Easter is about Jesus’ humanity and his physical appearance to his disciples and to us. On Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, went to the tomb where Jesus was buried.  There was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. The angel told them that he had been raised just as he said.  As the angel instructed them, they went to tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Then they ran to announce this to his disciples.  And Jesus met them on their way.  They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage (Mt. 28:1-10).

These verses are unique to Matthew, but there are similarities between them and John’s account of the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene: “Jesus said to her, ‘Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (Jn 20:17).  Both accounts refer to a touching of Jesus’ body and a command of Jesus to bear a message to his disciples.

It is not only the women who touch the resurrected Christ.  When Jesus walks through the locked doors of the upper room, he shows the disciples the wounds in his hands and feet.  Thomas will not believe until Jesus tells him, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” (John 20:27). In John 21, Jesus prepares breakfast for his disciples on the edge of the Sea of Tiberias.

Easter is about Jesus’ physical appearance.  Ascension is about Jesus’ physical disappearance.  It is Easter in reverse.  First Jesus commissions the disciples to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”  Then a cloud takes him from their sight.

Easter is about Jesus’ humanity.  Ascension is about Jesus’ divinity. In Mark’s Gospel from Mark we hear:  “So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.”  To be at the right hand of God is to be in a position of power and authority.  It means that Christ is king of heaven and earth. 

For Christ to be king of heaven and earth means, in St. Paul’s Letter to Colossians, that  in him “were created all things in heaven and on earth. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to  reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

We cannot see Christ, who is exalted in heaven.  We can see Christ only in one another.   It is only with others that we form the Church.  We do not live for ourselves.  When we pray, we pray not only for ourselves but for one another, and for the whole world.  For it is only with others that we can be part of God’s kingdom, whether in heaven or on earth.  Even in heaven, we will be with one another.  We might reside in our own hell, but heaven is not our own.  We need to prepare for that now.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible,  revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner.  All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing
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Of the two prophets, Nathan is by far the most familiar.  Nathan told David of God’s promise that his dynasty would last forever: “When your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever” (2 Sam. 7:12-13).  Nathan confronted David when David sinned by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite and having Uriah to be killed in battle (2 Sam. 11). 

Nathan was involved in court intrigue when David was old and sick (1 Kings 1), and probably even before that. We meet Gad for the first  time in 1 Sam. 22:5, when Gad tells David, in flight from Saul, to leave his hiding place in the land of Moab and to return to Judah. Gad is clearly a supporter of David.  The most importance incident in which Gad is involved is the matter of the census in 1 Sam. 24:11-19.  David has the people counted.  David’s probable motive was to learn how many men could be recruited or conscripted into his armies.  For reasons that are not quite clear, this census was a grave sin.  Did not God promise Abraham that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore (Gen. 22:17)?  Should not David simply trust in God to fight his battles for him? Did David lack trust in God?

David, whose heart is with God, regrets his sin. But the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad:

Go, tell David: Thus says the Lord: I am offering you three options; choose one of them, and I will give you that. Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: “Should three years of famine come upon your land; or three months of fleeing from your enemy while he pursues you; or is it to be three days of plague in your land? Now consider well: what answer am I to give to him who sent me?” (2 Sam. 24:11-13)

This is indeed a difficult choice. David answers: “I am greatly stressed. But let us fall into the hand of God, whose mercy is great, rather than into human hands” (2 Sam. 24:14).  To flee from one’s enemy is to be punished by others.  In times of famine, which would seem to come from God, the rich are able to purchase food while the poor starve.  But pestilence is from God alone.   David did trust God and so he decided to be punished by God rather than by human beings. The plague killed 70,000 people throughout the entire land.

But when the angel of death stretched out his hand over Jerusalem,  the Lord relented.  God said “Enough now! Stay your hand,” and the plague ended. Jerusalem became David’s capital and the political center of the nation.  Gad then tells David to build an altar, where David offers sacrifice. That same place became the site of the Temple which David’s son, Solomon, was to build.  It became the center of the nation’s religious worship.

The prophets guarded Israel by confronting priests and kings.  Who are our prophets today?

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing
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Now the sons of Eli were wicked; they had respect neither for the Lord for the priests’ duties toward the people. When someone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork, while the meat was still boiling, and would thrust it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot. Whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. They treated all the Israelites who came to the sanctuary at Shiloh in this way. (Sam. 2:12-14)

His sons also abused the women who came to the entry of the meeting tent (1 Sam. 2:22). The Lord revealed to Samuel that he would destroy the house of Eli:

I announce to him that I am condemning his house once and for all, because of this crime: though he knew his sons were blaspheming God, he did not reprove them. Therefore, I swear to Eli’s house: No sacrifice or offering will ever expiate its crime (1 Sam 3:13-14).

Samuel was not only a prophet.  He also served also as judge, making a yearly circuit throughout Israel (1 Sam. 7:15-26).  Samuel confronted a corrupt government as well as a corrupt priesthood.  In his old age, Samuel appointed his two sons as judges, but they accepted bribes and perverted justice (1 Sam. 8:3).  The people, faced with constant skirmishes against the Philistines, demanded a king.  Samuel warned them against a king. A king would draft their sons into the army and force them to do his plowing and harvesting.  Their daughters would be used as perfumers, cooks, and bakers.  Their fields and vineyards would be confiscated and given to his officials. Their flocks would be tithed (1 Sam. 8:11-13).

Nevertheless, the people insisted that Samuel give them a king.  The Lord told Samuel: “Listen to whatever the people say. You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king” (1 Sam. 8:7).  And so Samuel told the people:

Now here is the king you chose. See! The Lord has given you a king. If you fear and serve the Lord, if you listen to the voice of the Lord and do not rebel against the Lord’s command, if both you and the king, who rules over you, follow the Lord your God—well and good. But if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord and if you rebel against the Lord’s command, the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.    (1 Sam. 8:12-13)

The Lord is king of heaven and earth.  In biblical literature, the reign of God is contrasted with the kingdom of the worldly powers. The hope that God will be king over all the earth,  when all idolatry will be banished, is expressed in prophecy and song.  We read in Zech. 14:9: “The Lord will be king over the whole earth; on that day the Lord will be the only one, and the Lord’s name the only one.”  The psalms sing of the Lord as king, as in Ps. 99:1: “The Lord is king, the peoples tremble; he is enthroned on the cherubim, the earth quakes.”

The ancient Jewish prayer, the Kaddish, chanted in Aramaic, expresses the desire that God’s Kingdom arrive soon:   “May He establish His kingdom and may His salvation blossom and His anointed be near during your lifetime and during your days and during the lifetimes of all the House of Israel, speedily and very soon! And say, Amen.”  To accept God’s sovereignty is to accept God alone as ruler over us, over every thought, emotion, feeling, and desire.

Let us pray then, as Jesus did, “Your kingdom come, on earth as in heaven.”

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by  permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.” (John 17:10-11).

In this prayer, and elsewhere in John’s Gospel, Jesus expresses his unity with the Father.  In his last supper discourse, Jesus tells Thomas: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Earlier, Jesus declares to the crowds in Jerusalem: “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). 

As a Jew, Jesus prayed the Shema twice a day and was surely influenced by it.  This prayer begins with a proclamation of faith in God’s oneness: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!” (Dt. 6:4).    In the second of two blessings that precede its recital, a person asks God, to “unify our hearts and love and fear your Name” and, further, that people may “unify God with love”—that is, “to proclaim God’s oneness.” Jesus may well have prayed the beautiful Alenu prayer that concludes the three daily services, as it may date from the time of the Second Temple:  

For the kingdom is yours and you will reign for all eternity in glory as it is written in your Torah, the Lord will reign for all eternity.  And it is said: The Lord will be King over all the world—on that day the Lord will be One and his name will be One.”

Jesus, of course, enjoyed a unique relationship with his Father.  Still, he calls us also to be one—one with God and one with each other.  We can in no way become God.  But we can be one with God in the sense of the command to “love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole  strength” (Dt. 6:5).  We become one with God by doing the will of God.  Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!” (Mt. 26:42). And, we pray, in Jesus’ words: “Your will be done on earth as in heaven” (Mt. 6:9). We are one with each other when we fulfill the second part of the greatest command, expressed by a scribe in Luke 10:27: “to love your neighbor as yourself.”

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without  permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The expression “appear” is the attempt of translators to make sense of an awkward Hebrew phrase.  The verse actually reads “Three times a year all your males shall be seen the face of God.”  Now we all know that God has no body and cannot be seen.  Yet in Ex. 24:9-11 we find: “Moses then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and they beheld the God of Israel. Under  his feet there appeared to be sapphire tilework, as clear as the sky itself. Yet he did not lay a hand on these chosen Israelites.  They saw God, and they ate and drank.”

There are other places in the Torah where, similar to the events at Sinai, God’s face is seen.  Abraham names the site where he  intended to sacrifice Isaac, “God will see” and “hence people today say, ‘On the mountain the Lord will provide.’”  Here, too, the translators are embarrassed by the Hebrew, which translates “In the mount where the Lord is seen.”  In addition, when Jacob wrestles with the angel he says, “I have seen God face to face.”  Later Jacob tells Esau, “to see your face is for me like seeing the face of God.”

The requirement that “three times a year all your males shall be seen the face of God” implies that one both sees and is seen.  God sees us, and we see God.  That is, God reveals himself to us.   Revelation is a type of seeing.  In this way, God involves us in a deep and intimate relationship through his word. 

We have to renew this relationship periodically by recalling God’s saving works and everlasting love for us. This, then, is what Jesus was doing at the feast in Jerusalem: communing with his Father.  We read in John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.” And we have seen Jesus: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The medieval Jewish poet and philosopher, Judah Halevi (b. ca. 1080), has an interesting take on the metaphor of the seed.  He writes in his apologetic work, The Kuzari:

God has a secret and wise design concerning us, which should be compared to the wisdom hidden in the seed which falls into the ground, where it undergoes an external transformation into earth, water, and dirt, without leaving a trace for him who looks down upon it.  It is, however, the seed itself which transforms earth and water into its own substance, carries it from one stage to another, until it refines the elements and transfers them into something like itself.  The original seed produced the tree bearing fruit resembling that from which it had been produced.

 The seed is not only transformed; it also transforms.  The seed is not only passive; it is also active.  In Halevi’s understanding, the Torah transforms all who follow it.  Then, all nations will come to acknowledge God and will become one tree.

In a similar way, St. Paul speaks of God’s hidden mystery in Ephesians 1:8-10:  “In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.”  In St. Paul’s view, too, in God’s mystery, in Halevi’s words, in God’s “secret and wise design,” all people become one tree.

During Lent, then, let us not think only of our own spiritual journey but also of our mission: to be a seed of faith that may sprout in a faithless world.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American
Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The refrain for the responsorial psalm, Ps. 137, echoes what was surely the feeling of the exiles in Babylon, who longed for their homeland and the Temple of the Lord., is “Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!”  Psalm 137 continues: “May my tongue stick to my palate if I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem beyond all my delights.” Based on this verse, traditional Jews make an effort to preserve a sense of loss by commemorating the destruction of the Temple even at moments of great joy.  The best known custom is the breaking of a glass by the groom at the conclusion of a wedding service.  In addition, one who builds a home must leave a portion of a wall unfinished.  One who makes a feast must omit a small dish.  A woman who dresses in her finest outfit must omit a small accessory.

Excessive mourning, however, is self-destructive and is prohibited.  In the Talmud, R. Joshua gets into a discussion with a group of people who had become ascetics after the destruction of the second Temple.  He says: “Not to mourn at all is impossible, because the blow has fallen. To mourn overmuch is also impossible, because we do not impose on the community a hardship which the majority cannot endure” (Baba Bathra 60b).  The customs of zekher l’churban, commemoration of the destruction, do not inflict pain or suffering.  They do, however, illustrate that in the absence of the Temple, the joys of full completion are impossible: a complete house, a complete meal, a complete wardrobe.

How does all this apply to us?  We, who are temples of the Holy Spirit, remain incomplete. We may look at Lent as a time of rebuilding.  Perhaps we have become lax, a little careless in prayer and devotion.  Perhaps we have let our work interfere with our family life, or allowed some relationships to languish or become strained.  During Lent, we are called to offer something above the measure usually required of us so that, in the words of St. Benedict, we may look forward to holy Easter with the joy of spiritual desire. 

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The word “tents” in this passage makes a reference to the Feast of Booths, Sukkot.  The meaning of the feast, and of the booths for which is named, is found in Lev. 23:42-43.  Leviticus explains that the booths commemorate the frail shelters that the Israelites lived in for forty years.  But this is not as simple as it seems.  Leviticus does not say what those sukkot were.  The great Rabbi Akiva, who was martyred at an advanced age around 132 CE, held that the Israelites did not dwell in booths at all, but in “clouds of glory.” The singular word “booth,” sukkah, sometimes refers to a cloud-covering.  Clouds are always found around the Israelite camp.  God provides a pillar of cloud to lead the Israelites in the desert and speaks to Moses from the midst of the cloud.  

The clouds of glory have three main characteristics: protection, presence, and love.  The clouds provide protection: they sheltered the Israelites from the hot sun over their heads and from the hot sand beneath their feet.  They protected the Israelites from their enemies, first the Egyptians and then the Amalekites. The clouds symbolize the continual presence of God among the Israelites. The cloud represents the glory of God. 

The clouds are also symbolic of God’s love.  The midrash describes the first appearance of the clouds of glory in terms of a wedding.  The coming of the clouds is compared to the arrival of the wedding canopy at the home of the bride.  God is signals his readiness to consummate his marriage.  In other passages, the clouds of glory represent paternal love, as in Hos. 11:1: “When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son.” The clouds in the desert, enveloping the Israelites on all sides, are understood as the embrace of God’s paternal arms.  The tender embrace of the two lovers in the Song of Songs is associated with the sukkah and the clouds of God’s presence, the shekhina: “His left hand is under my head—that means the sukkah.  And his right hand embraces me—that means the cloud of shekhina in the world to come” (Shir HaShirim Rabba 2:6).

To dwell in a sukkah means to dwell within a divine shelter.  To dwell in a sukkah is to experience God’s protective  presence.  The Feast of Booths comes just a few days before the Day of Atonement.  When we experience the nearness and love of God, we come to know God’s forgiveness.

 There is custom of inviting seven guests into the sukkah: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, Aaron, and David.  Peter wants to build three sukkot for three guests: one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.  The cloud casts its shadow over them, and from midst of the cloud, God reveals his love.

Thanks to “The Symbolism of the Sukkah” by Jeffrey L. Rubinstein, Judaism, Fall 1994, pp. 371-387.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing
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Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:17-19)

Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not to put an end to it.  He says quite clearly that he did not come to abolish the Law.  The word “fulfill” has many connotations.  When we “fulfill” the Law, we do what it requires.  When a cup is filled with water, it is, in some sense, “fulfilled.”  In his life and teaching, Jesus exemplifies the Law in all its fullness.

 The word “Law” is a very poor translation of the much wider term, “Torah,” which is better rendered as “Teaching.”  In common usage, it refers to the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses.  Already in the Pentateuch, there are special terms to refer to various types of law.  The collective body of Jewish law is known as halakhah.  This term is derived from the verb “to walk.” Thus the proper translation of halakhah is not “law” but rather “the way to go.” The Talmudic sages classified the laws into two basic groups.  Statutes are those laws whose reasons are known not known, such as the dietary laws; judgments are laws between individuals whose reasons are known, such as the laws that govern a well-ordered society.      

It was not until the Middle Ages that the laws were codified into 613 laws.   This number is symbolic: 248 positive commands to correspond to the bones of the body and 365 negative commands to correspond to the muscles.  There was little agreement as to which laws comprised this number.  The laws include what we could consider civil, criminal, and family law as well as the commercial code.  In contrast, current canon law contains 1752 norms.

A single law is known as a mitzvah.  In contemporary usage, this term may be used to signify a good deed or act of kindness.  The Hebrew term is derived from a term meaning “to join, attach.”  The fulfillment of a mitzvah is a way to connect to God, a means to unite one’s own will with the will of God.  True obedience comes from love rather than from fear.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Strangely, contrary to our first impression on hearing them, these Scriptures are less about the social and ritual consequences of skin disease and more about the power of spoken words.  The power of words and their consequences: positive and negative.  Words can eat away at flesh disfiguring faces and hands.  They can destroy nerve and deaden feelings.  Words can divide and isolate.  Words can also heal and welcome.  Words can strengthen the heart and community.

For approximately 14 centuries rabbis pondered these prescriptions in Leviticus, searching for their deeper meaning, delving into obscure words and the nuances of grammar to discern their spiritual teaching.  They were spurred on by the enigmatic and sudden leprosy of Miriam when she grumbled against Moses.  This story is found in Num. 12.  Out of the rabbis’ collective meditation and scholarship came thirty-one ways to connect more closely with God: all of these ways are about guarding the tongue.  All are embedded in the commandment “never forget the Lord your God and never profane the Holy Name.” 

So, of course, many of the teachings address this and warn against tale bearing and false reports, testifying against someone, embarrassing a person and speaking from anger or a grudge.  Yet, they are primarily about the great positive and connecting commandment to love: God, self and neighbor.  Skin diseases were perceived as outward manifestation of the community’s failure to love, to guard the tongue lovingly.  They revealed how far the community had strayed from its home within the heart of God. 

Jesus, a very good rabbi, reaches across an ingrained social divide and touches the diseased man with compassionate hand and words that heal.  It is early on in Jesus’ ministry.  He has recently been baptized by John and is barely out of the dessert.  John has been arrested by Herod.  Threat is in the air. 

Jesus seems to need space to discern his calling from God as Beloved Son.  “Tell no one,” he says to the man.  Guard your tongue. 

It is no wonder, then, that we are told in Deut. 24:9: “Remember what the LORD, your God, did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.”  Spoken and written words have power, real power in our real moment now as a religious congregation.  A marriage is words.  Work is lots of words.  They have power, real power to shape lives, families, the future.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.