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Jesus of Nazareth II Discussion: Chapter 3

We now turn to chapter three, which deals with the "washing of the feet." This chapter weaves together a number of important themes, including the importance of purification, Christ's "New Commandment", the figures of Judas and Peter, and confession of sin.

"With the Last Supper, Jesus' 'hour' has arrived, the goal to which his ministry has been directed from the beginning (2:4)." -p. 54

"The 'hour' of Jesus is the hour of the great stepping beyond, the hour of transformation, and this metamorphosis of being is brought about through agape. It is agape "to the end"--and here John anticipates the final word of the dying Jesus: tetelestai--"it is finished" (19:30). This end (telos), this totality of self giving, of remolding the whole of being--this is what it means to give oneself even unto death." -p. 55

Of course, the later discussion on the "New Commandment" is meaningless unless one understands the importance of Jesus' self giving.

"In chapter 13 of the Gospel, it is the washing of the feet by Jesus that serves as the way of purification." -p. 59

"For the Christian faith, it is the incarnate God who makes us truly pure and draws creation into unity with God." -p. 60

"It is the God who comes down to us who makes us clean. Purity is a gift." -p. 61

Thus, since we are made pure through Christ, the "New Commandment" can now be given.

"The command to do as Jesus did is no mere moral appendix to the mystery, let alone an antithesis to it. It follows from the inner dynamic of gift with which the Lord renews us and draws us into what is his." -62

"The newness can come only from the gift being-with and being-in Christ." -p. 64

"The gift--the sacramentum--becomes an exemplum, an example, while always remaining a gift. To be a Christian is primarily a gift, which then unfolds in the dynamic of living and acting in and around the gift." -p. 65

How do we respond knowing that being a Christian is a gift?

The Pope then goes on to discuss Christ's interaction with Judas and Peter at the Last Supper. Feel free to comment on this section.

The Pope concludes this section by highlighting the importance of confession as found in Jesus' mysterious words found John 13:10: Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you."

"Yet in this context, the washing of feet acquires another more concrete meaning, over and above its fundamental symbolism, one that points to the practicalities of life in the early Church. What is it? The complete bath that was taken for granted can only mean Baptism, by which man is immersed into Christ once and for all, acquiring his new identity as one who dwells in Christ. This fundamental event, by which we become Christians not through our own doing but through the action of the Lord in his Church, cannot be repeated. Yet in the life of Christians--for table fellowship with the Lord--it constantly requires completion: 'washing of feet'. What is this? There is no single undisputed answer. Yet it seems to me that the First Letter of John points us in the right direction and shows us what is meant. There we read: 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us' (1:8-10). Since even the baptized remain sinners, they need confession of sins, 'which cleans us from all unrighteousness'."
-p. 73

Jesus of Nazareth II Discussion: Chapter 2

Pope Benedict focuses chapter 2 of his book on the great "Eschatological Discourse" of Jesus found in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). In reference to the account in Matthew, Pope Benedict acknowledges that it may be the "most difficult text in the whole of the Gospels (26-27)." Benedict divides this chapter into three areas, The End of the Temple, Times of the Gentiles, and Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Eschatological Discourse.

End of the Temple

Here we read the very stark words by Jesus that God is withdrawing. The events of 70AD are on the horizon. As Pope Benedict says, "God himself is announcing that he is to depart from the Temple, to leave it "empty" (26). While reading through this section all I could think of was the account of the Glory of the Lord leaving the Temple and Jerusalem before the fall of the First Temple, found in the early part of Ezekiel.

"A historical change of incalculable significance was in the air." -p. 26

"Jesus' words here are intended as continuations of tradition rather than literal descriptions of things to come." -p. 27

I love the quote from St. Gregory Nazianzen, on page 34, which proposes that our patient God only imposes on man things that he is ready for. (He is speaking in particular about the role of the Temple sacrifices and worship in general.)

"That he foretold the demise of the Temple--its theological demise, that is, from the standpoint of salvation history--is beyond doubt." -p. 34-35

"When Paul applies the word hilasterion to Jesus, designating him as the seal of the Ark of the Covenant and thus as the locus of the presence of the living God, the entire Old Testament theology of worship (and with it all the theologies of worship in the history of religions) is "preserved and unsurpassed" and raised to a completely new level. Jesus himself is the presence of the living God. God and man, God and the world, touch one another in him." -p. 39-40

The Time of the Gentiles

"From the content, it is clear that all three Synoptic Gospels recognize a time of the Gentiles: the end of time can come only when the Gospel has been brought to all peoples." -p. 42

Then comes some interesting comments about the relation of the Jews to God's plan and the Church's mission.

"The essential point is that these times were both asserted and foretold and that, above all else and prior to any calculation of their duration, they had to be understood and were understood by the disciples in terms of a mission: to accomplish now what had been proclaimed and demanded--by bringing the Gospel to all peoples." -p. 43

"Here I should like to recall the advice given by Bernard of Clairvaux to his pupil Pope Eugene II on this matter. He reminds the Pope that his duty of care extends not only to Christians, but: 'You also have obligations toward unbelievers, whether Jew, Greek, or Gentile' (De Consideratione III/I,2). Then he immediately corrects himself and observes more accurately: 'Granted, with regard the Jews, time excuses you; for them a determined point in time has been fixed, which cannot be anticipated. The full number of the Gentiles must come in first. But what do you say about these Gentiles?...Why did it seem good to the Fathers...to suspend the word of faith while unbelief was obdurate? Why do we suppose the word that runs swiftly stopped short? (De Consideratione III/I, 3).'" -p. 44-45

Is the Pope saying we should not evangelize the Jews? I don't think he is saying that, certainly not in the individual, person to person sense. I think this has more to do with corporate vs. individual evangelization. The Church is called to take the Gospel to the Gentiles during this Age. In this way, Benedict is emphasizing the Church's first mission which is to "go to the nations" as Christ commissions in Matthew 28:19. The conversion of the Jews, corporately, is in God's hands, as suggested by Benedict's quote from Brem on page 45 as well as the one below. What do you think?

Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Eschatological Discourse

"Israel is in the hands of God, who will save it "as a whole" at the proper time, when the number of the Gentiles is complete." -p. 46

"What is striking here is that this text is largely composed of Old Testament passages, especially from the book of Daniel, but also from Ezekiel, Isaiah, and other scriptural texts." -p. 49

"The old apocalypic text is given a personalist dimension: at its heart we now find the person of Jesus himself, who combines into one the lived present and the mysterious future." -p. 50

"The personalistic focus, this transformation of the apocalyptic visions--which still corresponds to the inner meaning of the Old Testament images--is the original element in Jesus' teaching about the end of the world: this is what it is all about." -p. 51

"Jesus' apocalyptic words have nothing to do with clairvoyance. Indeed, they are intended to deter us from mere superficial curiosity about observable phenomenona (LK 17:20) and to lead us toward the essential: toward life built upon the word of God that Jesus gives us; toward an encounter with him, the living Word; toward responsibility before the Judge of the living and the dead." -p. 52

With that last quote, all I can say is a hearty Amen!

Jesus of Nazareth II Discussion: Chapter 1

Before we begin, I just want to again mention that my role will not be to summarize each chapter, like a poor man's Cliff Notes, but rather to highlight some of the quotes directly from the text, along with proposing some questions to consider. I want the Holy Father to speak for himself. This is intended to be a discussion of the book, so as we proceed from chapter to chapter, please keep the discussion focused on the content of the chapter at hand. Also, please do not limit the discussion to my comments or questions, but feel free to bring to the table any sections of the given chapter that sparked your interest.

I want to mention right at the start that I believe this book, along with volume 1, is the example of Catholic Biblical scholarship which Dei Verbum and all the magisterial documents that followed envisioned. Now I realize that, depending on your theological background, this may seem to be either a bold statement or simply obvious. However, the reason I make this statement is that I am continually impressed at how the Holy Father actively engages the legitimate questions proposed by many of the most important Biblical scholars of the past. In no instance does he simply dismiss them as irrelevant or "off-the-wall", but rather he seeks to converse with them and provide analysis from his own study. Yet, what I think remains key is that his own study is nourished not only by modern methods of scholarship, but more importantly by the living Tradition of the Church, most notably the important insights of the Fathers of the Church. Is not this what the Council called for? (See Dei Verbum 23.)

Chapter 1: The Entrance into Jerusalem and the Cleansing of the Temple

On the Entrance:

"The ultimate goal of Jesus' "ascent" is his self-offering on the Cross, which supplants the old sacrafices; it is the ascent that the Letter to the Hebrews describes as going up, not to a sanctuary made by human hands, but to heaven itself, into the presence of God (9:24). This ascent into God's presence leads via the Cross--it is the ascent toward "loving to the end" (Jn:13:1), which is the real mountain of God." - p. 2

"To today's reader, this may all seem fairly harmless, but for the Jewish contemporaries of Jesus it is full of mysterious allusions. The theme of the kingdom and its promises is ever-present. Jesus claims the right of kings, known throughout antiquity, to requisition modes of transport. The use of an animal on which no one had yet sat is a further pointer to the right of kings. Most striking, though, are the Old Testament allusions that give a deeper meaning to the whole episode." -p. 3-4

(Those important OT passages are Genesis 49:10-11, Zechariah 9:9, 1 Kings 1:33-34, and Psalm 118:26)

"This point is made most clearly in Matthew's account through the passage immediately following the Hosanna to Jesus, Son of David: 'When he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying: Who is this? And the crowds said: This is the prophet Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee" (Mt 21:10-11). The parallel with the story of the wise men from the East is unmistakable. On the that occasion, too, the people in the city of Jerusalem knew nothing of the newborn king of the Jews; the news about him caused Jerusalem to be "troubled" (Mt. 2:3). Now the people were "quaking": the word that Matthew uses, eseisthe (seio), describes the vibration caused by an earthquake." -p. 8

"The Benedictus also entered the liturgy at a very early stage. For the infant Church, "Palm Sunday" was not a thing of the past. Just as the Lord entered the Holy City that day on a donkey, so too the Church saw him coming again and again in the humble form of bread and wine." -p.10

When we reflect upon our own lives as Christians, do we have the same passion for the Lord when he comes to us in the humble form of bread and wine? Are we stirred?

On the cleansing of the Temple:

"In the exegetical literature there are three principle lines of interpretation that we must briefly consider." -p.11

"First, there is the thesis that the cleansing of the Temple constituted and attack, not on the Temple as such, but on its misuse...In acting as he did, Jesus was attacking the existing practice that had been set up by the Temple aristocracy, but he was not violating the Law and the Prophets..." -p.11-12 (Jesus as just Reformer)

"Now we come to a second, conflicting exegesis--the political, revolutionary interpretation of the incident." -p.13 (Jesus as Zealot)

(The third option is to see Jesus in light of a careful reading of "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers" from Mark 11:17. Here, this option proposed by "Jesus himself" sees the universalist vision combined with the coming destruction of the Temple.)

"The first is the universalist vision of the Prophet Isaiah (56:7) of a future in which all peoples come together in the house of God to worship the Lord as the one God." -p.17

"In the combination of worship and trade, which Jesus denounces, he evidently sees the situation of Jeremiah's time repeating itself. In this sense, his words and actions consitute a warning that could be understood, together with his reference to the destruction of this Temple, as an echo of Jeremiah. But neither Jeremiah nor Jesus is responsible for destroying the Temple: both, through their passion, indicate who and what it is that truly destroys the Temple." -p. 20

Jesus of Nazareth II Discussion

I am planning to begin a discussion series on Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection sometime this week. I hope that some of you have been able to obtain a copy of this fine book. We will start with chapter 1 and progress from there, without any necessary timetable for concluding the discussion. I will not be giving a summary of each chapter, but rather providing a few quotes from parts that I found particularly intriguing, along with some possible questions to help spur discussion. We shall see how it goes. If you are interested, please let me know via the comments of this post.