(Mt 3:13-17)

Matthew 3:13 At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John.

Matthew 3:14 But John tried to prevent him, saying, 'I need to be baptised by you, and yet you come to me?

Matthew 3:15 But Jesus said to him, 'Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.' Then John consented.

Matthew 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he came up out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.

Matthew 3:17 And behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased'.

After John had prepared the people with his words, awakening in everyone the expectation of the Messiah, Jesus reached the place where John was baptising, near the Jordan. He went to John to be baptised by him. We too find ourselves at the Jordan, because the text does not literally say that Jesus 'went', but that Jesus 'comes' (Greek paraginetai) to the Jordan. It assumes that we are there. We have listened to John's preaching, we have gone to the Jordan. To do what? To recognise ourselves as sinners.

And what does Jesus come to do? He comes to be baptised. He comes to be immersed, to go deep into human reality. This is the key to understanding the whole Gospel, where every passage shows how God enters our lives.

The Jordan is the river through which the Israelites entered the Promised Land. Therefore, it was right that Christ should be baptised in the Jordan, rather than in the Sea of Galilee or somewhere else.

We know that John's baptism is a baptism of water for conversion. The water that bathed the body was a sign of purification following repentance and confession of sins. Jesus is without sin. He does not need conversion. He has no guilt to repent of, nor any sin to confess. What use is baptism to him? None. This is John's thinking, and that is why he opposed it and prevented him from being baptised. Indeed, it is not right according to our criteria of justice. But Jesus will say that this is precisely how God's justice is fulfilled. Jesus does not baptise anyone; he does not baptise us, but we are baptised in him. That is, he did not come to put us under water; he came to go under water with us, and we are baptised in him in his death, that is, in his love for us. But if he is not baptised, that is, if he does not give his life for us, we cannot be baptised.

John does not know why Jesus asks to be baptised, and Jesus does not explain the reasons for his request. He refers John to the justice that must be done. All justice would be fulfilled in Jesus' submission to the rite of baptism. Jesus almost asks his permission to be baptised: 'let it be done', that is, allow it, grant it 'for now, because it is fitting'. It is good that I be baptised, it is fitting, it is necessary, because in this way 'all righteousness' is fulfilled, the will of God. 'For now' it is right that Jesus should accept the most humble position. It is precisely in this solidarity of the Son with mankind that God's will for the whole world is fulfilled. This is how God's plan is fulfilled. Therefore, Jesus' baptism, his death, is the fulfilment of all God's justice, for the cross is his judgement. His judgement is to give his life for all mankind, and he gives it in the Son.

It is difficult for us to understand that all justice is fulfilled in the fact that Jesus is in solidarity with us. The whole of Scripture is fulfilled in the fact that the Son was counted among the evildoers. John was right to be scandalised! We are not scandalised because we probably cannot understand how the Just One can be considered an evildoer and a sinner. By allowing himself to be baptised by John, it is as if Jesus stripped himself of his will. There is a will of the Father that he must fulfil. In baptism, Jesus surrenders his will to the Father, strips himself of his will, and officially accepts the mission of being the Messiah of God, and also accepts to fulfil the mission always and only in full observance of the Father's will.

Jesus immersed in water is a figure of Jesus dead on the cross; his lowering, but followed by his rising up. And behold, Jesus "came up out of the water". The adverb used by Matthew, euthys (immediately, right away), is very interesting, indicating the immediacy of what follows. This means that the evangelist wanted to tell us that not much time passed between Jesus' descent into the water and his ascent, but that it was almost immediate or at least rapid (Jesus seems to splash out). Jesus does not remain in the water, symbol of his own death, but comes out of it, where the Father's response from heaven awaits him. 'The heavens opened'. The sky is a symbol of God. The earth is joined with the sky in this scene, and in fact the Spirit of God descends. The heavens opening: this tells us of God's irruption into human history. God communicates with humanity.

Jesus is the one through whom the Father visits and encounters human beings. Jesus, therefore, is the historical place of encounter between God and human beings. The salvation of humanity therefore rests on the baptised man Jesus. In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus' mission begins and ends with the theme of baptism. If Jesus' first act is to undergo baptism, his last words will be an invitation to his disciples: "Go and baptise all peoples". Baptism opens and closes Jesus' activity. The sending of the apostles to baptise is an invitation to make God known to all humanity, the God whom they have experienced and known, and whom they have made known to us.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(John 1:1-18)

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him,

he gave them the right to become children of God:

to those who believe in his name,

John 1:13 who were born, not of blood,

nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man,

but of God.

"... to those who believe in his name" (v. 12). Significant is that "in" rendered in Greek as "eis", a particle of motion to a place. It expresses a movement oriented towards, imprinting on belief the dynamic proper to life, understood as a journey in Christ and for Christ. Believing in his name, therefore, means not only accepting, but orienting and conforming one's life to Christ. Only under these conditions can one obtain the "power," that is, the ability, to become children of God. Faith, therefore, enables one to acquire the capacity for divine sonship, because believing is walking towards Christ, growing in him. Only under these conditions does the believer "become" a child of God, that is, pass from a human condition to a divine one. A 'becoming' that is an evolutionary and transformative process, 'from ... to', which commits the believer's life, understood as a continuous becoming, significantly expressed in the particle 'eis'.

Verse 13 explains where the generation of God's sons comes from. Divine sonship does not depend on man: a) 'not of blood'; b) 'nor of the will of the flesh'; c) 'nor of the will of man'. Flesh, blood and man are three terms that are only apparently synonymous with each other; in reality, they indicate three types of people.

The first expression 'not of blood' in Greek is rendered in the plural ('ouk ex haimátōn', not of bloods). For Jews, blood is the seat of life; indeed, it is sometimes identified with life itself. This blood is always referred to in the singular. However, if blood flows from the body due to a wound or female menstruation, it is referred to in the plural, i.e. 'bloods'. These two aspects, wound and menstruation, refer respectively to circumcision, through which the child was incorporated into the people of Israel and thereby made heir to the divine promise, and to the generative capacity of women. Neither of these two types of blood is capable of giving divine sonship. While the blood that flows from the wound of circumcision is understandable, that of female menstruation is less clear, so let us pause for a moment to make it easier to understand. The use of the plural form of blood in this context, referring to the generation of divine sonship, recalls the generative capacity of women, which in the Jewish world was considered the sure element of Jewishness. A true Jew was someone born of a Jewish mother. Therefore, to say that the true sons of God do not come 'from the blood' was to say that it is not the Jewish people who generate them, neither through their women nor, even less so, through circumcision. This expression, 'ouk ex haimátōn', therefore, refers to the Jewish people and excludes their ability to generate true divine sonship. The true sons of God are not generated by Moses or by the Law. The denial of these two types of blood in terms of their generative capacity for the divine assigns this capacity to another blood and another flesh, those of Jesus.

The second expression, 'nor from the will of the flesh', closely recalls the state of conjugality between man and woman. That 'will', far from indicating a lustful desire, indicates the planning ability of man and woman, their capacity to determine their own future according to their own plans and designs. Divine sonship, therefore, does not even depend on the will of the spouses, understood in their innate generative capacity, which makes them fruitful and similar to God, the generator of life.

The third expression, 'nor from the will of man', captures man in his capacity for self-determination. The term used here to refer to man is not 'ánthrōpos', which means man in a generic sense and has its Latin equivalent in 'homo', but 'anēr', which contains within itself the meaning of man par excellence and has its Latin parallel in 'vir'. Therefore, even from this human excellence, made in the image and likeness of God, true divine sonship will not come forth. Thus, with the human realm in its three different facets excluded, only the divine realm remains, introduced by an adversative "but": "but they were begotten by God".

True divine sonship has its origin and roots exclusively in God. No human merit can boast divine generative capacity. Through faith and acceptance of the Word, the transition from fleshly nature to divine nature is effected in man. It is in this transition that lies the surprising novelty of the Christian in the face of the non-Christian. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Mt 1:18-24)

Matthew 1:19 Joseph her husband, being a just man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, resolved to divorce her quietly.

When we read this verse, we feel entitled to enter Joseph's mind, take his place and reflect our own thoughts, conjectures and fantasies in the text.

Joseph is defined here as a 'just man', dikaios; and this verse expresses Joseph's drama, which is the drama of every just person. What exactly does this righteousness allude to? Certainly not to the fact that he decided not to expose Mary to any judgement, with possible tragic consequences for her; nor to the fact that he wanted to repudiate her secretly, since Joseph was already 'righteous' before these things happened. The "righteous" person, biblically speaking, is one who faithfully practises the Torah. The Jewish religion, in fact, is the religion of orthopraxy, the correct execution of what God commands, without first wanting to understand. God's commandment is a will that must simply be carried out. The righteous person, therefore, is one who knows how to conform and faithfully carry out what the Torah commands. Yet in this case, Joseph does not apply the Torah, which would require repudiation, divorce, and possibly stoning.

So in what sense is Joseph righteous? According to one interpretation, 'righteous' should be understood in the sense of 'good': Joseph has his suspicions, but he is a 'good' man, he has a 'good heart', he will not make a scene and will separate from Mary in silence. But dikaios never has the meaning of 'good'.

In reality, 'righteous' must have the typical meaning given to it by Matthew, that is, acceptance of God's plan, however disconcerting it may be. Joseph, being a righteous man, from the height of his righteousness thinks only of what is good, but not of his own good, rather that of Mary. And what is good for Mary? It is not to repudiate her publicly. This would have exposed Mary, at the very least, to the ridicule of the people. The good, therefore, consists in quietly and silently leaving Mary's life. This means 'dismissing her in secret'. He would have withdrawn without anyone knowing anything. The 'just' man is the one who respectfully withdraws before God's intervention.

'He did not want to repudiate her' translates the Greek verb 'deigmatìsai', a very rare verb. Therefore, there are divergent translations and interpretations: 'he did not want to expose her to infamy'; 'he did not want to publicly disgrace her'; 'he did not want to expose her to public ridicule', all versions that seem to imply that Joseph considered Mary guilty. The question is whether this rare Greek verb should have a pejorative meaning or not. In one of his writings, the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea observes that "deigmatisai" simply means "to make known", "to bring to light". Something that is unknown and is subsequently revealed may be good or bad, edifying or shameful; but the word itself means 'to expose, or to propose as an example', 'to appear', 'to show'. So Joseph does not want to expose the fact, he does not want to make it appear, he does not want to show it publicly.

"He decided to dismiss her" translates the Greek "apolysai", which refers to the meaning of "free", "dissolve", "acquit". So it can simply mean "to set free", "to let go", but it can also have the meaning of "to dissolve, to break the bonds of marriage". According to some, it could therefore mean 'to repudiate', 'to divorce'. In this case, it should be interpreted as if Joseph wanted to give Mary a certificate of repudiation to submit to the court in order to obtain a divorce. But this is a hard-line interpretation. Technically speaking, the word can only mean 'to divorce' with a certain amount of stretching. But since divorce is a public act, performed before witnesses, and here the verb is accompanied by the adverb 'lathra' ('secretly, covertly'), a public act cannot be performed in secret.

Alternative translation: "Joseph, her husband, who was just and did not want to expose her, decided to separate from her in secret." If we read the verse from this perspective, its tone changes completely. Joseph could not say in public what Mary had revealed to him in confidence; he had to keep it in his heart as a precious secret. But what was he to do? Filled with religious awe at the mystery that had taken place in Mary, his wife, Joseph saw no other way out at that moment than to withdraw discreetly. Thus, the very idea of a denunciation vanished completely. The perspective was radically reversed. Full of respect for Mary, in whom the Holy Spirit had accomplished such great things, Joseph was ready to surrender her totally to God.

Other interpretations start from assumptions such as that Joseph had not been informed of Mary's virginal conception. Being righteous, he could not in conscience live with a sinner, in contrast to the law of the Lord. This is the traditional hypothesis, but it does not take into account the Christological and non-historiographical intent of the evangelist. Therefore, two opposing directions are possible in the interpretation: one severe and the other more moderate, which leaves the way open to a favourable explanation.

We must open ourselves to something much greater than we can imagine. The very virgin conception of Mary must be experienced by every believer, that is, being willing to accept something infinite. Only in this way can we receive God's gift. Why did Mary conceive the Word of God? Simply because, being humble and knowing that she did not deserve it, she did not say, 'I do not deserve it, so I reject it'; but being humble, she said, 'I receive it as a gift'.

The humble desire God, while the proud desire something they can do themselves. Paradoxically, it would be the proud person who is right because he knows his limits, his duties, his obligations; since he is right, he stops there: I know myself, I know my limits and I stop. And Joseph reasons in this way. This thing is too big for me, it is not for me, so I remain outside God's gift. It would be like going to work for an hour and being given five million; you say: no, that's not right. So it is with grace: it requires humility to accept it. 

Let us think if Mary, when the angel said to her, 'The Lord is with you, you will conceive a son', Mary had replied: perhaps you are mistaken, I am not worthy, go to someone else. We often say that! It means that the Word is not rooted in us, because of our sense of unworthiness that does not come from God. God does not give us a sense of unworthiness, He gives us a sense of humility and welcomes us so that we can welcome the gift. So we enter into the Gospel with this openness of heart to welcome the impossible, because the gift that God gives us is impossible, it is Himself.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Mt 11:2-11)

Matthew 11:2 Now John, who was in prison, heard about the works of Christ, and sent his disciples to ask him,

Matthew 11:3 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?'.

Matthew 11:4 Jesus answered, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see:

Matthew 11:5 The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them.

Matthew 11:6 and blessed is anyone who does not take offence at me."

Matthew 11:7 As they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

Jesus' answer to John the Baptist's question is not a theoretical answer, a simple explanation, or a classic retort. There is nothing to explain. It is not as if someone explains the truth of lunch to us at midday: it is better for them to feed us, otherwise it means they are leaving us hungry. The truth is the reality that nourishes us. Abstract truth and reflection are one thing; these are all good things, but we cannot live without reality. Truth is the reality we experience, and that is why Jesus' answer is not theoretical, but says: go and report what you hear and see.

Here, then, the works of Christ begin to take shape: 'The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them' (v. 5). No one can bear witness to himself. Not even Jesus Christ can bear witness and affirm the truth about himself. He can say it, but it must always be confirmed by other witnesses. In this case, Jesus does not ask for confirmation from men. He asks that Scripture itself bear witness to him.

His words are taken from the prophet Isaiah, to whom Jesus refers the disciples of John the Baptist, because in them lies the key to understanding his work. Only the Word, therefore, is able to reveal and make understood the mystery of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, the prophecies that Isaiah pronounced about the Messiah of God are fulfilled. Jesus is truly the one who was to come, the herchómenos.

The healing of the blind speaks of man's openness to the light of faith, it is enlightenment; man's problem is seeing reality. We do not see reality, we see our hypotheses about reality. And the reality is that we are children of God, created to be children, and to recover our sight and be enlightened is to have understood this. Then life has light, otherwise life is dull.

The healing of the deaf speaks of the ability to receive the Word; the lepers, a metaphor for a humanity degraded by sin, are healed by the proclamation they receive; the lame, with their limping and uncertain gait, are a metaphor for the doubtful, the uncertain, the weak in faith, who are restored to the firmness of their belief; just as the dead, a symbol of the pagan world and of sinners far from God, are also called to follow, and are also made participants in divine life. Finally, all the poor are given the gift of the good news: God has returned among men and reaches out to them, drawing them to Himself. The latter does not seem to be a miracle, and yet it is perhaps the most specific and decisive sign: that Jesus is God's envoy is proven by miracles, but it is his predilection for the poor that reveals the novelty of his messianic choice. A new creation is taking place; God is generating new men. This is the good news announced to all the poor, that is, to all situations of affliction, deprivation, need, and waiting.

"And blessed is he who is not scandalised by me" (v. 6). In the Beatitudes, Jesus declares blessed the poor, the afflicted, the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the peacemakers, the persecuted, etc. Now Jesus says blessed is he who is not scandalised by me. Why? Because he is the poor, the afflicted, the pure of heart, the peacemaker, the meek, and for this reason he is persecuted, afflicted, rejected, insulted: he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and whoever does not take offence at me is blessed, has understood all the Beatitudes. So the crucial point is to understand who he is, through what he does and says. This is how he responds to the Baptist. Accepting Jesus means entering into a new way of understanding our relationship with God and our relationship with others - and for many this means scandal. Jesus says that for those who are not scandalised by the novelty of his message, he will be a source of blessedness, a way of feeling truly happy.

"What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?" Jesus' questions, while highlighting the figure of the Baptist, also constitute an indictment of the Jews' inability to grasp his true significance. Two basic attitudes towards the Baptist emerge, which mirror those towards Jesus; in this way, John is not only the precursor of Jesus in that he announces him, but also in that he anticipates him, becoming a sort of prefiguration of him: a) there are those who rush to see and listen to John, driven mainly by curiosity, but without grasping the greatness and meaning of his preaching and his mission; b) there are those who had a true understanding of him, but one that was limited and incomplete.

The first two questions asked about the Baptist are intended to disapprove of superficial behaviour and, precisely for this reason, incapable of grasping the Mystery hidden in that man, who is wholehearted and far removed from compromises and palace intrigues, shunning comforts and focusing entirely on the herchómenos. 

Jesus asks: What did you go out to the desert to see? The crowds went out to the desert. The Baptist is the man of the Exodus. Those who are not willing to make the exodus, to go out into the desert, to embark on a new journey, will never meet the Lord. The Baptist is the prototype of the man who meets the Lord because he is the first to go out into the desert. What did you go out to see? A reed swaying in the wind? Obviously, the answer is no. What is a reed swaying in the wind? It is the man who tries to please in order to be liked. The Baptist has something to teach us; he is not a reed swaying in the wind of opinions, but he is the one who is steadfast before God. The reed bends with every wind, small or large. John is not a reed swayed by the wind, bent by the thoughts of men. He does not follow the fashions of thought. He follows the thoughts of God. John is firmly rooted in the thoughts of God. This is his credibility. If his preaching is credible, it is compelling. Uncredible preaching can never compel a person.

A man who wants to preach and teach, if he accepts other thoughts, attests that God's thought is not everything to him. By accepting other thoughts, he relativises God's thought, making it imperfect, since it must be made perfect by the addition of human thoughts. This is the folly of those endless reeds blown by the wind that are Christians who allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the thoughts of the world. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Romans 15:4-9)

Romans 15:4 Now all that was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:5 May the God of perseverance and consolation grant you to have the same feelings towards one another as Christ Jesus had,

Romans 15:6 so that with one heart and one voice you may glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ has accepted you, for the glory of God.

Paul wants Christians to know that what was written in the Old Testament serves as our instruction. When Christians learn what happened in the past, they find motivation to persevere, they are comforted in the present, and they look forward to the future with hope. The perseverance and comfort that come from Scripture are those that arise from the faith that every sacrifice we have lived, offered, and lifted up to God will not go unrewarded. This fruit ripens on our perseverance, which must be until the end.

All the sufferings of the present world are worthless in comparison to the glory that God will give us. For this reason, we must always keep alive our hope of the future glory with which we will be clothed. The strength to persevere comes from this hope, and it is necessary to keep it alive; if we lose sight of hope, then we easily fall away from faith and our soul is lost in the small and useless things of this world. Hope is kept alive by conforming our lives to Christ. Outside of this law, all that remains for the Christian is bewilderment, confusion, and abandonment of the path undertaken.

God is the God of perseverance and consolation (v. 5). He is the God of perseverance because he never tires of seeking man for his salvation. The entire Old Testament is sustained by this perseverance of God, who knows no rest. He is the God who perseveres eternally in his love for man and who gives him consolation. God's consolation is that strength that pours out upon us and urges us to persevere to the end. Without God's perseverance, man would have been without hope for a long time. Without God's consolation, no one would have the strength to persevere, to move forward. Without God's consolation, we would have a Christianity of sadness and despair.

Paul raises this prayer to God and asks him to pour out on the Romans and on every other believer, that they may have the same feelings towards one another, following the example of Christ Jesus. Christ is the model that Christians must always be inspired by. Christ is the example to imitate. Christ is the hermeneutical principle of the life of each of his disciples. If Christians are the fruit of God's persevering love, they too must persevere in love for their neighbour. Since Christians have the strength to move forward because the Lord pours out his consolation on their path, Christians too must become instruments of consolation for their brothers and sisters. They must exhort, help and encourage. True communion does not arise from the presumption of a justice due to us, but from the awareness of a guilt that includes everyone, and of a grace that is simply a gift. We think well of our brothers and sisters not because we believe in their goodness, but because we believe in the One who makes us good. It is the awareness of sin and the awareness of grace that gives foundation and stability to fraternal love.

As Christ has welcomed us, so we must welcome one another. Christ welcomed us all when we had nothing but our need for salvation. Christ welcomed us by taking on our flesh and blood, taking upon himself our infirmities, our illnesses, our sins. He welcomed us by loving us to the end. Christ still welcomes us by exercising his eternal priesthood, interceding for us so that we may always find grace with God and be saved and redeemed by him.

Christ did everything for the glory of God. Christians too must welcome their brothers and sisters for the glory of God. God wants each of us to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus Christ loved them. If Christians observe this commandment, great glory rises to God. Christians must be singers of God's glory. They must ensure that the whole world glorifies the heavenly Father for their love towards their brothers and sisters.

We know well that only Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Father's will. By meditating on Christ and examining his life, Christians too can prepare themselves to give glory to the Father, which is the purpose of their lives.  

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Mt 24:37–44) 

Matthew 24:37 As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Matthew 24:38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark,

Matthew 24:39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Matthew 24:40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

Matthew 24:41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left.

Matthew 24:42 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

Matthew 24:43 For this, consider: if the homeowner knew at what time of night the thief was coming, he would stay awake and not let his house be broken into.

Matthew 24:44 Therefore, you also must be ready, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

The theme of this passage is the uncertainty of the time of the "parousia" and the accompanying end of time. The return of Christ (= the Son of Man) is certain, but at the same time it is completely unexpected. Since the time of his coming is unknown, Christians are called to be in a state of constant readiness.

The theme of judgement is clear. Jesus compares those who live in the final phase of history (which can happen in any generation) to the generation of Noah's time, which was overwhelmed by the flood. No one expected it, so everyone was suddenly caught up in a cataclysm that left no escape. 

In v. 38, in Greek, we have a nice euphony, pleasing to the ear: 

                    trōgontes kai pinontes gamountes kai gamizontes, 

lit., "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage."

No special meaning should be read into these participles. They simply stand as indicators of living daily life (eating and drinking) and planning for the future (marriages). In Noah's day, people were unaware of anything other than their own life of pleasure; and they had no idea of the judgement that was coming upon them: "and they did not realise anything (i.e. the imminent danger) until the flood ("kataklysmòs") came and swallowed them all up". The parousia of the Son of Man, similarly, will come suddenly upon an unsuspecting generation, which is going about its ordinary activities. This triggers a comparison between the times of Noah and the last days.

The insistent emphasis on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage gives the idea of a humanity entirely intent on organising its own time, rooted in its own affairs, without paying attention to the signs that are sent to it; there is no room for anything but its own interests. People, in the normality of life, in the routine of eating and marrying, lived as if the world would never end, unprepared for the disaster that was about to come, with no expectation that things could change. Men, unaware of the tragic fate that awaited them, neglected what was essential for their survival: instead of preparing means of salvation like Noah, they were absorbed in their daily affairs and intent on blissfully enjoying life.

In the same way that humanity ignored the impending judgement, so the people of Jesus' time rejected Him and His message, and were overwhelmed by the devastation that struck Jerusalem and the temple. The same scenario will also occur in the last days. The parousia and the end times will come suddenly, and the story of Noah is used as a warning about the suddenness of disaster for those who are unprepared. They are unprepared because they do not take the gospel message into consideration and consequently believe the lie and reject the truth.

On that day, there will be a division among humanity. This is described very vividly in the reference to two men working in a field and two women grinding at the mill. They are going about their normal activities, unaware of what is about to happen, when suddenly one of them is taken and the other is left, where 'being taken' means being saved, and 'being left' means perishing in the impending destruction. This taking has the meaning of safeguarding, of placing under one's protection and, therefore, of election; while being left has the meaning of being abandoned to one's fate.

The fact that there are always two people involved does not indicate a quantitative percentage, but rather two conditions, two states of life: those who are faithful and those who are not; while the use of two characters, male and female, indicates the generality of humanity. The fact that they are caught in the field and at the mill indicates how the coming of the Lord will surprise them as they go about their daily business, suddenly and unexpectedly, just as in Noah's time people were caught up in the cataclysm while engaged in the ordinary activities of life.

One lives superficially: he eats, marries, works, but everything slips away; another eats, marries, works and on Sundays, instead of going to the beach, goes to listen to the Gospel. Everyone works during the week, but there is a way of living life with a different awareness instead of thinking only about eating and having fun.

Christians must not allow themselves to be surprised by such an unexpected event. They know very well what awaits them and that the rapidity of the final events does not allow them to think about conversion at the last moment. The things of God happen suddenly. Everything is sudden when the Lord acts, hence the urgent need to be always vigilant. When the Lord comes, and he will come suddenly, he must find us ready. It is our duty to prepare for the parousia without calculating its date, but by living ready and attentive to God's warnings. Being prepared does not mean sitting back and waiting, it means being engaged in faithful service to the One who is coming.  

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(1Cor 10,1-6.10-12)

3rd Sunday in Lent (year C)

1Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant, O brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all crossed the sea,

1Corinthians 10:2 all were baptized in relation to Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

Paul, in this passage, refers us to the history of the past, to the lesson of history. He reminds us of the deeper meaning of history, which is the history of salvation. It is said that history is a teacher of life, but the pupils learn nothing. Paul instead says that from the history of Israel one must learn. The history of Israel is not just any history, but it is a way in which divine revelation was historically manifested. Revelation, in fact, was not manifested through the explanation of concepts, but through certain historical facts that are then also read and interpreted. The history of Israel is an exemplary history, so it is right and proper, if one wants to understand Jesus Christ, to see all the sacred history that prepares him. Among other things, this also accustoms us to reading our own little personal history, which is also salvation history because the Lord walks with us.

"For I do not want you to be ignorant": The Corinthians were supposed to know the facts narrated here, but the apostle wants them to know the typological significance that these facts have, and which is not to be ignored. Jesus Christ is the end result of a long journey, and we must know the journey that preceded it. Paul is very respectful of Israel's history and feels he must tell it. He refers us to these examples from the past that are extraordinary events, but they are also events of sin, and yet always instructive because they show what God's way is.

"Our fathers". Christians can consider the ancient Israelites as their fathers, because the Church succeeded the synagogue, and they are the true heirs and children of Abraham.

"They were all": Three times Paul repeats this expression. As if to say that salvation had been given to all. For all were led by the cloud, that is, by the presence of God, and all crossed the sea. All gained freedom from slavery and all were guided by God on the way to the promised land. Hence, on God's part, no exclusion, no preference towards some at the expense of others. He brought all his people out of Egypt, for all he parted the sea, for all he willed the cloud. All were in the condition of grace and truth that would enable them to conquer the promised land and possess it forever.

This universality of grace and truth for Paul is akin to a baptism. There is an immersion also of the children of Israel, even though their baptism is merely a figure of that instituted by Jesus Christ. However, there is a true immersion of the Israelites in the sea and in the 'cloud' and this immersion for them is true salvation, true deliverance.

Israel lived under the cloud, that mysterious cloud that guided the Israelites through the desert and sheltered them from the sun: signifying the presence of God, the Shekinah. To be under the cloud is to be under God's protection. They crossed the sea and were baptised: the passage from the land of slavery, which is Egypt, to the promised land, takes place through the crossing of the Red Sea, and this is a baptism because it signifies the detachment from the slavery of Egypt, liberation and purification, and the journey to the promised land.

"To be of Moses". Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, was a figure of Jesus Christ, and the Israelites led by him to the promised land were a figure of the Christians led by Jesus Christ to heaven. Now, just as Christians through baptism are incorporated into Jesus Christ and made subject to him as their Lord, whose laws they are bound to observe, so for the Israelites the mysterious cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea were a kind of baptism, whereby they remained subject to Moses and obliged to observe his laws. From that moment on, the people were separated from Egypt forever and belonged to the God who liberated them and to the prophet-mediator whom God gave them as their leader.

The mysterious cloud, a perceptible sign of God's presence, and of the favour He bestowed on His people, was a figure of the Holy Spirit, who is given in the baptism of Jesus Christ, and similarly the dry-foot passage through the Red Sea and the consequent deliverance from the bondage of Pharaoh, were figures of our deliverance from the bondage of sin through the waters of baptism.

Having stated this truth, Paul reminds us that it is not enough to come out of Egypt to have the promised land. The going out is one thing, the conquest and possession of the land is another. Between going out and conquering the land, there is a whole desert to cross. For the Israelites, the desert lasted for forty years; for Christians it lasts their whole life.

With baptism we come out of the slavery of sin, with a life of perseverance striving to conquer the kingdom of heaven we walk towards the glorious resurrection that will take place on the last day.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

(Buyable on Amazon) 

Ps 17 (18)

This monumental ode, which the title attributes to David, is a Te Deum of the king of Israel, it is his hymn of thanksgiving to God because he has been delivered from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. David acknowledges that God alone was his Deliverer, his Saviour.

David begins with a profession of love (v. 2). He shouts to the world his love for the Lord. The word he uses is 'rāḥam', meaning to love very tenderly, as in the case of a mother's love. The Lord is his strength. David is weak as a man. With God, who is his strength, he is strong. It is God's strength that makes him strong. This truth applies to every man. Every man is weak, and remains so unless God becomes his strength.

God for David is everything (v.3). The Lord for David is rock, fortress. He is his Deliverer. He is the rock in which he takes refuge. He is the shield that defends him from the enemy. The Lord is his mighty salvation and his bulwark. The Lord is simply his life, his protection, his defence. It is a true declaration of love and truth.

David's salvation is from the Lord (v. 4). It is not from his worthiness. The Lord is worthy of praise. God cannot but be praised. He does everything well. It is enough for David to call upon the Lord and he will be saved from his enemies. Always the Lord answers when David calls upon him. David's salvation is from his prayer, from his invocation.

Then David describes from what dangers the Lord delivered him. He was surrounded by billows of death, like a drowning man swept away by waves. He was overwhelmed by raging torrents. From these things no one can free himself. From these things only the Lord delivers and saves.

David's winning weapon is faith that is transformed into heartfelt prayer to be raised to the Lord, because only the Lord could help him, and it is to Him that David cries out in his distress. This is what David does: in his distress, he does not lose himself, he does not lose his faith, he remains whole. He turns his faith into prayer. He invokes the Lord. He cries out to Him. He asks Him for help and succour. God hears David's voice, hears it from his temple. His cry reaches him.

God becomes angry because He sees His elect in danger. The Lord's anger produces an upheaval of the whole earth. The earth trembles and shakes. The foundations of the mountains shake. It is as if a mighty earthquake turned the globe upside down. The spiritual fact is translated into such a profound upheaval of nature that one has the impression that creation itself is about to cease to exist. In this catastrophe that strikes terror, the righteous is rescued.

The Lord frees David because he loves him. Here is the secret of the answer to the prayer: the Lord loves David (v. 20). The Lord loves David because David loves the Lord. Prayer is a relationship of love between man and God. David invokes God's love. God's love responds and draws him to safety.

"Wholesome have I been with him, and I have guarded myself from guilt" (v. 24). David's conscience testifies for him. David prayed with an upright conscience, with a pure heart. This he says not only to God, but to every man. Everyone must know that the righteous is truly righteous. The world must know the integrity of God's children. We have a duty to confess it. It is on integrity that truly human relationships can be built. Without integrity, every relationship is tightened on falsehood and lies.

"The way of God is straight, the word of the Lord is tried by fire" (v. 31). What is the secret because God is with David? It is David's abiding in the Word of God. David has a certainty: the way indicated by the Word of God is straight. One only has to follow it. This certainty is lacking in the hearts of many today. Many do not believe in the purity of God's Word. Many think that it is now outdated. Modernity cannot stand under the Word of God.

"For who is God, if not the Lord? Or who is rock, if not our God?" Now David professes his faith in the Lord for all to know. Is there any other God but the Lord? God alone is the Lord. God alone is the rock of salvation. To seek another God is idolatry. This profession of faith must always be made aloud (remember the 'Creed'). Convinced people are needed. A faith hidden in the heart is dead. A seed placed in the ground springs up and reveals the nature of the tree. Faith that is in the heart must sprout up and reveal its nature of truth, holiness, righteousness, love and hope. A faith that does not reveal its nature is dead. It is a useless faith.

"He grants his king great victories; he shows himself faithful to his anointed, to David and his seed for ever" (v. 51). In this Psalm, David sees himself as the work of God's hands. That is why he blesses him, praises him, magnifies him. God's faithfulness and great favours for David do not end with David. God's faithfulness is for all his descendants. We know that David's descendants are Jesus Christ. With Jesus God is faithful for ever. With the other descendants, God will be faithful if they are faithful to Jesus Christ.

Here, then, the figure of David disappears to make way for that of the perfect king in whom the saving action that God offers the world is concentrated. In the light of this reinterpretation, the ode entered the Christian liturgy as a victory song of Christ, the 'son of David', over the forces of evil and as a hymn of the salvation he offered.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

(Buyable on Amazon)