Wednesday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – Reading

Commentary on Sirach 36:1,5-6,10-17

The reading is part of a beautiful prayer of God’s people. It reveals the sentiments of pious Jews about the year 190 BC, just before the Maccabaean revolt. According to the Harper-Collins Study Bible:

It is a prayer for the deliverance of Jerusalem and the people of Israel from foreign oppression. Such a prayer comes as a surprise within a book of wisdom and brings to expression political judgements and hopes that are extremely veiled elsewhere in Sirach. In form it draws upon the Psalms and shares many features with prayers and poems found in somewhat later apocalyptic literature.

Expressing his faith in God as the Supreme Power in the universe, Ben Sira begs God to continue showing forth his holiness and mercy through his people Israel, and his power and justice by punishing the nations, especially those who bring such great suffering on his people, so that the nations will come recognise the God of Israel as the only true and all-powerful God.

It reflects the difficult times his people are having during the period after their return from exile, times of oppression from invading and godless outsiders. There is a plea for a return of the glorious times of old, for the restoration of the temple, for a fulfilment of the many prophecies made in the past. “Thus it will be known to the very ends of the earth that you are the eternal God.”

The prayer begins with a plea for God’s mercy and that all the nations (especially those persecuting Israel) become filled with awe for God’s power.

Only then will they realise, as his People do, that their God is the only true God. They ask God that he give new signs and work wonders to reveal his power and glory. The allusion here is to the wonderful things that happened to God’s people when they were liberated from slavery in Egypt and made their 40-year trek under his protection to the Promised Land.

They ask that the tribes of Jacob, the 12 tribes that make up the Israelite people, have their inheritance restored as it was at the beginning. That inheritance was the land promised by God to the descendants of Abraham. The sense of coming together again as one people, what was called the “ingathering”, which was particularly strong during the Exile, remained a characteristic of Judaism long after the exiles had returned home. The Jews always regarded their dispersion abroad as a passing and unfortunate phase, to which the coming of the Messiah would put an end. And, undoubtedly, is what motivates many people in Israel today.

“Vindicate those whom you have created first.” The author may mean Israel as a whole (his “first-born”), or he may be referring to the patriarchs, who according to an ancient midrash were among the seven things created before the world, or else created Wisdom, the first-fruit of creation (Prov 8:22). Or perhaps he believes that the Messiah or the messianic Kingdom, “created before all things”, is shortly to appear on earth.

There is a special prayer for Jerusalem, the place where God dwells in his holy Temple. It has been desecrated again and again by the enemies of God’s people. May Zion, that is, Jerusalem be once again filled with song in praise of Yahweh and his sanctuary in the Temple filled with his glory.

They ask God to give witness to the People he created from the beginning, with Abraham as their ancestor and carry out all the promises which had been made in his name. May all those who wait for the Lord receive the reward which belongs to them and may the word of the prophets be fulfilled. This petition is an early example of the idea that the prophecies of the prophets in general referred to a divine liberation of Jerusalem yet to be accomplished. It is a theme which became more common in later literature and is found in Mark’s gospel.

Finally, there is a plea that their prayer be heard, “in accordance with Aaron’s blessings on your people”, so that peoples everywhere may recognise that Yahweh is the one God and everlasting Lord.

There will be times in our lives, times when things are not going well, times when we feel that people are being very unfair to us that we will feel like making such a prayer. But we need also to realise that, no matter what situation we may find ourselves in, God, our Emmanuel, is there with us and among us.

Read more

Wednesday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Mark 10:32-45

We now come to the third and final foretelling of his passion, death and resurrection by Jesus.  It is not insignificant that it follows immediately on the story of the rich man and the teaching of Jesus that goes with it.  We are now going to see what being a disciple of Jesus really means.

The first sentence is a statement of fact, but full of meaning:

They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem…

They were on the road—not just any road—but the road…and that road goes to Jerusalem and points to all that Jerusalem will mean for Jesus and his followers.  Jesus is the Road—the Way—and his way brings him to Jerusalem, the carrying of his cross, the letting go of his life in love of his Father and us, leading to the final triumph.  Those who wish to be his disciples have to be ready to walk that road with him.

The disciples have not quite reached this stage of discipleship yet.  As Jesus steps out firmly on the road to Jerusalem, his disciples straggle behind. The Apostles:

…were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.

As far as they were concerned, Jesus was out of his mind.  To go to Jerusalem at this time was asking for trouble, serious trouble.  Everyone knew the Jewish leadership was out to get Jesus.  Jerusalem was the last place to go.

Jesus shows them he is under no illusion about the situation.  He gives them a detailed description of what is going to happen to him, more detailed than in the previous foretellings.  The key term “handed over” is used again and, for the first time, a handing over to the “Gentiles” is mentioned.  Condemnation to death will come from the leaders of his people, but the carrying out of the execution will be the work of the Romans.  It was not just some Jews who were responsible for Jesus’ death; we were there, too, in the person of the Roman Gentiles.

Nevertheless, earlier on the disciples had acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour-King of Israel.  In the second prediction they had revealed an awareness that what Jesus was predicting was going to happen and so debated who his successor might be.  Now, for the first time, the last part of the prediction—rising after three days—seems to be getting through.

Perhaps it was in that frame of mind that Jesus is approached by two of his closest disciples, James and John.  However, it is also clear that they showed little understanding of all that Jesus had taught them so far.  They approached him gingerly:

Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.

Replies Jesus:

What is it you want me to do for you?

(Note the question, because we will meet it again in tomorrow’s reading.)

The answer of the two brothers indicates how little they have understood of the mind of Jesus:

Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.

Left unstated was their reasoning: “After all, you did say three times that you were going to rise again after your death.”

This is a perfect example of using a personal acquaintance or relationship to get in by the back door and obtain a favour otherwise out of reach. And by “glory” they are almost certainly thinking in worldly terms of Jesus as an earthly, victorious, all conquering king.  The kind of person they expected the Messiah to be.

Jesus tells them:

You do not know what you are asking.

They neither know the kind of King Jesus is going to be, nor do they know the price he is going to pay to enter that kingship.  This is clear from the next question he puts to them:

Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

This is a clear reference to Jesus’ passion and death, the price he will pay to reveal God’s love for his children.

We remember, later in the garden, as the weight of his coming passion presses him down, Jesus prays that the cup be taken away.  “Baptism” implies a total immersion, and Jesus will be totally overwhelmed with suffering and shame and humiliation.

Do the two disciples realise this?  Are they ready to go through this with Jesus on their way to the privileges and glory they are asking for?  “We are able” they confidently boast without realising just what is involved.  In fact, with the rest of their companions, they will scatter and disappear when these events overtake their Master.

Nevertheless, looking further ahead, Jesus generously tells them that they will indeed one day share Jesus’ cup and his baptism of suffering and death.  James would be one of the first martyrs of the young Church.  However, as to giving them the places of honour they were looking for, that was beyond Jesus’ power to give:

…to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.

In other words, these places are not just for the asking; they have to be earned.  They will be given, not to those who furtively ask, but to those whose love most closely approaches that of Jesus himself.

Not surprisingly, the other ten were highly indignant when they found out what James and John had done behind their backs.  They were not indignant at the impropriety or the daring, but that they had been beaten to it…they wanted exactly the same things themselves.

Following the same pattern as the other previous incidents, the prediction of the Passion and Resurrection is followed by a show of misunderstanding by the disciples, leading to a teaching. And that is what comes now.

Jesus now patiently gives them another lesson on what real greatness in his Kingdom consists of. In the ‘world’, “among the gentiles”, to be great is to have power over others, to exercise authority, to be able to control and manipulate people to be at your disposal, to use people to attain your ends.  However, in Jesus’ world, those really great put themselves and their unique gifts to use by promoting the well-being of brothers and sisters, especially those in most need.  And the more people we can serve the greater we are.

‘Authority’ is not to control, but to empower.  And it is the role of anyone in authority to generate ideas, energy and creativity in those for whom one is responsible—in other words to serve those who have been entrusted to one’s authority.  But it is a corruption of the word to become ‘authoritarian’ in such a position.  After 2,000 years of Christianity it is a lesson practically all of us have yet to learn.

Read more