the reality, He adds, “Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eats of this bread shall live for ever” – St. Bede

Whereas the manna only bestowed physical life, Jesus bestows eternal life:

He knew how precious a thing life was in men’s eyes, and therefore repeats His promise of life often; just as the Old Testament had done; only that it only offered length of life, He life without end.– St. John Chrysostom

The phrase “live forever” is an echo of something God said back in the Garden about the tree of life:

 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” – Genesis 3:22