23rd Sunday in OT, 2026

We have a fun second reading today – which has been used nicely by St. Augustine, and abused by a lot of people, especially the late Alister Crowley. It is Rom. 13:8-10.

The beginning of verse 8 is translated in the Lectionary as “Owe nothing to anyone.”

The literal wording is “Y’all, owe nothing to nobody (Medeni meden opheilete).” Medeni is dative singular masculine (to nobody, to no man), and meden is the object noun, in accusative singular neuter (nothing). Opheilete is in the imperative, 2nd person plural, so St. Paul is commanding this.

The verse continues, “Except to love one another” (ei me, to agapan allelous). The Lectionary turns this into “except that YOU love one another.”

Poke poke poke, y’all must do it and not just hear about the infinitive, huh? I understand this lectionary translation move.

Allelous could also be translated as “each other,” if you like that better, but “one another” is a nice sonorous English way to say it.

The verse continues, “For the one loving (ho gar agapon) the other/another [person] (ton heteron) has fulfilled the Law (nomon pepleroken).”

So as you would expect, we are talking about agape love, love that wants the highest good for the other – and not sexual, parental, familial, or friendly love.

To fulfill the old Law is to make it perfect and complete, to fill it up with the meaning and actions for which it waited, after being given by God, and His prophet Moses, as a sign and a prep school for Israel.

Christ’s new Law and new love covers up what is no longer needed and used, without destroying what was once useful and holy.

Verse 9 explains further. “For this [reason] (to gar), it is recapped (anakephalaioutai, to repeat again in a short form, like the content summary at the “head” of a chapter of a book).”

One of the Bible’s weirder literary features is this “time travel” or “circle back,” anakephalosis, where the same event or concept is talked about several times from a different perspective. The Book of Revelation does a ton of this, and it also shows how the Church and what happens to her is the thing that fulfills a lot of Israel’s history and prophesies.

Christian theology shows how, eventually, Christ recaps everything good in existence, in Himself.

So what is recapped in this verse? The old Law is the implied subject being studied. But St. Paul in this verse talks about the commandments that are “in the Word,” and thus defends the old Law as sacred and part of Jesus. Each individual commandment is what is being recapped.

Here’s what the Greek of verse 9 says:

“To gar (for this):
“Ou moicheuseis (Thou shall not do adultery)
“Ou phoneuseis (Thou shall not murder)
“Ou klepheis (Thou shall not steal)
“Ou pseudomartyreseis (Thou shall not fake-witness)
“Ouk epithymeseis (Thou shall not overly-strongly desire/covet).”

“Kai ei tis hetera entole? (And if there be another commandment?)

“En touto to logo (in this Word/saying),

“anakephalaioutai (it is recapped) –
“en to (in this):

“Agapeis (Thou shall love)
“ton plesion sou (thy neighbor)
“hos heauton (as thyself).”

Verse 10 finishes by pointing out that “Love does nothing bad to the neighbor (he agape to plesion kakon ouk ergaxetai).”

“The fullness of the Law is love (pleroma oun nomon he agape).”

That should have polished off the Gnostics, but noooo.

Anyway, the Greek text is doing a lot of work again. Man, I love reading the Bible in Greek.

State of the Blogger

Thursday, September 3 was the first anniversary of my father’s death. I went to work like normal and did my best not to think about it, although I have been thinking about it all along.

My mom and dad were not horrible people or perfect people. They withstood a lot of personal and financial shocks without revealing it to us kids, when we were young, but they also kept their own council more than maybe they should have, as they grew old and could have used more help.

I will always regret how much I kept getting sick in my last couple of years with Mom and Dad here, because I could have visited them more. But also I did not realize that Mom and Dad needed me to push more for certain things, like fixing the sump pump, or getting them an air purifier. Finally, I regret the times when I was less gentle or more angry with them, for unfair reasons.

Of course, my biggest regret was not being more persuasive about resisting them getting the COVID “vaccines,” which almost certainly were responsible for their relatively early deaths from rapid-onset conditions, as well as for the deaths of various other relatives and acquaintances with the same pattern. Since I took suffered weird vaccine side effects and also got a weird eye condition out of it, I certainly feel bitter about how we were lied to.

Several bittersweet things have happened. I have an opportunity to do something cool at work, in the near future. And I have been attending the Star Trek 60th anniversary showings of the first four movies, which started this Friday and will continue all weekend. I learned to love Star Trek while under my parents’ roof, and they took us to see STII and let us watch the multiple Star Trek episodes showing on TV on the weekend, on a local channel. So it helps.

I am finally making progress clearing out my parents’ house of unwanted, unneeded things, many of which they never meant to keep. The house is well-organized but just needs more room for other stuff, belonging to me.

It is hard, but not too hard. The trick is to keep moving.

Dolly Parton on American Experience

It is a very good show, but some of the “experts” are not very. For a bluegrass or folk music song to be about suicide was not unusual, over the last three hundred years ago.

So if Parton wrote an effective, modernized version of a traditional song theme, it is not startling. Except insofar as she made it sound new, which is fine and proper for a member of a song tradition.

UPDATE: That was Jane Fonda. Not a big expert on country music, bluegrass, etc. Not sure why they quoted her on songs, since she was mostly relevant to the movie Nine to Five.

22nd Sunday in OT 2026

Last week we saw that Our Lord was quoting St. Jeremiah enough that some people thought He was that same prophet, come back.

So if you make a Christological interpretation of the Psalms, because Jesus is the Son of David, you can also interpret Jeremiah and Lamentations as having a Christological fulfillment that happened in Jesus’ lifetime. We can use that to look into Jesus’ heart.

If His prophetic messengers on Earth could feel a burning in their bones when not speaking out, and were sad to have to give a message about sad and violent things, Jesus also must have felt such things.

(And several times in the first reading from Jer. 20:7-9, St. Jeremiah even uses the Hebrew word “dabar,” which corresponds to the Greek “logos.”)

And of course He was saddened whenever His apostles and disciples did not take His warnings seriously, even though He had known from before the beginning of the world that He would go through this pain.

It is the fire of His love for us that drove Him on, the fire of the love of all Three Persons working as one Trinity through all eternity. He was doing it for every one of us, individually.

It is Jesus Whose soul pines for His Father and for us, and we hunger and thirst for God without fully realizing how dehydrated and hangry we really are.

Today’s Gospel reading is from Mt. 16:21-27, and follows immediately from the renaming of St. Peter last Sunday. The only thing that is left out is the beginning of verse 21, which is “From then/from that [time] on” (apo tote).

So, Jesus “began to show” (erxato… deiknyein) His disciples that He must go (dei… apelthein) to Jerusalem, and suffer (pathein), and be killed (apoktanthenai); and on the third day be raised (egerthenai).

St. Peter, maybe a little puffed up from just being named Jesus’ chief steward, reacts by taking Jesus by the hand/leading Him aside (proslabomenos – 2nd aorist middle participle).

And Peter “began to rebuke” (erxato epitiman) Him (!!), saying (legon), “Hileos soi, Kyrie!”

“Hileos” is a Greek version of a Hebrew expression. It literally means something like “God be merciful on you!” or “God be propitious on you!”, because “hileos” means “auspicious, favorable.” (There is also another way to spell it, which is “hilaos.”)

The non-literal meaning is “God forbid.”

Obviously it is ridiculous and presumptuous for somebody to tell God, that God should forbid something bad happening to Him.

Peter also says, “Ou me estai soi touto.” (But not to You will this be.)

Which obviously would negate the entire divine plan of salvation, not to mention Our Lord’s incarnation and the whole point of having disciples, much less a chief steward!

Sometimes we really do not know what is good for us.

So He, having turned around (strapheis), said (eipen) to Peter (to Petro), “Go back (hypage) behind me (opiso me), Satan (Satana).

“[You] are a stumbling block to me (skandalon mou ei).

“For you do not think (hoti ou phroneis) the things/thoughts of God (ta tou Theou), but instead (alla) the things/thoughts of men (ta ton anthropon).”

(Satan literally means “prosecuting attorney” or “adversary,” although obviously Jesus is also saying that Peter was acting like Satan as tempter.)

But don’t worry. Jesus is not happy with the rest of the group, either! Peter is probably saying what everybody else is thinking, too!

“Then (tote)” Jesus “said (eipen) to His disciples (tois mathetais autou),

” ‘If (ei – yes, Greek has a lot of ei words) anyone (tis) thelei (wishes/wills) to come along behind me (opiso mou elthein)…’ “

Did you notice? Following Jesus is being behind him. Jesus is not sending Peter away; He is ordering Peter to go back to following Him.

“…he must have denied (aparnesastho – aorist middle deponent imperative, 3rd person singular) himself (eauton), and have picked up/carried away (arato – aorist active imperative, 3rd person singular) his cross (ton stauron autou), and [right now] follow (akoloutheito – present active imperative, 3rd person singular) Me (mou).”

Yeah, we have to keep staying behind Him. Just like Peter.

“For anyone (hos gar) who may will/want (an thele) to have saved his life (ten psychon autou sosai) will lose it (apolesei auton).

“But anyone (hos d’) who may have lost (an apolesei) his life (ten psychen autou) for My sake (heneken emou) will find it (heuresei auten).

“For what (ti gar) is the use/does it profit (opheleitai) a man (anthropos), if (ean) he should have gained (kerdese – aorist active subjunctive) the whole cosmos (ton kosmon holon), but his life (ten de psychen autou) he shall have suffered the loss of (zemiosthe)?

“Or (e) what (ti) will a man give (dosei anthropos) in exchange (antallagma) for his life (tes psyches autou)?

“For the Son of Man is about to come/is beginning to come/is ready to come (mellei, gar, hou huios tou anthropou erchesthai)…

“… in the glory (en te doxe) of His Father (tou Patros autou), with His angels (meta ton angellon autou).

“And then (kai tote), He will pay off/reward (apodosei) everyone/each one (hekasto) according to his action/deed/work (kata ten praxin autou).”

So there you go. We have to do stuff and follow Him, and denying ourselves and carrying our crosses is just the beginning.

The verb for denying oneself is used in the LXX for people rejecting their idols (Isaiah 31:7). So we reject ourselves as being our own idols, just like we trust our lives and deaths to Our Lord.

UPDATE: Tomics and others have pointed out that a skandalon, a stumbling block that trips you up, is also a rock.

Likewise, a Satan (prosecutor/plaintiff) is also a kind of government position, just like being the chief steward over the King’s house.

More 21st Sunday in OT 2026

The first question that Jesus asks is literally “Whom (tina) do the men (hoi anthropoi) say (legousin) the Son of Man (ton huion tou anthropou), me (me), to be (einai)?”

The definite article with anthropoi is making sure we know the subject of the sentence.

Anthropos refers to a human of either sex, but in the LXX and NT, it often refers to male adult humans. So this usage spectrum is very similar to what the word “man” in English has traditionally possessed.

So the disciples say that some say He is John the Baptist, others Elijah (whom John dressed and ate like, and who was prophesied to return at the time of the Messiah. They also say that still other say that He is really Jeremiah.

Obviously Jesus had done some calls for repentance and predictions of doom, which is what I always thought this line was about.

However, when I went through Fr. Schmitz’s Bible in a Year, I was shocked to find out how many times Our Lord quotes or alludes to sayings of St. Jeremiah. Especially stuff like “brood of vipers” and “den of robbers.”

So yup, not such a weird conclusion for people to draw.

Next, Jesus “says” (legei), “But y’all (hymeis de), whom (tina) do you say me to be (me legete einai)?”

And even though the question is asked of everyone, it is answered by St. Peter (Simon Petros in the verse), as he often does. (His “said” is “eipen,” btw.)

The Greek for what he says is:

“Sy ei ho Christos, ho Huion tou Theou tou zontos.”

Jesus says a lot in return. He first calls him “Simon bar Jonah,” which is presumably his legal name. Jonah is kind of a funny name for a fisherman’s dad, and of course Jesus had just talked about “the sign of Jonah.”

Jesus declares him blessed (makarios), and says (eipen) that the Father revealed (apekalypsen) this to him.

Jesus in the Gospels often uses the Greek word “kago” for “and I.” It is literally a smooshed version of “kai ego.”

So then Jesus says, “And I say to you (singular)” (kago de soi lego), that (hoti):

“You are Rock” (Sy ei Petros).

Obviously this is Jesus saying something important. The whole reply by Jesus builds to this.

If Jesus’ identity or office is revealed as anointed Messiah and Son of God, then Jesus is saying that He is divinely revealing Simon’s true identity or office, in return.

People do not have to like this Gospel, but they ought to see that it is what it says.

Jesus goes on, saying, “And upon this same rock (kai epi taute te petra), I will house-build (oikodomeso) My Church (mou ten ekklesian).”

“And the gates of the netherworld (kai pylai Hadou) shall not prevail against (ou katischysousin) it (autes).”

The verb “ischyo” means to be strong, to have power. Adding “kat-” makes it mean “to overpower someone or something” in various ways.

Then Jesus says He will give (doso) to him (soi) the keys to the kingdom (tas kleis tes basileias) of the heavens (ton ouranon).

“And the whatever-thing (kai ho ean) you may have bound (doses – aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person singular) upon the earth (epi tes ges), it shall (estai) have been a thing being bound (dedemenon – perfect passive participle, nominative neuter singular) in the heavens (en tois ouranois).”

“And whatever (kai ho ean) you may have loosed (lyses) on earth, it shall have been a thing being loosed (estai lelymenon) in the heavens.”

The grammar here is weird, and probably explains a lot of the theology of binding and loosing (which Josephus explains as a term for rabbis permitting or disallowing actions, under divine law).

A prime minister like Shebna literally had the keys to every room in the king’s palace, and the king himself was the ultimate keyholder.

Then Jesus “strictly ordered” (diesteilato) the disciples to tell to noone (medeis) that He was Jesus the Christ (autos estin Iesous ho Christos).

I think that was interesting. The Greek does a lot of work here.

Read with Caution

I happened to click on Wikipedia’s article on the Church Fathers. The current version is ridiculous, as it excludes many real Fathers, and includes Origen, Tertullian, and other figures never honored as Fathers. There is no clear distinction between denominational lists, either.

I am disgusted.

I also was looking up St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. He was not listed in the Wikipedia list of people called “Wonderworker” (which is what thaumaturgos means). He had his speech thanking Origen for his teaching quoted on the Origen page as being by “Theodore,” his pagan given name, without any kind of indication of which Theodore it was.

Seriously, what the heck are these people doing? Trying hard to make Wikipedia useless?

21st Sunday in OT 2026

So after going all the way to the Tyre and Sidon municipal area, returning to the Sea of Galilee, and traveling along it by boat and on foot, Jesus walks His disciples north about twenty miles, towards the ancient pagan sites around Mount Hermon.

In ancient times, there was a spring that flowed out of the mountain, creating an impressive cave, and out of which the spring water dropped in a powerful waterfall.

In Roman times, the cave’s watercourse had long been lined with shrines to the Baal of Mount Hermon (Baalgad, Baalhermon, or Baalgadon), to the Greek god Pan, and to various water and mountain deities of the various ethnic groups around Israel. There was a ledge next to the cave, where there was a big temple.

This cave was called the Panion in Greek, and the Panium or Fanium in Latin. The city below it shared the name in various forms, in pre-Roman and post-Roman times (usually going by Paneas in Greek), and is now called Banias.

(Mount Hermon was called Siryon or Sirion by the people of Sidon (cf. Deut. 3:9), which may sound familiar to fans of Tolkien. The Amorites called it Shenir.)

(The spring dropped lower in the mountain after a big earthquake, and now flows out of a mountain crack instead of the Panion cave. There is still a pretty waterfall, but it is comparatively tiny.)

So Caesarea Philippi was the official name of the renovated city built by Herod the Great, and used as a capital by his son Philip the Tetrarch, for his fourth of Herod’s kingdom of Judaea.

(King Philip’s chunk touched on the Sea of Galilee at Bethsaida, and stretched north past Caesarea Philippi and eastward too, into places now part of Lebanon and Syria.)

Obviously all the pagan stuff at Mount Hermon was an affront to the worship of the true God. But Herod the Great built pagan temples in honor of his Roman friends, as well as funding the Temple in Jerusalem. Situation totally messed up.

And here comes Jesus, claiming dominion over Philip’s kingdom, dissing Baal and Pan just by being there, claiming His status as the true God and the true Messiah, and appointing His prime minister who carries the king’s keys.

Caesarea Philippi also was the home of the woman with the discharge of blood that lasted for years and years. Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History says that she built a bronze statue of Jesus by her house, which was close to the local Christian church. Later, allegedly, Emperor Julian the Apostate replaced Jesus’ statue with a statue of himself.

Caesarea Philippi had some very notable bishops. The first bishop was supposedly St. Erastus, the same guy mentioned by St. Paul.

The Wikipedia entry about Caesarea Philippi/Banias seems to have been worked on quite a lot, with certain information disappearing, and a lot of Muslim-oriented information added. Still okay overall; but as usual, read with caution.

A nice page at Notre Dame with a video of the cave and the Banias River. https://faith.nd.edu/caesarea-philippi/

So we don’t hear that Jesus went into the city itself. He went into the “region” of it, the “meros,” the portion or division of the land that belonged to the city.

Jesus “asked” is the verb “erotao,” which we just had in Mt. 15:23, when the disciples were asking/begging Jesus to send the woman away. That is a usage that shows up in the NT and the LXX. Usually in Greek, it is just the verb for “to ask a question” or even “to interrogate.”

More 20th Sunday in OT

So the Canaanite woman answers back, in a formal and emphatic way.

Mt. 15:27 – “But she said (he de eipen), ‘Indeed, O Lord. (Nai, Kyrie.) And therefore (kai gar) the little dogs eat off the little crumbs (ta kynaria esthiei apo ton psichion), the ones falling off the table (ton piptonton apo tes trapezes) of their masters (ton kyrion auton).’ “

The word pagans used for cube-shaped altars was the same one used for rectangular tables, so the Canaanite lady is also making a layered reference!

And the puppies being little dogs, and the crumbs or scraps being little crumbs, is another nice touch.

“Then Jesus, answering (tote apokritheis ho Iesous), said to her (eipen aute), ‘O woman (o gynai, a polite vocative form like kyrie), your faith is great (megale sou he pistis).'”

Hold onto your socks.

” ‘It shall be done for you as you will.’ Or ‘It shall have happened.’ And so on.

“Genetheto soi hos theleis.” Genetheto is aorist passive deponent imperative.

Jesus says something similar to the centurion whose faith is great in Mt. 8:13, and to the blind men who called out to the Son of David to have mercy on them (Mt. 9:29)

But even more importantly, the Lord teaches us to pray in Mt. 6:10, and says, “Genetheto to thelema sou, hos en ouranos kai epi tes ges.” Thy will be done, as in heaven and so also on the earth.

And then in Mt. 26:42, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Genetheto to thelema sou.” Thy will be done.

This is how Our Lord and Creator and Savior and Judge talks to us. If our faith is great and our wish is good, He sometimes tells us that our will is to be done.

It is amazing.

“And her daughter was healed (iathe) at that same hour.”

20th Sunday in OT

Today we join Jesus midway into Matthew 15, after He rebuked the Pharisees for the whole “I don’t have to help Mom and Dad because I donated instead” thing, and called them the blind leading the blind; which then progressed into explaining that unclean foods don’t make a person spiritually unclean, per se.

St. Peter was hoping this was just figurative, and asked Our Lord to explain “the parable.” At which point Our Lord doubled down, much like He did in John 6. And this is where we get Our Lord saying that unclean foods go into the latrine pit/toilet (aphedron), whereas horrific mortal sins come out of unclean human hearts.

So next thing we know, He “withdrew” (anachoresen again) to the Greater Tyre and Sidon municipal area (horion), probably because He was done with the Pharisees for a bit.

And there we meet a local Canaanite woman (gyne Kananaia) who cried out (ekraugasen, from the word “krauge,” a loud cry, which is how you greet God or the Ark of the Covenant, and which is how St. Elizabeth welcomed the Virgin Mary), asking for help for her badly bedemoned (kakos daimonizetai) daughter (thygater).

(This could mean either demonic possession, or oppression and demonic tricks around the house. Or maybe both.)

Jesus doesn’t answer. The sentence used is literally “But He did not answer back a word to her.” (Ho de ouk apekrithe aute logon.)

I am suspicious of phrases like this. Jesus is the Way, and “way” is hodos, with hode as one inflection and word component.

And He is the Word (logos), and the text says “word.”

The verb “apokrinai” does mean “to answer,” but it also means “to begin to speak, after somebody else spoke first, or when a statement is expected.” At least in Hebrew/Aramaic areas.

The original meaning was “to make a decision or conclusion, by oneself, or on one’s own authority.”

The root verb, “krino,” means “to judge, to decide a case,” and is derived from “to sift.”

So when the Gospels have Jesus answering somebody back, as He frequently does, there is an implication of His role as the Stern Judge at the end of life, and at the end of the world.

And at this moment, Jesus does not deliver His verdict, the Word.

He is not being cruel. He is not being ignorant (as if the Omniscient One could be). He is waiting and watching, even if He gives no sign. St. Matthew tells us this, by implication.

“And drawing near (proselthontes), His disciples begged (proutoun) Him, saying, “Send her away (apolyson auten), for she cries out loudly (kraxei) behind us.” (Mt. 15:23)

Suspiciously, the verb “apolyo” actually means “to let go, to set free” as well as “to allow to depart,” which is where the meaning “to send away” comes from. The disciples are not being nice here, but the implication is that they are inadvertently, prophetically, asking Our Lord to loose her and her daughter, to give her what she wants and needs.

(It is also suspiciously close to the verb “apostello,” to send out as an envoy, to make an apostle. A lot of apo- verbs in this passage, too.)

So here is the pagan or God-fearing Gentile woman, acknowledging Jesus as the true king and Son of David, behaving toward Him as a worshipper toward God and calling Him Lord, and also calling out, “Eleison me!”

And although all the crying out noise is making the disciples uncomfortable, they inadvertently bless her, and underline her knowledge and piety.

“But He (ho de), answering back (apokritheis), said (eipen), ‘I am not sent as an envoy (ouk apestalen), if not (ei me) to the lost sheep (eis ta probata ta apolylota) of the household (oikou) of Israel.”

“Ei me” does normally mean “unless” or “only,” but teeeechnically it does have other meanings.

Because if you ask a rabbi a question in Greek, in an Aramaic/Hebrew area, you say “ei.” You asked “whether” or “if” such and such.

So maybe, arguably, Jesus also says, “Whether I was not sent as an envoy, not only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” As if consulting a rabbi, which was exactly how rabbis asked questions of their students.

The game is on.

(And just as we thought about the verb, and wondered if it were intentional, St. Matthew actually uses the verb “apostello”! Oh, yeah, that apo- game is also happening.)

“And she (he de), having come, prostrated herself to Him (prosekynei auto), saying, ‘O Lord, help me (Kyrie, boethei moi)!’ “

Moi is the dative. A boethos is somebody who runs to help you or rescue you. So you could translate it as “Hurry to my aid!” It is a trusting thing to ask.

Jesus gives her an objection, like a rabbi teaching his students. “It is not good/beautiful (kalon) to give the bread (arton) of the children (teknon) to puppies/little dogs (kynariois).” It is not the nicest way to phrase it, but going from sheep (probata) to puppies (kynariois) is staying in the same rhetorical area, just like household/descendants of Jacob (oikou Israel) is in the same space as children of the house (teknon).

And Jesus wants her to win, to come up with a clever answer. Indeed, she and her daughter might have had a little puppy at home, and Jesus used this language to call the answer forth.

There were lots of early Christian believers in the area of Tyre and Sidon, as we learn from Acts. And the lady disciple, and her healed daughter, must have been two of them.

Curiously… Plato’s dialogue “Euthydemus” has Socrates telling a story, to Crito and Plato, about how a sophist proved that your puppies at home were your brothers, because everyone was a child of Earth. And that is one of the dictionary references for the word kynarion, puppy.

Our Lord making ancient Gentile pop culture references? To encourage Gentiles? Maybe.

Time to get ready for Mass.

Detective Galileo Author Remembered in South Korea

Keigo Higashino died on July 23, 2026, of colorectal cancer. He was only 68, and still writing at full speed.

As a very versatile author of contemporary mysteries, his books were translated and published around the world, as well as being the subject of a famous J-drama and even a Hindi mystery movie.

So NHK got one of its Korean reporters to interview a South Korean book collector, who was perhaps the author’s biggest fan.

Given all the bad history between Japan and South Korea, I find this man’s affection for the writer’s body of work to be very touching.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko2VBJWMubs

18th Sunday in OT

One of the Gospel words for movement is the Greek verb “choreo,” from which we got the English word “chorus.”

The oldest meaning of this verb was “to move back, in order to make a space” for someone or something. It also meant “to move forward,” in much the same way, and “to understand something” by moving your mind mentally, or making space to receive it.

In today’s Gospel reading, we get the related verb “anachoreo,” with the ana- meaning to go back again, along with the adverb “ekeithen,” from that place.

The lectionary translation is that Our Lord “withdrew,” which seems nice, and arguably includes the potential military associations of the verbs.

So Our Lord withdrew “en ploion,” in a boat and presumably a fishing boat, “eis eremon topon,” to a deserted place, “kat’ idian,” by Himself.

He did this “after hearing” or “upon having heard” (akousas) about the whole thing with Herod executing His cousin John, and with Herodias playing the anti-Esther through her daughter Salome.

And then the crowds, also “having heard” (akousantes) about what Jesus was doing after His cousin’s non-judicial murder, “followed Him.” The verb “akoloytheo” literally means to follow someone down the same keleuthos, a kind of road, to serve that person; and was also used for what students or political followers did when they chose a side.

They came on foot, “pexe,” from their towns, “apo ton poleon.”

And as Jesus was “disembarking,” ie, coming out (exelthon) from the place where he was, which was the boat, He saw (eiden) the large crowd (polyn ochlon).

And Jesus’ innards were moved with compassion (esplangchnisthe, and try to say that five times fast) for them, and He healed (etherapeusen) their sick (arrhoustos). This kind of “sick” literally means those without strength to move around quickly.

The fun literary thing is that both “arrhostos” and “akouoythou” have the intensifying prefix alpha- buried in their etymology.

Anyway… Time to go to Mass.

17th Sunday in OT

Today we got a homily on predestination, and how the Church’s views differ from those of Calvinists: which I can safely say I have never gotten at Mass before!

(Apologetics talks about it, yes. Homilies, no. Thus the difference between young priests and older priests.)

So yup, we had Romans 8 for the second reading. The first reading was Solomon praying for understanding, which of course is always a favorite. And the Gospel was Matthew 13, with the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price, and the net of fish, followed by the master of the house who has a storeroom with things new and old.

The pearl is “polytimon,” very valuable or of much value. The same word gets used in John 12:3 for the nard ointment, and in 1 Peter 1:7 for faith being very much more precious (poly timioteron) than gold.

The Greek word for “honor,” time (tee-may), originally meant something like worth in terms of market value. So yup, same word as the word for price.

Jesus talks about “bad fish,” but this is the word “sapros,” which actually means rotten. (Same as with “bad fruit” being rotten fruit.) So yup, no buckets for the old dead rotten fish!

(And I complain about the lectionary translation a fair bit, but “buckets” was perfect. Much better than the KJV “vessels.”)

Finally, the “end” of the world is “synteleia,” together-accomplishing, or things all ending together, at the same time. (It is also the word that was used for some civic private projects in ancient Greece, and even for drafting soldiers.)

I don’t know…it just sounds cooler. Like a plan coming together, and everybody working together behind the scenes on getting the plan done. Synteleia tou aionos.

Cleaning House

Today I threw away a pretty good load of old things from my family’s house. I hate doing it, but they truly are no good to anyone at this point.

There is a lot to do, and I will have to throw away a lot more. It hurts.

The worst thing is that they aren’t beyond use, but they are not the kind of things you can give away or sell at a thrift store. So I hate throwing them away, but I know that nobody can use something like a musty throw pillow.

I don’t have forty sofas, and they spent a lot of time on damp garages. They probably have been bringing mold into the house the whole time since they got here. But it is still hard, because they used to be owned by someone I love.

I also have to go through things, because my mother took down a lot of family photos at some point and put them away. I don’t know where they are.

I have a lot to do, and I put some of it off because other stuff had to be done first. But the work did not go away.

Like Yeast

This was another beautiful parable that the online guy with the weird Protestant pastor had been taught to badmouth.

So in this parable, the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast (zyme) which, taking up (labousa, a feminine participle of lambano), a woman (gyne) mixes into wheat flour (aleuron).

The Greek word translated here as “mixed” is “enekrypsen” from the verb “egkrypto” or “enkrypto.” It originally meant “to hide inside” but it can also mean “to mix thoroughly into a substance, so that you can’t see it anymore as something separate.”

Now… that said… the LXX several times translates one of the Hebrew words for “a cake, a small loaf of bread” with the word “egkryphias” or “enkryphias,” meaning a cake cooked inside a layer of hot ashes, and hence hidden inside the ashes. The Hebrew was uggah’ or uggath retzaphim.

This kind of cake could be leavened or unleavened. And it gets cooked by a gyne in 3 Kgs/1 Kgs, namely the widow with only a handful of flour and a bit of oil in a jar.

So it is probably a reference made by Jesus on purpose.

Three measures (saton) of flour equals one ephah, and it was apparently the standard smallest amount to bake.

Archestratus’ Gastronomy (from the 4th century AD) says that Tegea has the best wheat enkryphias, but describes them as being made from semidalis (which is a finer grade of flour).