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Friday – Twentieth Week – OT2
Readings: Eze 37:1-14; Mt 22:34-40.
1/ Reading I: RSV Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me round among them; and behold, there were very many upon the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Again he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And as I looked, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, `Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, says the Lord.”
2/ Mt 12:34-40 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The Sign of Jonah
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
I. THEME: Love God and love people.
The death of Robin Williams, a well-known American comedian, has ruled the mass media last few days. He hung himself after his long struggle with depression and alcoholic addiction. Many people asked the question why he, who was so famous, rich and hilarious, chose to terminate his life in such a painful and hopeless death. The obvious answer is he no longer finds a meaningful hope for his life; depression and alcoholic addiction are the main reasons for his despair.
Today readings help us to find the hope for our life and the way how we can attain that hope. In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel had a vision of a field, full of dry bones. This is the symbol of the Israelites in exile. They lost everything they have: nation, Jerusalem temple, house, family, God’s protection; in addition, they were maltreating and working as slaves in exile. In a word, there is no hope for the future! But God let Ezekiel know He can resurrect the dry bones and make them to fully live again. This hope was fulfilled when God let the remnant of the Israelites return and re-establish their country after fifty years in exile. There is nothing which is impossible to God. In the Gospel, when a lawyer came and asked Jesus about the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus answered him that to love God above all things and to love others as himself. These two commandments are the most important ones and the foundation of life. Because of violating them, the Israelites lost everything and were on exile; and also because of keeping these two, God let them come back and rebuild their nation and the temple.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”
At first, this vision wants to refer to the liberation of the Israelites from their exile and their rebuilding of the nation and the Temple in 538 B.C. Later, many biblical scholars use this vision to talk about the Last Day, when God shall resurrect all people before judging them.
1.1/ God can do all things: When lived in exile, the Israelites almost lost all their hope in God and their future. They thought there is no hope to return to their country because God forsook them. In the vision from today passage, God wants to tell the prophet that He shall let people return if they repent from their sins and firmly believe in Him. The Israelites in exile are likened the dry bones: they are dying both in body—working as slaves and in soul—there is no hope for future. When God asked the prophet if there is any hope for the dry bones to live again, Ezekiel believed only God has power to do such thing, so he answered God, “O Lord God, you know.”
The two main reasons for the Israelites’ exile are they forgot God and they treated others unjustly. God continually sent His prophets to warn the Israelites that the exile shall happen if they don’t listen to Him; but they ignored Him. Punishment is the last way which God must use to bring them back. However, God kept sending His prophets when the Israelites were on exile to encourage them not to lose their hope. If they repent from their sins, He shall set them free and let them return to their country, even there is only a remnant of people.
Like the Israelites, many of us are so stubborn in our lifestyle. We think we can live without God. We ignored God’s teaching and chase after all worldly allurements. God warns us all terrible results of such lifestyle but we keep ignoring Him. Out of love for us, God let sufferings happen to us with a hope that in facing hardships we shall recognize that we can’t live without Him.
1.2/ God can resurrect people: In the second account of the creation of human beings in the Book of Genesis; after formed a man from mud, God breathed His Spirit in the man’s nostril and made him to be a living being (Gen 2:7). A similar way happened in Ezekiel’s vision. After the first prophecy, all human beings were formed but there is no breath in them. So, God said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” So the prophet prophesied as he was commanded. After his second prophesy, the breath came into those bodies, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host.
Then God let the prophet know the meaning of the vision, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, `Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, says the Lord.”
2/ Gospel: The two most important commandments
2.1/ To love God above all: “When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law”? And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
This is the first of the Ten Commandments which God gave to the Israelites through Moses on Sinai Mountain. The Israelites calls this commandment “Shema.” To help them to remember it, they write it on paper and wear it as the phylactery on their forehead, or put them into two little boxes and wear them on their arms every time they pray. Moreover, they also put it on the doorposts and the city gates to remind all people who pass by it. Such an important commandment which is put everywhere and the scribes and Pharisees still asked Jesus! There is no reason other than they insulted Jesus.
This commandment, though is easily remembered, but is difficult to fulfill for both the Israelites and the Christians today. The Israelites knew they must love God above all, but still made a golden calf to worship or to chase after foreign gods. Many of today Christians still put other things above God, such as: money, fame, position and pleasure. They skip Sunday worships to work, to see football games or to be on cruises.
2.2/ To love neighbors as yourself: Jesus continues, “And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”
These two important commandments can’t be separated but depended on each other; whoever loves God, also loves his neighbors; the reverse is also true. St. John clearly stated, “If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– To God, everything is possible. If God dispersed the Israelites to be slaves everywhere, He could find a way for them to return. If God breathed into the man’s nostril to make him a living being, He also can breathe His Spirit to resuscitate dead persons.
– Many laws can cause confusion; people can’t make a difference between the principle and the supplement, between what is important and what isn’t. Jesus’ teaching helps us to know that to love God and people are two most important commandments and the foundation of our religion. When facing conflicts in our life, these two commandments shall help us to choose correctly.
– The eternal life must be the ultimate goal of our life, not anything from this world. If this goal is taken away, there is no hope for us to live in this life. We must let this goal shine in all moments and decisions of our life.