Day 1 (Monday)
1 Maccabees Excerpts 2 (2:1-2, 6-7, 14-48, 61-68)
Last time we saw the summary of the history of Jerusalem and the surrounding area during the first century or so of Hellenistic rule, and the intense persecutions that came upon them during the reign of the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes. He had taken Jerusalem and installed a garrison in the fortress there, and had desecrated the Temple, establish a pagan altar for sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering and placing pagan idols in the Temple itself. He was requiring pagan sacrifice from all the Jews, and a great many people were either compromising and accepting this worship, or being punished with death if they refused. Some others fled into the wilderness, living as outlaws until they were caught. Into this situation, we have the introduction of the family of a certain Levite, Mattathias.
1 Maccabees 2:1-2, 6-7, 14-48, 61-68
2 In those days Mattathias son of John son of Simeon, a priest of the family of Joarib, moved from Jerusalem and settled in Modein. 2 He had five sons… John, Simon, Judas Maccabeus, Eleazar, and Jonathan. 6 He saw the blasphemies being committed in Judah and Jerusalem, 7 and said, “Alas! Why was I born to see this, the ruin of my people, the ruin of the holy city, and to live there when it was given over to the enemy, the sanctuary given over to aliens… …14 Then Mattathias and his sons tore their clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned greatly;
Pagan Worship Refused
15 The king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the town of Modein to make them offer sacrifice. 16 Many from Israel came to them; and Mattathias and his sons were assembled. 17 Then the king’s officers spoke to Mattathias as follows: “You are a leader, honored and great in this town, and supported by sons and brothers. 18 Now be the first to come and do what the king commands, as all the Gentiles and the people of Judah and those that are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons will be numbered among the Friends of the king, and you and your sons will be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.”
19 But Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: “Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to obey his commandments, every one of them abandoning the religion of their ancestors, 20 I and my sons and my brothers will continue to live by the covenant of our ancestors. 21 Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances. 22 We will not obey the king’s words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or to the left.”
23 When he had finished speaking these words, a Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein, according to the king’s command. 24 When Mattathias saw it, he burned with zeal and his heart was stirred. He gave vent to righteous anger; he ran and killed him on the altar. 25 At the same time he killed the king’s officer who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar. 26 Thus he burned with zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did against Zimri son of Salu.
27 Then Mattathias cried out in the town with a loud voice, saying: “Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!” 28 Then he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the town.
29 At that time many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to live there, 30 they, their sons, their wives, and their livestock, because troubles pressed heavily upon them. 31 And it was reported to the king’s officers, and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David, that those who had rejected the king’s command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness.
32 Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the sabbath day. 33 They said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live.” 34 But they said, “We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the sabbath day.” 35 Then the enemy quickly attacked them. 36 But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, 37 for they said, “Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.” 38 So they attacked them on the sabbath, and they died, with their wives and children and livestock, to the number of a thousand persons.
39 When Mattathias and his friends learned of it, they mourned for them deeply. 40 And all said to their neighbors: “If we all do as our kindred have done and refuse to fight with the Gentiles for our lives and for our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from the earth.” 41 So they made this decision that day: “Let us fight against anyone who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our kindred died in their hiding places.”
Counter-Attack
42 Then there united with them a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, all who offered themselves willingly for the law. 43 And all who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them and reinforced them. 44 They organized an army, and struck down sinners in their anger and renegades in their wrath; the survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety. 45 And Mattathias and his friends went around and tore down the altars; 46 they forcibly circumcised all the uncircumcised boys that they found within the borders of Israel. 47 They hunted down the arrogant, and the work prospered in their hands. 48 They rescued the law out of the hands of the Gentiles and kings, and they never let the sinner gain the upper hand.
Then Mattathias died, and left the war effort in the hands of Judas Maccabeus. On his deathbed, he reminded them of all the heroes of the past: Abraham, Phinehas, Caleb, David, Elijah, the Three Youths, and Daniel, and urged them as follows:
61 “And so observe, from generation to generation, that none of those who put their trust in him will lack strength. 62 Do not fear the words of sinners, for their splendor will turn into dung and worms. 63 Today they will be exalted, but tomorrow they will not be found, because they will have returned to the dust, and their plans will have perished. 64 My children, be courageous and grow strong in the law, for by it you will gain honor.
65 “Here is your brother Simeon who, I know, is wise in counsel; always listen to him; he shall be your father. 66 Judas Maccabeus has been a mighty warrior from his youth; he shall command the army for you and fight the battle against the peoples.[d] 67 You shall rally around you all who observe the law, and avenge the wrong done to your people. 68 Pay back the Gentiles in full, and obey the commands of the law.”
Under Judas’ leadership, they won a number of victories, and eventually a great victory that drove out the Greeks at the Battle of Emmaus. After this victory, they went and cleansed and rededicated the Temple (this is the origin of the feast of Hannukah), and then they made war against their enemies all around, regaining independent control of most of the territory of the old kingdom of Judah. Judas eventually died in battle when most of his army ran away, and in the aftermath of his death, his brother Jonathan took up the kingship (and the high priesthood as well), and made alliances with Sparta and with Rome. This alliance with Rome was the legal excuse for Rome’s sovereignty over Judaea at the time of Christ.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should note that, in this catastrophe, while the actions of Mattathias and his sons are praiseworthy in many respects, there are a number of points that should be troubling to us. They are, in theory, being faithful to God, but in the pursuit of that faithfulness, they have abandoned the observance of the Sabbath day if they are attacked. This might be justifiable, but any point at which we begin to compromise our faithfulness to God in order to save our lives, it is vital that we question whether we are actually entrusting ourselves to His care. Certainly, at other points in Scripture, the expectation is that even in weakness, God’s people should not seek military prowess, numbers or alliances, but should trust on the Lord. Therefore, the alliances with Rome and Sparta that come later are deeply troubling, as is the point when the sons of Mattathias make themselves both high priest (an office that is not for them, as they are simple Levites, and not descendants of Aaron) and kings (uniting a role of leadership that God had separated). The determination to “pay back” the Gentiles, to get revenge, etc, is also troubling. In all of this, we can see foreshadowings of the attitudes of the Pharisees, with their external legalism, the Sadducees, with their compromising of the essentials of the Torah, and the Zealots, with their determination to drive out the Romans by any means necessary and to restore the glory of Israel by the strength of their own hands. In short – however much our hearts may be stirred by the victories of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, we must guard against this. They are not the examples of faithfulness to God that we would like them to be, and it is against their example that the Lord speaks throughout His ministry, and especially and explicitly at the Mystical Supper. This reality, that the Lord is coming in a very different way than the Maccabees, is likely being indicated in the story of the Road to Emmaus at the end of the Gospel of Luke…the Lord is not going to stop in Emmaus, but is going further than that. He is not coming to destroy our earthly enemies, but to abolish the power of sin and death and demonic powers over us.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 2 (Wednesday)
Irenaeus – Against Heresies 13
Last time, we saw St. Irenaeus discuss the way in which the Israelites left Egypt, enriched by their former neighbors as they went. He discussed how important it is that we not judge God for His dispensations, but that we are called to trust God, because He shows Himself to be good and righteous in all that He does, and because we cannot see the end of all things. He also drew an allegorical connection between the Israelites at that time and the Christians of his own time, who had entered the Church carrying the riches of their past with them. This time, we will conclude our summer reading from St. Irenaeus, and see how he approaches the interpretation of Scripture. We are depending, then, on a recent condensation of the work by James Payton; anyone who would like to purchase this book can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Irenaeus-Christian-Faith-Condensation-Heresies/dp/1608996247/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
St. Irenaeus of Lyons – Against Heresies – Book 4 (excerpts 8)
Book 4, Chapter 31.1
When recounting matters of this kind about those who lived long ago, the presbyter [before mentioned] was in the habit of instructing us in this fashion: “With respect to those misdeeds for which the Scriptures themselves blame the patriarchs and prophets, we should not denounce them or become like Ham, who ridiculed the shame of his father and so fell under a curse; rather, we should give thanks to God for them, since their sins have been forgiven them through the advent of our Lord, for he said that they gave thanks for us and gloried in the coming salvation. Again, with regard to those actions on which the Scriptures pass no censure but are simply recorded, we should not become accusers, since we are not more exacting than God and we are not greater than our master. Instead, we should search for types in them, for nothing which was recorded in Scripture without being condemned is without deeper significance?…” (4:31,1)
Book 4, Chapter 32.1
This is the way a presbyter who had been a disciple of the apostles dealt with the two testaments, proving that both were from one and the same God. He maintained that there was no other God besides the one who made and fashioned us, and that the instruction of those who teach that this world of ours was made by angels or by some other power or by another God was baseless. If one turns away from the creator of all things and grants that this creation to which we belong was formed by or through any other than the one God, that person will necessarily fall into a great deal of inconsistency and many contradictions of this kind, for which he will be unable to provide explanations which could be regarded as either probable or true…
…But if anyone believes in the one God who made all things by the Word—as Moses says, “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” [Gen 1:3]; and as we read in the Gospel, “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being” [John 1:3]; and as the apostle Paul says in like manner, “One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” [Eph 4:6]—that person will first of all “hold fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God” [Col 2:19]. And then every word will also be consistent for him, if he diligently reads the Scriptures in company with those who are presbyters in the Church—among whom we find the apostolic doctrine, as I have pointed out. (4:32,1)
Book 4, Chapter 32.2
That all the apostles taught that there were two testaments among the two peoples, but that one and the same God gave both testaments for the benefit of those who were to believe in God, I have proved from the apostles’ teaching in the third book. The first testament was not given without reason or purpose or accidentally: it was given for the benefit of those whom it subdued to the service of God (even though God needs no service from human beings). It exhibited types of heavenly things, since humankind was not yet able to see the things of God directly. It thus foreshadowed the images of those things which now actually exist in the Church, so that our faith might be firmly established. It contained a prophecy of coming things, so that humankind might learn that God has foreknowledge of all things. (4:32,2)
Book 4, Chapter 33.1
A spiritual disciple, one who has genuinely received the Spirit of God—who was from the beginning and has been present with humankind in all the dispensations of God, announced things future, revealed things present, and narrated things past—such a person indeed judges all others but is himself judged by no one [1 Cor 2:15]. That person judges the nations “who serve the creature rather than the Creator” [Rom 1:25] and with a reprobate mind devote themselves to what has no lasting existence.
That person also judges the Jews, who do not accept the word of liberty and are thus unwilling to go forth free, although they have a deliverer. They pretend to serve God, who needs nothing, by going beyond the requirements of the law, but they neither recognize the advent of Christ, which he accomplished for the salvation of humanity, nor are willing to understand that all the prophets announced his two advents.
In the first, he became a man who experienced suffering and weakness [Isa 53:3], sat upon the foal of a donkey [Zech 9:9], was the stone rejected by the builders [Ps 118:22], was led as a sheep to the slaughter [Isa 53:7], and by the stretching forth of his hands destroyed Amalek [Exod 17:11]. In this first advent he gathered into his Father’s fold, from the ends of the earth, the children who had been scattered abroad [Isa 11:12], and he remembered his own who had died and descended to them so that he might deliver them [1 Pet 3:19–20].
But in the second he will come on the clouds [Dan 7:13], bringing on the day which burns like an oven [Mal 4:1], striking the earth with the rod of his mouth [Isa 11:4], slaying the unrighteous with the breath of his lips, having a winnowing fork in his hands and clearing his floor and gathering the wheat into his granary, but burning the chaff with unquenchable fire [Matt 3:12; Luke 3:17]. (4:33,1)
952 words
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should note how St. Irenaeus records the teachings of “a certain presbyter,” who was a direct disciple of the Apostles, and is probably St. Polycarp, his own teacher in the Faith. That teacher had instructed him in how to interpret the Scriptures, and especially in refraining from judging the figures in Scripture, instead drawing lessons from their experiences that relate to our own life, or more particularly, recognizing a prefigurement and prophecy of the Lord’s coming in the events of the Old Testament. This guidance is critically important to understand, as these essential guidelines are followed with remarkable consistency by the Fathers of the Church throughout the centuries, and often strike us in the modern day as strange, as we see stories recounted by the Saints without pointing out the errors being made by the Patriarchs. Because we no longer understand this point, no longer seem to follow this so strictly, but it is good to remember that it is not for us to judge those whom God has forgiven, lest we ourselves face a worse end.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 3 (Friday)
John 16:16-33 (Sorrow Will Turn into Joy, Peace for the Disciples)
Last time we saw the Lord speak further to His disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit, and what His work will be among the nations of the world. This was a challenging passage, and we offered some thoughts on how it might be understood as reflecting the dramatic change that the world experiences with the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord. At any rate, this week we will finish our reading of the Gospel of John, with the Lord’s last words to His disciples before His great High-Priestly prayer, which we read back in week 28 this past March.
Sorrow Will Turn into Joy
16 “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying to us, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”
19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? 20 Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.”
“22 So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
Peace for the Disciples
25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”
29 His disciples said, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. 33 I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”
512 words
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out how this is the last thing the Lord says before He prays for the Disciples, and for the entirety of the Church throughout the ages, in the great High-Priestly prayer which mirrors the Anaphora prayers of the Divine Liturgy. Thus, although the context for this is the end of the Lord’s public ministry, as He goes to His Passion, He is giving to His disciples clear and explicit assurances that this is not the end, and is rather counseling them and teaching them and instructing them with the task that He is giving to them, as He sends them out to proclaim the Gospel and bear His presence and glory into all the world. This is the promise and the call that we share in, that we are to follow Him, and that as we take up our Cross in obedience to Him, we will indeed have sorrow, but our sorrow will truly be turned into joy everlasting.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?