나바르 매일미사 독서/묵상

Friday

4th Week of Lent

1st Reading: Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22

Life Leads to Death (Continuation)
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[1a] For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, [12] "Let us lie in wait
for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our
training. [13] He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child
of the Lord. [14] He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; [15] the very sight
of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and
his ways are strange. [16] We are considered by him as something base, and
he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father. [17] Let us see if his words are true, and let
us test what will happen at the end of his life; [18] for if the righteous man is
God's son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
[19] Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he
is, and make trial of his forbearance. [20] Let us condemn him to a shameful
death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected."

The Origin of Evil and Death
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[21] Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded
them, [22] and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the
wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls.
*********************************************************************************** Commentary:

1:16-2:24 This section describes the way the ungodly think and behave, and
their error in so doing. Righteousness is immortal; but the ungodly think that life
ends at death and therefore they try to strike a bargain with death (1:16-2:19).
Moreover, they hound the righteous man because he thinks and acts differently
from the way they do (2:10-20). They have no idea what life is all about (2:21-24).

1:16-2:9. The sort of thinking attributed here to the ungodly connects up with
materialistic and hedonist philosophies, maybe with Epicureanism. The sacred
writer probably also had in mind some Jews who, turning their backs on their
faith, fell victim to the materialism and scepticism associated with certain
streams of Greek thought. Philosophers of such schools based their arguments
on two verifiable facts: death is inevitable, and life is short. They had no notion
f immortality, and no faith, and therefore only one policy seemed to make sense:
seize every chance that life offers for pleasure and enjoyment. It is reminiscent
of the "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (Is 22:13; 1 Cor 15:32).

2:10-20. Not content with enjoying the pleasures of life, the ungodly go further:
they persecute the just man because he is a constant reproach to them. They
want to see if God, whom the just man calls his father, will protect and rescue
him. He calls God his father? Let us see what protection God gives him. If God
fails to come to his aid, then they are proved right, and the just man wrong.
Their words are echoed in the insults offered by scribes and Pharisees to
Jesus when he was on the cross (cf. Mt 27:40-43; Mk 15:31-32; Lk 23:35-37).

Interestingly, the just man calls himself a "child of God" (v. 13). This is some-
thing new in Jewish thinking, because prior to this it was the entire people of
Israel or the king their representative who was considered a "son of God" (cf.
Ex 4:22; Deut 14:1; 32:6; Ps 2; Is 30:1, 9; Hos 11:1). But in the later books of
the Old Testament (for example, in Sir 23:4; 51:14) we begin to see the father-
hood of God towards every just person. The title of "child of God" is applied to
all the righteous, and more properly to the Messiah, who is the Righteous One.

As the RSV note "e" points out, the Greek word "pais" which it translates as
"child" can also mean "servant". The "servant" in the Old Testament acquires
special significance from the book of Isaiah forward, where the "Suffering Servant"
appears (cf. Is 52:13-53:12). This man will, through his suffering, set Israel free
of Its sins. This dual meaning of "pais" prepares the way for the revelation of
Jesus Christ, Son of God and Servant of the Lord.

2:21-24. The mistake of the ungodly is to think that nothing lies beyond death.
But this way of thinking stems from the wickedness of their lives which prevents
them from knowing God's purposes and causes them to despise the way upright
people live. The inspired author takes issue with them and spells out God's plan
for man and how death came to be (vv. 23-24). But here again "death" has a far-
reaching meaning: it means losing that incorruptibility which, as the author sees
it, lies beyond physical death. The death that entered the world through the devil's
envy, the death experienced by those who belong to the devil's "party", means to
be reduced to nothing, to become "dishonored corpses" (4:18), through losing the
incorruptibility that comes from God. What the author is saying here presupposes
the Genesis account of how man was created in the image and likeness of God
(Gen 1:26) and therefore with a seed of immortality, and how the devil tempted
man to commit the original sin that resulted in the loss of immortality (cf. Gen
3-4). But the author of Wisdom goes further than that: he says that only those
who belong to the devil lose the "immortality" (which he terms "incorruption") of
the human person as an entity made up of soul and body. On the basis of this
interpretation and in the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, St Paul teaches
that death, both physical and spiritual, reaches all human beings through the sin
committed by Adam; but Christ, the new Adam, redeems all from death.

The devil, in Greek "diabolos", means "accuser, calumniator" and is the usual
translation given for the Hebrew "Satan". These verses do not quote Genesis
explicitly, but Genesis is in the background, for it is there we find the serpent
identified as God's enemy and man's. The New Testament writer remind us that
the devil was a murderer from the beginning (cf. Jn 8:44); and in its account of
the battle between good and bad angels, the book of Revelation will say: "The
great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who called the Devil and
Satan, the deceiver of the whole world" (Rev 12:9).
**********

Gospel Reading: John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Jesus Goes Up to Jerusalem During the Feast of Tabernacles
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[1] After this Jesus went about in Galilee; He would not go about in Judea, be-
cause the Jews sought to kill Him. [2] Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was
at hand. [10] But after His brethren had gone up to the feast, then He also went
up, not publicly but in private.

[25] Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom
they seek to kill? [26] And here He is, speaking openly, and they say nothing
to Him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? [27]
Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one
will know where He comes from. [28] So Jesus proclaimed, as He taught in the
temple, "You know where I come from? But I have not come of My own accord;
He who sent Me is true, and Him you do not know. [29] I know Him, for I come
from Him, and He sent Me." [30] So they sought to arrest Him; but no one laid
hands on Him, because His hour had not yet come.

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

1-2. The Jewish custom was for closer relatives to be called "brothers", brethren
(cf. notes on Matthew 12:46-47 and Mark 6:1-3). These relatives of Jesus fol-
lowed Him without understanding His teaching or His mission (cf. Matthew 3:31);
but because He worked such obvious miracles in Galilee (cf. Matthew 15:32-39;
Mark 8:1-10, 22-26) they suggest to Him that He show Himself publicly in Jeru-
salem and throughout Judea. Perhaps they wanted Him to be a big success,
which would have indulged their family pride.

1-2. 유다인들의 관습은 가까운 친척들이 "형제들(brothers, brethren)"이라고 불리어야
하는 것이었습니다 (마태오 복음서 12,46-47 및 마르코 복음서 6,1-3에 대한 주석들을
참조). 예수님의 이들 친척들은 당신의 가르침 혹은 당신의 사명에 대하여 이해함
(understanding) 없이 당신을 따라갔으며(마태오 복음서 3,31 참조), 그러나 당신께서
갈릴래아(Galilee)에서 그러한 분명한 기적(miracles)들을 행하셨기 때문에 (마태오 복음서
15,32-39; 마르코 복음서 8,1-10.22-26 참조) 그들은 당신께서 예루살렘(Jerusalem)과
유다 지역(Judea) 전체에 걸쳐 공적으로 당신 자신을 나타낼 것을 예수님께 제안합니다.
아마도 그들은, 자신들의 가문의 자부심(family pride)을 만족시켰을, 예수님이 어떤
커다란 성공을 하시기를 원하였던 것 같습니다.

2. The name of the feast recalls the time the Israelites spent living under canvas
in the wilderness (cf. Leviticus 23:34-36). During the eight days the feast lasted
(cf. Nehemiah 8:13-18), around the beginning of autumn, the Jews commemo-
rated the protection God had given the Israelites over the forty years of the
Exodus. Because it coincided with the end of the harvest, it was also called
the feast of ingathering (cf. Exodus 23:16).

2. 이 축제의 이름은 이스라엘의 자손들이 광야에서 텐트(canvas) 아래에서 살면서
보내었던 시기를 상기시킵니다(레위 23,34-36 참조). 가을의 시작쯤에, 8일 동안 이
축제는 지속되었으며(느헤미야 8,13-18 참조), 유다인들은 탈출의 40년 동안 이스라엘의
자손들에게 하느님께서 이미 베풀어주셨던 보호를 경축하였습니다. 초막절이 추수의
끝과 일치하였기에, 이 축제는 또한 수확절(the feast of ingathering)이라고 불리었습니다
(탈출 23,16 참조).

10. Because He had not arrived in advance of the feast (which was what people
normally did), the first caravans would have reported that Jesus was not coming
up, and therefore the members of the Sanhedrin would have stopped planning
anything against Him (cf. 7:1). By going up later, the religious authorities would
not dare make any move against Him for fear of hostile public reaction (cf. Mat-
thew 26:5). Jesus, possibly accompanied by His disciples, arrives unnoticed at
Jerusalem, "in private", almost in a hidden way. Half-way through the feast, on
the fourth or fifth day, He begins to preach in the temple (cf. 7:14).

10. 당신께서 이 축제에 앞서 도착하지 않으셨기에 (이것은 사람들이 보통 하였던
바였습니다), 첫 여행자단(caravans)들은 예수님이 올라오지 않을 것이라고 보고하였을
것이며, 그리하여 그 결과 최고의회(Sanhedrin)의 구성원들은 당신께 반하는 무언가를
계획하는 것을 그만두었을 것입니다 (7,1 참조). 이후에 올라감으로써, 종교 당국
(the religious authorities)은 적대적인 군중의 반발에 대한 두려움 때문에 당신께
반하는 어떠한 조처(move)도 감히 할 수 없었을 것입니다 (마태오 복음서 26,5
참조). 아마도 당신의 제자들을 동반하였을 예수님께서는, 거의 어떤 숨겨진 방식으로,
"사적으로(in private)", 예루살렘에 주목되지 않으면서 도착하십니다. 이 축제의 절반이
지난, 네 번째 혹은 다섯 번째 날에, 당신께서는 성전 안에서 설교하기 시작하십니다
(7,14 참조).

27. In this chapter we often see the Jews disconcerted, in two minds. They argue
with one another over whether Jesus is the Messiah, or a prophet, or an impostor
(verse 12); they do not know where He gets His wisdom from (verse 15); they are
short-tempered (verses 19-20); and they are surprised by the attitudes of the
Sanhedrin (verse 26). Despite the signs they have seen (miracles, teaching) they
do not want to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Perhaps some, thinking that
He came from Nazareth and was the son of Joseph and Mary, cannot see how
this fits in with the notion usually taken from Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 53:1-8)
about the Messiah's origin being unknown--except for His coming from the line
of David and being born in Bethlehem (cf. Matthew 2:5 which quotes Micah 5:2;
cf. John 7:42). In fact Jesus did fulfill those prophetic predictions, though most
Jews did not know it because they knew nothing about His virginal birth in Beth-
lehem or His descent from David. Others must have known that He was of the
house of David and had been born in Bethlehem, but even so they did not want
to accept His teaching because it demanded a mental and moral conversion
which they were not ready to make.

27. 이 장에서 우리는 유다인들이, 두 개의 마음들로, 당황하게 되었음을 자주 봅니다.
그들은 예수님이 메시아(the Messiah)인지, 혹은 어떤 예언자(a prophet)인지, 혹은
어떤 사기꾼(an impostor)에 관하여 서로 논쟁하며, 그리고 그들은 당신께서 어디로부터
당신의 지혜를 가져 오시는지 모르며(제15절), 그리고 그들은 성마르고(제19-20절들),
그리고 그들은 최고의회(Sanhedrin)의 태도에 의하여 놀라게 됩니다(제26절). 그들이
이미 보았던 [기적(miracles)들, 가르침 등의] 표징(signs)들에도(*) 불구하고 그들은
예수님이 메시아이심을 믿는 것을 원하지 않습니다. 아마도 일부는, 당신께서 나자넷
(Nazareth) 출신이시고 그리고 요셉(Joseph)과 마리아(Mary)의 아들임을 생각하여
(미카 5,2을 인용하는 마태오 복음서 2,5 참조, 그리고 요한 복음서 7,42 참조), 메시아의
오심이 다윗(David)의 가문으로부터이며 그리고 베들레헴(Bethlehem)에서 탄생하심을
제외하고, 메시아의 태생(origin)이 알려져 있지 않음에 관한 이사야의 예언(이사야
53,1-8)으로부터 취하여지는 견해(notion)와 이것이 어떻게 들어맞는지 볼 수 없습니다.
사실 예수님께서는 바로 그러한 예언적 예보(prophetic predictions)들을 정말로
구현하셨으나, 그러나 , 대부분의 유다인들은 그것을 알지 못하였는데 왜냐하면 그들은
베들레헴에서 당신의 동정 출산(virgin birth)에 관하여 혹은 당신이 다윗으로부터 내려옴
(discent)에 관하여 전혀 알지 못하였기 때문입니다. 다른 이들은 당신이 다윗 가문
출신이고 그리고 이미 베들레헴에서 탄생하셨음을 알았음이 틀림 없으나, 그러나 비록
그렇다고 하더라도 그들은 당신의 가르침을 받아들이는 것을 원하지 않았는데 왜냐하면
바로 이 가르침이 그들이 행할 준비가 되어 있지 않았던 심리적 및 윤리적 회심(a mental
and moral conversion)을 요구하였기 때문입니다.

-----
(*) 번역자 주: "이적(wonders)들", "기적(miracles)들", 그리고 "표징(signs)들"의 차이점과
이들 사이의 관계에 대하여서는 다음의 글을 읽도록 하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/809.htm
-----

28-29. Not without a certain irony, Jesus refers to the superficial knowledge
these Jews had of Him: however, He asserts that He comes from the Father
who has sent Him, whom only He knows, precisely because He is the Son of
God (cf. John 1:18).

28-29. 어떤 특정한 반어법(irony)이 없지 않으면서, 예수님께서는 이들 유다인들이
당신에 대하여 가지고 있었던 피상적인 지식에 대하여 언급하시나, 그러나 당신께서는,
오로지 당신만이 아시는 분이신, 당신을 이미 파견하신, 성부(the Father)로부터 오심을
확언하시는데, 이것은 정확하게 당신이 하느님의 아드님(the Son of God, 성자)(**)
이시기 때문입니다.(요한 복음서 1,18 참조).

-----
(**) 번역자 주: "하느님의 아드님(the Son of God)"와 "하느님의 아들들(the sons of
God)"이 어떻게 다른지를 여전히 구분하지 못할 경우에는 다음의 글들을 필독하도록
하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/Son_of_God_vs_sons_of_God.htm
-----

30. The Jews realized that Jesus was making Himself God's equal, which was
regarded as blasphemy and, according to the Law, was something punishable
by death by stoning (cf. Leviticus 24:15-16, 23).

30. 유다인들은 예수님께서 당신 자신을 하느님에 대등한 자(God's equal)로 삼으심을
알아차렸는데, 이것은 신성모독(blasphemy)이었으며, 그리고 율법(Law)에 따르면,
돌을 던져 죽이는 벌을 받을 그 무엇이었습니다 (레위 24,15-16.23 참조).

This is not the first time St. John refers to the Jews' hostility (cf. John 5:10), nor
will it be the last (8:59; 10:31-33). He stresses this hostility because it was a
fact and perhaps also to show that Jesus acts freely when, to fulfill the Father's
will He gives Himself over to His enemies when His "hour" arrives (cf. John 18:
4-8). "He did not therefore mean an hour when He would be forced to die, but
one when He would allow Himself to be put to death. For He was waiting for the
time in which He should die, even as He waited for the time in which He should
be born" (St. Augustine, "In Ioann. Evang.", 31, 5).

이것은 [이 복음서의 인간 저자인] 성 요한(St. John)이 유다인들의 적개심(hostility)에
대하여 언급한 첫 번째 시기도 아니고(요한 복음서 5,10 참조), 그리고 마지막도 또한
아닐 것입니다. 그는 이러한 적개심을 강조하는데 왜냐하면 그것은 한 개의 사실이었기
때문이며 그리고 아마도 또한, 당신의 "시간/때(hour)" (요한 복음서 18,4-8 참조)가 왔을
때인, 당신께서 당신 자신을 당신의 원수(enemies)들에게 내어주실 때에, 성부의 의지
(the Father's will)를 구현하기 위하여, 예수님께서 자유롭게 행동하심을 보여주고자
하시기 때문일 것입니다. "그러므로 당신께서 장차 죽음으로 강제될 어떤 시간/때(hour)를
당신께서 의미하셨던 것이 아니라, 당신께서 장차 당신 자신이 죽음에 처해지는 것을
허락하실 바로 그 시간/때를 의미하셨던 것이다. 이는, 마치 당신께서 그 안에서 당신께서
반드시 태어나게 되어야만 하였던 시간/때를 기다리렸던 것처럼, 당신께서는그 안에서
당신이 반드시 죽으셔야만 하는 바로 그 시간/때를 기다리고 계셨기 때문이다"
[성 아우구스티노(St. Augustine), "In Ioann. Evang.", 31, 5].
　

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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
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