The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (95 page)

14:17 had been invited:
Invitations were customarily issued in two phases. The first was given far in advance of the meal, and the second when everything was ready (Esther 5:8; 6:14). 
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14:26 hate:
An idiomatic term meaning "to love less" (Gen 29:31-33; Mal 1:2-3). Not even the sacredness of family loyalty should outweigh our commitment to Christ, since we must be willing to abandon even close relationships to follow him (Mt 10:37) (CCC 1618, 2544). 
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14:28 count the cost:
Discipleship is a serious commitment. It is not about testing the waters or holding ourselves back from God (9:62). A complete surrender to Christ is necessary to complete the tasks of Christian living.
See note on Mt 10:38
. 
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14:34 Salt:
Used to preserve or flavor food. It was often impure in the ancient world and could sometimes lose its potency. In contrast, Jesus demands from us loyalty that remains constant and does not diminish over time (14:26, 33). 
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15:2 eats with them:
Since table-fellowship is an expression of friendship and acceptance, the
Pharisees
were scandalized that Jesus ate with disreputable men (5:30). The following parables indicate that God does not simply welcome penitent sinners, he seeks them out (15:4, 8, 20; 19:10) (CCC 545, 1443). 
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15:3-7
The parable of the Lost Sheep. In a pastoral culture every sheep of one's flock was valuable, and shepherds would naturally rejoice when a stray was recovered (15:6). Jesus is the shepherd who restores us to friendship with God (Jn 10:1-10). • Yahweh is depicted as a shepherd in the OT (Ps 23:1; Is 40:11), as is the Messiah (Mic 5:4; Zech 13:7). Ezekiel brings these two traditions together, promising that God himself will seek the scattered flock of his people (Ezek 34:1116) and send the Davidic Messiah to shepherd them (Ezek 34:22-24). •
Allegorically
(St. Gregory the Great,
Hom. in Evan.
2): Jesus is the shepherd who recovers the lost sheep of mankind. Hoisting it upon his shoulders signifies how he takes upon himself both the nature of man and the heavy burden of man's sins. 
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15:8 ten silver coins:
Literally, "ten drachmas". Each one was worth an entire day's wage. 
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15:11-32
The parable of the Prodigal Son reveals the boundless mercy of God. Though our sins offend the Father, he is ever willing to show us compassion and restore us to family life. In many ways the parable narrates the continuing struggles of the spiritual life, where conversion and repentance are part of an ongoing process (CCC 1439, 2839). • At another level, the parable narrates the exile and eventual homecoming of historical Israel. After the reign of King Solomon, Israel split into two kingdoms, becoming like
two
brothers living side by side in northern (Israel) and southern (Judah) Palestine (1 Kings 12). By the eighth century
B.C.
, the Assyrians had carried off the northern tribes of Israel into a
far country,
where they forsook God and worshiped idols—a sin the prophets called harlotry (15:30; Jer 3:6; Hos 4:15). In the New Covenant, God welcomes home his exiled son by lavishing him with mercy and restoring him to full sonship (Ezek 37:21-23; Hos 11:1-3, 11). This is especially brought out in Jer 31:18-20, where Ephraim (northern Israel), after a period of exile and disgrace, repents of his sin, is ashamed of his wrongdoing, and turns to God for mercy. It is important to remember that in the Genesis narratives, Ephraim was the nephew of Judah and the youngest brother in the tribal family of Israel (Gen 48:14). See note on 1:33. 
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15:12 share of property:
It was unusual and even shameful for a son to demand his inheritance before his father's death (Sir 33:23). Here the prodigal son compounded his father's dishonor by squandering his inheritance in sin (15:13; Prov 28:7). 
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15:15 feed swine:
Since Jews considered pigs unclean animals (Lev 11:7), only the most desperate conditions would force the son to take this disgraceful position. Working for a Gentile employer, he would be expected to violate the weekly Sabbath as well (Ex 20:8-11). 
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15:20 embraced him:
Literally, "fell upon his neck". • The actions of the father recall the mercy shown to Jacob (Gen 33:4) and the joys of family reunion in the patriarchal narratives (Gen 45:14; 46:29). 
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15:22 robe . . . ring:
Symbols of honor and authority (Gen 41:42; Esther 3:10; 1 Mac 6:15).
shoes:
Household slaves normally went barefoot. The father refuses this for his son, restoring him instead to full family membership. 
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15:24 was dead . . . is alive:
A transfer of covenant status from curse to blessing. It is a restoration from spiritual death to eternal life (Jn 5:24; Rom 6:13; Eph 2:1-5). 
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15:25 elder son:
The older brother's grumbling signified the bitterness of the Pharisees (15:2), who wrongly saw God's acceptance of sinners as a violation of covenant justice. The father in the parable is innocent of such a charge; he is simply forgiving and loving to his son, who recognized his errors and turned to his father for mercy. 
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16:1-8
The parable of the Unrighteous Steward is about urgency and preparedness. About to lose his position (16:2), the steward makes use of a pressing situation to find favor with his master's debtors and prepare for his future (16:4). Christians should take even greater care to prepare for life in the world to come. •
Mystically
(St. Gaudentius,
Sermo
18): the unrighteous steward signifies the devil, whose dominion over this world is nearing its end. Having wasted the Lord's goods by stripping us of divine grace and friendship, he now works anxiously to make friends by deception and empty promises of forgiveness. While his ardor and foresight are worthy of imitation, his wicked and dishonest tactics are not. 
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16:1 a steward:
A head servant who handled the business affairs of his master's estate. Like the prodigal son (15:13), this manager wasted his master's goods. 
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16:6 hundred measures of oil:
About 800 gallons. The steward reduces the debt 50 percent. 
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16:7 hundred measures of wheat:
About 1,000 bushels. The debt is reduced 20 percent. 
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16:8 his prudence:
The master, although cheated by the debt reduction, commends the steward for his shrewdness. He recognizes that the steward's last-minute efforts proved successful in winning the favor of the debtors and making his financial future more secure. The unjust strategy of the steward shows that he was motivated by an entirely selfish concern for his own temporal welfare. Jesus points to the steward as both an example and a warning.
(1)
As an example, the steward shows how to expend every effort in making use of our means to prepare for the future. Just as his cunning won him a comfortable living in the "houses" of his master's debtors (16:4), so believers are challenged to make friends by almsgiving in order to be received into "eternal habitations" (16:9).
(2)
As a warning, the steward is intended to characterize the attitude of the Pharisees, who have been listening to Jesus since 15:2 and who are charged with being "lovers of money" in 16:14. It is implied that the Pharisees are despising God by their devotion to mammon, i.e., they seek not eternal riches but the esteem of men and the temporal comforts of this world (16:13). 
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16:9 mammon:
An Aramaic word meaning "wealth". Almsgiving makes us friends of the poor by means of money. Investing in God's kingdom means divesting ourselves of riches to help others in need (3:11; 2 Cor 9:6-15; CCC 952). 
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16:16 The law and the prophets:
A shorthand reference to the OT (24:44). John the Baptist stands at the pivot of salvation history, being included within the OT era even as he concludes it. Both he and the OT Scriptures announced the coming of Jesus (CCC 523).
violently:
Refers to the persecution of Christians or to the ascetic disciplines exemplified by John.
See note on Mt 11:12
. 
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16:17 one dot:
One of the short extensions that distinguish similar-looking Hebrew letters (Mt 5:18). Jesus does not invalidate even these minute details of the OT, much less the substance of the
law.
See note on Mt 5:17
. 
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16:18 one who divorces:
While Moses permitted divorce and remarriage in the Old Covenant (Deut 24:1-4), Jesus forbids it entirely in the New (Mk 10:11-12; 1 Cor 7:10-11; CCC 2382). See topical essay:
Jesus on Marriage and Divorce
at Mt 19. 
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16:19-31
The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus depicts the lot of the wealthy and the poor, first in this life and then in the next. For all his worldly comforts, the rich man's callousness toward the poor plunged him into ruin (16:23). Lazarus, despite his earthly hardships, is escorted to Abraham's side (16:22). A similar reversal of fortunes underlies the Beatitudes and Woes in 6:20-26 (Mt 25:31-46) (CCC 2463, 2831). 
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