Despising one of these little ones… we should examine our thoughts to see if we can grasp what Jesus is talking about. Obviously we shouldn’t be despising anyone, but Jesus wants us to pay particular attention to the “little ones.” In the first half of today’s gospel we could understand the little ones as referring to children and littleness as a reference to their innocence or inexperience in the ways of sin. In the second part of today’s gospel we are given the parable of straying sheep – a clearer reference to the sinner. So on the one hand littleness refers to childlike simplicity, and on the other hand it refers to the helplessness of a sinner who has wandered far from safety.
Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The symbolism of the multiplication of loaves and fish has to do with the teaching of Jesus. Jesus breaks down the Law (five loaves, the pentateuch), and the prophets (the two fish, major and minor prophets) so that all may be nourished by this teaching. The insufficiency of the Law and the Prophets is made abundantly nourishing through the grace of Christ. This was the same reality that the children of Israel struggled with in the desert. The food that God provided, the manna, seemed truly insufficient. The people wanted flesh to eat, to satisfy their cravings. God comes in the flesh of Jesus to fully satisfy our cravings. The Law and the Prophets could not satisfy the craving for communion with God because it only served to reinforce the weight of sin and separation. Jesus is not bringing a teaching that is different in content from the Law and the Prophets. Rather, He makes that teaching abundantly satisfying by fulfilling it in His flesh and multiplying it for us.
Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
The rest that is appointed by God is a combination of self-restraint and remission of debt. This Jubilee is the celebration God wants us to experience. Herod the tetrarch represents the attempts of men to celebrate, but in a way that is completely foreign to God’s plan. Celebration is not meant to be a time of self-indulgence or of incurring debt. Celebration is meant to be a time to receive what we need from God and providence without frenetic anxious activity. To receive the release from all debts: forgiveness – that is the true joy of celebration.