Navarre Bible Commentary:Saturday, 1st Week of Ordinary Time

The Calling of St. Matthew by Caravaggio

Mark 2:13-17

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Jesus Calls Levi

13 He went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd gathered about him, and he taught them. 14 And as he passed on, he saw Levi[a] the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

15 And as he sat at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of[b] the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat[c] with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Footnotes:

1. 2.14 Levi: Mark does not identify him with Matthew the apostle; cf. Mt 9.9.
2. Mark 2:16 Other ancient authorities read and
3. Mark 2:16 Other ancient authorities add and drink

[Notes from Bible Gateway]

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II 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). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 545, 574, 1484 and 1503.

Commentary

The calling of Matthew

2:14. St Mark and St Luke (5:27–32) both call him “Levi”; the First Gospel, on the other hand, calls him “Matthew” (Mt 9:9–13); but they are all referring to the same person. All three accounts describe the same event. Later on, St Mark and St Luke, when giving the list of apostles (Mk 3:13–19; Lk 6:12–16), include Matthew, not Levi. The Fathers identify Matthew with Levi. Besides it was quite common for Jews to have two names: Jacob-Israel, Simon-Peter, Saul-Paul; Joseph-Caiaphas; John-Mark … Frequently, the name and surname were connected with some significant change in the life and mission of the person concerned. Did Jesus’ saving intervention in this apostle’s life lead to a change of name? The Gospel does not tell us.

Levi-Matthew, as a publican or tax collector (Mt 9:9–13), was sitting at the “tax office”, a special place where one went to pay tribute. Publicans were tax-collectors appointed by the Romans. It was, therefore, an occupation hated and despised by the people; but it was also a much-coveted position because it was an easy way to become prosperous. Matthew leaves everything behind when Jesus calls him. He immediately responds to his vocation, because Jesus gives him the grace to accept his calling.

Jesus is the basis of our confidence in being able to change, provided we cooperate with his grace, no matter how unworthy our previous conduct may have been. And he is also the source of the confidence we need in order to be apostolic—helping others to be converted and to seek holiness of life. Because he is the Son of God he is able to raise up children of God even from stones (cf. Mt 3:9). Cf. the note on Mt 9:9.

2:17. The scribes and Pharisees reproach the disciples, and Jesus replies with a popular proverb: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” He is the doctor of souls, come to cure sinners of their spiritual ailments.

Our Lord calls everyone, his redemptive mission extends to everyone; he affirms this on other occasions, using parables such as that of the marriage feast (Mt 22:1–14; Lk 14:16–24). How, then, can we explain the restriction he seems to place here by saying that he has not come to call the righteous? It is not really a restriction. Jesus uses the opportunity to reproach the scribes and Pharisees for their pride: they consider themselves just, and their reliance on their apparent virtue prevents them from hearing the call to conversion; they think they can be saved by their own efforts (cf. Jn 9:41). This explains the proverb Jesus quotes; certainly his preaching makes it quite clear that “no one is good but God alone” (Mk 10:18) and that everyone must have recourse to the mercy and forgiveness of God in order to be saved. In other words, mankind is not divided into two—the just and the unjust. We are all sinners, as St Paul confirms: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Precisely because of this, Christ came to call all of us; he justifies those who respond to his call.

Our Lord’s words should also move us to pray humbly and confidently for people who seem to want to continue living in sin. As St Teresa beseeched God: “Ah, how hard a thing am I asking of thee, my true God! I ask thee to love one who loves thee not, to open to one who has not called upon thee, to give health to one who prefers to be sick and who even goes about in search of sickness. Thou sayest, my Lord, that thou comest to seek sinners; these, Lord, are the true sinners. Look not upon our blindness, my God, but upon all the blood that was shed for us by thy Son. Let thy mercy shine out amid such tremendous wickedness. Behold, Lord, we are the works of thy hands” (Exclamations of the Soul to God, 8).

The Fathers of the Church see this calling by Jesus as an invitation to repentance and penance. St John Chrysostom (Hom. on St Matthew, 30:3), for example, explains the phrase by putting these words in Jesus’ mouth: “I am not come that they should continue sinners but that they should change and become better.”

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:Thursday, 1st Week of Ordinary Time

The Healing of the Leper by Roselli

Mark 1:40-45

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

40 And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43 And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.”[a] 45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus[b] could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Footnotes:

1. Mark 1:44 Greek to them
2. Mark 1:45 Greek he

[Footnotes from Bible Gateway]

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II 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). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 1504 and 2616.

Commentary

Curing of a leper

1:40–44. Leprosy was seen as a punishment from God (cf. Num 12:10–15). The disappearance of the disease was regarded as one of the blessings of the messianic times (Is 35:8; cf. Mt 11:5; Lk 7:22). Because leprosy was contagious the Law declared that lepers were impure and that they transmitted impurity to those who touched them and to places they entered. Therefore, they had to live apart (Num 5:2; 12:14ff) and to show that they were lepers by certain external signs. On the rite of purification, see the note on Mt 8:4.

The passage shows us the faithful and confident prayer of a man needing Jesus’ help and begging him for it, confident that, if our Lord wishes, he can free him from the disease (cf. Mt 8:2). “This man prostrated himself on the ground, as a sign of humility and shame, to teach each of us to be ashamed of the stains of his life. But shame should not prevent us from confessing: the leper showed his wound and begged for healing. If you will, he says, you can make me clean: that is, he recognized that the Lord had the power to cure him” (St Bede, In Marci Evangelium expositio, in loc.).

On the discretion and prudence Jesus required regarding his person, see the note on Mk 1:34 and Mt 9:30.

[See also the commentary from the parallel passage in Luke 5:12-16.]

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:Wednesday, 1st Week of Ordinary Time

Christ Healing the Mother [in Law] of Simon Peter by John Bridges

Mark 1:29-39

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Jesus Heals Many at Simon’s House

29 And immediately he[a] left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them.

32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together about the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.[b]

A Preaching Tour in Galilee

35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him followed him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Every one is searching for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.”39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Footnotes:

1. Mark 1:29 Other ancient authorities read they
2. 1.34 Throughout his ministry Jesus forbade the demons and those he healed of their infirmities to reveal his identity as Messiah, because the people, with their ideas of a national leader to come, were only too prone to mistake his true mission.

[Footnotes from Bible Gateway]

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II 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). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraph 2602.

Commentary

Jesus cures many sick people

1:34. Demons possess a supernatural type of knowledge and therefore they recognize Jesus as the Messiah (Mk 1:24). Through the people they possess they are able to publish this fact. But our Lord, using his divine powers, orders them to be silent. On other occasions he also silences his disciples (Mk 8:30; 9:9), and he instructs people whom he has cured not to talk about their cure (Mk 1:4; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26). He may have acted in this way to educate the people away from a too human and political idea of the Messiah (cf. the note on Mt 9:30). Therefore, he first awakens their interest by performing miracles and gradually, through his preaching, gives them a clearer understanding of the kind of Messiah he is.

Some Fathers of the Church point out that Jesus does not want to accept, in support of the truth, the testimony of him who is the father of lies. Cf. the note on Jn 8:44.

Jesus goes to a lonely place to pray

1:35. Many passages of the New Testament make reference to Jesus praying. The evangelists point to him praying only on specially important occasions during his public ministry: Baptism (Lk 3:1), the choosing of the Twelve (Lk 6:12), the first multiplication of the loaves (Mk 6:46), the transfiguration (Lk 9:29), in the garden of Gethsemane prior to his passion (Mt 26:39), etc. St Mark, for his part, refers to Jesus’ prayer at three solemn moments: at the beginning of his public ministry (1:35), in the middle of it (6:46), and at the end, in Gethsemane (14:32).

Jesus’ prayer is prayer of perfect praise to the Father; it is prayer of petition for himself and for us; and it is also a model for his disciples. It is a prayer of perfect praise and thanksgiving because he is God’s beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased (cf. Mk 1:11). It is a prayer of petition because the first spontaneous movement of a soul who recognizes God as Father is to ask him for things. Jesus’ prayer, as we see in very many Gospel passages (e.g., Jn 17:9ff) was a continuous petition to the Father for the work of redemption which he, Jesus, had to achieve through prayer and sacrifice (cf. the notes on Mk 14:32–42 and Mt 7:7–11).

Our Lord wants to give us an example of the kind of attitude a Christian should have: he should make a habit of addressing God as son to Father in the midst of and through his everyday activities—work, family life, personal relationships, apostolate—so as to give his life a genuinely Christian meaning, for, as Jesus will point out later on, “apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

“You write: ‘To pray is to talk with God. But about what?’ About what? About him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions and love and reparation. In a word: to get to know him and to get to know yourself: ‘to get acquainted!’ ” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 91; cf. the notes on Mt 6:5–6; 7:11; and 14:22–23).

1:38. Jesus tells us here that his mission is to preach, to spread the Good News. He was sent for this purpose (cf. also Lk 4:43). The apostles, in turn, were chosen by Jesus to be preachers (Mk 3:14; 16:15). Preaching is the method selected by God to effect salvation: “it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Cor 1:21). This is why St Paul says to Timothy: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:1–2). Faith comes from hearing, we are told in Romans 10:17, where St Paul enthusiastically quotes Isaiah: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” (Rom 10:15; Is 52:7).

The Church identifies preaching the Gospel as one of the main tasks of bishops and priests. St Pius X went so far as saying that “for a priest there is no duty more grave or obligation more binding (to dispel ignorance)” (Acerbo nimis). In this connexion Vatican II states: “The people of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God (cf. 1 Pet 1:23; Acts 6:7; 12:24), which is quite rightly sought from the mouths of priests (cf. 2 Cor 11:7). For since nobody can be saved who has not first believed (Mk 16:16), it is the first task of priests as co-workers of the bishops to preach the Gospel of God to all men (cf. 2 Cor 11:7). In this way they carry out the Lord’s command ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’ (Mk 16:15) (cf. Mal 2:7; 1 Tim 4:11–13; etc.) and thus set up and increase the people of God” (Presbyterorum ordinis, 4).

Jesus’ preaching is not just limited to words: he backs up his teaching with his authority and with deeds. The Church also has been sent to preach salvation and to effect the work of salvation which it proclaims—a work done through the sacraments and especially through the renewal of the sacrifice of Calvary in the Mass (cf. Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 6).

In the Church of God all of us should listen devoutly to the preaching of the Gospel and we all should feel a responsibility to spread the Gospel by our words and actions. It is the responsibility of the hierarchy of the Church to teach the Gospel authentically—on the authority of Christ.

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:Tuesday, 1st Week of Ordinary Time

By James Tissot

Mark 1:21-28

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Man with an Unclean Spirit

21 And they went into Caper′na-um; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; 24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II 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). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 438, 1673 and 2173.

Commentary

Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum

1:21. “Synagogue” means meeting, assembly, community. It was—and is—used by the Jews to describe the place where they met to hear the Scriptures read, and to pray. Synagogues seem to have originated in the social gatherings of the Jews during their exile in Babylon, but this phenomenon did not spread until much later. In our Lord’s time there were synagogues, in Palestine, in every city and town of any importance; and, outside Palestine, wherever the Jewish community was large enough. The synagogue consisted mainly of a rectangular room built in such a way that those attending were facing Jerusalem when seated. There was a rostrum or pulpit from which Holy Scripture was read and explained.

1:22. Here we can see how Jesus showed his authority to teach. Even when he took Scripture as his basis—as in the Sermon on the Mount—he was different from other teachers, for he spoke in his own name: “But I say to you” (cf. the note on Mt 7:28–29). Our Lord speaks about the mysteries of God, and about human relationships; he teaches in a simple and authoritative way because he speaks of what he knows and testifies to what he has seen (Jn 3:11). The scribes also taught the people, St Bede comments, about what is written in Moses and the prophets; but Jesus preached to them as God and Lord of Moses himself (cf. St Bede, In Marci Evangelium expositio, in loc.). Moreover, first he does and then he preaches (Acts 1:1)—not like the scribes who teach and do not do (Mt 23:1–5).

1:23–26. The Gospels give us many accounts of miraculous cures, among the most outstanding of which are those of people possessed by the devil. Victory over the unclean spirit, as the devil is usually described, is a clear sign that God’s salvation has come: by overcoming the Evil One, Jesus shows that he is the Messiah, the Saviour, more powerful than the demons: “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out” (Jn 12:31). Throughout the Gospel we see many accounts of this continuous and successful struggle of our Lord against the devil.

As time goes on the devil’s opposition to Jesus becomes ever clearer; in the wilderness it is hidden and subtle; it is noticeable and violent in the case of possessed people; and radical and total during the Passion, the devil’s “hour, and the power of darkness” (Lk 22:53). And Jesus’ victory also becomes ever clearer, until he triumphs completely by rising from the dead.

The devil is called unclean, St John Chrysostom says, because of his impiety and withdrawal from God. In some ways he does recognize Christ’s holiness, but this knowledge is not accompanied by charity. In addition to the historical fact of this cure, we can also see, in this possessed man, those sinners who must be converted to God and freed from the slavery to sin and the devil. They may have to struggle for a long time but victory will come: the Evil One is powerless against Christ (cf. the note on Mt 12:22–24).

1:27. The same authority that Jesus showed in his teaching (1:22) is now to be seen in his actions. His will is his command: he has no need of long prayers or incantations. Jesus’ words and actions already have a divine power which provokes wonder and fear in those who hear and see him.

Jesus continues to impress people in this way (Mk 2:12; 5:20–42; 7:37; 15:39; Lk 19:48; Jn 7:46). Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Saviour. He knows this himself and he lets it be known by his actions and by his words; according to the gospel accounts (Mk

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