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From: 1 Corinthians 4:6-15

Servants of Christ (Continuation)

[6] I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brethren,
that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of
you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. [7] For who sees
anything different in you? What have you that you did not receive? If
then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

Trials of Apostles

[8] Already you are filled! Already you have become rich! Without us
you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might
share the rule with you! [9] For I think that God has exhibited us apostles
as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a
spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. [10] We are fools for
Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.
You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. [11] To the present hour we
hunger and thirst,we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, [12] and we
labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when perse-
cuted, we endure; [13] when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have
become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all
things.

Admonishment

[14] I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as
my beloved children. [15] For though you have countless guides in Christ,
you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus
through the gospel.

Commentary:

6. "Not to go beyond what is written": this is open to various interpre-
tations. It may be a proverb with which the Corinthians were familiar,
meaning that one should stay on safe ground (in this cases Paul's
guidelines for the infant Church at Corinth). "What is written" could also
refer to all scripture or just to the quotations which Paul has used (cf.
1:19, 31; 3:19). In any event he makes it clear to the Corinthians that it
is they themselves who, due to their immaturity and pride, have caused
the dissensions in their community through exalting one preacher at the
expense of others. Paul and Apollos have behaved quite properly and
therefore cannot be held responsible for these divisions.

7. The Apostle comes back again to insist on what he said earlier (cf.
1:26-31): they have no cause to boast about the calling they have
received. God called them without any merit on their part. "To be
humble is to walk in the truth, for it is absolutely true to say that we
have no good thing in ourselves, but only misery and nothingness; and
anyone who fails to understand this is walking in falsehood" (St Teresa
of Avila, "Interior Castle", VI, chap. 10). Therefore, the attitude of a
humble soul, reflecting on the graces he or she has received, should be
one of gratitude to God, the giver. Here is what St John of Avila has to
say about this verse: "If you have the grace of God and want to please
him and do excellent things, do not glory in yourself, but rather in him
who made it possible-God. And if you boast of having used your free
will well, or freely consented to God's inspirations, do not boast even on
that account; boast rather of God who made you consent, inspiring you
and gently influencing you-and who in fact gave you that free will whereby
you were able to give your free consent. And if you are inclined to boast
about the fact that you could have resisted God's inspiration and good
influence and yet did not resist it, you should not boast about that either,
for that is a matter not of doing something but of not doing something;
and even that you owe to God, because he who helped you to consent
in doing good also helped you not to reject that help. Any good use
you make of your free will, in things to do with your salvation, is a gift
from God [...]. So, always boast only in God, from whom all the good
you have comes; and remember that without him the only harvest you
reap is nothing, and vanity and evil" ("Audi, Filia", chap. 66).

8. Verse 8 sums up a series of ironic remarks about the conceited-
ness of these Corinthians whom St Paul is taking to task. St Thomas
Aquinas comments on this passage as follows: "The Apostle here con-
siders four types of pride: the first, when one thinks that what one has
does not come from God [...]; the second, which is similar, when one
thinks that one has done everything on one's own merit; the third, when
one boasts of having something which one does not in fact have [...];
the fourth, when one despises others and is concerned only about one-
self" ("Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.").

The Apostle dramatically describes the disabilities which followers of
Christ are happy to bear, like people sentenced to death in the arena
they are a spectacle for everyone to watch. In other letters he again tells
of the suffering an apostle must expect (cf. 2 Cor 6:3-10; 11:23-33; 2 Tim
3:11).

The last words in the passage-"the refuse of the world, the offscouring
of all things"-may refer to a barbaric custom that obtained in some
Greek cities: in the face of some public calamity, a citizen, in exchange
for being treated royal for a period, agreed to be sacrificed to the gods;
on the day of his sacrifice the people had the right to heap every kind of
insult and filth upon him; he was "the offscouring of everyone". This sac-
rifice was offered to free the city of evil spells. Even if they do refer to
this custom, these words have also a much deeper meaning: Christ by
dying on the cross has redeemed the world; the apostle must follow in
the footsteps of his Master, knowing that suffering completes "what is
lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the
Church" (Col 1:24).

Therefore, there is no trace of protest in what St Paul is saying here:
he is pointing to the value of suffering, which the cross of Christ, helps
us to recognize. "I will tell you which are man's treasures on earth,"
Monsignor Escriva writes, "so that you won't let them go to waste:
hunger, thirst, heat cold, pain, dishonor, poverty, loneliness, betrayal,
slander, prison..." ("The Way", 194).

14-16. St Paul brings up the subject of the spiritual paternity of the
Corinthians, because it was he who begot them in the faith. In view of
this fact, his reproaches take on a special seriousness; his purpose is
not to make them feel ashamed but to encourage them to acquire the
virtues they need and to have them build up the Church, which has
been established as "a communion of life, love and truth" (Vatican II,
"Lumen Gentium", 9).

"Be imitators of me": whenever the Apostle puts himself forward as a
model for the faithful (cf. 1 Cor 11:1; 2 Thess 3:7; Phil 3:17; Gal 4:12)
he refers to the sufferings which his apostolate has brought upon him.
All Christians should act in like manner (1 Thess 1:6-7; 2:14). If they
do, they will be a support for one another, they will come to have the
same sentiments as Christ Jesus, (Phil 2:5), and will be keeping out
his commandment that each carry his own cross (Mt. 16:24).

The saints understood all this and taught others to face up to suffering,
even severe suffering. "We always find that those who walked closest
to Christ our Lord were those who had to bear the greatest trials. Con-
sider the trials suffered by his glorious Mother and by the glorious
Apostles. How do you suppose St Paul could endure such terrible
trials? [...]. You know very well that, so far as we can learn, he took
not a day's rest, nor can he have rested by night, since it was then
that he had to earn his living" (St Teresa, "Interior Castle", VII, chap.
4,5).

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.
Reprinted with permission from from Four Courts Press and Scepter
Publishers, the U.S. publishers.

The "Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries" is available from:
Scepter Publishers
http://www.scepterpublishers.org/product/index.php

From: Luke 6:1-5

The Law of the Sabbath

[1] On a Sabbath, while He (Jesus) was going through the grainfields,
His disciples plucked and ate some ears of grain, rubbing them in their
hands. [2] But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are You doing what
is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" [3] And Jesus answered, "Have
you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who
were with him: [4] how he entered the house of God, and took and ate
the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests
to eat, and also gave it to those with him?" [5] And he said to them,
"The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Commentary:

1-5. Accused by the Pharisees of breaking the Sabbath, Jesus explains
the correct way of understanding the Sabbath rest, using an example
from the Old Testament. And, by stating that He is "Lord of the Sabbath"
He is openly revealing that He is God Himself, for it was God who gave
this precept to the people of Israel. For more on this, see the notes on
Matthew 12:2 and 12:3-8.

[The notes on Matthew 12:2 and 12:3-8 states:

2. "The Sabbath": this was the day the Jews set aside for worshipping
God. God Himself, the originator of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3), ordered
the Jewish people to avoid certain kinds of work on this day (Exodus
20:8-11; 21:13; Deuteronomy 5:14) to leave them free to give more time
to God. As time went by, the rabbis complicated this divine precept:
by Jesus' time they had extended to 39 the list of kinds of forbidden
work.

The Pharisees accuse Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath. In
the casuistry of the scribes and the Pharisees, plucking ears of corn
was the same as harvesting, and crushing them was the same as
milling-types of agricultural work forbidden on the Sabbath.

3-8. Jesus rebuts the Pharisees' accusation by four arguments-the
example of David, that of the priests, a correct understanding of the
mercy of God and Jesus' own authority over the Sabbath.

The first example which was quite familiar to the people, who were used
to listening to the Bible being read, comes from 1 Samuel 21:2-7: David,
in flight from the jealousy of King Saul, asks the priest of the shrine of
Nob for food for his men; the priest gave them the only bread he had,
the holy bread of the Presence; this was the twelve loaves which were
placed each week on the golden altar of the sanctuary as a perpetual
offering from the twelve tribes of Israel (Leviticus 24:5-9). The second
example refers to the priestly ministry to perform the liturgy, priests
had to do a number of things on the Sabbath but did not thereby break
the law of Sabbath rest (cf. Numbers 28:9).]