12 March 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” Ephesians 2:14
The negotiation at Hebron is told in slow, careful detail, at the city gate, “in the hearing of the Hittites.” Ephron makes a generous public offer: “No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it… bury your dead.” Abraham bows, and refuses the gift: “I will give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.” Ephron names the price as if it were nothing, “four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me?”, and Abraham pays it in full, “according to the weights current among the merchants.” Why does Genesis care so much? Because this is the first piece of the promised land that belongs to Abraham, and it must be his openly, justly and beyond dispute. He will not hold God's promise on a borrowed title or leave a debt behind his wife's grave. Centuries later King David says the same when he buys the threshing floor for the altar: “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” Honest dealing in money and property is part of holiness, and the Great Fast is a good time to set right any unpaid debt, unfair price or unclear boundary.
Abraham bought a field with silver; Christ bought a people with his blood. St Paul reminds the Christians of Ephesus, Gentiles by birth, that they were once “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace.” The dividing wall that Christ broke down is the hostility between peoples, and above all between each of us and God; on the Cross he reconciled “both groups to God in one body.” The Gentiles do not replace Israel; they are brought near to share its promises, “citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.” St John Chrysostom compared this to melting a statue of silver and a statue of lead together and drawing out from the fire a single statue of gold: Christ does not merely put two peoples side by side but makes of them something new (in substance). In the Gospel the disciples have “only one loaf with them in the boat,” and when Jesus warns them, “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod,” they think only of bread. Yeast is a small hidden thing that spreads through the whole batch: the leaven of hardness of heart and of worldly power can enter any of us. Jesus asks: “Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see?… Do you not yet understand?” The one Loaf in the boat was Jesus himself, who had fed thousands and would give his Body on the Cross.
Theme: “For he is our peace.”
Abraham's honest purchase, the wall broken down by the blood of Christ, and the one Loaf in the disciples' boat.
“I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” 2 Samuel 24:24
“For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20
Apply: Before Easter, settle one debt or set right one unfair dealing.
“Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord; and I will heal them.” Isaiah 57:19
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
Apply: Make peace this week with one person from whom you are estranged.
“Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,” Psalm 95:8
“Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7
Apply: Make the Way of the Cross this Friday and ask Christ to soften your heart.
Abraham paid in silver; Christ paid in his blood to make us one household.
Honest dealings and reconciled hearts prepare us for Easter.
Take-home resolution: Before Easter, settle what you owe and break down one wall of hostility.
Dear friends, Ephron offered Abraham the field as a gift, but Abraham said: I will give the price of the field; accept it from me (Genesis 23:13). He weighed out four hundred shekels of silver according to the weights current among the merchants (Genesis 23:16). The first piece of the promised land was bought honestly and in full.
Christ paid a greater price. Paul writes: now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; he has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us (Ephesians 2:13–14).
In the boat the disciples had only one loaf, and Jesus warned them: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod (Mark 8:15). Yeast is small and hidden, and it spreads; so do hypocrisy and the hunger for power, in any heart.
Jesus asks: do you not yet understand? (Mark 8:21). The one loaf in the boat was Jesus himself. On this Friday of the Fast, as we walk the Way of the Cross, let us pay what we owe, make peace where there is a wall, and open our eyes to the Lord who gave himself for us. Amen.
Children, Jesus is our peace. When people are angry, it is like building a wall between them. Jesus came to break down the walls and make us one family. If you have quarrelled with your brother, sister or a friend, say sorry today and break down the wall!
Lord Jesus Christ, by your blood you brought near those who were far off, and on the Cross you broke down the dividing wall of hostility. Make us honest in our dealings like Abraham, peacemakers in our homes and parishes, and free from the yeast of hypocrisy and the love of power. Open our eyes to see you, the one Bread in our boat. Amen.
Abraham and Ephron bargain at the city gate, and Abraham pays in full. The epistle (Ephesians 2:11–22) proclaims the peace that Christ has made: “he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one” (2:14). In the Gospel the disciples have forgotten the bread and are arguing about it, and Jesus asks them, “Do you still not perceive or understand?” The three readings ask what a thing is really worth, and whether we have eyes to see it.
Setting.
The scene is at the city gate, which was the place of law and public business in the ancient Near East, as Ruth 4:1–11 also shows. Everything is said “in the hearing of” the townspeople, so they are witnesses. Many commentators read the exchange as courteous bargaining, in which “I give it to you” is the polite way to open. That is a reasonable reading, but we cannot be certain of it. Ephron is no villain, and the speech on both sides is polite.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it” (23:11)
It sounds like a gift. A gift, though, could leave Abraham in debt to Ephron and his title open to question, as many commentators note.
“I will give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.” (23:13)
Abraham also refused gifts from the king of Sodom (14:22–23). He wants nothing in the land to be owed to anyone but God.
“Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites” (23:16)
He does not haggle. The price is paid in full and in public, and the first piece of the promised land passes to him honestly.
How the Church reads it.
David will say the same at another threshing floor: “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). The Catechism teaches that promises must be kept and contracts strictly observed (CCC 2410). On the coming Sunday the first lesson speaks of honest weights (Deuteronomy 25:13–16). For the Christian reader the price recalls another: “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20).
Setting.
This scene comes straight after the demand for a sign (8:11–13), and shortly after the feeding of the four thousand. In the boat the disciples have one loaf, and they talk about bread. Mark then places the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida, the one healing done in two stages (8:22–26), and Peter's confession (8:27–30). The disciples, like that man, are coming to see by degrees.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“they had only one loaf with them in the boat.” (8:14)
Mark takes care to say so, and many commentators think that he means more: the one loaf they have is Jesus himself, sitting in the boat. That cannot be proved, but it fits the question of v. 21. Compare “there is one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
“beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” (8:15)
The Pharisees and Herod's supporters appear together in 3:6, and Herod's fear of John comes in 6:14–29. The Pharisees have just asked for a sign, and they cannot stand for every Pharisee, as John 9:16 shows. What Jesus warns against is the settled mind that has seen and refuses to believe. That can be anyone's, and his next words show that the disciples are at risk of it.
“Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?” (8:18)
The words are those of the prophets (Jeremiah 5:21; compare Isaiah 6:9–10). Then Jesus does a surprising thing. He makes them count. “Twelve.” “Seven.” Their own memory holds the answer.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the human heart is heavy and hardened, and that God must give a new heart; conversion is first of all a work of God's grace (CCC 1432). That is the point of a Fast: we ask for a softened heart. And the Lord does not give up on slow disciples. He asks another question.