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From: Hebrews 10:11-18

Christ’s Offering of Himself Has Infinite Value (Continuation)

[11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sa-
crifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all
time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] then to
wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet. [14] For by a single of-
fering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. [15] And the Holy
Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, [16] “This is the covenant that
I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their
hearts, and write them on their minds,” [17] then he adds, “I will remember their
sins and their misdeeds no more.” [18] Where there is forgiveness of these, there
is no longer any offering for sin.

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Commentary:

11-14. Teaching given elsewhere in the letter (8:5; 9:9-10, 12-13, 25; 10:14) is
now reiterated in order to show the universal efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice. However,
here it is expounded by comparing the posture of the Old Testament priests with
that of Christ. They did in fact have to STAND in the presence of Yahweh, offering
victims repeatedly. Standing was the correct posture for servants and employees.
The reference is to Old Testament priests who repeatedly, every day, went through
the same motions and offered the same sacrifices. By contrast, Christ, as is sta-
ted in Psalm 110:1, after his Ascension is seated at the right hand of God the
Father (see notes on Mt 16:19 and Heb 1:3). In addition to conveying the idea of
repose and rest, being seated would be equivalent to receiving royal investiture or
to exercising authority (cf. Heb 7:26; 8:1); also, a king’s chief minister or heir used
to sit on the right of the king, as in a place of special honor (cf. Mt 26:24; Mk 14:62;
Lk 26:69); and it might be pointed out that David pitched his tent to the right of the
tabernacle: cf. 2 Sam 7:18). What has happened is that by virtue of the efficacy of
his single sacrifice, Christ has taken possession of heaven for ever more and has
merited royal dignity; all that remains to happen, and it shall happen, is for all his
enemies to submit to him (cf. 1 Cor 15:25-28). So fruitful is his sacrifice that those
who take part in it, “those who have been sanctified”, are thereby perfected: they
obtain forgiveness of sins, purity of conscience, access to and union with God. In
other words, the source of holiness in men is the sacrifice of Calvary.

15-18. The last proof of the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice for the forgiveness of
sins is based on this passage of Jeremiah 31:33-34, already quoted in 8: 10-12.
The letter is insisting on the spiritual character of the New Covenant—ratified with
the blood of Christ—which is impressed on the hearts and minds of men. And it is
also emphasizing the effects of this Covenant—forgiveness of sins by God.

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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.

From: Mark 4:1-20

Parable of the Sower. The Meaning of the Parables

[1] Again He (Jesus) began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd ga-
thered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the
whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. [2] And He taught them many
things in parables, and in His teachings He said to them: [3] “Listen! A sower
went out to sow. [4] And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the
birds came and devoured it. [5] Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had
not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; [6]
and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered
away. [7] Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it,
and it yielded no grain. [8] And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth
grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hun-
dredfold.” [9] And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[10] And when He was alone, those who were about Him with the Twelve asked
Him concerning the parables. [11] And He said to them, “To you has been given
the secret of the Kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;
[12] so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not
understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.” [13] And He said to
them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the
parables? [14] The sower sows the word. [15] And these are the ones along the
path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and
takes away the word which is sown in them. [16] And these in like manner are
the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately
receive it with joy; [17] and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a
while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, im-
mediately they fall away. [18] And others are the ones sown among thorns; they
are those who hear the word, [19] but cares of the world, and the delight in riches,
and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruit-
ful. [20] But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the
word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

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Commentary:

1-34. Parables are a special method of preaching used by Jesus. By means of
them He gradually unfolds before His listeners the mysteries of the Kingdom of
God. Cf. note on Matthew 13:3. Chapter 4 of St. Mark, although much shorter,
is the equivalent of chapter 13 of St. Matthew and chapter 8:4-18 of St. Luke,
which is the shortest synoptic account of the Kingdom parables.

1-9. The ordinary Christian, who seeks holiness in his ordinary work, must be
moved to find how often our Lord uses in His parables examples taken from work
situations: “In His parables on the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ constantly re-
fers to human work: that of the shepherd (e.g. John 10:1-6), the farmer (cf. Mark
12:1-12), the doctor (cf. Luke 4:32), the sower (cf. Mark 4:1-9), the householder
(cf. Matthew 13:52), the servant (cf. Matthew 24:25; Luke 12:42-48), the steward
(cf. Luke 16:1-8), the fisherman (cf. Matthew 13:47-50), the merchant (cf. Mat-
thew 13:45-46), the laborer (cf. Matthew 20:1-16). He also speaks of the various
forms of women’s work (cf. Matthew 13:33; Luke 15:8-9). He compares the apos-
tolate to the manual work of harvesters (cf. Matthew 9:37; John 4:35-38) or fisher-
men (cf. Matthew 4:19). He refers to the work of scholars too (cf. Matthew 13:
52)” (John Paul II, “Laborem Exercens”, 26).

3-9. With the parable of the sower Jesus wants to move His listeners to open
their hearts generously to the word of God and put it into practice (cf. Luke 11:
28). God expects the same docility also from each of us: “It is a vivid scene.
The Divine Sower is also sowing His seed today. The work of salvation is still
going on, and our Lord wants us to share that work. He wants Christians to open
to His love all the paths of the earth. He invites us to spread the Divine message,
by both teaching and example, to the farthest corners of the earth [...]. If we look
around, if we take a look at the world, which we love because it is God’s handi-
work, we will find that the parable holds true. The word of Jesus Christ is fruitful,
it stirs many souls to dedication and fidelity. The life and conduct of those who
serve God have changed history. Even many of those who do not know our Lord
are motivated, perhaps unconsciously, by ideals which derive from Christianity.”

“We can also see that some of the seed falls on barren ground or among thorns
and thistles; some hearts close themselves to the light of faith. Ideals of peace,
reconciliation and brotherhood are widely accepted and proclaimed, but all too
often the facts belie them. Some people are futilely bent on smothering God’s
voice. To drown it out they use brute force or a method which is more subtle but
perhaps more cruel because it drugs the spirit — indifference” (St. J. Escriva,
“Christ Is Passing By”, 150).

The parable of the sower also shows us the wonderful economy of Divine Provi-
dence, which distributes various graces among men but gives each person e-
nough to reach salvation: “There was then in the eternal providence an incom-
parable privilege for the Queen of Queens, Mother of Fair Love, and most singu-
larly perfect. There were also for certain others some special favors. But after
this life the sovereign goodness poured an abundance of graces and benedic-
tions over the whole race of mankind and upon the angels; [...] every one re-
ceived his portion as of seed which falls not only upon good ground but upon
the highway, amongst thorns, and upon rocks, that all might be inexcusable be-
fore the Redeemer, if they enjoy not this most abundant redemption for their sal-
vation” (St. Francis de Sales, “Treatise on the Love of God”, Book 2, Chapter 7).

11-12. The Kingdom of God is a mystery. If the Twelve know it, it is simply be-
cause the mercy of God has revealed it to them, not because they are better
able, by themselves, to understand the meaning of the parables.

Jesus’s use of parables had many advantages: firstly, because typically the hu-
man mind grasps concepts by first working on sense-information: in His teaching
Christ often clothes spiritual things in corporal images. Secondly, Sacred Scrip-
ture is written for everyone, as St. Paul says: “I am under obligation ...both to the
wise and to the foolish” (Romans 1:4): this meant it made sense for him to put
forward even the deepest truths by using comparisons—so that people could
more easily grasp what he meant (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, “Summa Theologiae
I”, q. 1, a.9).

The disciples are distinguished here from “those outside” (verse 11) — an expres-
sion which Jews applied to Gentiles, and which Jesus here applies to those Jews
who do not want to understand the signs which He performs (cf. Luke 12:41).

Later on, our Lord does give His disciples even more exact instruction about the
content of the parables. But, since the Jews do not want to accept the signs He
performs, in them are fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah (6:9-10). The para-
bles, which were an expression of our Lord’s mercy, were the occasion for His
condemning incredulous Jews, whose sins He cannot forgive because they do
not wish to see or listen or be converted.

17. “They fall away”: they are “scandalized”: the word “scandal” originally refers
to a stone or obstacle which could easily cause one to trip. Here, in the language
of morality, it is used to refer to anything which leads others to commit sin (cf.
note on Matthew 18:1-7). The word is also applied in a broader sense to anything
which could be an occasion of sin—e.g. sorrow and tribulation. In this passage,
falling away or being scandalized means being demoralized, stumbling, giving in
and falling. If a person maliciously professes to be shocked by a good action, he
is guilty of “pharisaical” scandal: that is what St. Paul means when he says that
the cross of Christ was a stumbling-block to Jews, who refused to grasp that the
saving plans of God were to be effected through pain and sacrifice (cf. 1 Corin-
thians 1:23; cf. also Mark 14:27; Matthew 16:23).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.