From: Genesis 18:16-33
Abraham Intercedes For Sodom
[22] So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham still
stood before the Lord. [23] Then Abraham drew near and said, “Wilt thou indeed
destroy the righteous with the wicked? [24] Suppose there are fifty righteous with-
in the city; wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous
who are in it? [25] Far be it from thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous
with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from thee!
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” [26] And the Lord said, “If I find at
Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” [27]
Abraham answered, “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I
who am but dust and ashes. [28] Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking?
Wilt thou destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy
it if I find forty-five there.” [29] Again he spoke to him, and said, “Suppose forty
are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” [30] Then
he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found
there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” [31] He said, “Behold,
I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.”
He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” [32] Then he said,
“Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten
are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” [33]
And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Ab-
raham returned to his place.
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Commentary:
18:16-33. When interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham argues in terms
of collective responsibility, as understood in ancient times in Israel: the entire
people shared the same fate even though not all of them sinned, for the sin some
affected all. According to that way of looking at things, if there were enough just
people in the city (Abraham did not dare go below ten) God would not have des-
troyed it. This way of thinking also shows how the salvation of many (even if they
are sinners) can come through the faithfulness of a few, thereby preparing the
way to see how the salvation of all mankind is brought about by the obedience
of one man alone, Jesus Christ.
The final outcome of this episode shows that, even though he destroys these
cities, God saves the righteous who live in them. God does not punish the just
man along with the sinner (as Abraham thought); a person is allowed to perish
or is saved depending on his personal behavior. This truth, which is found in the
Bible from the start, will be given special emphasis in the teaching of the pro-
phets, particularly Jeremiah and Ezekiel (cf. Jer 31:29-30; Ezek 18), who stress
individual and personal responsibility before 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: Matthew 8:18-22
Demands for Following Christ
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Commentary:
18-22. From the very outset of His messianic preaching, Jesus rarely stays in the
same place; He is always on the move. He “has nowhere to lay His head” (Mat-
thew 8:20). Anyone who desires to be with him has to “follow Him”. This phrase
“following Jesus” has a very precise meaning: it means being His disciple (cf.
Matthew 19:28). Sometimes the crowds “follow Him”; but Jesus’ true disciples
are those who “follow Him” in a permanent way, that is, who keep on following
Him: being a “disciple of Jesus” and “following Him” amount to the same thing.
After our Lord’s ascension, “following Him” means being a Christian (cf. Acts 8:
26). By the simple and sublime fact of Baptism, every Christian is called, by a
divine vocation, to be a full disciple of our Lord, with all that that involves.
The evangelist here gives two specific cases of following Jesus. In the case of
the scribe our Lord explains what faith requires of a person who realizes that he
has been called; in the second case—that of the man who has already said “yes”
to Jesus—He reminds him of what His commandment entails. The soldier who
does not leave his position on the battlefront to bury his father, but instead leaves
that to those in the rearguard, is doing his duty. If service to one’s country makes
demands like that on a person, all the more reason for it to happen in the service
of Jesus Christ and His Church.
Following Christ, then, means we should make ourselves totally available to Him;
whatever sacrifice He asks of us we should make: the call to follow Christ means
staying up with Him, not falling behind; we either follow Him or lose Him. In the
Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus explained what following Him involves
—a teaching which we find summarized in even the most basic catechism of
Christian doctrine: a Christian is a man who believes in Jesus Christ —a faith he
receives at Baptism—and is duty bound to serve Him. Through prayer and friend-
ship with the Lord every Christian should try to discover the demands which this
service involves as far as he personally is concerned.
20. “The Son of Man”: this is one of the expressions used in the Old Testament
to refer to the Messiah. It appeared first in Daniel 7:14 and was used in Jewish
writings in the time of Jesus. Until our Lord began to preach it had not been un-
derstood in all its depth. The title “the Son of man” did not fit in very well with Je-
wish hopes of an earthly Messiah; this was why it was Jesus’ favorite way of in-
dicating that He was the Messiah—thereby avoiding any tendency to encourage
Jewish nationalism. In the prophecy of Daniel just mentioned this messianic title
has a transcendental meaning; by using it Jesus was able discreetly to proclaim
that He was the Messiah and yet avoid people interpreting His role in a political
sense. After the Resurrection the Apostles at last realized that “Son of Man”
meant nothing less than “Son of God”.
22. “Leave the dead to bury their own dead”: although this sounds very harsh, it
is a style of speaking which Jesus did sometimes use: here the “dead” clearly
refers to those whose interest is limited to perishable things and who have no
aspirations towards the things that last forever.
“If Jesus forbade him,” St. John Chrysostom comments, “it was not to have us
neglect the honor due to our parents, but to make us realize that nothing is more
important than the things of Heaven and that we ought to cleave to these and not
to put them off even for a little while, though our engagements be ever so indi-
spensable and pressing” (”Hom. on St. Matthew”, 27).
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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.