나바르 매일미사 독서/묵상

Friday

15th Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: Exodus 11:10-12:14

[10] Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord
hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of
his land.

The Institution of the Passover
-------------------------------
[1] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, [2] "This month
shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the
year for you. [3] Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day
of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers'
houses, a lamb for a household; [4] and if the household is too small for a
lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to
the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your
count for the lamb. [5] Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year
old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; [6] and you shall
keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of
the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. [7] Then
they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the
lintel of the houses in which they eat them. [8] They shall eat the flesh
that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat
it. [9] Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head
with its legs and its inner parts. [10] And you shall let none of it remain
until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
[11] In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on
your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is
the Lord's passover. [12] For I will pass through the land of Egypt that
night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and
beast; and on all, the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the
Lord. [13] The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are;
and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall
upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

[14] "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a
feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an
ordinance for ever."

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Commentary:

12:1-14. This discourse of the Lord contains a number of rules for
celebrating the Passover and the events commemorated in it; it is a kind of
catechetical-liturgical text which admirably summarizes the profound meaning
of that feast.

The Passover probably originated as a shepherds' feast held in springtime,
when lambs are born and the migration to summer pastures was beginning; a
new-born lamb was sacrificed and its blood used to perform a special rite in
petition for the protection and fertility of the flocks. But once this feast
became connected with the history of the Exodus it acquired a much deeper
meaning, as did the rites attaching to it.

Thus, the "congregation" (v. 3) comprises all the Israelites organized as a
religious community to commemorate the most important event in their
history, deliverance from bondage.

The victim will be a lamb, without blemish (v. 5) because it is to be
offered to God. Smearing the doorposts and lintel with the blood of the
victim (vv. 7. 13), an essential part of the rite, signifies protection from
dangers. The Passover is essentially sacrificial from the very start.

The meal (v. 11) is also a necessary part, and the manner in which it is
held is a very appropriate way of showing the urgency imposed by
circumstances: there is no time to season it (v. 9); no other food is eaten
with it, except for the bread and desert herbs (a sign of indigence); the
dress and posture of those taking part (standing, wearing sandals and
holding a staff) show that they are on a journey. In the later liturgical
commemoration of the Passover, these things indicate that the Lord is
passing among his people.

The rules laid down for the Passover are evocative of very ancient nomadic
desert rites, where there was no priest or temple or altar. When the
Israelites had settled in Palestine, the Passover continued to be celebrated
at home, always retaining the features of a sacrifice, a family meal and,
very especially, a memorial of the deliverance the Lord brought about on
that night.

Our Lord chose the context of the Passover Supper to institute the
Eucharist: "By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course
of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning.
Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new
Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist,
which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the
Church in the glory of the kingdom"
("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1340).

12:2. This event is so important that it is going to mark the starting point
in the reckoning of time. In the history of Israel there are two types of
calendar, both based on the moon--one which begins the year in the autumn,
after the feast of Weeks (cf. 23:16; 34:22), and the other beginning it in
spring, between March and April. This second calendar probably held sway for
quite a long time, for we know that the first month, known as Abib
(spring)--cf. 13:4; 23:18; 34:18--was called, in the post-exilic period
(from the 6th century BC onwards) by the Babylonian name of Nisan (Neh 2:1;
Esther 3:7). Be that as it may, the fact that this month is called the first
month is a way of highlighting the importance of the event which is going to
be commemorated (the Passover).

12:11. Even now it is difficult to work out the etymology of the word
"Passover". In other Semitic languages it means "joy" or "festive joy" or
also "ritual and festive leap". In the Bible the same root means "dancing or
limping" in an idolatrous rite (cf. 1 Kings 18:21, 26) and "protecting" (cf.
Is 31:5), so it could mean "punishment, lash" and also "salvation,
protection". In the present text the writer is providing a popular,
non-scholarly etymology, and it is taken as meaning that "the Lord passes
through", slaying Egyptians and sparing the Israelites.

In the New Testament it will be applied to Christ's passage to the Father by
death and resurrection, and the Church's "passage" to the eternal Kingdom:
"The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final
Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection"
("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 677).

12:14. The formal tone of these words gives an idea of the importance the
Passover always had. If the historical books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and
Kings) hardly mention it, the reason is that they allude only to sacrifices
in the temple and the Passover was always celebrated in people's homes.
When the temple ceased to be (6th century BC), the feast acquired more
prominence, as can be seen from the post-exilic biblical texts (cf Ezra
6:19-22; 2 Chron 30:1-27; 35:1-19) and extrabiblical texts such as the
famous "Passover papyrus Elephantine" (Egypt) of the 5th century BC. In
Jesus' time a solemn passover sacrifice was celebrated in the temple the
passover meal was held at home.
　

(II) 1st Reading: Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8

Illness and cure of Hezekiah
-----------------------------------------
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah
the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord:
Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover.” [2] Then Heze-
kiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, [3] and said, “Remember
now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and
with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight.” And Hezekiah wept
bitterly. [4] Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: [5] ”Go and say to Heze-
kiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer,
I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. [6] I will deliver
you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and defend this city.

[21] Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and apply to the boil,
that he may recover.” [22] Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall
go up to the house of the Lord?”

[7] ”This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he
has promised: [8] Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on
the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten
steps by which it had declined.

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Commentary:

38:1-22. Hezekiah’s faith and devotion were tested during the siege of Jerusalem:
now comes a further test: the king falls gravely ill, even though he is still a young
\man. This time, too, he turns to God, and his prayer is answered. Isaiah’s inter-
vention (vv. 4-8) assures the king that his health will he restored; the defence of
the city requires it.

Here we are given a further example of Hezekiah’s trust in the Lord as against
Ahaz’s lack of faith. The Lord offers him a sign (just as he did his father) that
he will keep his word (vv. 7-8; cf. 7:14). After this, Hezekiah’s canticle is inser-
ted (vv. 9-20) -- a passage which does not appear in the parallel texts in 2 Kings
and 2 Chronicles, and which has features of the sapiential writing style. The
poem takes the form of a thanksgiving psalm spoken by the king. When all
seemed lost (vv. 10-12), he had recourse to the Lord in humble and trusting
prayer (vv. 13-16), and God saved him from death (v. 17). Therefore, the psal-
mist expresses his great desire to worship the Lord in the temple (cf. v. 22)
along with the rest of the community (vv. 18-20). Verses 21-22 fit in better (as
St Jerome points out) after vv. 6-7, which is where they appear in the parallel
account (2 Kings 20:7).

38:8. From the text of the book of Isaiah found at Qumran we know that Ahaz
had built a flight of steps that worked as a sundial, so that the time could he told
depending on which steps were in shadow. “Turning the sun back” meant exten-
ding the day by a few hours -- a sign that God would grant the king some more
years of life.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 12:1-8

The Question of the Sabbath
---------------------------
[1] At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; His
disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of grain and to
eat. [2] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your
disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." [3] He
said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry,
and those who were with him: [4] how he entered the house of God and
ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat
nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? [5] Or have
you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple
profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? [6] I tell you, something
greater than the temple is here. [7] And if you had known what this
means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have
condemned the guiltless. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord of the
Sabbath."

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Commentary:

2. "The Sabbath": this was the day the Jews set aside for worshipping
God. God Himself, the originator of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3), ordered
the Jewish people to avoid certain kinds of work on this day (Exodus
20:8-11; 21:13; Deuteronomy 5:14) to leave them free to give more time
to God. As time went by, the rabbis complicated this divine precept:
by Jesus' time they had extended to 39 the list of kinds of forbidden
work.

2. "안식일(the Sabbath)" : 이 날은 유다인들이 하느님께 예배를 드리기
위하여 제쳐 놓은 (set aside) 날입니다. 안식일의 창시자인 하느님 몸소
(창세기 2,3) 유다 백성에게, 하느님께 더 많은 시간을 제공하도록 그들을
자유로운 상태로 놓아두고자, 이 날에 일 중의 특정한 종류들을 피할 것을
명령하셨습니다(탈출기 20,8-11; 21,13; 신명기 5,14). 시간이 흐름에 따라,
라삐(the rabbis)들은 이러한 하느님의 규범(precept)을 복잡하게 하였으며,
그리하여 예수님의 시기에 즈음하여 그들은 금지된 일의 종류들의 나열
39개로 이미 확장하였습니다.

The Pharisees accuse Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath. In the
casuistry of the scribes and the Pharisees, plucking ears of corn was
the same as harvesting, and crushing them was the same as
milling--types of agricultural work forbidden on the Sabbath.

바리사이들은 예수님의 제자들이 안식일을 지키지 않는 것을 비난합니다.
율법 학자들과 바리사이들의 결의론(casuistry)(*)에 있어, 밀(corn) 이삭들을
잡아뜯는 것은 추수하는 것과 동일하였으며, 그리고 그들을 눌러 부수는 것은
맷돌로 가는 것과 동일하였는데, 이들은 안식일에 금지된 농사 일의 전형
(types)들 이었습니다.

-----
(*) 번역자 주: 여기서 언급되고 있는 "결의론(casuistry)"에 대하여서는 다음에
있는 "율법제일주의"에 대한 두산 백과 사전의 설명을 읽도록 하라:
http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?cid=200000000&docId=1171349&categoryId=200000071
-----

3-8. Jesus rebuts the Pharisees' accusation by four arguments--the
example of David, that of the priests, a correct understanding of the
mercy of God and Jesus' own authority over the Sabbath.

3-8. 예수님께서는 다윗의 예(example), 사제들의 예, 하느님의 자비에 대한
올바른 이해 그리고 안식일에 대한 예수님 고유의 권위라는 네 개의 논증
(arguments)들로써 바리사이들의 비난들 물리치십니다.

The first example which was quite familiar to the people, who were used
to listening to the Bible being read, comes from 1 Samuel 21:2-7:
David, in flight from the jealousy of King Saul, asks the priest of the
shrine of Nob for food for his men; the priest gave them the only bread
he had, the holy bread of the Presence; this was the twelve loaves
which were placed each week on the golden altar of the sanctuary as a
perpetual offering from the twelve tribes of Israel (Leviticus
24:5-9). The second example refers to the priestly ministry to perform
the liturgy, priests had to do a number of things on the Sabbath but
did not thereby break the law of Sabbath rest (cf. Numbers 28:9). On
the other two arguments, see the notes on Matthew 9:13 and Mark
2:26-27, 28.

성경이 읽히는 것을 듣는데에 익숙하였던 이 백성에게 상당히 친숙하였던
첫 번째 예는 1사무엘 21,2-7에서 유래하는데, 다윗은, 사울 왕의 시기로부터
도망 중에, 놉(Nob) 지역의 성소(shrine)의 사제에게 자신의 사람들을 위한
음식을 요청하며, 이 사제는 그들에게, [하느님] 면전(the Presence)의 거룩한
빵(the holy bread of Presence)인, 그가 가지고 있었던 유일한 빵을 제공하였는데,
이것은, 이스라엘의 열두 지파들로부터의 항구한 봉헌물로서(레위기 24,5-9)
이 성소(the sanctuary)의 황금 제단에 매 주 놓여졌던, 열두 개의 빵 덩어리들
(loaves)이었습니다. 두 번째 예는 전례를 거행하는 사제의 직무에 관한 언급인데,
사제들은 안식일에 몇 가지의 일들을 행하여야만 하였으나 그러나 그렇게
함으로써 안식일 율법을 지키지 않는 것은 아니었습니다(민수기 28,9를
참조하라). 다른 두 개의 논증들에 대하여서는, 마태오 복음서 9,13과 마르코
복음서 2,26-27.28에 대한 주석들을 보라.

[The notes on Matthew 9:13 states:

[마태오 복음서 9,13에 대한 주석들은 다음과 같이 분명하게 말합니다
(states):

13. Here Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, keeping the hyperbole of the Semitic
style. A more faithful translation would be: "I desire mercy MORE THAN
sacrifice". It is not that our Lord does not want the sacrifices we
offer Him: He is stressing that every sacrifice should come from the
heart, for charity should imbue everything a Christian does--especially
his worship of God (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Matthew 5:23-24).]

13. 여기서 예수님께서는, 셈족 언어 양식(Semitic style)의 과장법(hyperbole)을
유지하면서, 호세아서 6,6을 인용하십니다. 더 충실한 번역은 다음과 같을
것입니다: "나는 희생 제물보다 자비를 더 바란다(desire)." 우리가 당신께
봉헌하는 희생 제물들을 우리의 주님께서 원하지 않으신다는 것이 아니라,
모든 희생 제물이 심장(heart, 본심)으로부터 나와야만 함을 강조하고
계시는데, 이는 그리스도인이 행하는 모든 것에, 특별히 하느님에 대한 그
자의 경배에, 애덕(charity, 사랑)이 듬뿍 스며들게 하여야만 (imbue) 하기
때문입니다. (1코린토 13,1-13; 마태오 복음서 5,23-24를 보라).]

[번역자 주: 마태오 복음서 9,13은, 가톨릭 교회의 전례력에 있어, 가해 연중
제10주일 복음 말씀(마태오 복음서 9,9-13)에 포함되며, 그리고 특히 다음의
주소에 있는 바로 이 주일의 제1독서가 호세아서 6,3-6임을 또한 참고하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/a_ot_10.htm]

[The notes on Mark 2:26-27, 28 states:

[마르코 복음서 2,26-27에 대한 주석들은 다음과 같이 분명하게 말합니다:

[번역자 주: 다음의 주소에 접속하면, 가톨릭 교회의 전례력에 있어, 나해
연중 제9주일 복음 말씀 (마르코 복음서 2,23-3,6 혹은 2,23-28)에 대한
아래에 있는 나바르 성경 주석서의 해설들의 우리말 번역문들을 읽을 수 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/b_ot_9.htm]

26-27. The bread of the Presence consisted of twelve loaves or cakes
placed each morning on the table in the sanctuary, as homage to the
Lord from the twelve tribes of Israel (cf. Leviticus 24:5-9). The
loaves withdrawn to make room for the fresh ones were reserved to the
priests. Abiathar's action anticipates what Christ teaches here.
Already in the Old Testament God had established a hierarchy in the
precepts of the Law so that the lesser ones yielded to the main ones.

This explains why a ceremonial precept (such as the one we are
discussing) should yield before a precept of the natural law.
Similarly, the commandment to keep the Sabbath does not come before the
duty to seek basic subsistence. Vatican II uses this passage of the
Gospel to underline the value of the human person over and above
economic and social development: "The social order and its development
must constantly yield to the good of the person, since the order of
things must be subordinate to the order of persons and not the other
way around, as the Lord suggested when He said that the Sabbath was
made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The social order requires
constant improvement: it must be founded in truth, built on justice,
and enlivened by love" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 26).

Finally in this passage Christ teaches God's purpose in instituting the
Sabbath: God established it for man's good, to help him rest and devote
himself to Divine worship in joy and peace. The Pharisees, through
their interpretation of the Law, had turned this day into a source of
anguish and scruple due to all the various prescriptions and
prohibitions they introduced.

By proclaiming Himself `Lord of the Sabbath', Jesus affirms His
divinity and His universal authority. Because He is Lord he has the
power to establish other laws, as Yahweh had in the Old Testament.

28. The Sabbath had been established not only for man's rest but also
to give glory to God: that is the correct meaning of the expression
"the Sabbath was made for man." Jesus has every right to say He is
Lord of the Sabbath, because He is God. Christ restores to the weekly
day of rest its full, religious meaning: it is not just a matter of
fulfilling a number of legal precepts or of concern for physical
well-being: the Sabbath belongs to God; it is one way, suited to human
nature, of rendering glory and honor to the Almighty. The Church, from
the time of the Apostles onwards, transferred the observance of this
precept to the following day, Sunday--the Lord's Day--in celebration of
the resurrection of Christ.

"Son of Man": the origin of the messianic meaning of this expression is
to be found particularly in the prophecy of Dan 7:13ff, where Daniel,
in a prophetic vision, contemplates `one like the Son of Man' coming
down on the clouds of Heaven, who even goes right up to God's throne
and is given dominion and glory and royal power over all peoples and
nations. This expression appears 69 times in the Synoptic Gospels;
Jesus prefers it to other ways of describing the Messiah--such as Son
of David, Messiah, etc.--thereby avoiding the nationalistic overtones
those expressions had in Jewish minds at the time (cf. "Introduction to
the Gospel According to St. Mark", p. 62 above.)]
　

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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.