From: 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Jesus, the Apostle’s Model
Avoiding Useless Argument
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Commentary:
8. “Jesus Christ, risen from the dead”: the Resurrection is the climax of our faith (cf. 1 Cor 15) and the fixed reference point for Christian living, for we know that “Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Rom 6:9). Therefore, Christ lives on in a glorified condition: “Christ is alive. He is not someone who has gone, someone who existed for a time and then passed on, leaving us a wonderful example and a great memory. No, Christ is alive. Jesus is Emmanuel: God with us. His resurrection shows us that God does not abandon his own” ([St] J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 102).
“As preached in my gospel”: literally, “according to my gospel”; Jesus’ glorious resurrection and his descent from David were key points in St Paul’s preaching.
9-10. The trials which St Paul was experiencing in prison on account of his preaching of the Gospel constitute an entitlement to heaven, for “martyrdom makes the disciple like his master, who willingly accepted death for the salvation of the world, and through it he is conformed to him by the shedding of blood” (”Lumen Gentium”, 42). This is a shining example of the Communion of Saints at work, for, when a Christian links his suffering to Christ’s passion, that suffering contributes to the Redemption: “Therefore he is carrying out an irreplaceable service. In the Body of Christ, which is ceaselessly born of the Cross of the Redeemer, it is precisely suffering permeated by the spirit of Christ’s sacrifice that is the irreplaceable mediator and author of the good things which are indispensable for the world’s salvation. It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. Suffering, more than anything else, makes present in the history of humanity the powers of the Redemption” (John
Paul II, “Salvifici Doloris”, 27).
Throughout history many pastors of the Church have suffered persecution on account of their fidelity to Christ. St John Chrysostom, shortly before going into exile, expressed his feelings in this way: “For me, this world’s evils are something I despise; and its good things are an object of scorn. I am not afraid of poverty nor do I have any desire for riches; I am not afraid of death nor do I have any desire to live unless it be to your advantage” (”Ante Exiltum Hom.”, 1).
11-13. “The saying is sure”: this is a technical expression used a number of times in the Pastoral Epistles to attract attention to
especially important statements (cf. note on 1 Tim 1:15). Here it introduces a poetic section in the form of a hymn of four verses, each
consisting of a pair of contrasting phrases (of the type the Semitic mind loves). It is quite possible that this hymn was used in very early baptismal liturgy, given that it has to do with the intimate union of the baptized person with Christ, who died and is now risen; it also encourages Christians to stay faithful in the face of adverse circumstances even if that means martyrdom.
Thus, the first verse deals with the beginning of Christian life. Dying to sin and rising to the life of grace are Pauline expressions (cf. Rom 6:34) which point to the fact that in Baptism the Christian becomes a sharer in the passion, death and burial of the Lord, and also in the glory of his resurrection. Grace is the supernatural life and that life will attain its full form in heaven.
The two following verses deal with the stark choice the Christian has to make in the face of difficulties- endurance, or denial of the faith (cf. Mt 10:33; Lk 12:9); the hymn puts special emphasis on endurance, using as it does terminology proper to athletics (cf. Heb 12:1-3); also, the verb used in the second part of each phrase is in the future tense, as if an unlikely possibility were being discussed: “In the event of our denying him...”. And (what is most important) the Christian’s faithfulness is orientated towards Christ: “we shall reign with him.” “To persevere is to persist in love, ‘per Ipsum et cum Ipso et in Ipso...’. Indeed we can also interpret this as: “He himself, with me, for me and in me” ([St] J. Escriva, “Furrow”, 366).
The last verse breaks the pattern because it does not counterpose attitude and result but rather man’s infidelity and Christ’s fidelity:
“If we are faithless, he remains faithful.” This paradox of our Lord’s love marks the climax of the hymn, which is a kind of poem extolling Christian endurance based on our Lord’s eternal faithfulness. “We Christians have the right to proclaim the royalty of Christ. Although injustice abounds, although many do not desire the kingdom of love, the work of salvation is taking place in the same human history as harbors evil” ([St] J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 186).
14-16. False teachers were in a position to do harm to the still immature Christian community of the time; apparently they were not
teaching things which were directly heretical; but they were involving the believers in controversy to such an extent that there was a danger of turning the truth of faith into rational deductions in a complicated philosophical system. The Apostle advises that the best way to deal with all that dangerous wordiness is to expound revealed truth in a simple, straightforward way.
“Rightly handling”: the original means “cutting straight”, the way a mason cuts a stone or a farmer ploughs a furrow. Similarly, preaching and teaching the Gospel should be done in direct, simple language accessible to all. The teacher should not simply recommend views, attitudes and feelings: his function is to pass on the certainties which “the word of truth” (that is, revealed teaching) provides. Paul VI taught that one “sign of love will be the effort to transmit to Christians, not doubts and uncertainties born of an erudition poorly assimilated but certainties that are solid because they are anchored in the Word of God. The faithful need these certainties for their Christian life” (”Evangelii Nuntiandi”, 79).
RSV
From: Mark 12:28-34
The Greatest Commandment of All
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Commentary:
28-34. The doctor of the law who asks Jesus this question is obviously an upright man who is sincerely seeking the truth. He was impressed by Jesus’ earlier reply (verses 18-27) and he wants to learn more from Him. His question is to the point and Jesus devotes time to instructing him, though he will soon castigate the scribes, of whom this man is one (cf. Mark 12:38ff).
Jesus sees in this man not just a scribe but a person who is looking for the truth. And His teaching finds its way into the man’s heart. The scribe repeats what Jesus says, savoring it, and our Lord offers him an affectionate word which encourages his definitive conversion: “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” This encounter reminds us of His meeting with Nicodemus (cf. John 3:1ff). On the doctrinal content of these two commandments cf. note on Matthew 22:34-40.
[Note on Matthew 22:34-40 states:
In reply to the question, our Lord points out that the whole law can be condensed into two commandments: the first and more important consists in unconditional love of God; the second is a consequence and result of the first, because when man is loved, St. Thomas says, God is loved, for man is the image of God (cf. “Commentary on St. Matthew”, 22:4).
A person who genuinely loves God also loves his fellows because he realizes that they are his brothers and sisters, children of the same Father, redeemed by the same blood of our Lord Jesus Christ: “This commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God should love his brother also” (1 John 4:21). However, if we love man for man’s sake without reference to God, this love will become an obstacle in the way of keeping the first commandment, and then it is no longer genuine love of our neighbor. But love of our neighbor for God’s sake is clear proof that we love God: “If anyone says, `I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20).
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”: here our Lord establishes as the guideline for our love of neighbor the love each of us has for himself; both love of others and love of self are based on love of God. Hence, in some cases it can happen that God requires us to put our neighbor’s need before our own; in others, not: it depends on what value, in light of God’s love, needs to be put on the spiritual and material factors involved.
Obviously spiritual goods take absolute precedence over material ones, even over life itself. Therefore, spiritual goods, be they our own or our neighbor’s, must be the first to be safeguarded. If the spiritual good in question is the supreme one for the salvation of the soul, no one is justified in putting his own soul into certain danger of being condemned in order to save another, because given human freedom we can never be absolutely sure what personal choice another person may make: this is the situation in the parable (cf. Matthew 25:1-13), where the wise virgins refuse to give oil to the foolish ones; similarly St. Paul says that he would wish himself to be rejected if that could save his brothers (cf. Romans 9:3)—an unreal theoretical situation. However, what is quite clear is that we have to do all we can to save our brothers, conscious that, if someone helps to bring a sinner back to the way, he will save himself from eternal death and cover a multitude of his own sins (James 5:20). From all this we can deduce that self-love of the right kind, based on God’s love for man, necessarily involves forgetting oneself in order to love God and our neighbor for God.]
30. This commandment of the Old Law, ratified by Jesus, shows, above all, God’s great desire to engage in intimate conversation with man: “would it not have sufficed to publish a permission giving us leave to love Him? [...]. He makes a stronger declaration of His passionate love for us, and commands us to love Him with all our power, lest the consideration of His majesty and our misery, which make so great a distance and inequality between us, or some other pretext, divert us from His love. In this He well shows that He did not leave in us for nothing the natural inclination to love Him, for to the end that it may not be idle, He urges us by His general commandment to employ it, and that this commandment may be effected, there is no living man He has not furnished him abundantly with all means requisite thereto” (St. Francis de Sales, “Treatise on the Love of God”, Book 2, Chapter 8).