From: Romans 15:4-9
The Example of Christ (Continuation)
[7] Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory
of God. [8] For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show
God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, [9]
and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name”.
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Commentary:
4. The excellence of Scripture and its sacred character derive from the fact that
God is its author. This means that there is a consistency and unity running right
through Sacred Scripture, a coherence which integrates both Testaments, Old
and New: the Old Testament contains — prophetically and by way of prefigure-
ment — what happens in the New; and in the New the prophecy and prefigure-
ment of the Old are fulfilled. Since Scripture is the word of God, it is of the high-
est order: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16). This strength and authori-
ty of Scripture is useful not only for instruction in the faith but also for enlivening
our hope and consoling us in every kind of trial, interior and exterior: the exam-
ples which we find in Scripture encourage us to be patient and also spur us on
to fight. By reflecting on those examples we become convinced that if God asks
sacrifice of “his own”, he does so because he has a greater reward in store for
them.
These truths led the Second Vatican Council to teach that in “the sacred books
the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with
them. And such is the force and power of the word of God that it can serve the
Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for
their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life” (”Dei
Verbum”, 21).
8-13. “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you.
Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, be-
hold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us” (Acts 13:46-
47): this is what Paul and Barnabas said to Jews who opposed their preaching.
Christ himself said that he had been sent only to seek out the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, and that was the scope of the Apostles’ first mission (cf. Mt 15:
24; 10:5). However, God’s plans never discriminated in favor of the Jews: they,
once converted, were to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. After the Resur-
rection, Jesus sent his disciples to all nations (cf. Mt 28:18ff). Those who pro-
claimed the Gospel were Jews who had accepted Christ, and they addressed
their preaching first to Jews and then to Gentiles.
This present passage refers to the fulfillment of God’s designs through Christ.
By becoming man God made good his promises to the Jews, keeping faith with
them. By the entry of the Gentiles into the Church his mercy towards all men
is revealed, for his blessings are thereby extended to those who do not belong
to Israel according to the flesh. Our Lord explained this very graphically in the
parable of the two sons (Mt 21:28-32). He first calls the older son (the Gentiles),
who refuses to obey him and afterwards repents and accepts his father’s invita-
tion and goes to work in the vineyard. The younger son (most of the Jewish peo-
ple), on the other hand, seems to be ready to do his father’s bidding but in fact
does not. Many Jews were so hard of heart that not even the repentance and
conversion of the Gentiles moved them to repent.
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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 3:1-12
The Preaching of John the Baptist
[4] Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle around his
waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. [5] Then went out to him Jeru-
salem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan, [6] and they were bap-
tized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
[7] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for bap-
tism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come? [8] Bear fruit that befits repentance, [9] and do not presume to
say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able
from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. [10] Even now the axe is
laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire.
[11] “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with
the Holy Spirit and with fire. [12] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will
clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire.”
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Commentary:
1. The expression “in those days” does not specify the exact time of the event
in question. It is sometimes used merely as an opening phrase to mark the be-
ginning of a new episode. In this case, in fact, it can be calculated that some
twenty-five years have elapsed since the Holy Family’s return from Egypt. This
is only an estimate, because the exact date of their return has not been esta-
blished.
On the date of the start of John the Baptist’s preaching, see Luke 3:1-3. The
word “wilderness” has a wider meaning here than we give it today. It does not
refer to a sandy or rocky desert, but rather to arid regions, low in vegetation.
2. “Repent”: Christ’s redeeming work ushers in a new era in the Kingdom of
God. This brings such advance in salvation history, that what is required from
now on is a radical change in man’s behavior towards God. The coming of the
Kingdom means that God has intervened in a special way to save mankind,
but it also implies that we must be open to God’s grace and reform our ways.
Christ’s life on earth compels people to take a stand — either for God or against
him (”He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with
me scatters”: Lk 11:23). Given man’s sinful state after original sin, the newly-
arrived Kingdom requires that all men repent of their past life. To put it another
way, they have to stop going away from God and instead try to get closer to
him. Since sin hinders this conversion, it is impossible to turn back to God
without performing acts of penance. Conversion is not simply a question of ma-
king a good resolution to mend our ways; we have to fulfill that resolution, even
if we find it difficult. Penance grows only where there is humility — and everyone
should admit sincerely that he is a sinner (cf. 1 Jn 1 :8-10). Obedience also
goes hand in hand with penance; everyone ought to obey God and keep his
commandments (cf. 1 Jn 2:3-6).
The literal translation of the Greek is “Repent”. But precisely because the very
essence of conversion consists in doing penance, as we have said, the New
Vulgate has “paenitentiam agite” (”do penance”). This translation conveys the
deeper meaning of the text.
Man’s whole life, in fact, consists in constantly correcting his behavior, and
therefore implies a continual doing of penance. This turning back to God was
preached continually by the prophets in the Old Testament. Now, however, with
the coming of Christ, this penance and turning to God are absolutely essential.
That Christ took on our sins and suffered for us does not excuse us from ma-
king a true conversion; on the contrary, it demands it of us (cf. Col 1:24).
“Kingdom of heaven”: this expression is identical to “Kingdom of God”. The
former is the one most used by St Matthew, and is more in line with the Jewish
turn of phrase. Out of reverence, the Jews avoided pronouncing the name God
and substituted other words for it, as in this case. “Kingdom of God” or “King-
dom of heaven” was a concept used already in the Old Testament and in reli-
gious circles at the time of Christ. But it occurs particularly frequently in Jesus’
preaching.
The phrase “Kingdom of God” can refer in a general way to God’s dominion over
creatures; but normally, as in this text, it refers to God’s sovereign and merciful
involvement in the life of his people. Man’s rebellion and sin broke the order ori-
ginally established in creation. To re-establish it, God’s intervention was needed
again; this consisted in the redeeming work of Christ, Messiah and Son of God.
It was preceded by a series of preliminary stages in salvation history throughout
the Old Testament.
Consequently, the Kingdom of God, announced as imminent by John the Bap-
tist, is brought into being by Jesus. However, this is an entirely spiritual one
and does not have the nationalistic dimension expected by Jesus’ contempora-
ries. He comes to save his people and all mankind from the slavery of sin, from
death and from the devil, thereby opening up the way of salvation.
In the period between the first and second comings of Christ, this Kingdom of
God (or Kingdom of heaven) is, in fact, the Church. The Church makes Christ
(and therefore also God) present among all peoples and calls them to eternal
salvation. The Kingdom of God will be brought to completion only at the end of
this world, that is, when our Lord comes to judge the living and the dead at the
end of time. Then God will reign over the blessed in a perfect way.
In the passage we are considering, John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testa-
ment prophets, preaches the imminence of the Kingdom of God, ushered in by
the coming of the Messiah.
3. By quoting Isaiah 40:3, St Matthew makes it clear that St John the Baptist
has a mission as a prophet. This mission has two purposes — first, to prepare
the people to receive the Kingdom of God; second, to testify before the people
that Jesus is the Messiah who is bringing that Kingdom.
4. The Gospel gives a brief outline of the extremely austere life of St John the
Baptist. His style of life is in line with that of certain Old Testament prophets
and is particularly reminiscent of Elijah (cf. 2 Kings 1:8; 2:8-13ff.). The kind of
food and dress described are of the most rudimentary for the region in question.
The locust was a kind of grasshopper; the wild honey probably refers to sub-
stances excreted by certain local shrubs rather than to bees’ honey. In view of
the imminent coming of the Messiah, John underlines, with his example, the at-
titude of penance preceding great religious festivals (similarly, in its Advent litur-
gy the Church puts John before us as a model and invites us to practise mortifi-
cation and penance). In this way, the point made in the previous verse (concer-
ning John’s view of his mission as precursor of Christ) is fulfilled. A Christian’s
entire life is a preparation for his meeting with Christ. Consequently, mortifica-
tion and penance play a significant part in his life.
6. John’s baptism did not have the power to cleanse the soul from sin as Chris-
tian Baptism does. The latter is a sacrament, a sign, which produces the grace
it signifies. Concerning the value of John’s baptism, see the note on Mt 3:11.
7. St John reproaches the Pharisees and Sadducees for their attitude towards
him. His preaching and baptism are not simply one more purification rite. Ra-
ther, they demand a true interior conversion of the soul, as a necessary predis-
position to reach the grace of faith in Jesus. In the light of this explanation, we
can understand why the prophetic words of St John the Baptist were so hard-
hitting; as it turned out, most of these people did not accept Jesus as the Mes-
siah.
“Pharisees”: these constituted the most important religious group in Jesus’
time. They kept the Law of Moses rigorously and also the oral traditions which
had built up around it. They gave as much importance to these latter, indeed, as
to the Law itself. They strongly opposed the influence of Greek paganism and to-
tally rejected the homage paid to the Roman emperor. Among them there were
men of great spiritual eminence and sincere piety; but there were many others
who exaggerated pharisaical religiosity to the extreme of fanaticism, pride and
hypocrisy. It was this perversion of the true Israelite religion that John the Bap-
tist (and later our Lord) castigated.
“Sadducees”: the Sadducees constituted a smaller religious group than the Pha-
risees, but they included many influential people, most of them from the main
priestly families. They accepted the written Law, but, unlike the Pharisees, they
rejected oral tradition. They also rejected certain important truths, such as the
resurrection of the dead.
On the political front, they went along easily with the terms dictated by the Ro-
mans, and they acquiesced in the introduction of pagan customs into the coun-
try .Their opposition to Christ was even more pronounced than that of the Pha-
risees.
9-10. St John the Baptist’s listeners believe their salvation is assured because
they are descendants of Abraham according to the flesh. But St John “ warns
them that to pass God’s judgment it is not enough to belong to the chosen peo-
ple; they must also yield the good fruit of a holy life. If they fail to do this, they
will be thrown into the fire, that is, into hell, the eternal punishment, because
they did not do penance for their sins. See the note on Mt 25:46.
11. St John the Baptist did not limit himself to preaching penance and repen-
tance; he encouraged people to receive his baptism. This baptism was a way
of interiorly preparing them and helping them to realize that the coming of Christ
was imminent. By his words of encouragement and by their humble recognition
of their sins, they were prepared to receive Christ’s grace through Baptism with
fire and the Holy Spirit. To put it another way, John’s baptism did not produce
justification, whereas Christian Baptism is the sacrament of initiation which for-
gives sin and bestows sanctifying grace. The effectiveness of the sacrament of
Christian Baptism is expressed in Catholic teaching when it says that the sac-
rament gives grace “ex opere operato”. This means that grace is given by virtue
of Christ who acts through the sacrament, and not by virtue of the merits of ei-
ther the minister or the recipient of the sacrament. “When Peter baptizes, it is
Christ who baptizes [...]. When Judas baptizes, it is Christ who baptizes” (St
Augustine, “ln loann. Evang.”, 6).
The word “fire” points in a metaphorical way to the effectiveness of the Holy Spi-
rit’s action in totally wiping out sins. It also shows the life-giving power of grace
in the person baptized.
Foremost among the personal qualities of St John the Baptist is his remarkable
humility; he resolutely rejects the temptation of accepting the dignity of Messiah
which the crowds apparently wanted to bestow on him. Carrying the sandals of
one’s master was a job for the lowest of servants.
12. Verses 10 and 12 refer to judgment by the Messiah. This judgment has two
parts: the first occurs throughout each man’s life and ends in the Particular Judg-
ment immediately after death; the second occurs at the time of the Last Judg-
ment. Christ is the judge in both instances. Let us remember the words of St Pe-
ter in Acts 10:42: “And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify
that he [Jesus] is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead.”
The judgment will give to each person the reward or punishment merited by his
good or bad actions.
It is worth noting that the word “chaff’ does not refer only to bad deeds; it refers
also to useless ones, for example, lives lacking in service to God and men. God
will judge us, therefore, for our omissions and our lost opportunities.
“Don’t let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the
torch of your faith and your love. With your apostolic life, wipe out the trail of filth
and slime left by the unclean sowers of hatred. And set aflame all the ways of
the earth with the fire of Christ that you bear in your heart” (St. J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 1).
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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.