Navarre Bible Commentary:Thursday, 2nd Week in Lent

The Rich Man in Hell by James Tissot

Luke 16:19–31

“There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Catholic Exegesis:

The Second Vatican Council teaches  that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts,  attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).

St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).

Cited in the Catechism:

Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism paragraphs 336, 633, 1021, 1859 and 2831.

Commentary:

19-31. This parable disposes of two errors -- that of those who denied the survival of the soul after death and, therefore, retribution in the next life; and that of those who interpreted material prosperity in this life as a reward for moral rectitude, and adversity as punishment. This parable shows that, immediately after death, the soul is judged by God for all its acts -- the "particular judgment" -- and is rewarded or punished; and that divine revelation is by itself sufficient for men to be able to believe in the next life.

In another area, the parable teaches the innate dignity of every human person, independently of his social, financial, cultural or religious position. And respect for this dignity implies that we must help those who are experiencing any material or spiritual need: "Wishing to come down to topics that are practical and of some urgency, the Council lays stress on respect for the human person: everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as another self, bearing in mind above all his life and the means necessary for living it in a dignified way lest he follow the example of the rich man who ignored Lazarus, the poor man" (Vatican II, Gaudium Et Spes, 27).

Another practical consequence of respect for others is proper distribution of material resources and protection of human life, even unborn life, as Paul VI pleaded with the General Assembly of the United Nations: "Respect for life, even with regard to the great problem of the birth rate, must find here in your assembly its highest affirmation and its most reasoned defense. You must strive to multiply bread so that it suffices for the tables of mankind, and not rather favor an artifi- cial control of birth, which would be irrational, in order to diminish the number of guests at the banquet of life" (Address to the UN, 4 October 1965).

21. Apparently this reference to the dogs implies not that they alleviated Lazarus' sufferings but increased them, in contrast with the rich man's pleasure: to the Jews dogs were unclean and therefore were not generally used as domestic animals.

22-26. Earthly possession, as also suffering, are ephemeral things: death marks their end, and also the end of our testing-time, our capacity to sin or to merit reward for doing good; and immediately after death we begin to enjoy our reward or to suffer punishment, as the case may be. The Magisterium of the Church has defined that the souls of all who die in the grace of God enter Heaven, immediately after death or after first undergoing a purging, if that is necessary. "We believe in eternal life. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ -- whether they must still make expiation in the fire of Purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies they are received by Jesus into Paradise like the Good Thief -- go to form that people of God which succeeds death, death which will be totally destroyed on the day of the resurrection when these souls are reunited with their bodies" (Paul VI,  Creed of the People of God, 28).

The expression of "Abraham's bosom" refers to the place or state "into which the souls of the just, before the coming of Christ the Lord were received, and where, without experiencing any sort of pain, but supported by the blessed hope of redemption, they enjoyed peaceful repose. To liberate these holy souls, who, in the bosom of Abraham were expecting the Savior, Christ the Lord descended into hell" (St. Pius V Catechism, I, 6, 3).

22. "Both the rich man and the beggar died and were carried before Abraham, and there, judgment was rendered on their conduct. And the Scripture tells us that Lazarus found consolation, but that the rich man found torment. Was the rich man condemned because he had riches, because he abounded in earthly possessions, because he 'dressed in purple and linen and feasted sumptuously every day'? No, I would say that it was not for this reason. The rich man was con- demned because he did not pay attention to the other man, because he failed to take notice of Lazarus, the person who sat at his door and who longed to eat the scraps from his table. Nowhere does Christ condemn the mere possession of earthly goods as such. Instead, He pronounces very harsh words against those who use their possessions in a selfish way, without paying attention to the needs of others[...]."

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus must always be present in our memory; it must form our conscience. Christ demands openness to our brothers and sisters in need -- openness from the rich, the affluent, the economically advantaged; openness to the poor, the underdeveloped and the disadvantaged. Christ demands an openness that is more than benign attention, more than token actions or half-hearted efforts that leave the poor as destitute as before or even more so [...].

"We cannot stand idly by, enjoying our riches and freedom, if, in any place, the Lazarus of the Twentieth Century stands at our doors. In the light of the parable of Christ, riches and freedom mean a special responsibility. Riches and freedom create a special obligation. And so, in the name of the solidarity that binds us all together in a common humanity, I again proclaim the dignity of every human person: the rich man and Lazarus are both human beings, both of them equally created in the image and likeness of God, both of them equally redeemed by Christ, at a great price of the 'precious blood of Christ' (1 Peter 1:19)" (St. Pope John Paul II,  Homily in Yankee Stadium, 2 October 1979).

24-31. The dialogue between the rich man and Abraham is a dramatization aimed at helping people remember the message of the parable: strictly speaking, there is no room in Hell for feelings of compassion toward one's neighbor: in Hell hatred presides. "When Abraham said to the rich man 'between us and you a great chasm has been fixed...' he showed that after death and resurrection there will be no scope for any kind of penance. The impious will not repent and enter the Kingdom, nor will the just sin and go down into Hell. This is the unbridgeable abyss" (Aphraates, Demonstratio, 20; De Sustentatione Egenorum, 12). This helps us to understand what St. John Chrysostom says: "I ask you and I beseech you and, falling at your feet, I beg you: as long as we enjoy the brief respite of life, let us repent, let us be converted, let us become better, so that we will not have to lament uselessly like that rich man when we die and tears can do us no good. For even if you have a father or a son or a friend or anyone else who [has] influence with God, no one will be able to set you free, for your own deeds condemn you" (Hom. on 1 Cor.).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome  

Navarre Bible Commentary:15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Sower by Van Gogh

Matthew 13:1–23

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says:

‘You shall indeed hear but never understand,

and you shall indeed see but never perceive. 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and their ears are heavy of hearing,

and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should perceive with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

and turn for me to heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”    

Catholic Exegesis:

The Second Vatican Council teaches  that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts,  attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).

St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).

Cited in the Catechism:

Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 29, 546, 787 and 1724.

Commentary

Parable of the sower. The meaning of parables

13:3. Chapter 13 of St Matthew includes as many as seven of Jesus’ parables, which is the reason why it is usually called “the parable discourse” or the “parabolic discourse”. Because of their similarity of content and setting these parables are often called the “Kingdom parables”, and also the “parables of the Lake”, because Jesus taught them on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. Jesus uses these elaborate comparisons (parables) to explain certain features of the Kingdom of God, which he has come to establish (cf. Mt 3:2)—its tiny, humble origins; its steady growth; its worldwide scope; its salvific force. God calls everyone to salvation but only those attain it who receive God’s call with good dispositions and who do not change their attitude; the value of the spiritual benefits the Kingdom brings—so valuable that one should give up everything to obtain them; the fact that good and bad are all mixed together until the harvest-time, or the time of God’s judgment; the intimate connexion between earthly and heavenly aspects of the Kingdom, until it reaches its point of full development at the end of time.

On Jesus’ lips, parables are exceptionally effective. By using parables he keeps his listeners’ attention, whether they are uneducated or not, and by means of the most ordinary things of daily life he sheds light on the deepest supernatural mysteries. He used the parable device in a masterly way; his parables are quite unique; they carry the seal of his personality; through them he has graphically shown us the riches of grace, the life of the Church, the demands of the faith and even the mystery of God’s own inner life.

Jesus’ teaching continues to provide every generation with light and guidance on moral conduct. By reading and reflecting on his parables one can savour the adorable humanity of the Saviour, who showed such kindness to the people who crowded around to hear him—and who shows the same readiness to listen to our prayers, despite our dullness, and to reply to our healthy curiosity when we try to make out his meaning.

13:3–8. Anyone who has visited the fertile plain to the west of the lake of Gennesaret will appreciate Jesus’ touching description in the parable of the sower. The plain is crisscrossed by paths; it is streaked with rocky ground, often with the rocks lying just beneath the surface, and with the courses of rivulets, dry for most of the year but still retaining some moisture. Here and there are clumps of large thorn bushes. When the agricultural worker sows seed in this mixed kind of land, he knows that some seed will fare better than others.

13:9. Jesus did not explain this parable there and then. It was quite usual for parables to be presented in the first instance as a kind of puzzle to gain the listener’s attention, excite his curiosity and fix the parable in his memory. It may well be that Jesus wanted to allow his more interested listeners to identify themselves by coming back to hear him again—as happened with his disciples. The rest—who listened out of idle curiosity or for too human reasons (to see him work miracles)—would not benefit from hearing a more detailed and deeper explanation of the parable.

13:10–13. The kind of kingdom Jesus was going to establish did not suit the Judaism of his time, largely because of the Jews’ nationalistic, earthbound idea of the Messiah to come. In his preaching Jesus takes account of the different outlooks of his listeners, as can be seen in the attitudes described in the parable of the sower. If people were well disposed to him, the enigmatic nature of the parable would stimulate their interest; and Jesus later did give his many disciples a fuller explanation of its meaning; but there was no point in doing this if people were not ready to listen.

Besides, parables—as indeed any type of comparison or analogy—are used to reveal or explain something that is not easy to understand, as was the case with the supernatural things Jesus was explaining. One has to shade one’s eyes to see things if the sun is too bright; otherwise, one is blinded and sees nothing. Similarly, parables help to shade supernatural brightness to allow the listener to grasp meaning without being blinded by it.

These verses also raise a very interesting question: how can divine revelation and grace produce such widely differing responses in people? What is at work here is the mystery of divine grace—which is an unmerited gift—and of man’s response to this grace. What Jesus says here underlines man’s responsibility to be ready to accept God’s grace and to respond to it. Jesus’ reference to Isaiah (Mt 13:14–15) is a prophecy of that hardness of heart which is a punishment meted out to those who resist grace.

These verses need to be interpreted in the light of three points: 1) Jesus Christ loved everyone, including the people of his own hometown: he gave his life in order to save all men; 2) the parable is a literary form designed to get ideas across clearly: its ultimate aim is to teach, not to mislead or obscure; 3) lack of appreciation for divine grace is something blameworthy, which does merit punishment; however, Jesus did not come directly to punish anyone, but rather to save everyone.

13:12. Jesus is telling his disciples that, precisely because they have faith in him and want to have a good grasp of his teaching, they will be given a deeper understanding of divine truths. But those who do not “follow him” (cf. the note on Mt 4:18–22) will later lose interest in the things of God and will grow ever blinder: it is as if the little they have is being taken away from them.

This verse also helps us understand the meaning of the parable of the sower, a parable which gives a wonderful explanation of the supernatural economy of divine grace: God gives grace, and man freely responds to that grace. The result is that those who respond to grace generously receive additional grace and so grow steadily in grace and holiness; whereas those who reject God’s gifts become closed up within themselves; through their selfishness and attachment to sin they eventually lose God’s grace entirely. In this verse, then, our Lord gives a clear warning: with the full weight of his divine authority he exhorts us—without taking away our freedom—to act responsibly: the gifts God keeps sending us should yield fruit; we should make good use of the opportunities for Christian sanctification which are offered us in the course of our lives.

13:14–15. Only well-disposed people grasp the meaning of God’s words. It is not enough just to hear them physically. In the course of Jesus’ preaching the prophetic words of Isaiah come true once again.

However, we should not think that not wanting to hear or to understand was something exclusive to certain contemporaries of Jesus; each one of us is at times hard of hearing, hard-hearted and dull-minded in the presence of God’s grace and saving word.

Moreover, it is not enough to be familiar with the teaching of the Church: it is absolutely necessary to put the faith into practice, with all that that implies, morally and ascetically. Jesus was fixed to the wood of the cross not only by nails and by the sins of certain Jews but also by our sins—sins committed centuries later but which afflicted the most sacred humanity of Jesus Christ, who bore the burden of our sins. See the note on Mk 4:11–12.

13:16–17. In contrast with the closed attitude of many Jews who witnessed Jesus’ life but did not believe in him, the disciples are praised by our Lord for their docility to grace, their openness to recognizing him as the Messiah and to accepting his teaching.

He calls his disciples blessed, happy. As he says, the prophets and just men and women of the Old Testament had for centuries lived in hope of enjoying one day the peace the future Messiah would bring, but they had died without experiencing this good fortune. Simeon, towards the end of his long life, was filled with joy on seeing the infant Jesus when he was presented in the temple: “he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation’ ” (Lk 2:28–30). During our Lord’s public life, his disciples were fortunate enough to see and be on close terms with him; later they would recall that incomparable gift, and one of them would begin his first letter in these words: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life; […] that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our [or: your] joy may be complete” (1 Jn 1:1–4).

This exceptional good fortune was, obviously, not theirs because of special merit: God planned it; it was he who decided that the time had come for the Old Testament prophecies to be fulfilled. In any event, God gives every soul opportunities to meet him: each of us has to be sensitive enough to grasp them and not let them pass. There were many men and women in Palestine who saw and heard the Incarnate Son of God but did not have the spiritual sensitivity to see in him what the apostles and disciples saw.

13:19. He does not understand because he does not love—not because he is not clever enough: lack of love opens the door of the soul to the devil..

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

Sower and Seeds

Some rights reserved by madison.murphy

It is human nature to tune out the familiar. This is certainly a possibility with the Parable of the Sower in today’s gospel. How many times have you left mass and a few hours later you can’t remember the priest’s homily, let alone the gospel reading?

I don’t intend to write about being distracted at mass, although that would be a good topic for a future post. Instead, I want to reflect on the meanings of today’s gospel. I believe there are two ways we can look at the parable. First, we can see ourselves as the seeds and how we respond to God’s word. Secondly, we can see ourselves as the sower who plants the seeds of Christ's goodness in the hearts of others.

We Are the Seeds

Jesus describes four types of seeds.  The first seeds fall on the pathway, which is so packed that the seed cannot penetrate the surface at all. These seeds represent those who are so closed off to hearing the word of God that they don’t let anything in. They want to do things their way. The second set of seeds fall upon shallow soil and do not take root so they whither when they sprout. A fellow debate coach shared Father Robert Vallee’s homily with me via email. Father Vallee, who is a professor of philosophy at St. John Vianney College Seminary, asserted these are the people who “get all excited about something and then, just as quickly, get bored and drop it.” Father Vallee pointed out in his homily that Christianity is not just an emotional search. Instead, it is also an intellectual one that requires we use reasoning, through faith, to permit ourselves to be properly formed and informed. The thorns choke out the third set of seeds. I think a lot of times we allow ourselves to be like these seeds. We hear the word of God and we believe, but we allow all the distractions of our life to get in the way of putting the gospel into action. Finally, the fourth set of seeds falls on good soil.  Like fertile soil, these Christians are those who are receptive to the word of God and allow it to form them and they in turn bear fruit by sharing what they have received.

We Are the Sower

The second lesson we can take from this parable is that we are also the sower. It is not enough to simply receive God’s word, we must also “bear much fruit” (John 15:8). Christ is calling us all to be his disciples and to evangelize “to all nations” (Matthew 28:19). This doesn’t mean that we all have to stand on street corners preaching or go minister to foreign lands, although some, like our daughter Tiffany, may be called to do that. Most of us are called to evangelize precisely where we are. Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta used to say “bloom where you are planted.” This is the essence of our response to the universal call to holiness: to share our faith, to share Christ with others in our ordinary every day interactions. I like what St. Josemaria Escriva said in The Way about discipleship: “Among those around you — apostolic soul — you are the stone fallen into the lake. With your word and your example you produce a first circle... and it another... and another, and another... Wider each time.
Now do you understand the greatness of your mission?”

What type of seeds are you sowing in your interactions at home and work?