Have you ever experienced being threatened? Just like Peter we should not give in but persevere to follow God rather than succumb to our fear. For as long as we've got God on our side and leaning on the promises of God our Savior then we're standing on solid immovable ground. Day in and day out we are confronted with choices, big or small, all they ever amount to and what it is about is just one important thing. Nothing should ever stop us from following their example of faith. It should inspire us to know that it was God who chose us first even before we ever came to be. His choice comes first even before we make a choice. He chose to love us first. If we believe that God loves us then we are confident in the fact that we must obey God above all. We must follow the example of obedience that Jesus showed us. It was one born out of inspiration rather than obligation. St. Thomas Aquinas said God the Father did it by inspiring the Son with so much love that Jesus did it. The obedience of Jesus to the point of death on the cross should not be seen as a rejection but the giving up of His Son for this great love of God for us who chose us first. Jesus deserves our total obedience. We should stop living in sin, live faithfully and be not afraid to embrace the light. What we see Jesus is doing is what the Father is doing. Having come into the world, some believe and some disobey. During the Easter vigil we have witnessed the entire kingdom of God St. Paul says, all things were created for Him. He has the primacy in everything. Our relationship with Him is primary before all other relationships. Whatever relationship we have, that of Jesus is above all.
In the light of the readings today I was inspired to share the things we’ve studied under Atty. Jess Moya in our Catholicism study which is about the bible.
I. The Bible is a unique book
-most popular book ever; in fact it has made a lot of people very rich due to the several movies and books shown and written based on the bible.
-It greatly influenced civilization, a source of Western culture. A treasure chest of wisdom and inspiration, contains some of the most profound insights on life and has changed many lives.
-All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction and for training in righteousness so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work- 2 Tim 3:16-17
-Indeed the Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any 2 edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart - Heb. 4:12
-A library/ collection of OT and NT books mysteriously woven into a single theme and written in thousands of years with various authors of different background.
II. Original and manuscripts (copies) of the bible
- original writings were either destroyed or perished through wear and tear since it was in papyrus material.
-Manuscripts or copies of the bible are authenticated through “Textual Criticism” The object of textual criticism is to restore as nearly as possible the original text of a work the autograph of which has been lost. The manuscripts date way back 100 BC.
III. Classes of Sacred Writings:
1. Protocanonical (universally accepted) – There are 46 books in the OT and 27 in the NT. It is not true that the OT is obsolete and is not important. The writings in the OT foreshadows the scriptures in the NT. An example cited was the Passover in Egypt found in the OT where the angel of death spared the Israelites who have placed the blood of the lamb on their doors. In the NT , it was the blood of Jesus shed on the cross that spared us all from the angel of death which is sin.
2. Deuterocanonical (disputed writing such as the so-called “7 added books of the OT” and the books of James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2nd and 3rd letters of John, Hebrews and Revelation of the NT)
3. Apocryphal (writings which are not considered inspired such as the gospel of Peter, the gospel of Thomas, the letters of Barnabas and Clement, etc.) It was through these apocryphal writings that Dan Brown came up with the heretical source that brought about “The Da Vinci Code.”
IV. Origin of the Bible
- Putting together in writing the experiences of God’s people, the warning of their prophets and the beliefs they developed.
-The authors were divinely inspired (Theopneustos or God-breathed) The bible is an inspired interpretation of God’s deeds and self revelation, the Word of God in the words of humans.”
-Writings were canonized by the Catholic Church (Councils of Rome, Hippo, Carthage and Trent) The Church authority was universally recognized. The bible was put together as early as the 4th century (397AD) and Ptotestantism only started in 1517 so it was the Catholic Church who canonized these writings.
- The Palestinian/Hebrew Canon rejected “seven books” in the Council of Jamnia. One of these books is Maccabees which mentions about praying for the dead or souls in purgatory.
-Protestant Canon adopted the Palestinian/Hebrew Canon. It is very ironical that Martin Luther who used to be Catholic but became a protestant even once said that, “We are obliged to the Catholic Church for the bible which we received from them.” Meaning he recognizes it as the one who put together the bible.
V. Translations of the Bible
- The OT was originally written in the Hebrew language and then translated into Greek (Septuagint) by about 70 translators around 285-246 BC.
Legend says that these scholars who translated the bible were separated from each other but amazingly came up with the same translation. During the time of Alexander the Great some scriptures were translated from Hebrew to Greek.
-The NT was originally written in the Greek language and later translated to Latin (Vulgate) It has 350 quotations coming from the Deuterocanonical books. St. Jerome translated the scriptures to Latin. Martin Luther translated the bible from Latin and Greek to German and the controversial verse from Rom 3:28 which he allegedly added the word “alone” in the text which says “Man is saved by faith alone”. From then on Pope Pius XIII decreed that all translations be from the original language (Greek or Hebrew) to English to avoid distorting the real meaning of the word of God and must have the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur marks .
-Catholic English translations were the Douay-Rheims (1st translation to English), NAB, etc. )
-Protestant English translations: Tyndale, King James, RSV, etc. The King James version was rejected by the Church due to so many typographical errors made such as The Parable of the Vineyard in Matthew written as Vinegar and the ”Thou shall not commit adultery” in Deuteronomy wherein the “not” has been omitted.
VI. Interpretation of the Bible
-There are so many science theories or the so called evolution theory that questions the accuracy of the data in the bible especially that of creation in 7 days. Even the Book of Revelation has become so controversial. Bear in mind that the bible is not a science treatise nor just a series of predictions nor intended to be a history book. Some are not literally true, but are vehicles to convey the truth. A very good example of this is a glass of water, when we drink water it has to be placed in a container but you only drink the water and not the glass.
-Be attentive to what the human authors wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words (CCC109) Consider the literary genre and forms of literary expression
-Take into account the conditions of the authors’ time and culture and the various forms of expressions used (CCC110). The writers during the OT, the Israelites were very primitive and picture God as some kind of warrior. It is a product of their imagination. The heresy of Marcion says that the God of the OT is evil while the God of the NT is good. The bible should be studied always with reference to Jesus in the NT to better understand who God really is and learn about Jesus.
-Read and interpret it in the light of the same Spirit who inspired it (CCC111). God is a respecter of free will. God always speak to us with love.
-Be especially attentive to the content and unity of the whole scripture and the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves (CCC 112 and 114)
-Read it within the “living tradition of the whole Church” (CCC113); Accept the core teachings of the Church like a child- example is the dogma on the Immaculate Conception, it has been questioned long before for years already and had been resolved.
-Interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church (CCC 119) Jesus left us the Church to guard and interpret it. It should be guided by the core teachings of the Church enclosed in the Apostle’s Creed, etc.
The bible is made available to all regardless of race and religion. In fact there are stories about conversions of a lot of people just by reading the bible. Nothing should ever stop us from spreading the Word of God and dispelling all the heretical information being perpetrated in the whole world no matter what the cost. We should come after the example of the apostles who bravely displayed their faith and belief in Jesus as evidenced in the 1st reading. Amen. Hallelujah!
Acts of the Apostles 5,27-33.
..."We gave you strict orders (did we not?) to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us."
But Peter and the apostles said in reply, "We must obey God rather than men...
We sometimes think that God does not answer our prayers but He does. Let us not fall into this wrong notion, lose hope and turn into different kinds of addictions which cause so much wasted pain and suffering. This is a wicked age and our life should redeem. Only the Lord our God can bring about this redemption in our lives. If the Son of God had His enormous and most unbearable share of suffering for our sake don't we think that we should also bear our own daily crosses? We should have the courage and the strength to suffer for the gospel most especially at this time of the world when there is great hostility to the gospel. To suffer always with the confidence that God who sees and knows all would definitely see us through it all. God is above all our troubles, fears and anxieties, whatever it may be, our ills and even death itself. The "culture of death" and its kingdom has been robbed of its power. Jesus has resurrected from the dead and the kingdom of God
Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-13
R: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
1 [2] I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me. 3 [4] O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world; you preserved me from among those going down into the pit... For his anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime, his good will. At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. (R) 10 [11] “Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me; O LORD, be my helper.” 11 [12] You changed my mourning into dancing; 12 [13] O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
God the Father sees all. We are His sons and daughters but we sometimes go into the wrong direction. God sees us running away from the faith because we have the free will to do as we want. We must not forget that the Kingdom of death has been conquered and the Kingdom of God
Revelation 5:11-14
...“To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.” ...
Today's gospel is a picture of the apostles just after the death of Jesus who were probably still confused and depressed. Sometimes it takes time before we can fully realize the things that are already before and around us. Just like the other disciples who failed to recognize Jesus right away. The disciple whom Jesus loved was the first to recognize Him and we too are challenged to become like this disciple whom Jesus loved and be more sensitive when it comes to identifying in our lives who Jesus really is. When you have Jesus in your heart then you will always feel secured. Peter jumped into the sea not minding what he's wearing, ready to get wet and be soaked, just to get near the resurrected Jesus. Aren't we afraid to jump into the sea? Are we willing to take the plunge? For sure we will find ourselves in the loving embrace of our God. It's always worth giving our all to the Lord. At a time of our life when we are not in our best shape or could be discerning and still unsure of what course of action to take, we should realize that Jesus is always there for us though we may not realize it. It is our obedience during these trying times that will see us through these difficult times. I believe God in His awesome and almighty wisdom, intelligence and knowledge reveals things in stages for the benefit of our limited capacities and understanding. The series of events in our lives and the word of God serve as an eye opener that could endow us with a better understanding of all the things that are happening to us. May we all come to this point in our life when we obey God at all times no matter what kind of situation we are in. I realized it is always good to look back, recall and never forget those times in our lives when Jesus was calling us for a certain task and decided to follow and obey. We can always be confident and full of hope that whatever is the outcome of our decision for as long as we know that we have consulted it to God in prayer and have acted with our best ability then we are always safe and secure. Today's gospel also tells us to be of service to the people. We all look forward to the world to come and share eternal life and happiness with God. At the same time we also exercise our citizenship to this world. We should engage ourselves in work that can bring healing and build good things on earth. God multiplies our efforts. We do not have the option of subtracting ourselves from this process and just go to the sideline. We have to read the word of God, understand it and be active. This is the meaning of encounter with God. When we engage ourselves with this kind of work it may seem political but it's not. We are not pagans but believers and God is the one who empowers us. We have to get the world back to its proper balance. We are all called to do something for this world that we live in. Amen. Hallelujah!
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 21,1-14.
...So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea...
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