The Offering of the Jews,
Painted by the Master of the Gathering of the Manna,
Painted circa 1460-1470
Oil on panel
© Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
The Offering of the Jews,
Painted by the Master of the Gathering of the Manna,
Painted circa 1460-1470
Oil on panel
© Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Before you leave your offering at the altar, go and be reconciled first
Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
‘You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother “Fool” he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him “Renegade” he will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.’
Reflection on the painting
The Ten Commandments given in the Old Testament tell about things we should do and things we should not do. Jesus quotes one of them in today’s Gospel reading: “You shall not kill”. But Jesus wants to go much deeper. He wants us to change our actual attitudes. It is not good enough just to stick to a ‘You shall not kill’ attitude. What is expected of us is much more: a kind and generous heart. Therefore Jesus tells his Jewish contemporaries that if any of them want to bring an offering to the altar in the temple, they should first try to reconcile themselves with any sister or brother they have fallen out with and only then should they present their offering in the temple.
Jesus is telling us that, whilst of course it is important to go to the temple, a lot of work must be done outside the temple. That is where the main work lies: being kind to the people who surround us as well as forgiving and asking to be forgiven. We have to make the first move towards them and only then go to the temple. Of course Jesus isn't telling us that we have to be perfect before we enter the temple or church, but he doesn't want us to get into a mindset that the temple is the only place where we lead our Christian lives. What we do outside church is as important as what we do inside church.
Our painting depicts an offering being made by some Jewish people in the temple, by the Master of the Gathering of the Manna, whose real name we don't know. He is named after a painting at the Musée de la Chartreuse in Douai which depicts the gathering of manna. In our painting we see some Jewish people, with typical headdresses, gathering wood to be burnt on the altar, preparing for the offerings. Above the altar is a red monochrome relief painting of Cain killing Abel.
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“One reason we do not forgive is that we feel that some injustice has been done to us, and we resent it. A good cure for this feeling is to kneel before the cross of Jesus. What do you see there? The innocent Son of God nailed to the cross—the ultimate injustice. What does he do? He forgives his persecutors. Meditate on that, and your sense of being treated unjustly will fade away.”
Bishop Robert Barron
Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota USA
però un conto è morire come Gesù e i martiri per una nobile causa, un altro è accettare la violenza senza senso (come per esempio i mariti che picchiano le mogli)
Ik zie vooral het feit dat als je naar de ‘tempel’ gaat, jijzelf het offer zijt en niet het lam dat wordt geofferd. Zorg er dus voor dat je zo ‘zuiver’ bent als het lam .
Io continuo a perdonare e a cercare di riconciliarmi con mia sorella e lei continua tranquillamente a farmi del male. A questo punto non è meglio prendere le distanze?
I have just noticed the lamb.
What a wonderful painting- and maybe a very unusual subject for the time? I particularly like that a woman is there at the table (altar?) and not separate. The men mostly seem to have disguised their prayer shawls (tallits?) in various ingenious ways, I suspect not to attract direct attention to themselves. I missed the Cain and Abel- so glad you pointed that out Patrick!
As for the Gospel reading- what happens when a heartfelt apology is not accepted? I suspect you have to bring your disppointment and frustration to the Lord too. No one can say I haven’t tried reconciliation, but sometimes you just have to stop trying and let the Lord do His work in other ways?
And, if you are friends with both of those sisters………?
I recall a wonderful priest (RIP) tell us from the pulpit , you have somebody who comes to confession guiltily telling they have missed Mass – then you learn they haven’t spoken to their sister for ten years! Such people don’t comprehend what sin really is!
Well Patricia – this is the start of a big discussion! Serious family rifts like that are all too common as I know. There can be many reasons for them, our parish priest said that a lot of people can’t rememder when they started or what they were about!! Just because you are closely related to someone doesn’t always mean that you are going to have a close relationship with them. I suppose you should strive to be at least civil if you can’t love each other, and wish them the best on your heart.
My son asked me if I loved him the other night. After what he’s put me through it is sometimes very hard to love him, but we express love in very different ways. Just being civil instead of wanting to rant at someone I guess is a form of self-love too. Only through the model of divine love can we come to any understanding of what human love should look like, I think.
Recently our parish priest told the congegation it is no good coming to confession and claiming other people caused you to sin! Unless you admit your own culpability it is pointless. Unfortunately from experience I know people who can never admit they did anything wrong. What a sorry state of affairs! I was even told by a very committed Catholic that she gives up guilt for Lent! I thought this very odd, and wish I had said that Lent is about repentance. How can there be repentance without guilt?