나바르 매일미사 독서/묵상

Tuesday

4th Week of Easter

1st Reading: Acts 11:19-26

The Beginning of the Church in Antioch
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[19] Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over
Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the
word to none except Jews. [20] But there were some of them, men of Cyprus
and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the
Lord Jesus. [21] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number
that believed turned to the Lord. [22] News of this came to the ears of the Church
in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. [23] When he came and saw
the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the
Lord with steadfast purpose; [24] for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and
of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord. [25] So Barnabas went to
Tarsus to look for Saul; [26] and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.
For a whole year they met with the Church, and taught a large company of people
and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians.

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

19-30. This account links up with Acts 8:1-4, which describes the flight of Chris-
tians from Jerusalem due to the first persecution following on the martyrdom of
St. Stephen. We are now told about the spread of the Gospel to Antioch on the
Orontes, the capital of the Roman province of Syria. Antioch was the first major
city of the ancient world where the word of Jesus Christ was preached. It was
the third city of the empire, after Rome and Alexandria, with a population of about
half a million and a sizeable Jewish colony, and was a very important cultural,
economic and religious center.

In Antioch the Gospel is proclaimed not only to Jews and proselytes. These Hel-
lenist Jews from Jerusalem preached the Gospel to all and sundry as part of their
ordinary everyday activity. St. Luke does not give us any names: the preachers
are ordinary Christians. "Notice", says Chrysostom, "that it is grace which does
everything. And also reflect on the fact that this work is begun by unknown wor-
kers and only when it begins to prosper do the Apostles send Barnabas" ("Hom.
on Acts", 25).

The Christian mission at Antioch played a key part in the spread of Christianity.
Evangelization of non-Jews becomes the norm; it is not just something which
happens in a few isolated cases. Nor is it limited to "God-fearers"; it extends to
all the Gentiles. The center of gravity of the Christian Church begins to move
from Jerusalem to Antioch, which will become the springboard for the evangeli-
zation of the pagan world.

20. The title "Lord", often applied to Jesus in the New Testament and in the early
Church, is a confession of faith in His divinity. To say "Jesus is Lord" (1 Corin-
thians 12:3; Romans 10:9) is the same as saying that Jesus Christ is God. It
means that He is worshipped as the only Son of the Father and as sovereign of
the Church, and receives the cult of "latria" which is rendered to God alone.

This acclamation of Jesus as Lord shows that from the very beginning the young
Christian communities knew that He had dominion over all mankind and was not
just the Messiah of one nation.

22-26. The community at Jerusalem, where the Apostles were based, felt respon-
sible for everything that happened in the Christian mission field. This was why
they sent Barnabas to oversee developments in Antioch. Barnabas was a man
whom the Apostles trusted, noted for his virtue (he was mentioned in Acts 4:36). ***********

22-26. 사도들이 본거지로 하였던 예루살렘에 위치한 공동체는 그리스도교 선교 분야에
있어 발생하였던 모든 것들에 대한 책임을 느꼈습니다. 이것이 안티오키아(Antioch)에서의
발전들을 두루 살피도록(oversee) 그들이 바르나바(Barnabas)를 파견하였던 바로 그
이유 입니다. 바르나바는 그의 덕 때문에 사도들이 신뢰하였고, 주목하였던 한 명의
사람이었습니다 (그는 사도행전 4,36에서 언급되었습니다).

No doubt it was because of all the work opening before the preacher of the Gospel
that Barnabas sought out Paul, who had returned to Tarsus after his conversion
and his visit to Jerusalem (9:30). Barnabas probably knew that the future Apostle
was the very man he needed to join him in the work of evangelization about to be
undertaken by the Antiochene Church. Barnabas' sense of responsibility and his
zeal to find laborers for the Lord's harvest (cf. Matthew 9:38) lead to the first of the
great missionary journeys, in which Paul's vocation find full scope.

틀림 없이 그것은, 자신의 회심(conversion) 및 예루살렘으로의 자신의 방문 이후에
타르수스(Tarsus)로 이미 되돌아 간(9,30), 바오로(Paul)라는 바르나바가 찾아내었던
복음의 설교자 앞에 펼쳐지는 모든 일(all the work) 때문이었습니다. 바르나바는 미래의
사도가, 안티오키아 교회에 의하여 곧 수행하게 될 예정인 복음화라는 일에 있어 그가
자신과 함께 할 필요가 있는, 바로 그 사람이었음을 아마도 알았을 것입니다. 주님의 수확
(Lord's harvest)을 위한 일꾼들을(마태오 복음서 9,38을 참조하라) 발견하고자 하는
바르나바의 책임감과 그의 열정(zeal)은, 그 안에서 바오로의 소명(vocation)이 충만한
범위를 발견하는, 위대한 선교 여행들 중의 첫 번째로 이르게 합니다(lead to).

26. We do not exactly know who first began to describe the disciples as "Chris-
tians". In any event the fact that they were given a name shows that everyone
recognized them as an identifiable group. The name also suggests that the term
"Christos"--Messiah, Anointed--is no longer regarded simply as a messianic title
but also as a proper name.

26. 우리는 누구가 처음으로 제자들을 "그리스도인(Christians)들"(*) 이라고 말하기(describe)
시작하였는지 정확하게 모릅니다. 아무튼 그들에게 한 개의 이름이 주어졌다는 사실은
모든 이들이 그들을 한 개의 식별할 수 있는 집단으로 인식하였음을 나타냅니다. 이 이름은
또한 "크리스토스(Christos)" -- 기름부음 받은 메시아(Messiah, Annointed) -- 가 더 이상
단순히 한 개의, 메시아에 대한, 호칭(a messianic title)으로서가 아니라 또한 한 개의
고유한 이름(a proper name)으로서 간주되고 있음을 암시합니다.

-----
(*) 번역자 주: 예수님의 제자들이, 안티오키아에서 "그리스도인들" 이라고 처음으로 불리기
전에, 예루살렘 지역에서 "나자렛 사람들"로 불렸음에 대하여서는 다음의 글들을 읽도록
하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/title_Nazarenes.htm
-----

Some Fathers of the Church see this name as further indication that people do
not become disciples of the Lord through human causes. "Although the holy
Apostles were our teachers and have given us the Gospel of the Savior, it is not
from them that we have taken our name: we are "Christians" through Christ and
it is for Him that we are called in this way" (St. Athanasius, "Oratio I Contra
Arianos", 2).

일부 교부들은 이 이름을 사람들이 인간적 원인(human causes)들을 통하여 주님의
제자들이 되지 않음이라는 한층 더한 암시(indication)로서 이해합니다(see). "비록
거룩한 사도들이 우리의 선생들이었으며 그리고 우리에게 구세주의 복음을 이미
제공하였음에도 불구하고, 우리가 우리의 이름을 가진 것은 그들로부터가 아니라,
우리는 그리스도를 통하여 "그리스도인들" 이며 그리고 우리가 이러한 방식으로 불리게
된 것은 바로 그를 위하여서 이다." [성 아타나시오(St. Athanasius), "Oratio I Contra
Arianos", 2].

Gospel Reading: John 10:22-30

Jesus and the Father are One
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[22] It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; [23] it was winter, and Jesus
was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. [24] So the Jews gathered
round Him and said to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If you are
the Christ, tell us plainly." [25] Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not
believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness to Me; [26]
but you do not believe, because you do not belong to My sheep. [27] My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; [28] and I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
[29] My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able
to snatch them out of the Father's hand. [30] I and the Father are one."

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

22. This feast commemorates an episode in Jewish history (cf. 1 Maccabees
4:36-59; 2 Maccabees 1-2:19; 10:1-8) when Judas Maccabeus, in the year 165
B.C., after liberating Jerusalem from the control of the Seleucid kings of Syria,
cleansed the temple of the profanations of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Maccabees
1:54). From then onwards, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev
(November - December) and throughout the following week, all Judea celebrated
the anniversary of the dedication of the new altar. It was also known as the
"Festival of Lights" because it was customary to light lamps, a symbol of the
Law, and put them in the windows of the houses (cf. 2 Maccabees 1:18).

24-25. When these Jews ask Jesus if He is the Messiah, "they speak in this
way", St. Augustine comments, "not because they desire truth, but to prepare
the way for calumny" ("In Ioann. Evang.", 48, 3). We have already seen Jesus
reveal, by His words and deeds, that He is the Only Son of God (5:19ff; 7:16ff;
8:25ff). In view of their good dispositions, He explicitly told the Samaritan wo-
man (4:26) and the man born blind (9:37) that He was the Messiah and Savior.
Now He reproaches His listeners for refusing to recognize the works He does
in His Father's name (cf. 5:36; 10:38). On other occasions He referred to works
as a way to distinguish true prophets from false ones: "You will know them by
their fruits" (Matthew 7:16; cf. Matthew 12:33).

26-29. Certainly faith and eternal life cannot be merited by man's own efforts:
they are a gift of God. But the Lord does not deny anyone grace to believe and
be saved, because He 'wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the Truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). If someone tries to avoid receiving the gift of faith,
his unbelief is blameworthy. On this point St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: "I can
see, thanks to the light of the sun; but if I close my eyes, I cannot see: this is
no fault of the sun, it is my own fault, because by closing my eyes, I prevent the
sunlight from reaching me" ("Commentary on St. John, ad loc.").

But those who do not oppose divine grace do come to believe in Jesus. They are
known to and loved by Him, enter under His protection and remain faithful with the
help of His grace, which is a pledge of the eternal life which the Good Shepherd
will eventually give them. It is true that in this world they will have to strive and in
the course of striving they will sustain wounds; but if they stay united to the Good
Shepherd nothing and no one will snatch Christ's sheep from Him, because our
Father, God, is stronger than the Evil One. Our hope that God will grant us final
perseverance is not based on our strength but on God's mercy: this hope should
always motivate us to strive to respond to grace and to be more faithful to the
demands of our faith.

30. Jesus reveals that He and the Father are one in substance. Earlier He pro-
claimed that God was His Father, "making Himself equal with God"--which is
why a number of times the Jewish authorities think of putting Him to death (cf.
5:18; 8:59). Now He speaks about the mystery of God, which is something we
can know about only through Revelation. Later on He will reveal more about this
mystery, particularly at the Last Supper (14:10; 17:21-22). It is something the
evangelist reflects on at the very beginning of the Gospel, in the prologue (cf.
John 1:1 and note).

"Listen to the Son Himself", St. Augustine invites us. "'I and the Father are one.'
He did not say, 'I am the Father' or 'I and the Father are one [Person].' But when
He says, 'I and the Father are one,' notice the two words '[we are]' and 'one'...For
if they are one, then they are not diverse; if '[we] are', then there is both a Father
and a Son" ("In Ioann. Evang.", 36, 9). Jesus reveals that He is one in substance
with the Father as far as divine essence or nature is concerned, but He also re-
veals that the Father and the Son are distinct Persons: "We believe then in the
Father who eternally begets the Son; in the Son, the Word of God, who is eter-
nally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the
Father and the Son as their eternal Love. Thus in the three divine Persons,
"coaeternae sibi et coaequales", the life and beatitude of God perfectly One
superabound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper
to uncreated Being, and always 'there should be venerated Unity in the Trinity
and Trinity in the Unity'" ([Pope] Paul VI, "Creed of the People of God," 10).
　

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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. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.