Sunday, 17 October 2021; TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Reading: Isaiah 53: 10-11; Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 33: 4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
Second Reading: Hebrews 4: 14-16; Gospel: Mark 10: 35-45 or Mark 10: 42-45
The Biblical scholars propose that the book of Isaiah can roughly be divided into three parts: First (1-39 Chapters), second (40-55) and third (56 – 66). The first part is written by Isaiah (740-700 BC), a very important prophet from Judah, and his contemporary followers. During this period Israelites were taken as captives by Assyria. The second part was written by the school of Isaiah in Babylon, prior to and after the conquest of Babylon in 539 BC by the Persian King Cyrus II, the Great. The third part was written immediately after the return from Babylon.
Today’s first reading is taken from the second part of the book of Isaiah. It narrates how God makes his servant suffer and bear the iniquities of the people upon himself. But his sacrifice will never go waste and will be satisfied to see the fruits of his suffering and sacrifice. In the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews, it is very consoling to know that we have Jesus, the High Priest, who can understand us because he is like us in everything, except sin. Since he knows how difficult and challenging to live a life that is pleasing to God, he will certainly help us when we struggle to choose God’s ways, not otherwise. In the Gospel, Jesus explains to James and John, who plead for the privilege of being seated on his right and left that before one looks for the glory and honour, one must be ready to undergo suffering and sacrifice, to pay the price for it. He further teaches them that the Son of Man has come to serve, not to be served, implying that they, his followers, are also expected to serve and suffer rather than waiting to be served and to enjoy the honour.
Just two insights for our reflection:
A. With Jesus, Peace; without Jesus, “Pieces”
“What a friend we have in Jesus” – a traditional hymn; very meaningful at all times. Jesus is the one who understands us; all that we need to do is to turn to him. As the second reading today affirms, he understands us very well. We need not speak at length to him to narrate our problems and difficulties. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He is ever ready to walk with us in our daily struggles. Actually, the God of the Bible is God of history, who is ready and willing to participate in the daily struggles of his people. It is not that God created the world and the people in it once upon a time and forgot all about them. He likes to accompany them in their day-to-day life situations. The genealogy accounts, given in the Gospel of Mathew (1:1-16) and Luke (3:23-38), though there are some technical differences between these two accounts, like Mathew’s is known as the descending account, while Luke’s is ascending one, the fundamental lesson of these accounts is that God, in and through his Son, participates in the human history. God so loves the world that he pitches his tent among us: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us… “ (Jn 1:14). It is very revealing and revitalizing to realize that God is among us, as his Son took a human birth; but it is more consoling and life-giving to understand what sort of the Son-of-God he is! Yes, he is ready to suffer for his people and give up his very life for them.
In today’s world everyone is busy; no one has time to listen to others. Even within the family or the circle of friends, each one is so pre-occupied with one’s problems that one is not interested to listen to others’ problems. Listening is, in fact, an art, which has to be learnt. Oftentimes we listen to others, not to understand but to answer them. Even before the others finish, we begin to answer because we are so much carried away with our own thoughts that we want to come out with our opinions or judgments. Given this scenario, it is right and just to turn to Jesus who is ever ready to listen to us, walk with us and enlighten us, because He is a caring High Priest, who knows us very well. Let us, therefore, walk with him to be in peace and to avoid being in “pieces”.
B. Know Pains, Know Gains:
In the modern world today the tendency to look for more output with less input is growing very fast; students, farmers, businessmen, politicians and even the religious leaders – everyone tends to invest a little and expect big returns. Such tendency unfortunately affects our efforts in gaining knowledge, maintaining our relationships and growing in our spirituality. But we need to pay the price for any genuine victory and real gain. Whatever we get in a short-cut way – be it the accumulation of knowledge or spirituality or relationships or character – will not remain with us for a long time; we need to be prepared to pay the price for it. Systematic hard work is essential to grow in genuine knowledge; readiness to spend time and make sacrifices is necessary to grow into mature relationships; openness to listen to the Voice of God and willingness to abide by the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day circumstances are indispensable in fostering genuine spirituality. Even the wealth and the properties that are gained in a shortcut manner or illegal ways will leave us sooner or later and it will not give us lasting satisfaction in life either.
A story is said about four young men, who were roaming about in a jungle; they had no job, no money and no hopes. They were desperate. They happened to stumble upon an iron chest; they broke it open; to their surprise it had tons of money and expensive jewels; they could not believe their eyes. As they were walking further down, they met a sage and asked for his advice as to how to use that money so that they might build up a good future. He asked them: “Is it yours? Did you work for it?” they said, “No”. He told them that if it was not theirs they should not have it and the treasure, for which they had not laboured, would even kill them; he asked them to leave it where it was found and he moved away. But the young men were not convinced of that advice; they decided to divide the treasure into four parts and to start a new business separately and come up in life. They waited for the night to fall to return to their village, so that no one would notice them carrying the chest. As they felt hungry two of them went to the village to eat food and buy some for the other two. When those two left, the remaining two conspired to kill them as they would return that they could get their share also. So they climbed upon a tree with big stones in their hands to kill them. As the other two were returning, they dropped the stones from the tree-top and killed them; they were very happy as they would get double the share of the treasure. Since they were very hungry they ate the food, brought by them, in a hurry. Very soon they vomited blood and died on the spot; for, those two who had gone to the village wanted to usurp the share of these two and so they added poison in the food meant for these two waiting in the jungle; without realizing that lethal plot, they ate the food and died. The words of the sage (the treasure for which they did not labour would kill them!) became true and the iron chest was lying there jeering at them.
Yes, anything that comes in a short-cut manner not only does not last long but also it can even destroy us; let us learn to pay the price for genuine victory, growth or spirituality!
Fr. Stephen Jayard Susainathan, Jnana-Deepa Institute of Philosophy and Theology, Pune