Thursday
15th Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: Exodus 3:13-20
The Divine Name is Revealed
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[3] Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to
them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What
is his name?' what shall I say to them?" [4] God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I
AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to
you.'" [5] God said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The Lord,
the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of
Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name forever and thus I am to be
remembered throughout all generations.
The Mission of Moses
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[16] Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, 'The Lord
the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has
appeared to me, saying, "I have observed you and what has been done to you
in Egypt; [17] and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction
of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and
honey." [18] And they will hearken to your voice; and you and the elders of
Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of
the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, we pray you, let us go a three days'
joumey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.' [19]
I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a
mighty hand. [20] So I will stretch my hand and smite Egypt with all the
wonders which I will do it; after that he will let you go."
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Commentary:
3:13-15. Moses now raises another difficulty: he does not know the name of
the God who is commissioning him. This gives rise to the revelation of the
name "Yahweh" and the explanation of what it means--"I am who I am".
According to the tradition recorded in Genesis 4:26, a grandson of Adam,
Enosh, was the first to call upon the name of the Lord (Yahweh). Thus, the
biblical text is stating that a part of mankind knew the true God, whose
name was revealed to Moses in this solemn way (Ex 35:15 and 6:2). The
patriarchs invoked God under other names, to do with the divine attributes,
such as the Almighty ("El-Shaddai": Gen 17:1; Ex 6:2-3). Other proper names
of God which appear in very ancient documents lead one to think that the
name Yahweh had been known from along time back. The revelation of the
divine name is important in salvation history because by that name God will
be invoked over the course of the centuries.
All kinds of suggestions have been put forward as to the meaning of Yahweh;
not all are mutually exclusive. Here are some of the main ones: a) God is
giving an evasive answer here because he does not want those in ancient times,
contaminated as they were by magic rites, to think that because they knew
name they would have power over the god. According to this theory, "I am who
I am" would be equivalent to "I am whom you cannot know". "I am unnameable".
This solution stresses the transcendence of God. b) What God is revealing is
his nature--that he is subsistent being; in which case "I am who I am means
I am he who exists "per sibi", absolute be-ing. The divine name refers to
what he is by essence; it refers to him whose essence it is to be. God is
saying that he "is", and he is giving the name by which he is to be called.
This explanation is often to be found in Christian interpretation. c) On the
basis of the fact Yahweh is a causative form of the ancient Hebrew verb
"hwh" (to be), God revealing himself as "he who causes to be", the creator,
not so much in the fullest sense of the word (as creator of the universe) but
above all the creator of the present situation--the one who gives the people
its being and who always stays with it. Thus, calling upon Yahweh will
always remind the good Israelite of his reason-for-being, as an individual
and as a member of a chosen people.
None of these explanations is entirely satisfactory. "This divine name is
mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and
something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as
what he is--infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is
the 'hidden God' (Is 45:15), his name is ineffable, and he is the God who
makes himself close to men (cf. Judg 1.3:18)" ("Catechism of the Catholic
Church", 206).
At a later time, around the 4th century BC, out of reverence for the name of
Yahweh the use of the word was avoided; when it occurred in the sacred text
it was read as "Adonai", my Lord. In the Greek version it is translated as
"Kyrios" and in the Latin as "Dominus". "It is under this title that the
divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed: 'Jesus is Lord'" (ibid., 209). The RSV
always renders "Yahweh" as "the Lord". The medieval form Jehovah was the
result of a misreading of the Hebrew text into which vowels were inserted by
the Massoretes; it is simply a mistake and there is no justification for the
use of "Jehovah" nowadays (cf. ibid., 446).
3:16-22. The Lord comes back again to the subject of Moses' mission; despite
all the obstacles, it will be a success. "The elders of Israel" (v. 16),
that is, the chiefs of clans, representing the whole community, will be
happy to hear what Moses has to say. The words "I have observed you" (v. 16:
literally, "I. have carried out an inspection among you") are significant
because they indicate the key thing--God's is a friendly presence; but it is
also a demanding presence which expects an account of the use we made of
gifts received (cf. 32:34; Jer 9:24; Hos 4:14). The three days' journey (v.
18) would not take them to Sinai but it was enough to get them away from
Egypt. Later, three days will become a number symbolizing divine action. See
the note on 6:10-13.
The pharaoh, unlike the elders, will refuse to let the people go-making it
clearer that the Israelites will attain their freedom only if God comes to
their rescue.
The "despoiling" of the Egyptians (v. 22) is by way of compensation for the
years they have spent with nothing to show for it (cf. Gen 15:14; Wis 10:17)
and also as a sort of booty of war (cf. Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36): God comes out
the victor in the struggle against the pharaoh, and he gives the sons of
Israel a share in the booty. It may also be meant to signal festive joy: the
Israelites are to dress up to celebrate the victory God has given them.
(II) 1st Reading: Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
The righteous call on the Lord
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[7] The way of the righteous is level;
thou dost make smooth the path of the righteous.
[8] In the path of thy judgments,
O Lord, we wait for thee;
thy memorial name
is the desire of our soul.
[9] My soul yearns for thee in the night,
my spirit within me earnestly seeks thee.
For when thy judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
[12] O Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us,
thou hast wrought for us all our works.
[16] O Lord, in distress they sought thee,
they poured out a prayer
when thy chastening was upon them.
[17] Like a woman with child,
who writhes and cries out in her pangs,
when she is near her time,
so were we because of thee, O Lord;
[18] we were with child, we writhed,
we have as it were brought forth wind.
We have wrought no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
[19] Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise.
O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For thy dew is a dew of light,
and on the land of the shades thou wilt let it fall.
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Commentary:
26:7-19. Now comes a personal dialogue with God in the form of a prayer or sa-
piential psalm (vv. 7-10). Here the greatness of the Lord is not being described
to third parties nor are his works being praised: the prophet is addressing him
directly, to tell him that he trusts in Him (vv. 7-8). to express his innermost fee-
lings (v. 9a; cf. Ps 42), to ask him to reveal his righteousness (vv. 9b-10) and
intervene (v. 11) and bring peace (v. 12), and to celebrate enduring fidelity to the
Lord (vv. 13-19). Verse 19 is a ray of hope in personal resurrection, although here,
as in 25:8, it refers to the resurgence of the nation, as in the vision of the bones
restored to life in the book of Ezekiel (cf. Ezek 37:1-14). Daniel 12:1-3 clearly
predicts the resurrection of people from the dead. Commenting on v. 10, St Ber-
nard addresses God, saying: “Father of mercies, may your anger he roused
against me—the anger that chastens a soul who has lost his way, not the wrath
by which you seal off the path of righteousness” (In Cantica Canticorum, 42, 4).
Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus Thanks His Father (Continuation)
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(At that time Jesus declared,) [28] "Come to Me, all who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take My yoke upon you, and
learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. [30] For My yoke is easy, and My burden is
light."
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Commentary:
28-30. Our Lord calls everyone to come to Him. We all find things
difficult in one way or another. The history of souls bears out the
truth of these words of Jesus. Only the Gospel can fully satisfy the
thirst for truth and justice which sincere people feel. Only our Lord,
our Master--and those to whom He passes on His power--can soothe the
sinner by telling him, "Your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9:2). In this
connection Pope Paul VI teaches: "Jesus says now and always, `Come to
Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' His
attitude towards us is one of invitation, knowledge and compassion;
indeed, it is one of offering, promise, friendship, goodness, remedy of
our ailments; He is our comforter; indeed, our nourishment, our bread,
giving us energy and life" ("Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1974).
"Come to Me": the Master is addressing the crowds who are following
Him, "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew
9:36). The Pharisees weighed them down with an endless series of petty
regulations (cf. Acts 15:10), yet they brought no peace to their
souls. Jesus tells these people, and us, about the kind of burden He
imposes: "Any other burden oppresses and crushes you, but Christ's
actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs down, but
Christ's gives you wings. If you take a bird's wings away, you might
seem to be taking weight off it, but the more weight you take off, the
more you tie it down to the earth. There it is on the ground, and you
wanted to relieve it of a weight; give it back the weight of its wings
and you will see how it flies" (St. Augustine, "Sermon" 126).
"All you who go about tormented, afflicted and burdened with the burden
of your cares and desires, go forth from them, come to Me and I will
refresh you and you shall find for your souls the rest which your
desires take from you" (St. John of the Cross, "Ascent of Mount
Carmel", Book 1, Chapter 7, 4).
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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.
[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].