Replies

From: Exodus 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b

The Israelites Arrive in Sinai (Continuation)

[1] On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land
of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. [2] And when they
set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in
the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.

[9] And the Lord said to Moses, “Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that
the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever.”

Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

The Theophany on Sinai

[10] And the Lord said to Moses,”Go to the people and consecrate them today
and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, [11] and be ready by the third
day; for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight
of all the people.

[16] On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a
thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the
people who were in the camp trembled. [17] Then Moses brought the people
out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the foot of the
mountain; [18] And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord de-
scended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln,
and the whole mountain quaked greatly. [19] And as the sound of the trumpet
grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. [20]
And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain;

*******************************************************************************************
Commentary:

19:1-25. This chapter is written as part of a magnificent liturgy is which the e-
vents of Sinai are re-enacted for the reader. The sacred author, then, does not
seek to provide an exact, scholarly report on what happened there; what he is
providing, rather, is a theological interpretation of the real contact which took
place between God and his people.

As in other important sections of this book, it draws on the great traditions of
Israel but combines them so skillfully that they have become inseparable; only
now and then can one identify traces of particular traditions. The text as it now
stands is all of a piece. In this chapter there is a prologue (v. 9), summing up
what follows, and the theophany proper (vv. 10-25).

19:1-2. This method of calculating time (v. 1) is one of the traces of the Priestly
tradition, always keen to give dates a symbolic meaning (cf. 16:1 and 17:1).
Three months is a very brief stage in the prolonged sojourn in the Sinai: in this
way time becomes a sign of the religious importance of the events.

19:10-25. This description of the theopany on Sinai contains features of a so-
lemn liturgy in order to highlight the majesty and transcendence of God. Ver-
ses 10-15 cover as it were the preparation for the great event, and vv. 16-20
the event itself.

The preparation is very detailed: ritual purification in the days previous, ablutions
and everything possible done to ensure that the participants have the right dispo-
sitions, even a ban on sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 15:16ff) as a sign of exclusive
concentration on God who is coming to visit. Also, the fact that the people have
to keep within bounds is a tangible way of showing the transcendence of God.
Once Jesus Christ, God made man, comes, no barrier will any longer to im-
posed.

The manifestation of God took place on the third day.; The smoke, the fire and
the earthquake are external signs of the presence of God, who is the master of
nature. The two trumpet blasts (vv. 16, 19), the people’s march to the foot of
the mountain and then standing to attention – all give a liturgical tone to their
acknowledgment of the Lord as their only Sovereign. All these things and even
the voice of God in the thunder convey the idea that this awesome storm was
something unique, for what was happening this special presence of God on Si-
nai, could never happen again.

Israel will never forget this religious experience, as we can see from the Psalms
(cf. Ps 18:8-9; 29:3-4; 77:17-18; 97:2ff). In the New Testament, extraordinary
divine manifestations will carry echoes of this theophany (cf. Mt 27:45; 51; Acts
2:2-4).

*********************************************************************************************
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 13:10-17

Speaking in Parables

[10] Then the disciples came and said to Him (Jesus), “Why do You speak to
them in parables?” [11] And He answered them, “To you it has been given to
know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given.
[12] For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from
him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. [13] This is why I speak
to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not
hear, nor do they understand. [14] With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of
Isaiah which says: `You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall
indeed see but never perceive. [15] For this people’s heart has grown dull, and
their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should
perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and turn for me to heal them.’

[16] But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. [17]
Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you
see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

10-13. The kind of Kingdom Jesus was going to establish did not suit the Judaism
of His time, largely because of the Jew’s nationalistic, earthbound idea of the Mes-
siah to come. In His preaching Jesus takes account of the different outlooks of
His listeners, as can be seen in the attitudes described in the parable of the so-
wer. If people were well disposed to Him, the enigmatic nature of the parable would
stimulate their interest; and Jesus later did give His many disciples a fuller expla-
nation of its meaning; but there was no point in doing this if people were not ready
to listen.

Besides, parables—as indeed any type of comparison or analogy—are used to re-
veal or explain something which is not easy to understand, as was the case with
the supernatural things Jesus was explaining. One has to shade one’s eyes to
see things if the sun is too bright; otherwise, one is blinded and sees nothing.
Similarly, parables help to shade supernatural brightness to allow the listener to
grasp meaning without being blinded by it.

These verses also raise a very interesting question: how can divine revelation and
grace produce such widely differing responses in people? What is at work here
is the mystery of divine grace—which is an unmerited gift—and of man’s response
to this grace. What Jesus says here underlines man’s responsibility to be ready
to accept God’s grace and to respond to it. Jesus’ reference to Isaiah (Matthew
13:14-15) is a prophecy of that hardness of heart which is a punishment meted
out to those who resist grace.

These verses need to be interpreted in the light of three points: 1) Jesus Christ
loved everyone, including people of His own home town: He gave His life in order
to save all men; 2) the parable is a literary form designed to get ideas across
clearly: its ultimate aim is to teach, not to mislead or obscure; 3) lack of appre-
ciation for divine grace is something blameworthy, which does merit punishment;
however, Jesus did not come directly to punish anyone, but rather to save every-
one.

12. Jesus is addressing His disciples and explaining to them that, precisely
because they have faith in Him and want to have a good grasp of His teaching,
they will be given a deeper understanding of divine truths. But those who do not
“follow Him” (cf. note on Matthew 4:18-22) will later lose interest in the things of
God and will grow ever blinder: it is as if the little they have is being taken away
from them.

This verse also helps us understand the meaning of the parable of the sower, a
parable which gives a wonderful explanation of the supernatural economy of di-
vine grace: God gives grace, and man freely responds to that grace. The result
is that those who respond to grace generously receive additional grace and so
grow steadily in grace and holiness; whereas those who reject God’s gifts become
closed up within themselves; through their selfishness and attachment to sin they
eventually lose God’s grace entirely. In this verse, then, our Lord gives a clear
warning: with the full weight of His divine authority He exhorts us—without taking
away our freedom—to act responsibly: the gifts God keeps sending us should
yield fruit; we should make good use of the opportunities for Christian sanctifi-
cation which are offered us in the course of our lives.

14-15. Only well-disposed people grasp the meaning of God’s words. It is not
enough just to hear them physically. In the course of Jesus’ preaching the pro-
phetic words of Isaiah come true once again.

However, we should not think that not wanting to hear or to understand was
something exclusive to certain contemporaries of Jesus; each one of us is at
times hard of hearing, hard-hearted and dull-minded in the presence of God’s
grace and saving word. Moreover, it is not enough to be familiar with the tea-
ching of the Church: it is absolutely necessary to put the faith into practice, with
all that that implies, morally and ascetically. Jesus was fixed to the wood of the
Cross not only by nails and by the sins of certain Jews but also by our sins—sins
committed centuries later but which afflicted the Sacred Humanity of Jesus
Christ, who bore the burden of our sins. See the note on Mark 4:11-12.

16-17. In contrast with the closed attitude of many Jews who witnessed Jesus’
life but did not believe in Him, the disciples are praised by our Lord for their do-
cility to grace, their openness to recognizing Him as the Messiah and to accep-
ting His teaching.

He calls His disciples blessed, happy. As He says, the prophets and just men
and women of the Old Testament had for centuries lived in hope of enjoying one
day the peace the future Messiah would bring, but they had died without experien-
cing this good fortune. Simeon, towards the end of his long life, was filled with joy
on seeing the infant Jesus when He was presented in the temple: “He took Him
up in his arms and blessed God and said, `Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation’”
(Luke 2:28-30). During our Lord’s public life, His disciples were fortunate enough
to see and be on close terms with Him; later they would recall that incomparable
gift, and one of them would begin his first letter in these words: “That which was
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes,
which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of
life; [...] that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you
may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our [or: your] joy may be complete
1 John 1:1-4).

This exceptional good fortune was, obviously, not theirs but of special merit: God
planned it; it was He who decided that the time had come for the Old Testament
prophecies to be fulfilled. In any event, God gives every soul opportunities to meet
Him: each of us has to be sensitive enough to grasp them and not let them pass.
There were many men and women in Palestine who saw and heard the incarnate
Son of God but did not have the spiritual sensitivity to see in Him what the Apos-
tles and disciples saw.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.