| “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me. " ” (Matthew 25:34-40) St. John Chrysostom writes, If you receive your neighbor as though he were Christ, you will not complain or feel embarrassed but rather rejoice in your service. But if you do not receive him as if he were Christ, you will not receive Christ either, because he said: “Whoever receives you, receives me.” If you do not show hospitality in this way, you will have no reward. When it comes to parish life many of us fall far short of this kind of hospitality. Rather than serving the stranger among us with love, compassion, and generosity, we grumble and complain about someone new sitting in our pew. We express concern that the new family’s children will disrupt our quiet meditation. And we whisper words of bewilderment as to why a person from a different ethnic or racial group would come to our church. “Don’t they know that this is a _______ church? They are not the right kind of people for this parish.” Perhaps you are thinking that this is an exaggeration, but as a matter of fact, it is known that these words have been uttered again and again in some of our parishes. My dear ones, this should not be! St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Church in Corinth, writes, For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many…. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. (1 Corinthians 12:12-25) |
| Where are all the Christians? Sister Hatune points to the fact that 96 percent of the people who populated the Middle East at the turn of the eighth century were Christian. Now, that Christian population has dwindled to 6 percent. Turkey was once almost all Christian, but now it is 0.03 percent Christian. Iraq had 1 million Christians under Saddam Hussein, but now only a few thousand remain, and the churches of Baghdad will be mostly empty this Christmas. “Where are these Christians? Where are these people? Just ask yourself,” said the fearless nun, whose native tongue is Aramaic. Her family initially lived in Turkey as Jews, but later her entire village converted to Christianity. Born in 1970 the middle daughter of 10 children, Sister Hatune learned to speak 13 languages, but none make her more proud than Aramaic. “This is the language of Jesus,” she told WND. The Sister Hatune Foundation works in 35 countries with Matthew 25:34-40 as its mission statement – feeding, clothing, sheltering and providing medical care to the poor and persecuted of the world. She has been making regular trips to the Middle East since 2005, and ISIS presents a new challenge: trying to rescue orphaned children from its clutches. Sister Hatune returned to her home convent in Germany for only a few days before she will make another trip to the Middle East to celebrate Christmas with persecuted Christians. She was with them in November when she visited refugee camps in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. She also sneaked into Syria to meet with Christians there. “They need your support. Without your support they can’t continue,” she says in avideo showing her with a group of Yazidi refugees. “They live like animals. Starving. No food. Unsanitary. No one should have to live like this.” It’s a plight she is all too familiar with. Her question “What happened to all the Christians?” is purely rhetorical and completely personal. Her family lived through the genocide of 1915 in Turkey, the country from which her parents fled in 1985. |
| One of the accounts of the Last Judgment gives us the sort of thing we always wanted when we were in school. That is, Jesus tells us what the questions will be which will appear on the final exam. In other words, He informs us that our salvation depends on the degree to which we practice unselfish love: Then the King will say to those at His right hand, “Come, O blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me. I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, “Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and feed Thee, or thirsty and give Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and welcome Thee, or naked and clothe Thee? And when did we see Thee sick or in prison and visit Thee?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25: 34-40) Jesus posits love, then, as the foundation of Christian social ethics. Elsewhere He extends love’s requirements to a demand that we love others whether they love us or not: You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5: 43-8) By requiring that we grow toward the same perfection in love of others as He and the Father have for us, Jesus lays out a spiritual path for us. As we open ourselves to God’s love and at the same time love even those who do not love us, we become by grace what God is by nature. In other words, love represents the explanatory principle of theosis. Only this radically unconditional love can make possible the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer in the garden before His arrest: |
| The Holy New Martyr Tatiana Grimblit Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: Naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me… Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Matthew 25:34-36, 40). That we live in an increasingly secularized society, as contemporary Christians so often lament, is undeniable. Yet how many of us can honestly claim that we have suffered anything beyond the slightest inconvenience or embarrassment for our beliefs? While it is true that displays of explicit religiosity in public settings have become increasingly frowned upon, personal faith continues to be valued. Works of charity and philanthropy, whether performed by individual believers or religious organizations, are universally praised. As much as the tide may be changing, few of us need to worry about being carried away by it so long as we stand firm. In this, we are very fortunate. Not so very long ago – indeed, within living memory – the situation was very different in the Soviet Union. A young woman named Tatiana Nikolaevna Grimblit, unexceptional in any way apart from her virtue, was repeatedly arrested and exiled, and finally executed, for doing no more than helping and supporting others who had likewise been arrested and exiled. Such was the nature of the militantly atheist regime of the twenties and thirties of last century that these simple acts of Christian charity, performed by an ordinary young woman with no political allegiance, were regarded as anti-revolutionary agitation deserving of capital punishment. One cannot help but recall the prophecy of St. Anthony the Great recorded in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are mad, you are not like us.’” |
| 2636 Lane, Mark, 236, cites for «passing by» only Exod 33:19,22; 1 Kgs 19:11; and Job 9:8,11 . 2637 Conjoined with the oft-recognized probable allusion to Christ " s deity in the «I am» of Mark 6 (Lane, Mark, 237–38; Hurtado, Mark, 91; cf. Argyle, Matthew, 115; Ellis, Genius, 110–11; Appold, Motif, 82), this allusion is very likely. But «I am» in Mark 13may simply mean «I am [messiah]» (Reim, Studien, 261 η. 20). 2638 Given the two Lords of Ps 110 , Peter argues, on which «Lord» should one call (Juel, «Dimensions,» 544–45; see Lake and Cadbury, Commentary, 22; Knowling, «Acts,» 81; Ladd, Church, 50–51; idem, Theology, 338–41). That 2concludes an exposition of 2is clear from the fact that 2picks up the rest of the Joel passage where Peter left off in 2(the allusion is noted, e.g., by Zehnle, Discourse, 34; Dupont, Salvation, 22; Haenchen, Acts, 184 n. 5). 2639 See Abrahams, Studies, 1:45; De Ridder, Discipling, 107, for evidence that Jewish proselyte baptism could occasionally be described as «in God " s name»; cf. Longenecker, Christology, 42–46, 127–28; Urbach, Sages, 1:124–34, for a discussion of the «name.» 2640 For divine language, cf., e.g., Danker, «God With Us» (though it is not necessarily «Hellenistic»). Cf. the emphasis on Jesus» deity in Heb (1:8), also probably in ethnically Jewish (albeit very hellenized) circles. Longenecker, Christology, 139, also notes that the most strictly Jewish circles in early Christianity most emphasized Jesus» deity. 2641 See examples in Smith, Parallels, 152–54 (m. " Abot 3to Matt 18:20; Sipra on 25to Matt 10:25; Mekilta on 15and Matt 13/Luke 10:24; Mekilta on 18and Matt 10:40; Midrash Tannaim 15to Matt 25:35,40). 2642 For Wisdom Christology in Matthew, see Witherington, Sage, 339–40; Deutsch, «Wisdom.» 2643 E.g., Ridderbos, Paul and Jesus, 102; cf. T. Sol 6for what is probably the earliest extant non-Christian exegesis of this Matthean text or of its subsequent use. 2644 The language likely echoes Dan 7:13–14 (Meier, Matthew, 369; Ellis, Matthew, 22; Schaberg, Father, 335–36). |
| The call material in 21:19–23 may link with the call story of 1:37–39, bracketing the Gospe1. 4158 The presence of an anonymous disciple here who might match the beloved disciple in the later passage is not, however, a necessary part of the link. One disciple is later named as Andrew (1:40), whereas the other remains anonymous. Some think that the other disciple here is the «beloved disciple» (13:23; 19:26–27; 20:2–8: 21:7, 20, 24). 4159 Granted, this would fit the Gospel " s contrasts between Peter and the beloved disciple, since the anonymous disciple here functions with Andrew as a witness to Peter («we» in 1:41). 4160 But the text never emphasizes the other disciple, and there is no reason to identify the latter with the «beloved disciple» who first appears explicitly in 13:23. 4161 2A. Low-Key Hospitality Because travel was less safe after dark (robbers normally acted at night; Job 24:14 ; Jer 49:9 ; Obad 5) and because people did not normally follow others around without reason, the reader would know that Jesus understands the two disciples» motives even if the reader were as yet unfamiliar with Jesus» supernatural knowledge (1:42, 48). 4162 Like God " s questions to Adam in the garden or to Cain in the field ( Gen. 3:9,11; 4:9 ; see 4:10), Jesus» in 1is thus rhetorical (as with the more hostile crowd in 18:4, 7). One could «seek» Jesus for more than one reason (e.g., 7:19; 18:4). In a status-conscious culture, it was appropriate for the disciples (whether wishing to become his disciples or merely to express respect) to defer to Jesus with the title «Rabbi» 4163 (although this did not identify Jesus with the post-70 C.E. rabbinic movement, it did imply their recognition that he was a teacher). 4164 This was a title that both his disciples (1:49; 4:31; 9:2; 11:8; 20:16) and other inquirers (3:2; 6:25) would apply to him; it also applied to John the Baptist (3:26). For John it seems an honorable title, but ultimately means only «Teacher» (1:38; 20:16), 4165 hence proves christologically incomplete. Those who would doubt John " s Jewishness because he translates «Rabbi» read the later dominance of the title into an earlier period or assume too much knowledge of Semitic languages on the part of Diaspora Jews. Interestingly, while John often interprets Semitic terms for his audience (also 1:41; 9:7), Matthew, whose Jewishness is also almost certain, 4166 rarely translates. But Matthew usually omits Marks Aramaic (except for Jesus» cry of dereliction in Mark 15:34 , which he changes to Hebrew) and does not use «Messiah» (as John twice 4:25], and alone, among the earliest extant Christian writers, does; Matthew uses «Christ»). 4167 |
| 5965 Most likely John employs traditional materials but weaves them into the whole; cf., e.g., Segalla, «Struttura»; Barrett, Essays, 48; Anderson, Christology, 87–89. 5967 E.g., Koenig, Hospitality, 28; Meier, Marginal Jew, 2:950–66 (from multiple attestation and coherence). 5968 Witherington, Christology, 98–99. It is possible, however, that Mark simply redacted this same earlier tradition. 5969 E.g., Higgins, Historicity, 30; Johnston, «Version»; Barnett, «Feeding,» 289; Painter, «Tradition»; Manus, «Parallels»; Smith, John (1999), 146. 5972 Bagatti, «Dove,» favors a site close to the fourth-century shrine near et-Tabgha. Tabgha is, however, just a few miles south of Capernaum, whereas the feeding seems to have occurred in the Transjordan far from Capernaum (Smith, John 149). «The mountain» cannot be that of 4:20–21 (too far from the lake and on the wrong side); perhaps it is simply the «known mountain» of gospel tradition ( Mark 6:46 ; Matt 14:23, also both articular). 5973 Cf., e.g., p. B. Mesi c a 2:11, §1; Hor. 3:4, §4; Diogenes Ep. 2. For crowds rushing on other popular persons, e.g., Livy 33.33.1–2. 5974 E.g., Montefiore, Gospels, 2:29; Allison, «Jesus and Moses»; idem, Moses, 172–80. Jesus» sitting reflects a common posture for teachers (Luke 4:20; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 18:5; Dalman, Jesus-Jeshua, 45–46; see Keener, Matthew, 164), so one need not predicate dependence on Matthean tradition here. 5977 The suggestion that the grass alludes to Isa 40(Young, «Isaiah») is forced, as would be an allusion to grass as the food of irrational beasts (Philo Alleg. Interp. 3.251). 5978 Passover was associated with hopes for a new, eschatological redemption (t. Ber. 1:10–11; Keener, Matthew, 617; also Tg. Neof. on Exod 12:42, though contrast the simpler Tg. Ps.-J. on Exod 12:42; cf. Josephus War 2.223–227; Ant. 20.105–112). 5979 See Anderson, Christology, 192–93, although he lays too much stress on signs» value for testing vis-à-vis their value for attesting. 5980 E.g., Lev. Rab. 34:16; Pesiq. Rab. 25:2. Disciples sometimes procured supplies (Liefeld, «Preacher,» 228, citing b. c Abod. Zar. 35b); this is certainly the case with Jesus» disciples in John (4:8). |
| 5899 E.g., 2 Bar. 51:1–2; cf. t. Ber. 6:6. For distinction after death, see 1 En. 22:9–11; cf. sources in Keener, Matthew, 129, on Gehinnom, and 710–11, on the resurrection of the dead. 5900 It appears in most streams of NT tradition and is denied in none: Acts 24:15; 2Cor 5:10 ; Rev 20:4–6; Matt 25:46; cf. Matt 5:29–30; 10:28; Luke 11:32; Bernard, John, 1:245. 5901 1QS 4.13–14; Gen. Rab. 6:6; most sinners in t. Sanh. 13:3,4; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 10:4; Pesiq. Rab. 11:5; cf. 2Macc 12:43–45. By contrast, the souls of the wicked will remain in hell on the day of judgment in 1 En. 22:13; 61:5; 108:6; 4 Macc 9:9; 12:12; t. Sanh. 13:5; probably L.A.B. 38:4; Ascen. Isa. 1:2; 3 En. 44:3; t. Ber. 5:31. 5902 Ps 62:12 ; Prov 24:12 ; Sir 16:12,14 ; Matt 16:27; Rom 2:6 ; 2Cor 11:15 ; Rev 22:12; Pesiq. Rab. 8:2; cf. Rhet. ad Herenn. 3.2.3. 5903 It continued in widespread use (Josephus Life 256; Ant. 4.219; b. Sanh. 37b, bar.; p. Git. 4:1, §2; cf. m. Roš Haš. 1:7; 2:6); see further the comment under 8:13. Early Christians also employed this rule; see 2Cor 13:1 ; 1Tim 5:19 ; Matt 18:16. 5904 Boring et al, Commentary, 270–71, cites Cicero Rose. Amer. 36.103. Witnesses confirmed a matter (Dionysius of Halicarnassus Lysias 26), and a claim offered without them might be scathingly contested (Lysias Or. 7.19–23, §110; 7.34–40, §111). 5905 E.g., Lysias Or. 4.5–6, §101; 7.12–18, §§109–110; 12.27–28, §122; 19.24, §154; 29.7, §182; Cicero Quinct. 24.76. Establishing a credible motive was standard procedure for the prosecution (Cicero Rose. Amer. 22.61–62). 5906 E.g., Isaeus Estate of Cleonymus 31–32, §37; Estate of Hagnias 6; Lysias Or. 7.19–23, §110; 7.34–40, §111; 7.43, §112. Cf. the preference for multiple and diverse testimonies, e.g., in Aelius Aristides Defense of Oratory 61, §19D; for challenging the credibility of opposing witnesses, see, e.g., Hermogenes Issues 45.5–10. 5907 Cicero Quinct. 23.75. 5908 The witness of one person was inadequate in many kinds of cases (Boice, Witness, 47, cites m. Ketub. 2:9; Roè Haï. 3:1); self-accusation, by contrast, could invite condemnation (Achilles Tatius 7.11.1; though in early Judaism cf. Cohn, Trial, 98). In some matters, however, onés self-testimony was held reliable (e.g., m. Ketub. 2:10), even against two witnesses (m. Tehar. 5:9). |
| Matt 17:5; Mark 9:7 ; Luke 9:35). «Hear him» in the transfiguration story probably alludes in this context to Deut 18:15 ; 3861 likewise the mountain; cloud; allusion to tabernacles; transfiguration (cf. Exod 34:29); presence of Moses and Elijah on the mount (Exod 34:2; 1 Kgs 19:8); and the timing («six days,» cf. Exod 24:16) all suggest allusions to Moses. 3862 The present text, however, distinguishes various roles, suggesting that more than mainstream Christian theology stands behind it. It is possible that the segment of Judaism from which much of John " s community and/or its opponents sprang laid heavy emphasis on the eschatological prophet (1:25; 6:14; 7:40; 9:17); while a prophet Christology would be inadequate (4:19, 25–29; 6:14–15; 7:40–41), Jesus is clearly a prophet (4:44; 9:17), 3863 hence foreshadows the prophetic ministry of the Johannine community (16:7–15). 3864 2C. A Voice Crying (1:23) John the Baptist thus denies any prophesied function except that of forerunner, and even a qualified form of that (since he is not Elijah). Naturally the Fourth Gospel does not apply to John some of the traditional texts, such as Mark " s midrashic blending of Mai 3with Isa 40( Mark 1:2–3 ) 3865 or Matthew " s citation of Malachi in a different context (Matt 11:10); this passage in Malachi would too easily evoke an allusion to Mai 4:5–6 and require a more detailed explanation of the sense in which John is or is not an Elijah redivivus. But Isaiah " s promise of a new exodus 3866 and a messenger preparing the way (apparently giving orders to construction engineers and provincials) before the king at the head of the people was fitting. 3867 All four gospels apply the Isaiah text to John, but only the Fourth places the citation on John s own lips. Some scholars suggest that the Fourth Gospel here reflects an independent tradition about the Baptist since this Gospel, unlike the Synoptics, 3868 does not follow the LXX reading. 3869 While Johns normally eclectic appropriation of text types requires us to leave the question open in this case, 3870 other evidence favoring his independence might support this conclusion. |
| 7818 Schnackenburg, John, 2:374. He could have even sought to assimilate Passover with Tabernacles to reemphasize his earlier Tabernacles motifs. 7820 Noted, e.g., by Jerome Homilies 94. It may have come to function as a jubilant cry (as some words became in Gentile refrains, e.g., Callimachus Hymns 2 [to Apollo], 21, 25, 97, 103; Catullus 61.117–118,137–138,142–143; Menander Rhetor 2.7,409.11–13); Augustine Tr. Ev.Jo. 51.2 explains it as an interjection. 7822 Of the extant gospels, only the two with the most Jewish audiences, Matthew and John, make the Zechariah allusion explicit (Longenecker, Christology, 112). All four gospels include the colt (for breaking a colt, see Xenophon Horsemanship 2.1–5; Maximus of Tyre Or. 1.8). 7824 With modifications (cf., e.g., Schuchard, Scripture, 71–84): «Do not fear, Zion» may derive from Zeph 3(cf. Isa 10:24; 40:9; Smith, John 236, adds especially Isa 35:4; 40:9), midrashically linked with «Rejoice, daughter of Zion» (Zech 9:9). Menken, «Redaktion,» attributes some changes to Jewish traditions (cf. Gen 49:11 ). Later rabbis applied the messianic promise of salvation (here omitted) to the suffering Messiah (Pesiq. Rab. 34:2). 7825 B. Sanh. 99a; Gen. Rab. 75:6; Ecc1. Rab. 1:9, §1. A second-century Tanna expected the messianic fulfillment at the time of the templés rebuilding. 7826 E.g., Diodorus Siculus 27.16.2; Dionysius of Halicarnassus R.A. 3.54.2; Polybius 1.72.3; 3.99.7; 39.7.3–6; Arrian Alex. 1.17.12; 4.19.6; Appian R.H. 10.4.24; Cornelius Nepos 8 (Thrasybulus), 2.6; Herodian 1.2.4; cf. also Josephus Life 353; Sipre Deut. 323.4.1; despite Achilles» more commonly vengeful personality, Homer 17. 24.507–508, 665–670; see further Good, King, 47–49. 7831 Yet in Exodus the wisest of Egypt recognized their state while Pharaoh remained hardened (Exod 10:7); in view of the one greater than Moses, such a comparison portrays the Pharisees as harder than the pagans. 7833 Contrast the reportedly Tannaitic tradition that glory did not dwell in the second temple because Cyrus was responsible for its rebuilding (Pesiq. Rab. 35:1). On appointed times, see comment on 2:4; 7:6. |
|
|
