Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics House rules/notes… 1. Meetup is www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy Zoom Meeting Logon info is the same every week: Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952 2. Questions encouraged. If you have questions about anything, you can ask in the chat, email the Meetup group, or me directly at ron@hallagan.net. 3. Unedited recaps of meetings are posted via Meetup after our meeting. The final edited recap is posted on our Catholic Catacombs Light website www.catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/recaps a week later. You will be notified via Meetup of both. 4. See The Chosen. Knowing Jesus Christ means being able to better relate to God. Check it out: The Chosen at https://thechosen.link/1Y1R7. 5. Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between religions and between Christian denominations, and agree to be respectful at all times. Specifically, Protestants are our friends and brothers in Christ, and I personally owe part of my return to the faith to them. 6. No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to learn the Bible, explain the Catholic faith, and help members develop a closer relationship with the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. 7. Catholic Prayer, Fellowship, and Spirituality Meetup led by fellow member Jason Goldberg: https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/ 8. Prison fellowship – opportunities to volunteer one Saturday per month for 2 hours (12-2 or 2-4) serving Catholic prisoners at the Fairfax County Jail. Ask Ron (ron@hallagan.net) or Gina (gmasterson99@gmail.com) for details. Why? "I was in prison and you visited me." – Matt 25:36 RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending or just reading the notes afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give us recognition, which will draw others to us, which is our way of evangelizing! Bible Study Format: 5 min prayers, 10 min Catholic topic, 45 min main topic from the weeks listed below Week 1: Sept 6 – Gospel Week: Mary & Martha (Lk 10:38-42); Teach us to Pray (Lk 11:1-5,9-12); The Kingdom is like… (Mt 13…) Week 2: Sept 13 – Bible Week (Gen àRev): Introduction to Exodus, the 2nd book of Moses Week 3: Sept 20 – Survey Topics Voted on by Members: We are currently on #2 Heaven
Ö 1) Jesus’ Greatest Parables 2) Hell, Purgatory, Heaven 3) Christian Comparisons 4) Great Women in the Bible 5) Why is there suffering? 6) World Religions 7) Book of Revelation 8) Major Councils/Crusades/Inquisitions
Week 4: Sept 27 – Open Mic Week (anything you want):
1. Can you provide me with an elevator response for the Crusades?
2. What is justice? Is it always good? Does God cause bad things to happen? If one suffers but the results are good, is that justice?
3. How should we celebrate/honor the Christian Sabbath Sunday?
4. How does the possibility of other intelligent life in the universe affect our Catholicism?
5. The love and unity of the Holy Spirit are two of its Trinitarian descriptions. How are they different? How does they affect us?
6. The knowledge of God is “participatory.” Is that why nonbelievers have difficulty?
7. Are Charity and Love synonymous? How are they different? What are the 4 highest forms of Charity?
8. What race was Jesus?
9. The History of the Mass going back to Cain & Abel, and the meaning of the Eucharist now.
Week 5 (today, Aug 30) doesn’t exist in our schedule, so we are doing a bit on etymology, a Gospel reading from Luke, and finishing Purgatory.
Opening Prayer
Father of Mercy and Life
In this week’s lesson we seek to understand the narrow gate so that we may walk with you our whole lives.
That narrow gate requires us to turn around from the big, easy, worldly gate and take the relationship gate to you.
Walking with you means trying to do the right thing regardless how difficult,
asking for your forgiveness and advice when we make mistakes
and gaining grace and wisdom from You every step of the way.
And as Jesus taught us to pray:
Our Father Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily Bread;
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us all.
Amen.
Next Holy Days
Solemnity of All Saints – Nov 1
Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day) – Nov 2
Etymology. You may have noticed that I like to find the roots of words because, at least for me, it helps to understand the origin of the meaning, and about 50% of the time it causes a light bulb to go off as the word suddenly makes perfect sense. Some examples:
Eucharist comes from the Greek eucharistia meaning thanksgiving, gratefulness. What did Jesus say before he gave the bread and wine? He gave thanks to God. The Eucharist represents giving up his life in payment for our sins, so Communion is all about thanksgiving.
Holy comes from an Old Norse word meaning “whole.” To be holy (like Christ) is what we were created for; to be made whole.
Mass comes from the Latin word missus meaning “to send.” “Go forth and preach the Gospel, in the name of the Father…”
The Trinity comes from Latin meaning three + unity. Three in One.
Sin comes from the Latin sons meaning “guilty.”
The other day I came across the word “macadamize.”
Who wants to pronounce it?
I thought it might have to do with macadamia nuts, but I was wrong.
It means “to pave a road by compacting several layers of broken stone.”
What? How could this be?
It turns out that this process of paving roads was invented by a guy named John McAdam. So, macadamize.
But then I had to ask where the name McAdam came from?
In the old days, names came from one’s trade. For example, “John the tailor” might become John Taylor.
Guess where John Archer came from? How about Tim Brewer? James Fisher? Elizabeth Shoemaker? Harry Potter?
It also turns out that “Mc” comes from “mac” which in Gaelic means “son of.” And Adam comes from … Hebrew, meaning …
earth!
You may not have known this but 'Adam' with a small ‘a’ (adam) means earth - because in Genesis God made Adam from the earth.
Adam was first just a common word meaning dirt, although it quickly became his proper/formal name.
Now do you see the connection between the meaning of adam - dirt - and macadamize?
What about the word “etymology”?
Greek root: etymos means “true,” and logos means “word.” Searching for the true meaning of words!
Gospel Reading: Luke 13:22-30, The Narrow Gate
The setting for this discussion is during Jesus final trip to Jerusalem, and it follows his many kingdom parables about how the kingdom works and how we can get there. The framework for this exchange is the rejection of Jesus by Jewish authorities/scribes/priests, whose place at table in the kingdom will be taken by the Gentiles, the last to be called.
Luke 13:22-30 – The Narrow Gate; Salvation and Rejection
He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
Q: Is this one of his disciples who asked him?
No. The question, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” did not come from a disciple. You will find that Jesus does not give direct answers to abstract questions, especially to those who think they are pinning him down. Instead, he turns things around on them.
Q: What is it about this question that suggests the person is trying to pin Jesus down?
Great question; there’s no way you would know this without knowing something about 1st century Judaism.
The Jews had debated for some time who among their historical ancestors would be saved. They knew their ancestors were the “Chosen Ones,” but what about Cain who murdered his brother? What about after evil spread over the earth and the people who refused to heed Noah’s warning and were destroyed in the flood?
Q: What other groups might they have debated excluding?
What about the cursed son of Noah, Ham, whose descendants were the child-sacrificing Canaanites?
What about the first generation of Hebrews who escaped slavery in the Exodus?
What about the people destroyed in Sodom & Gomorrah?
What about the lost northern 10 tribes of Israel?
That’s an awful lot of potentially “unsaved” – perhaps most of the Jews in their history. Who fell into the “saved” categories were debated in Jesus’ time. Some Jews held the belief that none of those fallen Jews would be saved. Some held that some of them would be saved, such as the Lost 10 Tribes of the north. Some held that all of them would be saved, although not at the coming of the “new (Messianic) age,” but at the “end of time” (Judgment Day).
So, now, when you hear, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” can you see how the context of the question has changed?
One other thing we can tell from the question is that he isn’t asking if he is saved, just all those other categories of people. He likely believes, like all the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and priests who are part of surviving Jerusalem Temple, that he is already saved.
So Jesus has to respond to this question that has two unspoken components: 1) whether or not to enter into the debate over which category of Jews are, or aren’t, saved, and 2) teach the questioner that he is not as saved as he thinks he is.
Let’s see how Jesus handles this.
Jesus replied to him,
“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.
Q: Cities back were often build like small fortresses with several gates, some larger for large contingents to enter and some smaller for daily business or other reasons (Jerusalem was a perfect example). However, although the literal meaning was understood by his audience, Jesus is using it as an analogy, figuratively. How so?
Jesus is defining salvation as "entering the narrow gate," which is different from his Jewish questioner's expectations. However, it is not because the gate is physically too narrow that people don't enter; it is because people choose to go through the wider gate with everyone else. By this, Jesus is suggesting that being saved is not an automatic thing but rather which gate you choose.
Q: How will the audience make the connection with the figurative meaning?
This is why we need to read the passages before and after to properly interpret what we are reading. In this case, Jesus has been preaching about the kingdom of God during his whole journey to Jerusalem (starting in Ch9). In the previous chapter (12), he called the Pharisees hypocrites for requiring so much from the people but not lifting a finger to help them; he taught them about the rich fool who would rather build new barns to store his excess grain rather than help others in need; he spoke of loving one’s enemies and taking the log out of our own eyes before judging others.
His point, then, was that striving to enter heaven’s gate is based on humility, compassion, and loving your neighbor. Jesus understands these are not easy, yet we must strive to work towards them. That’s what it means to be holy – to strive for these things. Small steps are okay, as long as we keep striving. That is the narrow gate.
Jesus then pivots his story more pointedly against all the Jews who assumed they were already saved. It is Judgement Day.
Once the Master of the House has arisen and shut the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door to us!’ But he will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’
And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’
But he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.
Q: What is Jesus implying by saying “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets”?
He is suddenly not talking about God the Father but himself. Jesus is the one who ate with them and taught in their streets. He is now talking about people coming to him on Judgment Day begging to get in and he will have no choice but to say he doesn’t know them, which means they didn’t listen to him. They didn’t repent – which means to turn from their current ways and begin to do the things he was teaching them.
He further drives the point home to the Jewish officials when he speaks about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob being in the kingdom while they are on the outside.
Q: Does anyone think Jesus is teeing up his own death once he arrives in Jerusalem?
Rhetorical question…
Let’s finish Jesus’ comments:
“And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Q: What is Jesus’ final point?
Jesus likes to point out that the last shall be first… which in this case refers to the gentiles accepting God’s invitation before the Jewish officials.
Q: Remember, the big question most people wonder about when listening to Jesus’ comment is whether a few or many will make it to heaven. That’s such a human question, isn’t it? That’s the first thing we want to know. Who’s going? Who received invitations? What might we have learned in this regard?
We learned that the question being asked of Jesus was not quite what we thought; we found out that the Jews were trying to get Jesus to weigh in on an old Jewish debate about how many of their ancestral Jews would be saved. Jesus wouldn’t be drawn into their debate except to point out their salvation criteria was all wrong.
We learned how easy it is to get caught up speculating about whether heaven might be full or empty. And what about hell? How about this person or that person? However, rather than looking for the inside scoop about who’s in and who’s out of the kingdom, Jesus’ answer directs us back to focusing on making it ourselves, and helping our neighbor make it. Jesus usually does not answer a question directly when it’s the wrong question. All that said, note that Jesus said “many will not be able to enter”; last I checked, the word ‘many’ does not mean ‘most.’ A few hundred could be many. So, Jesus never said that most would not be saved!
Note also that Jesus said, “…people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.” That sounds like an awful lot of people to me. Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not speaking for Jesus here – I am just ruling out an overly negative reading of his words!
Lastly, some food for thought. Jesus suggested that the last will go first (the gentiles were last to be called by God and (more or less) the first to answer Jesus’ call. But what does entering heaven last mean? Where will they be before entering heaven? I think we should thank the Lord again for Purgatory which all by itself may have expanded the ranks of the saved from a few to very many.
Closing Prayer
Dear Lord
Tonight we learned more about the narrow path and we pray that you help us stay on that pay for the rest of our days.
We also nearly finished Purgatory today
And we were hoping that this may count against any time we may need to spend there.
But mostly we pray that You have a sense of humor in case this request is too presumptuous.
And in case we are in real trouble, we are going to pray to your mother for her intercession:
Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
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