Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

The Resurrection must progressively become the only future we are expecting.  This has two consequences on our day to day life.  First, it means we don’t have much else to look forward to in this life: we are glad to see the grace of God at work in ourselves and in others, and we are delighted by the occasions to be part of the divine movement.  Second, it means we no longer expect to get something good or bad out of this life: the resurrection infinitely surpasses anything we have or can experience in this life.  All other goods, compared to the resurrection, are absolutely inferior.  The resurrection is something divine: Jesus says, “I AM the resurrection.”  It is the most godlike thing that can happen to our human flesh – born again to immortality.

It is in this perspective that the Fathers of the Church understood the parable of the wicked tenants.  People are never wicked because they have figured out how to love wickedness itself.  There is always some lesser sensible good that, when it is loved, leads to wickedness.  These tenants loved very much being in charge, being in control, having wealth, etc.  None of those things are bad in and of themselves, but when the time came for them to let go of some of the fruit, the produce, and send it to the man who hired them they decided to keep it for themselves. This culminates in the death of the owner’s son and the promise of retribution.  So why did God send His only Son after all the prophets failed to get anywhere with the religious leaders?  Because the death of His Son was the only way to finally receive the fruit of the vineyard that the tenants failed to produce.  By destroying sin and death in His passion, death and resurrection, Christ brings the fruit of divine life present in the souls of those whom He saved to His Father.  The tenants lose all control and authority and the vineyard is given to those who will produce its fruit.

CHRYSOSTOM:

And the Guardian of the church gives it to us not once or twice but many times over: “Peace be unto you.” Why? Because peace is the mother of all good things and the foundation of our joy. For this reason Christ taught his disciples that when they entered people’s houses they were to say: “Peace be unto you.” Without peace everything else is useless.¹

OECUMENIUS:

This is not the peace of the world but the peace which comes from knowing God. For the only true peace is the one which delivers us from our transgression and enmity against God. It is the same peace which Christ gave his disciples when he was about to go to the Father, and when he rose again from the dead.²

BEDE:

For he did not send an angel or an archangel to save us, nor did he find anything in us which might allow us to contribute to our own salvation, but when he saw that we were weak and had nothing to boast of, he came in his own glory and power and redeemed us.³

THEOPHYLACT:

Grace and peace are the means by which God gives us everything we need in order to live godly lives.⁴

ORIGEN:

What is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? Peter describes this by calling it “sharing in the divine nature.”⁵

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM:

When Christ’s body and blood become the tissue of our members, we become Christ-bearers and “partakers of the divine nature,” as the blessed Peter said.⁶

HILARY OF ARLES:

Just as God stepped out of his nature to become a partaker of our humanity, so we are called to step out of our nature to become partakers of his divinity.⁷

BEDE:

The greater your knowledge of God becomes, the more you will realize the magnitude of his promises.⁸

THEOPHYLACT:

Peter lays out here the order which we are to follow to come into full maturity. First of all comes faith, which is the foundation and source of all good works. Next comes virtue, by which he means good works, for without them faith is dead, as Saint James said.16 Next comes knowledge. What is that? It is an understanding of the secret things hidden in God which are not revealed to everyone, but only to those who continue faithfully in the works already mentioned.⁹

GREGORY THE GREAT:

Those who fast must be very careful to make sure that in running away from the desires of the stomach they do not give birth to vices which are much worse, almost as if their virtue were producing them. For it is easy to mortify the flesh but at the same time to become very impatient in spirit, and this impatience upsets the minds of many who abstain from the desires of the world.¹⁰

BEDE:

As people learn to do good, so they will soon stop doing evil. If anyone does not do so his knowledge of heavenly things disappears as if in a vacuum. Self-control requires steadfastness, because whoever has learned to stay away from the pleasures of this world needs the willpower to go on doing so. The person who reaches that point of self-discipline may truly be called godly.¹¹

BEDE:

The only context in which godliness has any meaning is that of brotherly love. You cannot win people to Christ merely by arguing them into the kingdom. It is necessary to practice godliness by prayer and good works. Charity here means the love of God, because we cannot love God without loving our neighbor, nor can we love our neighbor without loving God. The love of God is greater than the love of our neighbor, which is why we have to practice it with all our heart, mind and strength.¹²

THEOPHYLACT:

The more we are like God, the more we are compelled by that likeness to love others, which is why brotherly love is next in the list. Finally, there is charity, the perfection of all virtues, as Paul also confirms.¹³

AUGUSTINE:

But how will you insure that the inheritance will be yours? Merely because you killed him? Hold on! You in fact did kill him, yet the inheritance is still not yours. Do you not recall the Psalm which says: “I lie down and sleep,” and then adds, “I wake again”? did you miss that point? While you were gloating that you had killed him, he was sleeping. The Psalm says: “I slept.” Just while they were raging and would kill me, what was I doing? “I slept.” And if I had not willed it, I would not even have slept, for “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again.” So let the oppressors rage. Let the earth even be “given into the hands of the wicked,” let the flesh be left to the hands of persecutors, let them suspend him on wood with nails transfixed, pierced with a spear. The one who lies down and sleeps simply adds: “I rise again.”¹⁴

1. CATENA.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 130). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
2. COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 130). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
3. ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 132). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
4. COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 132). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
5. SERMONS ON LEVITICUS 4.4.2.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 132). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
6. MYSTAGOGICAL LECTURES 4.3.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 132). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
7. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 133). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
8. ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 133). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
9. COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 133). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
10. COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 133). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
11. ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (pp. 133–134). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
12. ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 134). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
13. COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER.  Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 134). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
14. ON PSALM 41: ON THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS 9.  Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 158). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.