23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.

Commentary taken from the New American Bible, unless stated otherwise.

If your brother sins against you....

This passage is how they are to deal with one who sins and yet remains within the community. First there is to be private correction; if this is unsuccessful, further correction before two or three witnesses; if this fails, the matter is to be brought before the assembled community (mine: the church; in Greek the assembly of the faithful is ekklesia), and if the sinner refuses to attend to the correction of the church, he is to be expelled (mine: excommunicated).

Your brother....
A fellow disciple.

Against you....
Some manuscripts do not have the words "against you". In this case it would read, "if your brother sins" and thus, broadens the type of sin in question.

If he refuses to listen even to the church,then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
In the Jewish community, gentiles and tax collectors were not welcome.

Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven....
The church's judgment will be ratified in heaven, i.e., by God. It would seem that in this verse the power given previously to Peter of binding and loosing is now also given to the church. But this is not so. Here only the power of excommunication is intended.

If two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray....
The section ends with a saying about the favorable response of God to prayer, even to that of a very small number, for Jesus is in the midst of any gathering of his disciples, however small.

This saying is similar to one attributed to a rabbi executed in A.D. 135 at the time of the second Jewish revolt: ". . . When two sit and there are between them the words of the Torah, the divine presence (Shekinah) rests upon them".

My reflection on prayer:

Personal/individual prayer is good. In fact, Jesus prayed alone. He instructed his disciples to pray in secret, that is, in one's room. But this has to be balanced by rpayer with the community. The Acts of the Apostles mentioned the community praying together int he temple and Breaking Bread in their homes.

We pray together in community when we come to church, when we join a prayer meeting, when we start a meeting with a prayer, when we pray for the dead together.

While we should continue asking individuals to pray for us or for our intentions, we should also ask groups to pray for us or for our intentions.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,take up his cross, and follow me. (Mt 16:21-27)

... That he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly ... and be killed and on the third day be raised.

New American Bible (NAB) commentary:

• This first prediction of the passion serves as a corrective to an understanding of Jesus' messiahship as solely one of glory and triumph. By his addition of "from that time on" Matthew has emphasized that Jesus' revelation of his coming suffering and death marks a new phase of the gospel. Neither this nor the two later passion predictions can be taken as sayings that, as they stand, go back to Jesus himself. However, it is probable that he foresaw that his mission would entail suffering and perhaps death, but was confident that he would ultimately be vindicated by God.

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.."

NAB commentary:

• Peter's refusal to accept Jesus' predicted suffering and death is seen as a satanic attempt to deflect Jesus from his God-appointed course, and the disciple is addressed in terms that recall Jesus' dismissal of the devil in the temptation account ("Get away, Satan!"). Peter's satanic purpose is emphasized by Matthew's addition to the Marcan source of the words "You are an obstacle to me".

My reflection:

Just a while ago Jesus addressed him as the rock on which he will build his church (cf. last Sunday's gospel reading). Now Jesus calls him Satan. How come?

It's the temptation in the wilderness all over again. After his baptism by John at the Jordan, the Spirit led him to the wilderness. And there for 40 days and 40 nights Satan tempted him. What was the temptation?

It was the mission of Jesus to save the world through the way of the cross. That was the Father's will. But Satan wanted Jesus to be savior through another way, through popularity, through power and through incredible deeds. Jesus chose the way laid out by his Father.

That wilderness experience ended with the words: "When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time."

Now the devil returned and through Peter was tempting Jesus to abandon the way of the cross. But Jesus was firm. He was not to be dissuaded from doing the Father's will.

"You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

An anecdote: Two high school classmates, A and E, had a quarrel. Afterwards, A said: "I'd like to forgive E, but my other classmates may say that it is because I am afraid of him." If E was thinking the way God thinks, perhaps his attitude would have been different.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

NAB commentary:

• A readiness to follow Jesus even to giving up one's life for him is the condition for true discipleship; this will be repaid by him at the final judgment

• Deny himself: to deny someone is to disown him and to deny oneself is to disown oneself as the center of one's existence.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

This is a pun on Peter's name. In Greek it would be Petros (Peter), petra (rock). In Aramaic it would be both kepa. The Church that Jesus would build would remain steadfast. It would find its footing on the faith proclaimed by Peter.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus gives to Peter the leadership over his Church.

Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

God shall bind and loose what Peter binds and looses. In the language of the rabbis this would mean binding the devil in exorcism, juridical acts of excommunication and definitive decision making. This verse thus gives enormous authority to Peter.

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

THE CANAANITE WOMAN (Matthew 15:21-28)

Tyre and Sidon
It is situated north of Israel. It still exists in modern-day Lebanon. This is the only time in Matthew when Jesus brings his ministry into Gentile territory.

Canaanite Woman
Instead of using the contemporary "Syrophoenician" as Mark does, Matthew uses the ancient term Canaanite. Is it an allusion to Rahab mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus? Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the King (Mt 1:5-6). Rahab was the Canaanite woman who hid the spies sent by Joshua.

Son of David
Why is the woman who seeks healing from Jesus address him as Son of David? In the Judaism of NT times, Solomon was regarded as a healer, too. And Solomon was a son of David.

But Jesus did not say a word to her.
The mission of the historical Jesus is to gather Israel for the end-time events. Nevertheless, the healing of the Centurion's slave and the healing of this woman's daughter were glimpses of the later opening up of the mission to all nations. At his ascension Jesus gave this great commission to his disciples: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of ALL nations."

"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
Jesus ignores her but she doesn't give up. Her love for her child will not make her give up.

"It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."
The children were the Jews. Dogs and pigs were the Jewish terms of contempt for Gentiles (non-Jews). Jesus must have these words with a smile on his lips. In other words, there was no insult intended.

"Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."
Touche. The woman was not only persistent. She was also witty. She uses Jesus own words to her advantage, to gain healing for her daughter.

"O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish."
In Matthew she was the only one about whom Jesus remarked as having great faith. But even in the healing of the Centurion's slave, Jesus marvelled at the faith shown by the man ("In no one in Israel have I found such faith.") It is significant that neither the woman nor the Centurion was a Jew. Both were Gentiles.

THOUGHTS ON PRAYER

No. 1.

God always hears our prayers. Sometimes his answer is "yes". At other times his answer is "no". Still at other times his answer is "wait".

No. 2
If I answer your prayer at once
it is because I'm testing your faith

If I answer your prayer later
it is because I'm testing your patience

If I don't answer your prayer
it is because I have something better planned for you.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

"O YOU OF LITTLE FAITH, WHY DID YOU DOUBT?"

Jesus made the disciples get into a boat...

The better Greek translation would be: "Jesus compelled his disciples to get into a boat..." Why would he do that?

John's Gospel says that having seen the miracle, the people wanted to forcibly make him king. The people's idea of the messiah was a political and earthly one. But Jesus was not that kind of Messiah.

The disciples were perhaps thinking along the same line. They had to be shielded from this misconception. It is noteworthy that even after the Resurrection some of the disciples still held onto the hope of an earthly kingdom. They asked when he would re-establish the kingdom of David.

Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

Jesus was tired. He had his hands full that day. Yet he prayed. He communed with his Father. He was able to pray because he found the time to pray. And he made sure he had the time to pray because being alone with his Father was important to him.

During the fourth watch of the night...

In ancient time the night was divided into four watched: from 6pm-9pm, 9pm-12am, 12am-3am and 3am-6am. The time was around 3am.

"Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."

Someone said that you can find the phrase "do not be afraid" 365 times in the bible. It is as if God is re-assuring us everyday of the year.

"Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."

That Peter could ask for such a thing meant great faith. It is enough for Jesus to give him permission to walk on the water for him to be able to walk on the water. In fact, he was able to walk on the water until...

But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink...

As long as he had his eyes fixed on Jesus, everything was alright. But when he took his gaze away from Jesus, fear took over and he began to sink.

"Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter.

In the midst of the vicissitudes of life we can always cry out, "Lord, save me." Knowing that the Lord is there gives us courage and confidence.

"O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

I think the Lord was not angry with Peter. I think he was disappointed or even sorry for Peter. Peter started out with great faith but "lost" it in just a few seconds. Later Peter would tell Jesus that even if everyone would desert him, he would never desert him. Feeling sorry for Peter, Jesus had to tell him that before the cock crows he would have denied him three time.

After they got into the boat, the wind died down.

Jesus does not take away our problems. He doesn't protect us from the trials of life. But he does give us peace of heart and mind even in the midst of the problems and the trials that come our way.