Father Knows Best — Episode 19: Beatitudes, the mission of John the Baptist, naming of the Book of Genesis

Father Mark Stoll answers questions about the meaning of the Beatitude "blessed are the poor in spirit"; a scriptural meaning about John the Baptist; and naming of the Book of Genesis.

Tune in so we may discover, learn, and engage our hearts, souls, and minds and become illuminated, informed, and inspired.

Send in your questions to Fr. Mark via e-mail at fatherknowsbestshow@yahoo.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, I'm Father Mark Stoll, priest of the Diocese City with Hugh today. And joining me today for this episode 19 is Tim Sudin, executing director of Sioux Line Catholic Radio, presenting some of the questions I've received from you, our listeners. And so, Tim, again, how are you doing? It is a wonderful Wednesday evening, and I look forward to this every week. Very much so. Excellent. So I'm sure we got some great customs questions coming up here in a little bit, but thank you again, Tim, for being here. And of course to Anne, who is on our control board helping us to sound good, producing the show. And so let's dive into uh the questions that our listeners have sent me. So, what is our first question?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I think this is the first time we've heard from Dorothy. Dorothy. Dorothy of Sioux City sent this question in. I am having trouble with the Beatitude that says, Blessed are the poor in spirit. I've always defined poor as lacking or needy. Maybe the translation of poor from the Aramaic views seems something means something else. What am I missing?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Thank you for that question. I think that says Aramaic. Aramaic. I'm sorry. I said it wrong. But I'm you know, I'm pleased that uh Dorothy knows that there's uh Aramaic is behind this uh question, so original language of the of the gospels of Jesus. So this course passage comes from the Beatitudes from Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. It says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And again, briefly, when you just look at that passage, you know, we see St. Matthew in the Gospel is emphasizing this religious and spiritual values of the disciples of the kingdom, which of course is the kingdom, of course, inaugurated by Jesus. Now, this passage is similar to what we find in the Gospel. Luke chapter 6, verse 20, with a little exception, it says, Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. And of course, this passage in Luke comes from what we know as a sermon on blessings and woes. But let's look at this phrase that Dorothy brings up about the poor in spirit. In the Old Testament, when the word poor was used, again, Aramaic, if I pronounce this right, is Anoim, though that word Onoin is a reference to those who are without any material possessions, but also have confidence in God. And so when we look at the New American Bible, this word is often translated as lowly or humble. And in one of the scripture commentaries that I checked out and noted that Matthew adds the words in spirit in order to either to indicate that only the devout poor were meant, or to extend this beat to all, especially no matter whatever social rank, and again to recognize that they have complete dependence on God. So Jean should point out that uh there's a liturge literature known as Qumran. I believe it comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls that was found at sometime after the time of the apostles. And but again, they also use that same phrase, poor in spirit. And so again, the term Anwin comes from this Hebrew word anwa. I believe it's pronounced, means poor or humble or afflicted, and then often is translated as the meek or the lowly in English. It appears in biblical test texts to describe those who are marginalized, especially those who are oppressed or destitute. And again, originally refers to the physically poor. But the term has evolved to include anyone depends entirely on God, whether it's by their own strength, um excuse me, it affects those who depend entirely on God, except depending on their own strength. And of course includes the sick, the widows, orphans, socially powerless and beyond. So again, Anawim in Hebrew means refers to the poor and humble ones, which includes again those who are materially or even spiritually lowly, who rely on God for guidance and support. And so, in short, the words that we find Jesus using the gospels of Matthew and Luke do yes refer to physically poor, but those words also can refer to anyone who's humble, meek, and lowly, and who place their trust in God depending entirely on God. And thus I find these words to encourage us to place our complete trust in God. So thank you for that question. Wonderful question.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

This question comes from Judy of Sioux City v email. When the young man approached Jesus and addressed him as good teacher, Jesus replied, Why do you call me good? Only God is good. Was he trying to elicit a but you are God response from the young man? Or what was he trying to say there?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Very interesting question. Thank you again for that question. Again, first just a little bit of retelling of the story of what's going on. Again, this story that we're referring to is found in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 10, verse 17 to 18. In addition, it's also in Matthew chapter 19, verse 16-30, and in Luke chapter 18, 30. This is an occasion when Jesus is setting on a journey, and this man runs up to him, kneels down before him, and asks, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus answers him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. And then of course then Jesus continues with his answer. He says, You know the commandments, you should not kill, you should not commit adultery, you should not steal, shall not bear false witness, should not defraud, you should honor your father and your mother. And again, what Jesus is doing is referencing five of the commandments four through ten. And then, of course, the man replies, Teacher, I have done all this, I've preserved all these for my youth. And then Jesus looks, he says with love at the man and says, You are lacking one thing, go and sell all you have and give to the poor, and you have treasure heaven, then come follow me. In response, of course, the man's face falls, he departs, and it's pointed out that he is sad because he has many possessions. And so, in other words, what is happening there is Jesus is challenging him to follow the first three commandments of love of God, and we obviously this man is struggling with those first three commandments. But the key word in this passage that Judy brings up is the word good. Again, the man comes and describes Jesus as a good teacher. And so, when we first look at this passage, it seems like what Jesus is doing is rejecting the term good for himself, but yet he still is rejecting it to God. Again, God is the source of all goodness, God is good alone, and again can grant the gift of eternal life. However, we know, of course, that Jesus is God. And so when Jesus says, you know, good teacher, why do you call me good? Yes, he is, I believe, starting to refer to himself. Because what I see here happening is Jesus is using this question as a teachable moment, a moment to lift this man's understanding up from this view in him essentially as a mere human rabbi, just a simple teacher who's good, to recognize you know his own Christ's own divinity, and again affirming this absolute and essential goodness that belongs to God alone. And so what Jesus is doing is one sense correcting the man's flattery and directing the man upward to the source of all goodness, to God, to promote a deeper faith. Saint Thomas Aquinas compiled in a group of white writings called Katina Aria. He compiled these writings of various church fathers, including St. Bede, St. Jerome, and St. John Christmas. And they describe Jesus' response as instructive. It's there to instruct the man. It is not a denial of his own goodness. Again, Jesus is not denying that he is good. Again, he's pointing to God. Again, Jesus is saying that no one is good except he who is full of goodness. And Saint Bede says, quote, the Lord does not deny himself to be good, but implies that he is God. In addition, there's a saint Saint Theophilat of Orshred, I believe it's how it's pronounced, states that Jesus intended by these words to raise the mind of the young man so that he might know him to be God. So, in other words, Jesus is equating God with good with God, and Jesus is inviting the man to acknowledge him as God. And so we might recall there's a similar passage where Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd. And at the Last Supper, in John chapter 13, verse 13, Jesus says to the apostles, You call me Master and Lord, and you say, Well, so I am. So again, Jesus is clearly saying here is he is good, he is God, God is Father is good because God is God. And so, Judy, you are absolutely on the right track. Jesus is replying to this man to help him, the man recognize him as God. And so, when you look at this passage, it really appears that the man missed the lesson. And we have no idea what happens to this man afterwards. You know, who knows? Maybe figure it out later. I don't know. But one of those mysteries of the scriptures. But yes, Jesus is trying to lift the man up to a higher level of understanding. That is a wonderful question. Thank you for that question. If you're just tuning in, you're listening to Father Knows Best here on Sue and Catholic Radio, as I answer your questions about faith in the Catholic Church. I'm Father Mark Stowe. I'm joined by Tim Sudin, who is presenting the questions I received from you, our listeners. And so let's uh look at another question, third question tonight.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

This is the second question from Judy of Sioux City, and it comes via email. Could you explain clearly what Jesus meant when he was talking about John the Baptist, and he said something like, There is no man born of a woman who is greater than, and then goes on to say, But the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Thank you for that question. I got another wonderful scripture question. Some of these passages can be a little confusing at times, and that's why it's good to look into it a little deeper and say, What's going on here? So obviously this question refers to what we find in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 11. It's again, Jesus is speaking to the crowd. He's talking about the mission of John the Baptist, and he says, quote, Amen. I say to you, among those born of women, there has been none greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So one of the places I go in these cases, I go to a commentary and various commentaries to see what's going on here. And one of the commentaries I looked at stated the following John's preeminent greatness lies in his function of announcing the eminence of the kingdom, but to be in the kingdom is so great a privilege that the least who is has it is greater than John the Baptist. I looked at that line and I was like, What? It didn't really help me. So I said, I'm going to dig a little deeper. It's a little confusing when they start throwing out words of preeminent, eminence, and privileges. St. Thomas Aquinas in 1272 stated the following The Lord commanded John by the authority of a prophet. Jesus commended John to be the most excellent among the earthly. And there's another commentary I looked at that said that these words of Jesus highlight John's unparalleled greatness under the old covenant. And we've got to remember that as Jesus comes along, the new covenant hasn't been fulfilled yet. With Kemp's the Last Supper and the suffering and passion and resurrection of Jesus. So they're still in the old covenant times. John is the last prophet of the old covenant. And so John, we see, is Jesus highlighting what John is has this unparalleled greatness in the Old Covenant. Again, he does underscore how the kingdom of heaven, that is the church and eternal life, brings an even greater spirituality through grace, sacraments, and full of revelation to Jesus. And let me explain that. Jesus is exalting John as surpassing all the prophets and all the patriarchs, including Abraham and Moses of the Old Testament, and all the other righteous figures. Due to John has a unique role as the immediate forerunner of the Messiah. He's there to pronounce that Jesus is coming, that the Messiah is coming. And again, this role of John was fulfilled by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Elizabeth. And so again, John has been called before he was born to be preparing people for the coming of Christ through baptism, as he did in the Jordan. Now, John is as we say is the pinnacle, the summit, the conclusion of the Old Testament holiness. And Jesus says, No one is greater as arisen among humans born of women. And we would say, born naturally of women. Again, this implies what we call an ordinary generation, subject to original sin. Again, just remember Zachariah and Elizabeth, normal human beings. Angel Gabriel says, You're going to have a child. Well, guess what? You know, Zechariah and Elizabeth had to do the usual marital act in order for John to be conceived. Remember, Jesus, of course, his conception and birth was different. Because again, Mary is a virgin without corruption, and she conceives through the power of the Holy Spirit. So he's not saying that John's greater than him. He's just saying, of all the women, not counting my mother, John is the greatest. So then he goes in and says, The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. What does that mean? Again, what Jesus is referring to is those who are in heaven, like the angels and the saints. Even the least, the lowest of all the angels and saints, are greater than John the Baptist because they are in heaven. They're enjoying beatific vision. And again, this time we basically say it was basically the angels, because remember, Jesus came to earth to bring us to eternal life. So, John, of course, at the time when Jesus is speaking, is still alive. He is in prison. And so he is not one of the greatest ones in heaven because he's not in heaven yet. Right. And of course, John is not greater than Jesus Christ, who is God. So, in summary, John the Baptist, who was born normally of a normal woman and of course, man, is the greatest of all the prophets as he came to announce prepare the way of Messiah. And as John is still living on earth, he is not greater than the least of any angel or saint who is in heaven, nor is he greater than Jesus, the Son of God. So hopefully that explains it.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

I'm trying to get the age, try to figure it out. So Liz Gabriel tells Mary that Elizabeth is in her sixth month.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

So Mary has nine months, so John must be somewhere in the area of a year and a year and a half older than Jesus. Well, about I would say about six months. Six months older than Jesus. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Because Gabriel says to Mary that she's Liza's in her sixth month. Got it. So if you do your math, she's been pregnant for six months. Yep. Very good. And we think that Mary probably stayed with Liz about three months for help with the birth and the child. And so now, of course, John the Baptist. And so, yeah. Very good. Next question, let's see if we can handle this one.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Okay. Joanne from Sioux City sent this question via email. So many books in the Bible are attributed to authors with names. Why doesn't Genesis have an author's name? Unless Genesis is someone's name or a collaboration of several writers.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Thank you for that question. Again, another wonderful scripture question. Yes, there are many books in the Bible that are attributed to authors such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There's also some books attributed to main characters such as Samuel and Judith, Esther, Ruth, and Maccabees, or even to events. You know, the book of Exodus is all about the event of the Israelites leaving Egypt and traveling to the Promised Land. But who wrote some of those books that have no author tribute to, such as Genesis? And that's a great question because Genesis is not the name of an author, but in a little bit I'm going to explain. It's actually refers to an event. So, Genesis, of course, the first book of the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. It's again part, of course, part of the Jewish and Christian scriptures that we have, first book of the Bible. The title in English, Genesis, comes from the Greek word Genesis, which we find that word spelled out in Genesis chapter 2, verse 4, and it reads, The book of the generation, in other words, Genesis, the book of the Genesis of the heavens and the earth. So again, remember, the first two chapters of Genesis covers the story of creation. There's actually two stories of creation there. And then you start seeing the development of faith, you know, through Abraham and going on, you know, even going back to Noah, for example, and Adam and Eve before Abraham. But the title again in in the Jewish scriptures is this Hebrew word, which I believe is pronounced Bereshid. It's basically words that means in the beginning. And guess what the first three words of the book of the Bible, the book of Genesis and the Bible is in the beginning. So it's all about this beginning. And so we see, of course, in Genesis, there's two really sections. There's basically chapter 1 through 11 is the creation and expansion of humans, which includes the story of Babel and Noah and the Ark. And then from chapter 11 to the end, chapter 50, there's a story of Abraham and all his descendants, which takes us up to the time of Joseph, who ends up in Egypt. And so all the stories that we find in this book obviously would have been shared orally from one generation to another. And just because a lot of the people at that time would have been illiterate. And they just they had a wonderful memory. They just sit down. I mean, they had nothing, they didn't have TVs, they didn't have cell phones, they didn't have radios, they, you know, they just shared sat around the fire pit, whatever, and shared these wonderful stories of their ancestors. So, but eventually, you know, someone's going to have to start writing down these stories because, again, generations will pass. In the introduction to the book of Genesis that we find in the revised New American Bible, it states the sources of Genesis include ancient traditions that were edited in the 6th or 5th century BC. That's around five, six, seven hundred years before Jesus was born. And that they were edited for a Jewish audience who were suffering from the effects of exile and were largely living outside of Palestine. Again, remember, you know, 587, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem. And so this is when really the Jewish people said, we've got to write these stories down. Now, we have a consistent teaching in the Catholic Church, in the Catholic tradition, even in Master documents, that we believe that Moses is the principal author of the book of Genesis. And when I say author, we don't mean that he actually wrote these stories down, but he'd probably be the one that, you know, collected them. So we need to collect these stories. You know, I'm sure he's remember Moses, he's in Egypt, you know, raised in the Pharaoh's court. And so when he finally finds out, figures out who he is, he's just like, I need to find out who my ancestors are and who I am and all this. And so obviously he would have met the ancestors of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and start sharing those stories. And so, again, when we speak about Moses as the author, it doesn't mean he personally wrote it down. Again, he probably had some writing skills because, again, raised in Egypt, they would probably be taught writing. Many of the Hebrews would have had no writing skills. And so he may have written some stuff down, he may have dictated some stuff to others who might knew how to write. Um, but again, there's all kinds of other theories out there too, of various other groups. But we believe in the Catholic Church that Moses would have conceived this work under divine inspiration. It's like we need to gather these stories, and then entrusted this maybe this writing to others. He might have maybe had a secretary or two, I don't know. But again, what they would do and done then is faithfully rendered his thoughts without addition, omission, or contraction. And then over time, you know, with approval and and being published it under his name, quote, under his name, even though his name doesn't appear in the in the in that book at all, you know, basically attributes to him as the principal author. And so we do know that Moses could have written down some things, um, could you know, had gathered some oral traditions, and then you know, created this this story of the book of Genesis. But we also know that after the time of Moses, and again, you know, going up to the Babylonian exile in the you know, 5th and 6th century BC, long time after Moses has died, there would have still been some minor changes that were made, you know, maybe to um you know, add and do some inspired additions, maybe to polish the text, maybe do some linguistic updates from the ancient languages to Hebrew, maybe correcting some errors made by scribes who copied the text from one to another. Again, doing this without undermining the integrity of the original work. So, in the in the Catholic Church document, we believe that Moses is the inspired and substantial author of Genesis. And again, uh basically, you know, with the approved scholarly freedom, you know, through several generations after him his time, you know, we would get the book that we have today. So this is what I was able to discern and and I hope again I hope that answers your question. So not every book in the Bible, you know, has the author's name on it, but uh sometimes we gotta figure out who who's the author. And there's some a couple other books in the Bible. It's like who who who authored the authored this?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

So let's take that further. Deuteronomy, Leviticus. Who would have wrote those?

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yeah, so again, we would be looking probably at Moses, maybe not necessarily written down, but at least um inspired them. Um because again, those books, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all would have taken place during Moses' time. And in fact, the book of Deuteronomy, basically what we see there is essentially a s the final speech of Moses at the end of the journey when he's getting ready to enter the promised land. So, you know, whether or not he had written the text and this is a speech he gave, or someone was listening and wrote things down and composed it later, possible. We don't know for sure, but again, somewhere down the road, someone would have collected this and said, okay, we need to clean this up, maybe they'll correct some spellings and things like that, and make sure it's not you know easily read and things like that, of course. Levitical is not very easily read because it's a bunch of laws of the of the Jewish faith at that time. So again, a lot of this is lost to history, so we have to kind of discern this, you know, through various scholarly investigations of the text, see what text messages uh sentences can coincide. It's I'm I I'm that's beyond my pair pay grade, but uh I understand there's a lot of uh scripture scholars out there that dive into this, like where did this come from and how do we get what we get today?

SPEAKER_00 23:36

I understand.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

So I think we've got about time to wrap up here. So we're doing well. So I love these questions. Keep those questions coming in. We really appreciate you tuning in here to Sioux Line Catholic Radio as we offer both national and local programs, including Faith in Action with Joanne Fox, Dornier, Fred, and Kira, Life Plan, Catholic Ministries Professionals, Divine Mercy Chaplain, of course, the Sunday morning mass. So please also check out the Facebook pages, not only for Sioux Line Catholic Radio, but also for Father Knows Best for more information about this show and other information. And of course, I also post daily additional information about the day or other events going on in the church. And again, check it out and uh and and and and follow along if you could. We as we wrap up today's question and answer session. I and Ann and Tim, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in, sharing your thought-provoking questions, your curiosity and engagement make the show possible, and we are always inspired by the incredible range of topics you bring to the table. We hope that you found the answers both informative and enlightening, that you'll carry some new insights with you as you go about your week. And if your question was not answered today, you may hear the answer to your question next week. If you missed this episode or like to re-listen to this or other episodes, please visit our website, SoonCatholic Radio.com, and visit the programs drop menu and click local programs to find this episode and other episodes of Father Knows Best and other local programs. Again, if you have any questions, please send your questions to me at Father Knows Best Show at Yahoo.com or mail them to Father Knows Best, Sioux Land Catholic Radio, 701 West Fifth Street, Sioux City, Iowa, 51103. And thank you to our sponsor, San Augustin, San Augustine Indian Mission, Winnebago. Please join us again next Wednesday at 9 p.m. for another round of questions and answers. Until then, stay curious, stay faithful, keep your light shining, and keep those questions coming. For now, I'm Father Mark Stow, your host, signing off, wishing a great week ahead. Amen might have God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.