Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
First Reading:
From: Amos 9:11-15
Conclusion: Messianic Restoration
--------------------------------------------
[11] “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; [12] that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” says the Lord who does this.
[13] “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
[14] I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. [15] l will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land which I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
******************************
Commentary:
9:11-15. This oracle of benediction contrasts with the recriminations that have been the main feature of the book. It begins by referring to “that day”, the day of the Lord, but it focuses on its positive side -- the salvation of the righteous. The oracle could be a later addition, for what it says implies that the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem have collapsed -- the “fallen booth” of David, which the Lord promises to restore (v. 11) in the sight of “Edom and all the nations” (v. 12). The features of the restored Israel are: the fruitfulness of the land (vv. 13-14), the return of those sent into exile (v. 14), and the promise that they shall never again be uprooted (v. 15).
Although the oracle announces an era of well-being, one that is in some way definitive, there is no mention here of a messiah as such. However, the apostles read this passage as an announcement of the universal scope of salvation. This is what St James says at the council of Jerusalem: “After they finished speaking, James replied, ‘Brethren, listen to me. Symeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, “After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, that the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who has made these things known from of old.” Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God […]’” (Acts 15:13-19). In James’ remarks, the Fathers found continuity between the New Testament and the promises contained in the Old: “it is clear that they do not proclaim [the existence of] another Father; rather, they announce the New Covenant of freedom to those who return to their belief in God through the power of the Holy Spirit” (St Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, 3, 12, 14).
From: Matthew 9:14-17
The Call of Matthew (Continuation)
----------------------------------
[14] Then the disciples of John (the Baptist) came to Him (Jesus), saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" [15] And Jesus said them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. [16] And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. [17] Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved."
***********************************************************************
Commentary:
14-17. This passage is interesting, not so much because it tells us about the sort of fasting practised by the Jews of the time--particularly the Pharisees and John the Baptist's disciples—but because of the reason Jesus gives for not requiring His disciples to fast in that way. His reply is both instructive and prophetic. Christianity is not a mere mending or adjusting of the old suit of Judaism. The redemption wrought by Jesus involves a total regeneration. Its spirit is too new and too vital to be suited to old forms of penance, which will no longer apply.
We know that in our Lord's time Jewish theology schools were in the grip of a highly complicated casuistry to do with fasting, purifications, etc., which smothered the simplicity of genuine piety. Jesus' words point to that simplicity of heart with which His disciples might practise prayer, fasting and almsgiving (cf. Matthew 6:1-18 and notes to same). From apostolic times onwards it is for the Church, using the authority given it by our Lord to set out the different forms fasting should take in different periods and situations.
15. "The wedding guests": literally, "the sons of the house where the wedding is being celebrated"--an expression meaning the bridegroom's closest friends. This is an example of how St. Matthew uses typical Semitic turns of phrase, presenting Jesus' manner of speech.
This "house" to which Jesus refers has a deeper meaning; set beside the parable of the guests at the wedding (Matthew 22:1 ff), it symbolizes the Church as the house of God and the body of Christ: "Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ was faithful over God's house as a son. And we are His house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope" (Hebrews 3:5-6).
The second part of the verse refers to the violent death Jesus would meet.