From: Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-16, 18-22
Distress and hope
[12]”For thus says the Lord:
Your hurt is incurable,
and your wound is grievous.
[13]There is none to uphold your cause,
no medicine for your wound,
no healing for you.
[14]All your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
the punishment of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant.
[15]Why do you cry out over your hurt?
Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant,
I have done these things to you.
[18]”Thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob,
and have compassion on his dwellings:
the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound,
and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
[19]Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
and the voices of those who make merry.
I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honoured, and they shall not be small.
[20]Their children shall he as they were of old.
and their congregation shall be established before me;
and I will punish all who oppress them.
[21]Their prince shall be one of themselves,
their ruler shall come forth from their midst;
I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
for who would dare of himself to approach me? says the Lord.
[22] And you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.”
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Commentary:
30:1-33:26. The second section of the second part of the hook is traditionally
called the “Book of Consolation” because both the oracles in verse and the
prose passages interspersed among them carried a message of consolation for
the people during their years in exile.
Although the section may seem to break the thread of the narrative, it does not
really do so. Having dealt with the difficulties met by Jeremiah in his attempts
to dispel false hopes in an early return from exile, the book now records oracles
about a future return to Judah. The central theme is hope in the restoration of
Israel and Judah based on a “new covenant”. This section could date from the
end of Zedekiah’s reign (587 BC) or a little later.
The oldest part of the section consists in verse oracles. In these we find recur-
ring references to impending judgment and punishment (30:5-7, 12-15, 23-24),
calls to hope (30:10-11, 16-17, 18-21; 31:2-14), laments (31:15, 18-19), and pro-
mises of better times to come (31:16-17; 31:20-22). The general tone is rather
sombre. However, in the final form of the book these oracles are linked by prose
passages beginning with the words “days are coming” (30:3; 31:27, 31, 38) and
which have the effect of giving these chapters a hopeful tone.
The most important passage announces the “new covenant’ that will replace the
one broken by the people’s repeated transgressions down the years (cf. 31:31-
37). From very early on, Christian writers have drawn attention to this passage:
“God announces that a new covenant shall be made, and it will be a light to all
the nations. We believe in his proclamation: our conviction derives from the po-
wer of the name of Jesus Christ who was crucified. All the people will forsake
idolatry and sin in order to draw closer to God; they will suffer death to pledge
their belief in him and to fulfil the creed of their religion. It is clear from the his-
tory of events and the power that lies behind them that God’s proclamation is
fulfilled in the New Law and the New Covenant, in which all righteous men from
all nations who desire God’s goodness place their hope. We, who were led to
God by Christ crucified, are the people of Israel in spirit and in truth, the people
of Judah and Jacob and Isaac, and of Abraham, the one to whom God bore wit-
ness before the time of circumcision, who was blessed and called the father of
many nations” (St Justin, “Dialogus cum Tryphone”, 11, 4-5).
30:1-24. The oracles that start of the “Book of Consolation” include some in
verse, which are designed mainly to nourish the hope of Israel, that is, the Nor-
thern kingdom. To these, others are added (they are usually in prose) which ap-
ply those promises of restoration to Judah. The former were probably composed
by Jeremiah early in his ministry, in the reign of Josiah, when Assyrian power
was on the wane and when religious reform in the Southern kingdom gave
ground for hope that the Israelites, who had borne the brunt of Assyrian aggres-
sion, would come back into the fold. The later oracles were composed after Ju-
dah had suffered deportations. God is not forgetful of his followers, be they from
North or South, and he promises to re-establish his people in their land.
In the first oracles a sharp contrast is drawn between the suffering and anguish
that prevails in Israel (seemingly an insoluble situation: vv. 5-7, 12-15), and the
Lord’s promise that he will not abandon his people or allow them to be destroyed
even though they are experiencing the punishment that their sins deserve (vv.
10-11, 16-24). Similarly, Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and after a period of religious
and moral reform, it will flourish again (vv. 18-21). Just as the Lord will deliver
Israel, so he will come to Judah’s rescue in due course. He will lift the yoke that
Babylon has placed on the Jews (cf. 27:1-22) and they will be able to serve God
once more, under the rule of a descendant of David (vv. 8-9; cf. 23:5; Ezek 34:23;
37:24). The Septuagint version omits verse 22, which occurs again in 31:33. It is
a wording of the Covenant valid for all times and situations (cf. 7:23; 11:4; 24:7;
32:38).
The grounds for hope are the same as appear right through the book: “I am with
you” (v. 11; cf. 1:8; 1:19; 15:20; 30:11; 46:28). Despite the sins of men God is
merciful: his love endures: “sin too constitutes man’s misery. The people of the
Old Covenant experienced this misery from the time of the Exodus, when they
set up the golden calf. The Lord himself triumphed over this act of breaking the
covenant when he solemnly declared to Moses that he was a ‘God merciful and
gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness’ (Ex
34:6). It is in this central revelation that a people, and each of its members, will
find, every time that they have sinned, the strength and the motive for turning to
the Lord to remind him of what he had exactly revealed about himself and to be-
seech his forgiveness” (Bl. John Paul II, “Dives in misericordia”, 4).
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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: Matthew 14:22-36
Jesus Walks on the Water
[28] And Peter answered Him, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to You on the wa-
ter.” [29] He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water
and came to Jesus; [30] but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning
to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” [31] Jesus immediately reached out his
hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?”
[32] And when they got into boat, the wind ceased. [33] And those in the boat
worshipped Him, saying, “Truly You are the son of God.”
[34] And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. [35] And
when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent round to all the region and
brought to Him all that were sick, [36] and besought Him that they might only
touch the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were made well.
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Commentary:
22-23. It has been a very full day, like so many others. First, Jesus works many
cures (14:14) and then performs the remarkable miracle of the multiplication of
the loaves and the fish, a symbol of the future Eucharist. The crowd who have
been following Him were avid for food, teaching and consolation. Jesus “had
compassion on them” (14:14), curing their sick and giving them the comfort of
His teaching and the nourishment of food. He continues to do the same, down
the centuries, tending to our needs and comforting us with His word and with the
nourishment of His own body. Jesus must have been very moved, realizing the
vivifying effect the Blessed Sacrament would have on the lives of Christians—a
sacrament which is a mystery of life and faith and love. It is understandable that
He should feel the need to spend some hours in private to speak to His Father.
Jesus’ private prayer, in an interlude between one demanding activity and another,
teaches us that every Christian needs to take time out for recollection, to speak
to His Father, God. On Jesus’ frequent personal prayer see, for example, Mark
1:35; 6:47; Luke 5:16; 16:12. See the notes on Matthew 6:5-6 and Matthew
7:7-11.
24-33: This remarkable episode of Jesus walking on the sea must have made a
deep impression on the Apostles. It was one of their outstanding memories of the
life they shared with the Master. It is reported not only by St. Matthew, but also
by St. Mark (6:45-52), who would have heard about it from St. Peter, and by St.
John (6:14-21).
Storms are very frequent on Lake Gennesaret; they cause huge waves and are
very dangerous to fishing boats. During His prayer on the hill, Jesus is still mind-
ful of His disciples; He sees them trying to cope with the wind and the waves
and comes to their rescue once He has finished praying.
This episode has applications to Christian life. The Church, like the Apostles’
boat, also gets into difficulties, and Jesus who watches over His Church comes
to its rescue also, after allowing it to wrestle with obstacles and be strengthened
in the process. He gives us encouragement: “Take heart, it is I; have no fear”
(14:27); and we show our faith and fidelity by striving to keep an even keel, and
by calling on His aid when we feel ourselves weakening: “Lord, save me” (14:30),
words of St. Peter which every soul uses when he has recourse to Jesus, his
Savior. Then our Lord does save us, and we urgently confess our faith: “Truly
you are the Son of God” (14:33).
29-31. St. John Chrysostom (”Hom. on St. Matthew”, 50) comments that in this
episode Jesus taught Peter to realize, from his own experience, that all his
strength comes from our Lord and that he could not rely on his own resources,
on his own weaknesses and wretchedness. Chrysostom goes as far as to say
that “if we fail to play our part, God ceases to help us.” Hence the reproach, ‘O
man of little faith” (14:31). When Peter began to be afraid and to doubt, he star-
ted to sink, until again, full of faith, he called out, “Lord, save me.”
If at any time we, like Peter, should begin to weaken, we too should try to bring
our faith into play and call on Jesus to save us.
34-36. Learning from the faith of these people on the shore of Lake Gennesaret,
every Christian should approach the adorable humanity of the Savior. Christ —
God and Man — is accessible to us in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
“When you approach the Tabernacle remember that He has been awaiting you
for twenty centuries” (St. J. Escrivá, “The Way”, 537).
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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.