Servant of the Word: Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

“The Trials of Job” by Leonaert Bramer, 1630s

Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time [1]

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]

Commentary:

Reading I: Job 9:1-12, 14-16

Commentary on Jb 9:1-12, 14-16

This reading picks up Job’s second response to his friends (although they are for the most part ignored in his response). He focuses his response not on Bildad (Job 8), but on a comment by Eliphaz, on the justice of man before God: "Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against their Maker?” (Job 4:17)

Job reflects upon God’s omnipotence and omnipresence, the Lord is almighty and everywhere. God created all things and has power over them. Mankind has no options but to endure God’s judgment, even if that judgment seems unjust (“Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me”). “God’s justice is really his power; he can do what he chooses; none can withstand him; and if he declares a man to be guilty, then it is so. No appeal can be made, and no other standard of justice can be invoked. Yet if the man’s conscience is clear, what he suffers is not felt as justice but as divine anger; thus it is with Job.” [4] He concludes in humility that even in his situation he would be surprised if God noticed his plea.

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

Commentary on Ps 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

Reminiscent of Job, Psalm 88 is an individual lament. The psalmist cries out at having been afflicted and deserted by his friends. The song implores the Lord to hear the living (feeling the hand of death the singer urgently prays) asking why God has seemingly rejected him.

CCC: Ps 88:11-13 633

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Gospel: Luke 9:57-62

Commentary on Lk 9:57-62

This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel gives us three sayings of Jesus about the requirement to place the values of Christian discipleship above all other requirements of life. Proclaiming the Kingdom of God must come before even family obligations.

In the first, “Foxes have dens…” Jesus does not deceive anyone – he lives in poverty, dedicated to his mission.

The second, “Let the dead bury their dead,” is a play on words: let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. Jesus' message is the message of life. This saying was never intended to be taken literally as filial piety is deeply ingrained in Jewish life.

In the third saying; “No one who…looks to what was left behind,” Jesus demands more than Elisha (see 1 Kings 19:19-21). “Plowing for the Kingdom demands sacrifice.” [5]

CCC: Lk 9:58 544

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Reflection:

The sheer weight of the day demands that we think about our obedience to God’s will, and to the mission in which we have been called to participate. It starts with Job, whose remarkable faith allows him to have a relationship with God that is at once submissive, and at the same time familiar. He speaks, in the 9^th chapter, of God’s power over all things, and how mankind is powerless to stand against the will of God. Job’s only answer is to depend upon God’s mercy, and accept God’s answer to his prayer. (We later see the familiarity as Job begs God to just leave him alone.)

In front of the backdrop of God’s majesty, his Only Begotten Son comes, apparently trying to dissuade potential followers from accepting the call to follow him. The Lord makes it very clear that what he asks is difficult. He himself has no place to call home (recall he has already been rejected by the members of his hometown, and just recently by the Samaritans). To others he says that the proclamation of the Kingdom of God must be their life’s priority, above family and friends.

From a spiritual perspective, this same prioritization comes to us. If we are to be obedient, following Christ as his faithful, our efforts must always proclaim that message. Quoting St. Francis of Assisi, we are to “proclaim the Gospel always, and use words when we must.”

Pax

[1] The picture is “The Trials of Job” by Leonaert Bramer, 1630s

[2] S.S. Commemoratio