From: Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16
The Birth of Ishmael
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[1] Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian maid
whose name was Hagar; [2] and Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has
prevented me from bearing children; go in to my maid; it may be that I shall ob-
tain children by her.” And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. [3] So, after A—
bram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar
the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. [4] And he
went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived,
she looked with contempt on her mistress. [5] And Sarai said to Abram, “May
the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid to your embrace, and when
she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord
judge between you and me!” [6] But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is
in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and
she fled from her.
[7] The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the
spring on the way to Shur. [8] And he said, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have
you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mis-
tress Sarai.” [9] The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and
submit to her.” [10] The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multi-
ply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” “And the an-
gel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you
shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction.
[12] He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every
man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
[15] And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom
Hagar bore, Ishmael. [16] Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ish-
mael to Abram.
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Commentary:
16:1-6. Sarah, too, seems to be impatient about the delay in the fulfillment of the
divine promise to give Abraham descendants. Therefore, she resorts to a custom
of the time designed to increase the number of children. It was not strictly spea-
king polygamy but rather a means the lawful wife used in order to give her hus-
band children. From what we know of Babylonian laws of the time, if the slave-
girl became pregnant and then began to look down on her mistress, she could
be punished and revert to being treated as a slave. That is what Hagar fears will
happen, so she runs away.
The patriarchs follow the customs of their time; some of which (as in this case)
were morally defective. In the light of the teaching of the Bible taken as a whole,
we can see that behavior of this sort was a consequence of man’s original sin,
and we can also see that God gradually led man back to a morality that was ful-
ly in keeping with human dignity as reflected in the Creation accounts. Consider,
for example, what Jesus has to say on the subject of marriage (Mt 5:31-32). How-
ever, prior to that, God educates mankind bit by bit and to do so he tolerates im-
perfect customs and types of behavior “in order” to lead mankind towards those
higher goals. “The books of the Old Testament provide an understanding of God
and man and make clear to all men how a just and merciful God deals with man-
kind. These books, even though they contain matters imperfect and provisional,
nevertheless show us authentic divine teaching” (”De Verbum”, 15).
16:7-16. This is the first appearance in the Bible of the “angel of the Lord”; here
it means God himself coming out to meet man by making himself visible in some
way. Also, the passage includes a tradition which explains the name of a place
in the Negeb desert linked to stories about the patriarchs. According to 25:11
Beer-Iahai-roi was where Isaac was based. Both this place-name (Lahai-roi in
Hebrew sounds like “the living one who sees me”) and Ishmael’s name (”God
heard”) are given an etymological explanation.
Ishmael is the ancestor of the desert Arabs who live on the fringes of cultivated
lands. By stressing the link between Abraham and Ishmael the text wants to
show the connections (sometimes tense, yet always familial) between the Jews
and these Arabs. The main thing the biblical account shows us is that God loves
and protects this people too and he has compassion towards anyone who suffers
— in this case, the Egyptian slave.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Matthew 7:21-29
Doing the Will of God
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [21] “Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who
is in Heaven. [22] On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not pro-
phesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty
works in Your name?’ [23] And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you;
depart from Me, you evildoers.’
Building on Rock
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[24] “Every one then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a
wise man who built his house upon the rock; [25] and the rain fell, and the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because
it had been founded on the rock. [26] And every one who hears these words of
mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon
the sand; [27] and the rain fell, and the floods came, and winds blew and beat
against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”
[28] And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His
teaching, [29] for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as their
scribes.
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Commentary:
21-23. To be genuine, prayer must be accompanied by a persevering effort to
do God’s will. Similarly, in order to do His will it is not enough to speak about
the things of God: there must consistency between what one preaches—what
one says—and what one does: “The Kingdom of God does not consist in talk
but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20); “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).
Christians, “holding loyally to the Gospel, enriched by its resources, and joining
forces with all who love and practice justice, have shouldered a weighty task on
earth and they must render an account of it to Him who will judge all men on the
last day. Not every one who says, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
but those who do the will of the Father, and who manfully put their hands to the
work” (Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”, 93).
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, to be holy, it is not enough, then, to speak elo-
quently about holiness. One has to practice what one preaches, to produce fruit
which accords with one’s words. Fray Luis de Leon puts it very graphically: “No-
tice that to be a good Christian it is not enough just to pray and fast and hear
Mass; God must find you faithful, like another Job or Abraham, in times of tribu-
lation” (”Guide for Sinners”, Book 1, Part 2, Chapter 21).
Even if a person exercises an ecclesiastical ministry that does not assure his
holiness; he needs to practice the virtues he preaches. Besides, we know from
experience that any Christian (clerical, religious or lay) who does not strive to
act in accordance with the demands of the faith he professes, begins to weaken
in his faith and eventually parts company also with the teaching of the Church.
Anyone who does not live in accordance with what he says, ends up saying
things which are contrary to faith.
The authority with which Jesus speaks in these verses reveals Him as sovereign
Judge of the living and the dead. No Old Testament prophet ever spoke with His
authority.
22. “That day”: a technical formula in biblical language meaning the day of the
Judgment of the Lord or the Last Judgment.
23. This passage refers to the Judgment where Jesus will be the Judge. The sa-
cred text uses a verb which means the public proclamation of a truth. Since in
this case Jesus Christ is the Judge who makes the declaration, it takes the form
of a judicial sentence.
24-27. These verses constitute the positive side of the previous passage. A per-
son who tries to put Christ’s teaching into practice, even if he experiences per-
sonal difficulties or lives during times of upheaval in the life of the Church or is
surrounded by error, will stay firm in the faith, like the wise man who builds his
house on rock.
Also, if we are to stay strong in times of difficulty, we need, when things are calm
and peaceful, to accept little contradictions with a good grace, to be very refined
in our relationship with God and with others, and to perform the duties of our state
in life in a spirit of loyalty and abnegation. By acting in this way we are laying
down a good foundation, maintaining the edifice of our spiritual life and repairing
any cracks which make their appearance.
28-29. Jesus’ listeners could clearly see the radical difference between the style
of teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, and the conviction and confidence with
which Jesus spoke. There is nothing tentative about His words; they leave no
room for doubt.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.