From: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a
The Son of the Shunammite Woman
[11] One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber ai rested there. [14]
And he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has
no son, and her husband is old.” [15] He said, “Call her.” And when he had called
her, she stood in the doorway. [16a] And he said, “At this season, when the time
comes round, you shall embrace a son.”
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Commentary:
4:8-37. Elisha here is an itinerant prophet who has only one servant and whose
base is Mount Carmel: in this he Is like Elijah. This passage shows, firstly, God
blessing the childless woman with the gift of motherhood, thanks to the prophet’s
intervention (vv. 11-17); and, secondly, the prophet’s extraordinary power to raise
up her dead son (vv. 18-37).
From a literary point of view, it is a well-constructed account full of little details
which help to build up the dramatic tension. The feelings of the woman, who first
of all receives the of a son without having sought it, and then cannot resign her-
self to his death, provide the basic story-line. St John Chrysostom quotes this pas-
sage show that real love means being concerned even about the physical welfare
of others: “Elisha not only gave spiritual help to the woman who had shown him
hospitality; he also tried repay her in a material way” (”De Laudibus Sancti Pauli
Apostolici”, 3, 7).
The first part of the story shows the reward given someone who welcomes a pro-
phet because he is a prophet; it is reminiscent of the reward that Jesus promises
to those who acknowledge and welcome an apostle (cf. Mt 10:
13-14).
The main thing to be learned from this passage (as also from 1 Kings 17:6) is the
power of the prophet’s prayer and indeed anyone else’s prayer when done with
faith. But we also learn that when God gives a gift, no matter how surprisingly and
unexpectedly (such as the gift of a son to this woman), he also gives the grace to
conserve it and make it bear fruit. The Lord does not leave us to our own devices
when he gives us, for example, personal talents, or a vocation even if we may not
have sought one.
Elisha’s journey to the dead boy and the action he takes is compared by St Au-
gustine and other Fathers to the incarnation of Christ and to his work of redemp-
tion. “Elisha arrived and went up to the chamber, just as Christ would come and
go up to the scaffold of the cross. Elisha stretched himself upon the child, to raise
him up; Christ humbled himself in order to raise up the world that was laid prone
by sin. Elisha put his eyes on the child’s eyes, his hands on his hands. Notice, my
brothers, how that grown-up man shrank himself in order to fit the size of the dead
child. What Elisha prefigured (in the way he cured the child), Christ fulfilled in re-
gard to all mankind. Listen to what the Apostle says; ‘He humbled himself, beco-
ming obedient unto death.’ Because we were children, he made himself a child;
because we lay dead, the first thing the doctor did was to bend over, for no one
can raise his stricken brother unless he bends down to him. The child’s sneezing
seven times stands for the seven forms of grace of the Holy Spirit that are given
mankind, in order to raise it up, at Christ’s coming (Sermons attributed to St Au-
gustine, “Sermons”, 42, 8).
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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: Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Baptism (Continuation)
[8] But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. [9]
For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no
longer has dominion over him. [10] The death He died He died to sin once for all,
but the life He lives He lives to God. [11] So you also must consider yourselves
dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
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Commentary:
1-11. The universal dominion of sin, which began with the sin of Adam, is not the
only event to be reckoned with. When sin reached its full extent, the grace brought
by Jesus Christ came in superabundance. Through Baptism this grace reaches
each of us and frees us from the control of sin. When we receive this Sacrament
we die: that is to say, our blameworthiness is destroyed, we renounce sin once
and for all, and are born again into a new life.
“The Lord”, St. Ambrose tells the newly baptized, “who wanted His benefactions to
endure, the serpent’s plans to be turned to naught, and the harm done to be put
right, delivered a sentence to mankind: ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’
(Genesis 3:19), and made man subject to death [...]. The remedy was given him:
man would die and rise again [...]. You ask me how? [...] Pay attention. So that in
his world too the devil’s snare would be broken, a rite was instituted whereby man
would die, being alive, and rise again, being alive [...]. Through immersion in wa-
ter the sentence is blotted out: ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’” (”De
Sacramentis”, II, 6).
This passage of the epistle, which reveals the key truths concerning Baptism, also
reminds us of the profound meaning of this rite which Christ established, its spiri-
tual effects in Christians and its far-reaching effects with respect to the Christian
life. Thus, we can apply to Baptism what St. Thomas Aquinas says about all the
sacraments: “Three aspects of sanctification may be considered — its very cause,
which is Christ’s Passion; its form, which is grace and the virtues; and its ultimate
end, which is eternal life. And all these are signified by the sacraments. Conse-
quently, a sacrament is a sign which is both a reminder of the past, that is, of the
Passion of Christ, and an indication of what is effected in us by Christ’s Passion,
and a foretelling and pledge of future glory” (”Summa Theologiae”, III, q. 60, a. 3).
In the specific case of Baptism, the various things which the Sacrament implies
carry a special nuance — a new birth which presupposes a symbolic death. It re-
produces in us not only the Passion, Death and burial of Christ, symbolized by
immersion in water (verses 3-4, 6), but also new life, the life of grace which pours
into the soul, enabling the person to share in the Resurrection of Christ (verses
4-5). This sharing in Christ’s Resurrection to immortal life is a kind of seed which
will ultimately produce the glorious resurrection of our bodies.
The baptized person is, therefore, someone newly created, someone born into a
new life, someone who has moved out of darkness into light. The white garment
used at Baptism symbolizes innocence and grace; the burning candle, the light of
Christ — two symbols the Church uses in the baptismal liturgy to signify what is
happening.
Thus, in Baptism, God “removes every trace of sin, whether original or personal”
(”The Rite of Baptism”, Introduction, 5) and also remits the penalties that these
sins incur. On being baptized in the name of the Three Divine Persons, the Chris-
tian is shown God the Father’s love for him (a love he has not merited), is given a
share in the Paschal Mystery of the Son, and to him is communicated new life in
the Spirit (cf. “Instruction on Infant Baptism”, 20 October 1980, 9). Baptism, which
is also described as “the door of the spiritual life”, unites a person to Christ and to
the Church by means of grace, which makes us children of God and heirs to Hea-
ven. Finally, in addition to the infused virtues and supernatural gifts, the person is
given “the graces necessary to live in a Christian way, and on his soul is im-
pressed the sacramental character which makes him a Christian for evermore”
(”St. Pius X Catechism”, 250).
Baptism, which confers a “character”, that is, a kind of seal confirming our Chris-
tian calling, gives us a share in Christ’s priesthood and makes us capable of re-
ceiving the other sacraments.
4. It is easier to grasp the symbolism of burial and resurrection if one remembers
that in earlier times, and particularly in the apostolic period, Baptism was usually
administered by immersion in water — in some cases by total immersion, up to
three times, with one Person of the Blessed Trinity being invoked each time.
“They asked you, ‘Do you believe in God the Father almighty?’ You said, ‘I be-
lieve’, and you were immersed, that is, you were buried. Again they asked you,
‘Do you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Cross?’ You said, ‘I believe’,
and you were again immersed. This time you have been buried with Christ, and
he who is buried with Christ rises with Christ. For a third time you were asked,
‘Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?’ You said, ‘I believe’, and for a third time you
were immersed, so that by this three-fold confession you might be loosed of your
many attachments to your past life” (St. Ambrose, “De Sacramentis”, II, 7).
Today Baptism is normally administered by pouring water over the head — a me-
thod also used in apostolic times and which gradually came into general use be-
cause it was found more convenient.
9-10. Jesus Christ chose to bear all the consequences of sin, even though He was
sinless. His voluntary death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection broke the
bonds of death, for Himself and for all His own. Death no longer shall have domin-
ion: “[Christ died] that through death He might destroy him who has the power of
death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were sub-
ject to lifelong bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15). And as a consequence He won, for
His own human nature and for us, a new life.
In all those who have been baptized these same events in Christ’s life are in some
way reproduced. “Our past sins have been wiped out by the action of grace. Now,
so as to stay dead to sin after Baptism, personal effort is called for, although God’s
grace continues to be with us, providing us with great help” (Chrysostom, “Hom.
on Rom.”, 11). This personal effort might be encapsulated in a resolution: “May
we never die through sin; may our spiritual resurrection be eternal” (St J. Escriva,
“Holy Rosary”, 1st Glorious Mystery).
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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.