Zeph 2:3. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth; practice judgment and righteousness; seek these things and respond to them, that you may be sheltered in the day of the Lord’s wrath.
In what way they themselves may be united to the Lord—though they are plainly a detestable people—he openly teaches. For he commands them to seek the Lord, to practice judgment and righteousness, and to “respond” to these things. God, therefore, is sought by us if, casting aside all sloth, we ardently desire what is pleasing to Him. We shall practice judgment by carrying out His divine law and by serving virtue with tireless zeal. Moreover, we shall gain the glory of righteousness, being most beautifully adorned with the ornaments of good works, and we shall hasten along the glorious path of charity toward God and toward our brethren, a path truly free from all reproach. For the fullness of the law is love (Romans 13:10).
To what has been said we must, I think, add the meaning of respond to them, that is, to speak to others and to admonish our brethren; for thus and not otherwise shall we attain the full measure of virtue. In this sense the Lord also declared that one who teaches and practices would be called great and approved in the kingdom of heaven, whereas the one who is content to teach what suffices for this end but refuses to perform by deed what he approves and lawfully commands others to do would be called least (Matthew 5:19).
Elsewhere He also laments the teachers of the Jews in these words: Woe to you, for you bind burdens heavy to bear and lay them on men’s shoulders, but you yourselves do not touch them even with a finger (Luke 11:46). Therefore, the mark of the most perfect religion is both to perform the works of virtue oneself and to expound them to others so that they may attain clarity. That such labor will not go unrewarded is declared by a disciple of Christ: He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:20).
If, however, someone thinks that respond to them means to meditate upon them so as to bring one’s conduct into harmony with them, he understands rightly—and indeed this is also true. For the law of Moses likewise commanded this concerning the divine oracles: You shall speak of them when sitting in your house and when walking on the way, when lying down and when rising (Deuteronomy 6:7). David too sings: I will meditate always on your justifications (Psalm 119:117).
Zeph 12–13. And I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people. The remnant of Israel shall fear the name of the Lord; they shall do no injustice, nor speak vanity, and a deceitful tongue shall not be found in their mouth.
Once again he refers to Zion, that is, to the holy city—Jerusalem, I say—in which he promises that he will leave behind a most meek and humble people. For indeed the synagogue of the Jews fiercely afflicted Christ, the Savior of all, condemned its Lord to death, and paid the penalty for that crime. Yet it did not entirely perish, for a remnant was preserved, and what remained attained salvation (Romans 11:5). From among them a considerable multitude believed. These, then, were the meek—those who were not enraged against Christ like wild bulls, as were those who delivered Him to Pilate, crying out and saying: Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him! (John 19:15). And they added: If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar (John 19:12).
What could be more cruel than this? For they rashly and thoughtlessly invoked His just blood upon their own heads, crying out: His blood be upon us and upon our children (Matthew 27:25). The meek people, therefore, were those who had no share in such savagery; and they were humble insofar as they subjected themselves to Christ, bent the neck of their mind beneath His reins, and willingly obeyed Him who lovingly said: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28–29).
In Christ they were also conformed to Him who for our sake became poor (2 Corinthians 8:9), who in a certain sense set aside the excellence of His divine glory in order to assume the condition of a servant in the economy of salvation (Philippians 2:7). Thus those who are trained by His laws think modestly of themselves, following His own example. These, too, shall fear the name of the Lord. For they are most fervent lovers of God, divine disciples above all others, who have been constituted the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Lovers of God and good men, they will reject injustice and empty speech. They shall not speak vanity, he says, nor a tongue that is untrue—for this is what “deceitful” means.
This, then, is spiritual adornment, like a crown most excellent, woven from the ornaments of virtue. For where meekness and humility are found, together with a desire for righteousness and a tongue that has unlearned foolish speech and does not sin in words but instead works righteousness in truth, there virtue shines forth plainly, complete and perfect. Such virtue befits those who are in Christ. For the beauty of piety is indeed seen in the law, but it shines forth far more brightly in the virtue of evangelical teaching.
Zeph 3:13. They shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Formerly, the flocks of the Jews were poorly pastured by the scribes and Pharisees. They had been placed over the law and honored with priestly authority, yet they were hireling shepherds, set over flocks not their own. They saw the wolf coming and abandoned the sheep, according to the word of the Savior (John 10:12). That they were careless shepherds of rational sheep, leaving them to be torn apart by beasts—or rather that they themselves became wolves—one can easily perceive from the words of the prophets.
For one speaks thus in the person of God: Woe to the shepherds who scatter the sheep of their pasture (Jeremiah 23:1). Another says: Thus says the Lord: O shepherds of Israel, do shepherds feed themselves? Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the milk, clothe yourselves with the wool; the weak you have not strengthened, the broken you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought; and my sheep were scattered because there were no shepherds, and they became food for all the beasts of the field and the birds of the air (Ezekiel 34:2–5). Elsewhere He says to the shepherds: Feed the sheep of slaughter, whom their owners kill and do not repent, and those who sell them say, αὐτὰ ἔλεγον Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος (“they were saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord’”), and we have become rich (Zechariah 11:4–5).
The shepherds destroyed the flocks of rational sheep, not driving away the beasts, but rather clothing themselves with the savagery of wild animals. But after Christ shone forth—the good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11)—we are indeed pastured amid labors, yet we are also fed beside springs (Psalm 23:2), as it is written. We lie down, being enclosed in folds, for we dwell in churches and holy temples, with none to terrify us: no wolf rushing in, no lion trampling us, no thief breaking through—no one any longer invading us to steal, to kill, or to destroy (John 10:10). Rather, we remain in security, steadfastness, and communion in every good, having as the teacher of the sheepfold Christ Himself, the Savior of all.
This is what God the Father made clear to us through Ezekiel, saying: Thus says the Lord: I will save my sheep and judge between ram and ram; and I will raise up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall shepherd them (Ezekiel 34:22–23).
CONTINUE
Comments
Post a Comment