Tuesday of Week 7 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on Sirach 2:1-11
Today’s reading from Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) consists of advice on what to do when things are going against us.
It opens with the address “My child”. This is a typical introduction for a passage of teaching in wisdom literature. It recurs here and there throughout Sirach. We might summarise today’s reading as saying that:
- Serving God is not without its trials; moreover, this service must be given with sincerity, perseverance and fidelity.
- Misfortunes and humiliations help to purify people and prove their worth.
- Patience and unwavering trust in God are always rewarded with the benefits of God’s compassion and result in lasting joy.
First, we are told to be ready for testing situations, which we are all bound to face at one time or another. This is a favourite Old Testament theme and also found in the Gospel and the rest of the New Testament. St Paul is eloquent on this, not least when speaking of his own experience (see 2 Cor 11:21, the beginning of the readings for Friday and Saturday of Week 11 of Ordinary Time).
In order to be ready for such times, we should make sure that our heart is focused on God’s will in our lives, and that we are firm and consistent. At the same time, we ought not react impetuously when things go badly wrong. That is a time for reflection and discernment. By staying close to God, we can ensure that our “last days may be prosperous”. Concerning this we mean not just in the material sense, but in being genuinely enriched in those areas of our life where it really counts.
Without being fatalistic, we need to meet positively whatever happens to us, and in times when we feel belittled, to practice patience:
For gold is tested in the fire,
and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.
What, at the time, may seem to be painful and destructive experiences can be a source of strengthening and maturing if undergone in the right frame of mind.
Second, we are advised to stay close to God, who will give us strength, and to face up to realities which cannot be avoided. On the one hand, we put our trust in God and in his help. We do our best to live upright lives and put our hope in God’s care for us. But escaping from reality is not going to provide a solution.
You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not stray, or else you may fall.
You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.
These are the qualities of those who “fear the Lord”. ‘Fear’ here does not mean ‘being afraid’, but rather submitting ourselves in deep reverence to a God who is so far beyond anything we can imagine. This God, awesome though he is, is a source of compassion, worthy of our trust and hope, and the ultimate source of joy and happiness.
For those who are close to God and accept his truth, humiliation by other people is purely an external experience. As the song says, “they can’t take away my dignity”, no matter what insults or degradations they throw at me.
Sirach advises that we:
Consider the generations of old and see…
He is speaking of those among our predecessors who followed the advice given here. Sirach gives many examples in chapters 44-50.
And he goes on to ask:
Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?
Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken?
These questions can only be answered by direct experience, but there is abundant evidence from the lives of the saints and other servants of God that the answer to all these questions is a resounding ‘No’.
And, if we do fail in our service of God, let us remember that:
the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he forgives sins and saves in time of distress.
The Lord’s compassion and his saving his people in time of trouble is a common theme in the Psalms and the prophets. And it confirmed again and again in the life of Jesus, and proved forever by his dying on the cross in the greatest act of love that anyone could do for others. Perhaps, in addition to being confident of God’s compassion for our sins and weaknesses, we might try to show the same compassion for those who “offend” us.
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Tuesday of Week 7 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 9:30-37
Jesus was now spending more time with his disciples and teaching them. He was teaching them things that the crowds were not yet ready to hear. As we will see, his disciples were not too ready either.
Today we have the second of three predictions of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection which he communicates to his disciples. On each occasion, the pattern is exactly the same:
- A prediction of what is going to happen to Jesus;
- Total lack of comprehension of the meaning of what Jesus is saying on the part of the disciples;
- A teaching of Jesus arising out of their lack of understanding.
The prediction is stated simply. First, Jesus will “be betrayed into human hands”. Other translations say “handed over” and still others use “given up”. These terms are used many times in the Gospels. John the Baptist is handed over; Jesus is handed over; the disciples later on will be handed over; and, in the Eucharist, the Body of Jesus is handed over for our sakes (“This is my body, which is given [tradetur] for you”). Second, he will be put to death; and third, three days later he will rise again.
They arrive in Capernaum and, in the house, Jesus asks them a question. Once again we have a reference to the “house’ with overtones of the Church, the place where God’s people gather, as they do here to listen to the Word of God. Jesus asks his disciples what seems an innocuous question:
What were you arguing about on the way?
Here we have another important word of Mark’s: “way” or “road” (Greek, hodos). In the context of the Gospel it has theological overtones. Jesus is the Way or the Road, and Christians are those who walk on this Way or Road. So the disciples “arguing” has implications about Christians arguing among themselves as they follow Christ ‘on the way’.
Jesus’ question is met with an embarrassed silence, because they had been arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest. The minute the question was asked, they knew they were in the wrong.
Why were they arguing about this? It was once suggested that, as Jesus had now for the second time announced his coming death, they were beginning to accept the possibility of it really happening. They began to wonder what would happen to them as a group without Jesus. Who would be in charge? Which of them had the best qualifications? Hence, their argument. If that was the case, then Jesus’ question was even more embarrassing. They could hardly say, “Well, we were wondering which one of us would take over when you are no longer with us.”
Jesus, of course, knew exactly what was going on in their minds, so he gave them some guidelines if they wanted to be truly his followers:
Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.
This is quite a hard saying, and most of us find it difficult to put fully into practice. It is, of course, totally in opposition to what goes on in the secular world, where ‘success’ means being on top, being in charge, being in control, calling the shots.
Yet, who are really the greatest people in our society? Is it not those, who are especially talented intellectually or in other ways, who use their talents totally for the well-being of others, to the point of even sacrificing their lives?
Apart from the obvious example of Jesus himself, we have a long list of saints who all have one thing in common—they put themselves totally at the service of their brothers and sisters. Success, promotion, status, material wealth or executive power meant nothing to these saints. They served, and their service was their power, a power which inspires in a way that no mere politician, business tycoon or dictator could ever do.
To serve is not to be submissive or weak; it is not putting oneself on a lower level than those being served. It is simply to be totally committed to the good of others, and to find one’s own well-being in being so committed.
Jesus then takes a little child, as a symbol of all those who are vulnerable, weak and exploitable. Children are used by Jesus as symbols of the anawim, the lowly and weak in our society. They are the ones who are most of all to be served and protected and nurtured. In so doing, one is recognising the presence of Jesus and the presence of God in them.
As Christians, we have much to be proud of in our record of service to our brothers and sisters, especially those who are weak and vulnerable. But we also have to confess that within our Church and in our dealings with the ‘world’, we have had our fair share of hungering for power, status and position. And, we have so often argued bitterly with each other “on the Way”, about just such things.
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