1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT - A

For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Mt 24:37-44

This section of St. Matthew’s gospel is directed at those who live carelessly and unprepared as if the judgment were not coming.

vv. 37-39.

The story of Noah and the Flood.
• The Genesis story emphasizes the wickedness of the people while Matthew emphasizes the unexpected coming of the flood for those who are unprepared.
• Noah is a model for a man who lived by faith and was preserved from de-struction because of his obedience to God.

Verses 37 and 39 are examples of “inclusio”. They both speak of the coming of the Son of Man. Only Matthew makes use of the term “Parousia” (coming).

v. 37. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

The ordinary meaning of son of man is a man. But in Dn 7:13-14 it refers to the Messianic King. Son of Man is how Jesus referred to himself in Matthew and was applied by the Church to Jesus after his Resurrection.

vv. 40-41. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.

The end comes as a surprise. One is taken to the Kingdom; the other, left for destruction. The criterion is readiness for the coming of the Son of Man.

vv. 42-44. 

Vigilance and readiness for the coming of the Son of Man is compared to that of the coming of a thief. See also 2Pt 3:10; 1Thess 5:4; and Rev 3:3. 16:15.

v. 42. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

Staying awake is alertness to the will of God.

v. 43. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.

The Palestinian house had mud walls. You gain entry by just making a hole.

v. 44. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Regarding the end of time, the right attitude is alertness and preparedness and not speculation and fear. For this reason, Luke does not place vv. 42-44 immediately after 24:1-36 (called the “Little Apocalypse”).

By being alert and ready you will not suffer loss in the coming judgment.

CHRIST THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE (C)

"Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Lk 23:35-43

v. 35 - The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God."

Luke presents to us the different attitudes of the spectators: the silent curiosity of the crowd; the contempt of the rulers; the callousness of the guards; the bitter invectiveness of one criminal and the goodness of the other.

“Chosen one” alludes to the transfiguration (Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him" Lk 9:35.) and to the Servant chosen by God for his work of salvation and despised by men (Is 49:7).

v. 36 - Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine….

In Luke the offer of vinegar was an act of mockery and not of compassion. See Ps 69:21.

v. 37 – 38 - They called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews."

Luke wants to point out the majesty of Jesus. Ironically truth about Jesus is proclaimed in the derision of the soldiers.

v. 40 – 41 - The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal."

This intervention of the good thief is found only in Luke who is interested in episodes of conversion: 7:36-50; 19:1-10; Acts 9:1-25; 10; 16:14-15. 29-34.

v. 42 - Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

This request echoes the prayer of the dying found frequently in Judaism.

Again Luke highlights the majesty of Jesus when he returns.

v. 43 - He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Paradise comes from a Persian word which means park or garden. In the Septuagint (Greek bible), it is used for the Garden of Eden which is believed to be a copy of the heavenly paradise, the future home of the just.

The Jewish belief in the after-life takes two forms. One believes in Sheol, the universal graveyard. There all the dead waited in the sleep of death until the general judgment and resurrection. The other is the just going to heaven immediately after death. This second belief is behind the promise of Jesus to the good thief.

In the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus, we find another description of the after-life: the rich man found himself in the netherworld while Lazarus found himself in the bosom of Abraham, that is, heaven (Lk 16:22-31).

33RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)

Jesus said, "All that you see here--the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."

Lk 21:5-19

The announcement of the destruction of the Temple is the last discourse of Jesus in Luke. It is also the moment when Jesus prophesied about the tribulations that will herald the end of time and his return in glory. The language that Jesus uses is the apocalyptic language of the time.

In Luke Jesus speaks to the people in the Temple. He distinguishes the announcement of the end of time from the events that will precede it (the persecution of the disciples and the destruction of Jerusalem). He concludes by exhorting the people to perseverance (endurance) and vigilance.

v. 5 - While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings…

Construction of the Temple began in 19BC by Herod the Great. It was a whole new Temple at the time of Jesus. Votive offerings were either for construction or for decoration.

v. 6 - All that you see here--the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.

Numerous prophets of old had announced the destruction of the first Temple (Jer 7:1-15; 26:1-19) because the people had broken their covenant with Yahweh. Jesus now announces the destruction of the second Temple because the people have refused God’s invitation made through him (Mt 26:61).

v. 7 - Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"

In Lk and Mk the question is about the date and the sign of the destruction of the Temple. In Mt it is not only the date and the sign of the destruction of the Temple but also of the Parousia (second coming of Jesus) and the end of time.

The response of Jesus is about the date of the Parousia and the end of time which is different from the destruction of the Temple.

v. 8 - He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them!"

The verb deceive may also be translated as “seduced” or “lead into error”. In Hebrew apocalyptic literature it refers to messianic, diabolical, political and doctrinal error.


“I am he.” The false Messiah is he who give to himself the role and authority of Jesus.

“The time has come.” For Luke the teachers of error announce the nearness of the end of time.

v. 9 - When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."

Luke may be thinking of the military and political upheaval that accompanied the suicide of Nero in 68 when there arose four claimants to the throne.

Wars and insurrection do not mark the end of time.

v. 10 - Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”

These are signs that will mark the end. But before these signs occur persecution of the disciples will take place (v. 12).

Wars are apocalyptic themes (Is 19:2; 2 Chron 15:6).

v. 11 - There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.

In 79 Vesuvius erupted, causing earthquakes.

The sky will also bring awesome terrifying sights (Lk 21:25-26).

v. 12 - "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.”

Just as Christ had to endure suffering in order to enter into his glory so also the disciples have to pass victoriously through the test – persecution, which will lead to the final phase, the end of time.

Local synagogues had small Sanhedrins which became important after the fall of Jerusalem.

Being led before kings and governors – Acts 25:13 – 26:32.

v. 13 - It will lead to your giving testimony.

Giving testimony is the essential function of the Twelve (Lk 24:48); of Stephen (Acts 22:20); of Paul (Acts 22:15).

It consists in proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus and his Lordship. The Greek word for testimony is the origin of our word for “martyr”.

v. 19 - By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

Perseverance and endurance (Lk 8:15) refers to facing the dangers which threatens the Word of God. It frequently used by Paul (1Thess 1:3; Rom 2:7).

32ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him….

Lk 20: 27-38

Parallels are: Mt 22:23-33; Mk 12:18-27.

v. 27 - Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him….

• The Sadducees were priests and aristocrats. They were wealthy and collaborated with the Romans. The Pharisees were apolitical.
• The Sadducees did not expect any Messiah. The Pharisees did.
• The Sadducees believed in free will. The Pharisees believed in fate.
• The Sadducees only accepted the Torah. The Pharisees accepted all of Scrip-tures as well as the oral and ceremonial laws.
• The Sadducees did not believe in the after-life, in the resurrection, in angels and demons. The Pharisees believed in all of these (Acts 23:8). But their belief in the after-life is very physical and carried to the extreme. For example, they believed that women will give birth every day.

Belief in the Resurrection appeared only 2 centuries before and can be found in Daniel 12:2-3. Since the Sadducees did not accept Daniel, they did not accept the belief in the Resurrection.

The Sadducees contested the Resurrection by using an argument that shows the resurrection to be ridiculous.
The response of Jesus was based on Exodus whose authority the Sadducees accept.

v. 28 - Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.'

This is called the Levirite law and found in Dt. 25-5-6. This, however, is prohi-bited by Lev 18:16 and 20:21.
The purpose is the perpetuate the name of the family and to assure an heir for the deceased. But the law was already in disuse at the time of Jesus. Moreover, the law became less important when daughters were allowed to inherit (Num 36).

This practice is also found among the Hittites and the Assyrians.

v. 35-36 - But those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.

The phrase “deemed worthy” seems to suggest that it is a grace to be admitted to the world to come.
Jesus gives us an idea of what the resurrection entails, “we shall be like the angels”. The material will pass away.

Instead of children of God, read “sons of the resurrection”. They are heirs of the new world to come and of the life in that world.

There is no intention to devalue marriage. The intention is to stress that in the after-life there is no other preoccupation but to serve and praise God.

v. 37-38 - That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.

Jesus quotes Ex 3:6 because the Sadducees accept the authority of the Book of Exodus, being part of the Torah. “I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Take note that God says: “I AM the God your father” not “I WAS the God of your father.”
God takes care of the living. God revealed himself to Moses as the God of the Patriarchs, as a living God who guides the history of the living. Moreover, men may lose their friends to death. But not God.

v. 39 - Some of the scribes said in reply, "Teacher, you have answered well."

The scribes applaud Jesus because he has proven the Sadducees wrong. We can also find in Mk 12:32, a scribe commending Jesus for his answer. The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, 'He is One and there is no other than he.'”