First Reading Commentary
This Reading prophesies a day when the
Messiah shall be a shining Light, a Joy that abounds; a God-Man Who shall rule
with justice and peace, and bring an end to oppression. This prophecy is very much a part of this
weekend’s Gospel.
Formerly and latterly are the two distinctions
to keep in mind from this Reading.
Formerly there was degradation; latterly there is glorification. Formerly there was anguish, darkness and
gloom; latterly there is light, abundant joy and great rejoicing. And, of course, it is the Messiah Who is the
cause of Light, Joy, Rejoicing and Glory.
The District of the Gentiles is northwestern
Galilee which was inhabited by pagans; and Galilee is where Jesus began His
Ministry. Nazareth was in Zebulon and Naphtali
was east of Zebulon along the Jordan River.
The seaward road was the trade route from Damascus to the Mediterranean
which passed through Galilee. It is,
therefore, Galilee’s glorification that is prophesied in the opening
verse. The day of Midian deals with the
defeat of Midian found in the Book of Judges.
The full story is too lengthy to highlight here but if you’re interested
you’ll find it in chapters seven, eight and nine.
Our own lives are
full of former and latter occurrences: Sadness and joy, disappointments and
accomplishments, sickness and health.
The emotional and physical roller coaster, however, is temporary. There will come a day when those temporary let
downs will cease forever; while the upbeats, although temporary now, will become
eternal and inexplicably magnified. Our
current journey requires patient endurance, praise and faithfulness to our
Lord.
Second Reading Commentary
This could easily be the Scripture passage
selected to open the proceedings of a Christian ecumenical dialogue. Yes, indeed there are divisions among us: “I
belong to the Catholics,” or “I belong to the Eastern Orthodox,” or “I belong
to the Lutherans,” or “I belong to the Anglicans,” etc., etc., etc. As evidenced in this Reading and from what we
know today, obviously there’s nothing new under the sun. Realistically, there will always be doctrinal
differences that Christian faiths will likely never be able to get past or
overlook. But let us not forget what the
most important line in this Reading is: “I belong to Christ.” And let us pray that Christians never
overlook that comforting and unifying fact.
In case you’re curious, it is not known who
Chloe is but obviously is known to the Corinthians. Paul, however, doesn’t single out Chloe but
instead writes, “Chloe’s people.” Most
likely he did this so that Chloe as an individual would not become a possible
victim of resentment from the divided Corinthians. Those who claim to belong to Paul are the
first converts of Corinth and for that reason probably feel some sort of
superiority over the converts who jumped on the Christian bandwagon later. Apollos was an Alexandrian Jew who was a
convert to Christianity and who also converted many in Corinth after Paul’s
departure. Cephas is Saint Peter and
those who claim to belong to him most assuredly felt righteous about their
decision because Peter, as we all know, was head of the Church.
It is not factually known but many scholars
have concluded that Peter paid a visit to Corinth shortly before this letter
from Saint Paul. There’s really no
evidence to suggest that any faction in Corinth claimed to specifically belong
to Christ. Paul probably mentions it in
this letter as a subtle hint to these rivals that Christ is the true Center of
their faith.
Paul writes that
Christ did not send him to baptize. This
doesn’t mean that he never baptized anyone; nor is he in anyway attempting to
de-emphasize baptism. Baptism was a
common ministerial function of all the apostles. What Paul is expressing here is that Christ
made him an apostle specifically to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Saint Paul was guided by the Spirit in his
writings as well as in his preaching and did not rely on his own human wisdom
or intelligence so that the Cross of Christ might not be emptied of its
meaning. The Latin translates as: “lest
the Cross of Christ should be made void.”
In other words, never credit anyone’s conversion to human wisdom and
know-how; but only to the incomparable Power of God and Christ crucified.
Gospel Commentary
Saint Matthew begins here by letting his
readers know that when Jesus heard John the Baptist had been arrested He
withdrew to Galilee. John was now
finished with what he was called to do and now it’s time for Jesus to take
over. The red carpet has been rolled out
and humanity now fervently waits for the Ministry of the King of kings. Saint John Chrysostom, understanding the fulfillment
of prophecy here, writes: “Jesus Christ enters more publicly on His mission,
and about to occupy the place of His precursor, He chooses Galilee for the
first theatre of His ministry, the place assigned by the ancient prophets.” ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ was actually the
proper name used in the time of Christ because it was a non-Jewish section of
Galilee.
Notice that Jesus uses the very same words
which were exhorted by Saint John the Baptist: “Repent, for the Kingdom of
heaven is at hand.” He may have said
this as a comfort for the followers of John who likely had lost hope after his
arrest. But Jesus is an assurance to
them that the work of the Kingdom goes on because everything John foretold is
about to be manifested. Saint Jerome
tells us that Christ will not only set out to prove that His ministry is heaven
sent, but He will also humble the pride of man; and it is for this reason that
He chooses fishermen instead of orators and philosophers.
Ancient enemies of Christianity claimed that
Christ chose simple, uneducated men to be His apostles because uneducated men
could easily be deceived. But as Saint
Paul has pointed out, God chose the weak of this world to confound the strong (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:27). That is not to say that human wisdom and
intelligence is evil. Certainly Saint
John Paul II, for example, was extremely intelligent by human standards: he was
well-read, educated and fluently spoke several languages. But surely no one can deny that this man’s
level of humility afforded him a great deal of heavenly wisdom as well.
The battle is between “Pride” and
“Humility”. Pride is an attaboy or
attagirl, pat yourself on the back arrogance that credits only you for your
achievements. Humility understands and
embraces the fact that all forms of wisdom and intelligence are gifts from God;
or as Christ said: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
It may seem a bit strange or unusual to most
readers that the first four called by Jesus to apostleship were immediately
obedient and dropped everything. You
might be inclined to credit it to some sort of divine stare and certainly
that’s a possibility; but if you read Saint John’s Gospel (1:35-42) it seems that Peter, Andrew and John were already
familiar with Jesus.
The closing verse is
a summation of Christ’s Ministry in Galilee but in addition to that it is
likely intended to create anticipatory emotions leaving us longing for a more
detailed account of Christ’s miracles and teachings, in which Saint Matthew
will gladly oblige throughout his Gospel.
