Catholic lectionary for 18 October 2004

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

2 Timothy, Chapter 4, verses 10-17

⁹ willeth him to come speedily unto him, and certain other things which he wrote for, ¹⁴ warneth him to beware of Alexander the smith, ¹⁶ informeth him what had befallen him at his first answering

¹⁰For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

¹¹Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.

¹²And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.

¹³The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

¹⁵Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.

¹⁶At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

¹⁷Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Read more:2 Timothy, Chapter 4

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4

4:10 Demas - Once my fellowlabourer, Pmn 1:24.Hath forsaken me. Crescens, probably a preacher also, is gone, with my consent, to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, having now left Crete. These either went with him to Rome, or visited him there.

4:11 Only Luke - Of my fellowlabourers, is with me - But God is with me; and it is enough. Take Mark - Who, though he once "departed from the work," is now again profitable to me.

4:13 The cloak - Either the toga, which belonged to him as a Roman citizen, or an upper garment, which might be needful as winter came on. Which I left at Troas with Carpus - Who was probably his host there. Especially the parchments - The books written on parchment.

4:14 The Lord will reward him - This he spoke prophetically.

4:16 All - My friends and companions. Forsook me - And do we expect to find such as will not forsake us? My first defence - Before the savage emperor Nero.

4:17 The preaching - The gospel which we preach.

Luke, Chapter 10, verses 1-9

¹ Christ sendeth out at once seventy disciples to work miracles and to preach

¹After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

²Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

³Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

⁴Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.

⁵And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.

⁶And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.

⁷And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.

⁸And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:

⁹And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Read more:Luke, Chapter 10

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10

10:2 Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would thrust forth labourers - For God alone can do this: he alone can qualify and commission men for this work. Mat 9:37.

10:3 Mat 10:16.

10:4 Salute no man by the way - The salutations usual among the Jews took up much time. But these had so much work to do in so short a space, that they had not a moment to spare.

10:6 A son of peace - That is, one worthy of it.

10:7 Mat 10:11.

NOTES

When Jesus sends His disciples to proclaim the Kingdom that has drawn near, He tells them: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” A natural question arises: why does everyone around them turn out to be a wolf? And if that is so, why and for what purpose does Jesus...

When Jesus sends His disciples to proclaim the Kingdom that has drawn near, He tells them: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” A natural question arises: why does everyone around them turn out to be a wolf? And if that is so, why and for what purpose does Jesus send the disciples out to preach?

The answer, however, lies in the very nature of their proclamation—in what those who are sent intend to proclaim and what they are to bear witness to. The disciples are to bear witness to the Kingdom: a Kingdom that, in the Saviour's own words, is “not of this world,” and which the world rejects for that very reason. This is not even because the Kingdom is alien in nature to the world, but because it is hostile to it. The world lies in evil. If it were simply different from the Kingdom, there might be no hostility: the Kingdom's action upon the world would transfigure it, change its nature, and the world would become the Kingdom by opening itself to God's direct action. But there are forces in the world that oppose the Kingdom, and the world has submitted to them and fallen wholly under their power—which is why it is called fallen. It is therefore hostile to the Kingdom, not by nature, but because of the present state of that nature. Consequently, everyone who lives by the laws of this world becomes hostile to everyone who lives by the Kingdom and bears witness to it.

This opposition is as organic as that between wolves and sheep. Wolves do not attack sheep out of malice, but out of hunger. Indeed, the same is true of predators in general and their prey: it is nothing personal, only the necessity of survival. Unlike the well-known character in Krylov's fable, neither wolves nor other predators look for excuses. “It is your fault that I want to eat”—that is a human view of the situation; animals know nothing of such concepts, and their instincts tell them nothing about moral categories.

People who live by the laws of the fallen world often react in much the same way to witnesses of the Kingdom and to those who live its life. They want to get rid of such people, to make them disappear from the world and from their own lives simply because they are different—because they bring into the world and into those people's own lives something that will destroy the existing order of things, outside which the fallen human being cannot imagine life. Unlike wolves and other predators, of course, people usually find some way to justify this desire. Yet at its core is the same instinct of self-preservation, the desire to survive and not perish that drives a wolf to attack a flock of sheep. Until a person wishes to change, until they wish to escape the power of the evil in which the fallen world lies, they will react to witnesses of the Kingdom as a predator reacts to prey—not from any personal motive, but simply according to the law of this world.

Today's reading brings us back once again to a passage connected with the theme of the apostolic proclamation. Unlike Matthew, Luke mentions a certain wider circle of apostles consisting of...

Today's reading brings us back once again to a passage connected with the theme of the apostolic proclamation. Unlike Matthew, Luke mentions a certain wider circle of seventy apostles about whom Matthew says nothing. But this does not change the essence of the matter: the seventy apostles receive from Jesus the same instruction that was given to the twelve closest disciples. Apparently, Jesus allowed no esotericism in His circle and had no special secret teaching for the “initiated.” And when the apostles returned, elated by their victory, and told their Teacher about the healings and exorcisms they had performed, He advised them to rejoice not in these successes, but in the fact that their names were “written in heaven” (vv. 17–20).

The point is, of course, not that the successes of His apostles in proclaiming the Kingdom were unimportant to Jesus. He simply considered it necessary to set the emphasis correctly in His disciples' spiritual lives. Visible successes always attract attention. And the apostles' attention was apparently fixed on the actions and manifestations of the Kingdom that accompanied their proclamation. Here there is always the danger of becoming absorbed in the process and forgetting what matters most. One can bear witness to the Kingdom only when one is rooted in it oneself. Such rootedness does not arise by itself; it is given by God and needs constant strengthening. For a person who physically lives in a world not yet transformed and lying in evil, abiding in the Kingdom is itself a distinct spiritual task.

But something else is important here as well. Bearing witness to the Kingdom is not an end in itself either. At first sight this sounds paradoxical, for Jesus Himself and all the apostles are occupied solely with bearing witness to it in word and deed! And yet bearing witness to the Kingdom is secondary. In the end it resembles an author displaying a work he has created: he himself, and sometimes some of his friends, invites everyone interested to look at what the author has managed to make. But what if such a work needed constant renewal and could exist only in this way? Then the chief task would clearly be not the display as such, but the creative effort directed towards renewing the work itself.

In the case of the Kingdom, the witness finds himself in precisely this position. One can bear witness to it only by manifesting it, and one can manifest it only by renewing one's own spiritual life through contact with it, a life that cannot be renewed in any other way. It then turns out, paradoxically enough, that the witness's chief work is not to bear witness to the Kingdom, but to live in it, and to live openly, in full view of everyone. This is how the chief task Jesus gives His disciples is accomplished: the growth of the Kingdom, which after His return will embrace the whole world.

The disciples are glad that they have become heralds and co-workers of God's Kingdom, victors over demons and healers of diseases. But Jesus stops them...

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