SPIT AND POLISH / CURE

Have you ever wondered why Christ had to resort to such an unhygienic and curious way of spitting on some dust from the ground to cure the man born blind? I’m referring to next Sunday’s Gospel according to John, 9: 6-12. But, this is not the only incident when Christ behaved like that. Do look up Mark’s version of the Gospel, 7:33. The same thing happened when Christ cured the deaf and stammerer. HE used spittle, which is repulsive and, as I said, very unhygienic. But we are living in the year 2014. So let’s go back over two thousand years and study the customs and culture of the day.

In those day it was quite common. More than that, it was believed that spittle of a distinguished person could contain certain curative qualities. We have it on record by Tacitus that when Vespasian once visited Alexandria, two men approached him; one with a diseased eye and the other with a withered hand.

The one with the eye troubled asked that Vespasian would wet his eye-ball with spittle and the other chap asked him to trample on his hand with the sole of his foot.

Vespasian would not even think of doing such a thing. Yet, he was persuaded by his friends that he should do it. That is what he actually did. Both men were cured, one got his sight back and the other one could use his hand as if he had nothing wrong before.

Likewise did Pliny, he has a whole chapter on the use of spittle. That is what Jesus did, He used the same method and customs of the day. I do not want to imply that Christ was not performing a miracle. The miracle was in the fact that the man born blind, and now completely cured came out on the side of Jesus when attacked by the Pharisees. He knew quite well that he could be excommunicated by the Pharisees. But he made the statement and took his stand.

He was sort of saying: ‘Look here, I know what I am saying, I know what Christ has done for me and I stand by Him.’ It is the simple fact of Christian experience that many a man may not be able to put in theologically correct language what he believes Jesus to be, but in spite of that he can witness to what Jesus has done for his soul.

Many a time we do not understand with the intellect, but we can still feel with the heart. It is much better to love and feel Jesus than to love ‘theories’ about Him.

 THE FOUNDATION STONE FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN

Jesus wanted to leave Judea, in the South, and go to Galilee in the north. This meant that He had to pass through Samaria. Now the journey through Samaria was about three days long. Yet, because of the feud that existed for long years between the Jews and the Samaritans, any Jew who wanted to travel north to Galilee would bypass Samaria and travel  along the River Jordan, and that would have meant a six-day journey.

For obvious, pastoral reasons, Jesus wanted, to pass through Samaria. On the way He came to a small town called Sychar, where we find, to this very day, a well, better known as Jacob’s Well. According to Genesis Jacob had bought a plot of land in that area, and on his death-bed he had bequeathed it to his son Joseph.  When Joseph died his remains were taken to Palestine and buried there.

So the Jews had fond memories of that area and especially of the Well. When Jesus and his friends arrived there, it was midday and the sun was at its hottest.   Naturally He felt thirsty and weary. It is interesting to note that the disciples went to buy some food from some village.  Something that no Jew would have dreamt of doing before: going to Samaria and buying food from them.  Things have started to happen.

“When Jesus arrived at the well there was a Samaritan woman.”   Note: we should never read the Bible as if we are reading a novel just to while away the time or for pastime.  Reading the Bible should mean ‘studying the Bible’; we have to note every single word and phrase. A case in point is the sentence I have just written:  “When Jesus arrived at the well there was a Samaritan woman.”

Something very mysterious is happening; why would a woman go to draw water at midday, which was against their custom, and, when there was another well where she lived?  Is it a mystery or a providential meeting?

This woman might have been a social outcast, from what we shall be reading further down, and she wanted to avoid the other women. Another point of interest is her declaration to Jesus: “I am a Samaritan woman, and you are a Jew, how is it you ask me to give you water?” It was part of the Jewish custom that no Jewish Rabbi could stop to talk to a woman in the street, even if she were his mother or wife. And now Jesus stopped and He is not only talking to a woman, but to a Samaritan woman, the sworn enemies of Jews. In this episode Jesus laid the foundation stone for the emancipation of woman.

WHAT NO HUMAN EYES COULD SEE.

Jesus went up to Mt.Tabor and took with Him, Peter, James and John, to be ‘the’ witnesses for His Transfiguration. Many have given the various versions as to why the Master always chose these three Apostles; even in the Garden of Gethsemane. We could say that Peter had to be the future representative of the Master, John had to write his version of the Gospel from a theological point of view, no wonder the symbol of the eagle that represents John. His thoughts soared so high, and he was the only Evangelist to call the miracles, ‘signs’. And in fact they were.

James had to be one of the very first to give witness to Jesus through his martyrdom. As a matter of fact the word ‘martyr’ means ‘witness’. But there is a more important aspect to consider in this text of the ‘Transfiguration’. Biblical scholars today tell us that actually Jesus did not ‘transfigure’ Himself, He did not change. Jesus was ‘seen’ by His three followers, as He always was, as He always looked. BUT, their human eyes could not have seen Him as He really, actually looked.
Imagine the impact Jesus would have made on the crowds and on the Apostles themselves … including Judas Iscariot …who used to follow Him and listen to His word. He certainly would have been accepted, right away; seeing Him in that aura of light; they would have been amazed, just like Peter was. They would have concluded, and rightly so, that the Rabbi from Nazareth, Jesus, was divine. Would Judas have betrayed Him? Some food for thought!

But, Jesus did not want to impress the crowds. In fact those were the temptations of the devil, of the Tempter in the desert. He wanted Jesus to take short-cuts, to avoid His embracing the cross. But certainly, Jesus wanted to give proof of His love. Jesus could have fed the crowds every single day; He could have cured all the sick, every day; He could have helped the fishermen to catch big draughts of fish.

He did give signs of His divinity, so who wanted to believe in Him, had every opportunity of doing so, and could have followed Him. He wanted them, and us, to trust in Him, to believe in Him without any proof. Though there was proof enough of His good intentions, of His love towards the poor, the sick, the unwanted, His interest in those who before His coming were considered unworthy to gain entry into heaven. In other words we need to have complete Faith in Him.

We all remember that famous meeting of the resurrected Christ, and Thomas.
The doubting Apostle wanted to see and touch, and we recall what Christ told him: “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believed.” Now the three Apostles have seen and were filled with ‘awe’, which gives us a glimpse of what Paul had written later on: “No eyes have seen and no ear had heard.”

Jesus wanted to strengthen the faith of His Apostles by letting them ‘glimpse’ at the future glory which awaits all those who follow Christ and His Teachings. Peter, the (official) spokesman was so carried away by what he had experienced that he wanted to build three tents; for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. It is worth noting that Peter did not think about himself or his two friends, because of the fact that he suggested building only three tents.

As yet, Peter had not realized that there can be no Glory without Passion, no crown of gold before wearing the crown of thorns.

CAN CHRIST BE TEMPTED ?

That is the very first question we have to answer. I can invite John over for tea and prepare for him a delicious fruit cake covered in marzipan and snow-white icing sugar. But, I forgot to tell you something very important; John has high cholesterol level, and I know that having a slice of that sweet might mean ‘big trouble’. THAT is a temptation, I am tempting him, enticing him to do something wrong to his health.

In the original version ‘peirazein’ means ‘to test’ rather than to seduce someone to sin. Things now should look differently. We have the same case of Abraham where we read ‘that God tested Abraham’. The time was ripe for a supreme test of the loyalty of Abra(ha)m. Just as metal has to be tested far beyond any stress and strain that it will ever be called upon to bear, before it can be put to any useful purpose.

So a man has to be tested before God can use him for His purpose. For as the Jews used to say: ‘The Holy One, Blessed be His name does not elevate a man to dignity till He has first tried and searched him; and if he stands the temptation (trial), then He raises him to dignity.’

So this ‘testing’ was not meant to weaken Christ, as a human, but to make Him emerge stronger, and finer, and more resolved from the ordeal. For temptation is not the penalty of being a ‘man’, rather temptation is the glory of being a ‘man’. It is the test which comes to a ‘man’ whom God wishes to use.

What an eye-opener, what a great lesson this Gospel text should be to one and all. We have all experienced some sort, kind of ‘testing’, wherever it comes from. Let us accept the challenge and be positive whenever the occasion arises, and ‘trust’ in Him who, in the words of the Psalmist, is ever-caring and protective, even with the smallest bird of the air … much more with those who have been created ‘in His image and likeness’.

WAS JESUS A STOCKBROKER ?

We often read in the four versions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the following phrase: ‘God or Mammon’. To fully understand what Jesus had in mind when He said this, it is important to know what Mammon is and from where it was derived.
First of all there is a great difference between ‘mamon’ (with one m) and ‘mammon’ (with a double m). If a person wanted to invest a sum of money, say €10, 000, or $10,000, he would find a stockbroker of trust and ‘entrust him’ with that sum of money; so the modern stockbroker was the ‘mamon’.

When the ‘trust’ was shifted from the person doing the transaction, the stockbroker, and was placed on the ‘money’ itself, or on the ‘wealth’, money and wealth became synonymous with ‘mamon’ and to distinguish it from the original meaning of ‘mamon’ it was written with a double mm, ‘mammon’.

But, you might ask what has this to do with next Sunday’s Gospel or with Jesus Christ? If we stop to think we realise that when a person dies, he is put in a box (cheap or expensive) and buried out of sight, six feet deep. No buried person has ever taken his estates with him, his bank accounts, his wealth, his car, not even his dear ones (God forbid).

It was the culture of the Pharaohs to do just that. The famous pyramids we, as tourists like to visit, were originally planned to be the burial site, of the Pharaohs; with the dead king they used to put his wealth, his expensive furniture and his servants. He even had a boat tied to travel to the next world, as they believed. Thieves and robbers plundered many a pyramid and made a feast on the rich treasures.

But we are not Pharaohs not even if we were. Whatever we have is loaned to us by God in His eternal mercy. Every talent is given to us, to make good use of it, and we have to realise that some day ... it might be tomorrow or next month, we have to give account of the ‘talents’ we have misused. Going back to mamon, Christ warned the people of His time and He is warning us today, that we should have trust in Him, as our stockbroker, and not on the wealth, the talents He might have provided us with.

If any person thinks that he is wealthy, talented, prosperous just because he worked for it, because he is a genius, he is bright and cunning; he is very wrong. Whatever God has given us, rather loaned us, is simply to make good use of it for His glory and for the good of our neighbours.